Values which were an integral part of human life, which were a part of the emotional nourishment that young kids got from the parents, have evaporated into ‘filthy’ air.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
Have you witnessed your own two selves when you are watching a movie or a drama? Just watch how keenly and unsparingly we judge the actions of the characters. We do not want that a certain character should do something foul and fall from grace. We want them to maintain a high level of integrity. And whenever some woman tries to play a vamp, or a man, to play the villain, we turn against him, and start sympathizing with the hero, who is the sufferer. In the vile world, those who stick to values are the ultimate sufferers, and this is what makes us feel sympathetic to the main character in a drama.
All this is happening when we are watching the action standing outside the drama. It is easy to be a judge and call the actions of others into question. In fact, when we are seeing something, we are always holding aloft to the moral values, and deliver judgements from that high altitude. If anything happens in Gaza, we are quick to arraign Israel. If Ukraine and Russia are in conflict, our sympathies can be divided but we find fault with one or the other player. In fact, we are always judging the people, and apply high moral standards to the values they uphold.
However, this is not so when our own turn comes. When we are actors, and not judges. Even then, an invisible judge holds court inside us, and he is constantly issuing his verdict. But we brush him aside, because he does not persist, nor he makes his presence forcefully felt. For a moment, a feeling comes to our mind that this action is not appropriate. But when we are intent on doing it, that feeling subsides. It is clear, the value consciousness of our being does try to stop us from stooping low, and it is just a vague suggestion, which we often fail to pick up most of the times consciously.
We have lost the fear of gods, which has turned this world into a virtual hell of opportunity which ultimately means taking advantage of a situation. Such actions of men cannot be forgiven, much less, exonerated however hard might be the polish and paint of religion and pseudo-culture.
In the case of 99% people, the call for value judgement goes unheard and untaken. One or two in a hundred take up that call, and halt their pursuit. But, in case of a majority of people, they go ahead. Now, we are acting either in anger, or in jealousy, or in some urgency, and we do not mind compromising the rules and regulations. If somebody says this work cannot be done, we do not let it go. Our mind forces us to give a call to the person with-holding our work, and offer him some sops, and, finally, we see to it that our work is done.
Success
We call it success. This is also called smartness. We know how to act smart, and get our things done. These days, we have special outlets, where certain services are offered. They take their fee, which is in the form of a fixed bribe. And, then, you will find, your work is done in no time, because all the concerned people are already in their touch, who will share the booty.
Soft-state
I will call it a soft-state. The idea of honesty, integrity, working to rule, and upholding the law, has lost its relevance today. Rules are made with a hole in the setup, so that some people who are patronized by the political masters, can ‘help’ the people in their sordid deeds. Even you and me, the virtual value-lovers, who were criticizing the characters in the drama for their not up-to-the-mark behavior, now fall easy victims to this upcoming trend of accomplishing work in a society whose values, scriptures, Gurus and wisdom have left her.
In the drama, we condemn a mother when she ill-treats the daughter-in-law for bringing less dowry. In real life, we never shy away from taking dowry. When it comes to writing poems against dowry, or writing debates for and against dowry, we win medals. When we are to write ‘My Ideal Person’, we write Our Teacher. And if we are to write ‘My Aim in Life’, we must say, I shall be a teacher, because it is a noble profession. I can also say, I shall be a doctor. That too is a noble profession. Beyond this, I don’t see any profession which could be called noble. So, it is all formality. When it comes to reality, we shall never go for being a teacher, and it is better if we do not dream of being a doctor. The best that we do in such circumstances is: to become an employee in the electricity department, and go for meter reading. That is enough to give you enough to last for a life time. Other chosen fields are police, excise, income-tax, and most creditable of all, civil services.
Money: the Ultimate Value
I am not talking of me, or you. We form a very small portion of this world. Let it be anyone. Everyone, in every position, wherever he is, people are after making money. And this money is made without reference to the values of which we talk very loudly in our academic processes. The reality is quite different. We are very poor in value-work for which we hold others guilty.
The Ethical Take
Values which were an integral part of human life, which were a part of the emotional nourishment that young kids got from the parents, have evaporated into ‘filthy’ air. The overall confusion in the social and moral system of the world, and the personal crises that men are facing are because the quality of man’s mind, his perceptions, and his value-love has become a sham. And the worst aspect of this fall is that there is no one to call a spade a spade, and a glade a glade. Politics, which has never seen statesmen in these times, has added fuel to the fire, leading to a society which is full of base specimens of humanity, who always compare themselves with characters in Mahabharata and Ramayana. The best thing would be: if we judge ourselves as hard as we judge the actions of others. We have lost the fear of gods, which has turned this world into a virtual hell of opportunity which ultimately means taking advantage of a situation. Such actions of men cannot be forgiven, much less, exonerated however hard might be the polish and paint of religion and pseudo-culture.
Read: THE PARTIAL VISION OF REALITY
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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
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