Do we lie? Sometimes become hypocrites? When necessary. Cheat or get bribes? If the outcome is rewarding. Compete dishonestly? If our positions are weak. Steal, fight, or kill? If we lose control or avoid punishment. Is this the quick short-sighted interest and the blind belief in the logic of power and the disregard of the intelligence of others? or the lack of credibility, vision and putting interest before values or selling the consciousness and dignity? as if a human being is an evil strong animal to be bought and sold with material and glory or authority and pleasure as if that is a guarantee for happiness and harmony, and as if everything is relative and each of us has a price... Questions about Struggle for Survival.
What do we feel when we betray our consciousness for material gain? Does this bring us self respect? Do we feel more self-confident if we are driven by the desire to overpower others? Should the struggle for survival be a justification for all sins? And is the momentary interest more important than credibility, that builds trust, and attains long term gains? Does the logic of force and jungle law secure interests, rights and safety? Can an inpidual keep enjoying health, money, power, and authority in a temporary life term? And what if the magic turns against the magician?
Is dignity just a face keeping? And if the logic of force is enough for society’s regulation and happiness, so why religions were descended, and laws legislated?
And if inpiduals gains means of power, health, material and glory, can they then guarantee his happiness without harmony and peace inside, that require clean consciousness and a serene content personality? And how can these means convince a person of the inevitability of health deterioration and death? And can he feel safe about himself and family if these means are gone? And if a man, besides having these means, enjoys clear consciousness and high morals can he happily live in a material unconscious society that glorifies force and treads over human dignity for survival?
If we build a society upon the sovereignty of absolute power and the continuity of conflicts should trust vanish, and man feels alienated? Should good disappear, fears and injustice prevail, rights get violated, and destruction of the other turns into society and self destruction?
Should smile dissipate, compassion disappear, and man become savage? Should selfishness and cruelty spread, wars breakaway, and the devil reign? If we are obliged by life troubles and necessities of survival to change face, become hypocrites, and to harbor contradictions would the difference between the outside and the inside be just tricky for others or also self misleading?
And if we find the latter easier then how can we judge issues and matters? And how can we guarantee to avoid psychological disorders and psychosomatic symptoms? And if we are just partially healthy, how can we enjoy full energy and power? And how can we achieve happiness and continuous success?.
Children grow to adolescent, then attain adulthood with increasing powers, and may get spoiled with what they will collect of wealth and authority, hence deteriorates morally, as power if not based on values, is self-destructive, which is also the case for every civilization that flourished then stagnated and faded away because it was built by corruptible mankind.
Can we then learn something from the rise and fall of civilizations? Can we acquire enough patience and wisdom to realize that some values are necessary for survival, and that blind power can hurt its user, kill his spirit, alienate his humanity, and fill his society with conflicts and destruction, and that if we put interest before value we end up losing them both?
Can we be mindful that day to day survival is short-sighted and failure and that planning, credibility, effort, and legitimacy are the indispensable basis for a society of peace and progress, and that if inpidual interest, when left to act alone, leads to barbarism, conflict, and destruction?
If we look at advanced societies, we may find that, whatever are their lifestyles, they lean on the bases of all religions, when they believe in discipline, work, science, equality, responsible freedoms, accountability, and the respect of law, human dignity, and rights, as practicing the moral basis is the goal of religions and the proof of faith, to achieve the balance between the inpidual and his physic, and the inpidual and collective interests.
That is an expression of wisdom, maturity, far vision, and being down to earth; hence the sane society provides the inpidual with his rights and security, and the enlightened inpidual achieves for his society progress, harmony, and peace.
The article was written by Dr. Hadi Eltonsi, Retired Ambassador and Medical Doctor
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