SCALE

 

 

 

I met one of my friends a couple of days ago. He looked gaunt. I asked him about his whereabouts and about the issues that are trending these days. After listening to him, one thing was crystal clear. His mental ability to analyse complex issues had nothing to do with his physique. He was mature beyond his age.

Time flew by, and I came across one pseudo-intellectual who was handsome, if we go by the appearance and charm he carried along with his beaming smile. In a bid to check his nerve about the trending issues, I asked him about his views, and with no surprise, my expectations didn’t go in vain. After listening to him, I could see that he was gaunt—not by his physique but by what he expressed.

When I tried to ponder over their childhood conditioning factors, their free will to choose the information thrown at them by the external factors and their choice to absorb relevant data, it had something to do with their "opinions" formed over a period of time.

Here, we are not considering factors like who was right or wrong. Why? because the person who is judging them is a common man, not a saint, or the force of an almighty who has extensively worked upon his "ethical values" and could say, "Look, this is the scale to measure things, deeds, views; if you want to judge the criteria of this particular scale, then we would consider things accordingly."

You would say, "My god is different; my ideology belongs to one form of sect, cult, or saint who is going to judge two different opinions by his "criteria." But the ability to judge human beings by human beings themselves resides in the conditioning and upbringing factors to which they are tilted according to their religion, faith, or ideology. Also, the probability of getting incessant opinions is valid for "both" conditions.

We can see that it was me who judged both and formed my own opinion based on my point of view. because I am a common man. No one gave me the authority to declare that person A, who looked gaunt, had perfect views about the complex issues, or that person B, who looked smart, did not express views in favour of humanity. Who gave me the authority to judge them? It’s my ego. My ego, which has been part of my life like a shadow, has given me the authority to set up a scale to measure whatever comes to the doorstep of my mind. But ignorant souls do not know that shadows disappear as soon as darkness prevails. And this darkness is nothing but the "subconscious mind," which usually gives us signals many times in a day about ethics, morality, and wise decisions we might have made or would have made, but we tend to ignore those signals.

People use different measuring instruments to measure other people. And we have to accept that no one in this world has a right to impose his view upon anyone, claiming that the judgement he has given is best amid different choices. The oddity of getting abhorrent information is higher when we think beyond rationality. Why? Because we delivered the judgement based upon our conditioning. Unless you are a member of the judiciary and have a known set of principles and constitution to which you must adhere, your opinion has no intrinsic value. It is null and void; better keep them in your pockets.

You can’t label a person with a good or bad tag unless you have reasons to clarify why their "good" or "bad" resembles the collective conscience of the society.

People have cheered up for the leader and bolstered the person who made them believe that the Holocaust was the need of the hour, and at the same time, the judiciary has given a death sentence to a person for killing his neighbour over a consistent argument. Life was being taken away in both situations, but the circumstances were different.

In both situations, if we go by the collective conscience, killing does not justify reasons to abhor ideology or hate. Hitler probably would have given millions of reasons to prove why it was necessary, and a person who killed his neighbour might have given thousands of reasons to justify his act, but as an evolved homo sapiens, we could, can, and will always think rationally and through the prism of humanity. Neolithic people practised hunting because they had to feed themselves, whether it was necessary to kill the animal or not. Mind you, when in survival mode, surviving is important, not the value system or "how you survived."

Next time when people ask you for your opinion or you try to judge them with your free will, always remember that you are not perfect and that your views are based upon your conditioning and background. Better ask them to consult more learned people and form an opinion based on a collective conscience.