Whenever we think of men of morality, our thoughts go back to the greats like the Socrates, the Buddha or Guru Nanak Dev. These were the people who we can expect never strayed from the right path. But the next question is: Is it possible to imbibe that high sense of morality by ordinary men? If not, can we say, they are leading immoral and un- ethical lives? How can a man justify himself [to be ‘surkhroo’] in his own eyes and before God too? Every person, before slipping into sleep, counts how much good and how much bad he had encountered during the day. The idea of good and evil is embedded in religious thought which extrapolates how the bad are punished in hell, and the good, reward- ed. Even when no evidence as to what happens post- death is available, we tend to believe whatever is said in the name of God, his King- dom, the horrors of Hell and the Joys of Heaven. How ethical we are in our daily operational life? Can we af- ford to act like the Buddha? If we remember how the Sikh Gurus were treated by the world and how they had to suffer? Truth and ethics have the same relationship as our perception and our actions. Truth is the right thought and ethics, the righteous action. Together, they create best per- sons like the Buddha.
We are faint shadows of these great men. We are actually the operational reality of these thoughts. We know what is right. We know the truth. We know we should act right. Still, if we act right, we know that we shall be on the wrong side of things. And, society does not tolerate people who cannot charm their tongue when they ought to speak, those who cannot compromise, – say, people like Socrates…. No wonder, his DNA is nearly non-existent in human society. With him per- haps died truth and ethics, which was revived by Christ and Sikh Gurus, though at great personal cost. For the laity, what is left behind to just debate of the Idea of Ethics.
From Ethics to the Idea of Ethics
We are living in an imperfect world, which does not mind imperfections from us. It is a world where errors are worshipped like deities. In fact, it is believed that ‘to err is human’. Truth and Ethics have to suffer indignities at the hands of lesser people. In this world, it is not that we do not have adherents of truth and ethics. There are people, but they are very few, and they suffer silently. They are true to their God, but the world finds them out like errors and treats them under various sections of the law. We have hit this equation now: Truth, Ethics & Suffering. The world kills them, puts them on the cross, or boils them in hot cauldrons, and then, frames them in golden frames, and hangs on the walls, as its prophets.
Truth, Ethics, Suffering & Para-Ethics
Everyone does not have the passion, nor the patience to suffer, in order to become a prophet. Rather, they want to lead lesser lives in an environment which does not support sublime passions like truth and ethics. So, from truth, ethics and suffering, we trudge into the comfort zone of Para-Ethics, in which we just talk of ethics. We refer to greats like Socrates, Christ, and the Buddha and the Gurus, and it lends us a sense of being morally upright, without being strictly ethical or truthful. How about becoming their followers? Morning evening, we visit the shrines. We pay obeisance to great souls. And we remember their couplets and read them aloud wherever needed. When we are talking of Buddha or Guru Nanak, at least people think we belong to their world. I call it the operational area of para- ethical living, where people think of ethics, talk of truth, quote from scriptures, and give examples of great men, but then, when it comes to actual working, they are as imperfect as their world. But the only difference is: now, they feel less guilty. This is what I recognize as Para-Ethics.
SURKHARU [SELF- JUSTIFICATION]
This is a vast area where our world operates. After all, we have to justify our actions to ourselves and to gods, who, we feel are over-looking [nee, looking over] our actions. Perhaps we forget, our thoughts are also being monitored. But, we are too thick-skinned. Truth is the area of human perception. Here too Gods try to intervene. They lay before us clear choices, but, being prone to error, we make wrong choices. Then, comes the area of Action, Ethics. Here too we fail because when our perceptions are flawed, how can our actions be righteous? Once the flow at the beginnings faults, now we are in the operational area where we talk ethics but act foul. And the worst thing is: we think we are doing the right just by thinking of the right. Everyone knows he is neither truthful, nor ethically above board. This truthless talk and ethics-free behaviour helps men to feel ‘surkharu’, and in order to offset the feelings of guilt, our visits to shrines increase.
The Para-Ethical World
The world is mostly moving in the area of the para-ethical. There are some more stunning questions. Can you call anyone unethical? Can you bring them to any court of morality? No. This is a world of self-justified people, who are living on an immoral plane. Injustice, dishonesty, cruelty – the worst of moral crimes are justified by using the most ‘decent’ phrases like ‘saam daam dand bhed’. This is our world. The flawed world. Where neither truth nor ethics holds the court. Here, if it is not entirely falsehood, we live in the realm of para-truth. We have no choices. Survival demands compromise and we are the children of a lesser god. However, in this pessimistic scenario, there are some bright examples who despite compromise, strive for better. Figures like Martin Luther King Jr. or Malala Yousafzai, though imperfect, navigated flawed systems to effect change, suggesting that partial adherence to truth and ethics can still yield meaningful outcomes. Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, [the Seneca, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky Award and Signs Peace Award Laureate, with an opus of 180 books, whose name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia]] is a tow- ering literary figure whose work embodies a rare fusion of creativ- ity, intellect, and moral vision.
