CHAPTER ONE
FEAR AND FAVOUR
Eternity
is the destination of man, yet he is afraid of death. In fact, fear of death is
the most dreadful and goads him to seek the equally compensating favour of an
everlasting life, which is most delightful. This is what makes fear and favour
man's instinctive behavioural mechanism because whatever he does is activated by
considerations of pain and pleasure.
Psychological basis of behaviour
Strange as it may seem, the concept
of morality cannot be visualised unless humans are endowed with the ability to
differentiate between misery and mirth. The former refers to fear and the latter
to favour: I do not molest my neighbour for fear of retaliation, and show him
favour for reciprocal treatment. In fact, it is realisation of dole and delight
which gives birth to such ethical values as vice and virtue: a person who does
not know what is good or bad for himself cannot care about the consequences of
his conduct in relation to others, and is thus, incapable of self-discipline and
planning the right course of action; he is an idiot who looks for pearls in a
coal mine and searches for coal in a shallow pond. This is the reason that
children immune to algesia (sensitiveness to pain) are destructive, for being
incapable of feeling physical pain, and the adults who feel the least pain,
become the most thick-skinned.
All fear is not bad: rational fear
is beneficial. For example, the fear of illness has provided motivation to
investigate the working of the human body and environmental factors, thus
leading to the emergence of numerous sciences such as biology and ecology. It
has not only widened the horizon of knowledge but also narrowed the scope of
effects associated with lethal diseases by spurring human ingenuity in medical
and surgical fields. The modern increasing life-span is indebted to the fear of
illness.
Favour and Civilisation
Favour, in its broader sense, is
the fountain of civilization. When we talk of favourable circumstances, we
actually think of the conditions that lead to the realization of expectations
and fulfillment of goals. Thus favour and reward become synonymous. Is it
possible to imagine that people will strive for higher and nobler situations
without reference to corresponding rewards? In the absence of a reguerdon, the
quality of action is bound to suffer. The resulting inaction will perpetrate an
inertial state, utterly repugnant to cultural advancement. Thus man will become
a regressive animal.
Extremes of Fear and Favour
People are governed by the extremes
of fear and favour. There are some who are born greedy; the more one tries to
gratify them, the less satisfied they feel; their mentality is like a bottomless
pit which may devour all the riches of the planet but still experience the pangs
of paucity, poverty and parsimony. The virtues of contentment, abstinence and
self-restraint are too trivial for them to practice. Conscience, consideration
and courtesy are the words alien to their understanding and palate. The greedy
folks live to grab every penny and die to save every farthing. Such people dream
of personal pleasure and self-elevation regardless of how much their avarice may
displease and degrade others. They are always chasing favours. When they can't
gain such favours, they pine for the imaginary ones.
Some people are prone to excessive
fear by birth, that is why they feel frightened without any cause. They are
timid and cowardly; they can neither defend their own virtue nor contribute to
human values of honour and liberty. They live to evade the fear of death and die
to escape the fear of life.
A healthy personality is the
foundation of Godhead but its development is not possible without a rational
sense of fear and favour. It involves training and to a large extent, control of
personal behaviour based on one's own free will. Since we constantly react to
environmental stimuli, the healthy growth of personality requires a sound
attunement of the individual to society, and vice versa.
What is a healthy personality?
It is a garden full of flowers
which despite considerable variance in size, makeup, colour and fragrance,
combine to present a bouquet of natural excellence sustained by the common
purpose of looking sweet, splendid and supreme. Behavioural beauty of an
individual, which constitutes a healthy personality, depends upon the harmonious
working of one's likes and dislikes, attractions and repulsions, obsessions and
vagaries, beliefs and disbeliefs and instinctive and learned judgements. These
elements in their disciplined operation bear the same resemblance to personality
as flowers of various kinds have to a nosegay. However, for the emergence of a
healthy personality, it is imperative that not only are these elements operated
by a person's free will but the free will itself is sound and rational.
What I have said above is free from
the resonance of exaggeration, and quite practicable yet congruent working of
the elements of personality is a dream.
Why is this dream still
unfulfilled? What is inhibiting its realisation? Who is its arch enemy?
| 
Introduction
to Book I
