A willed indifference

"The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. The opposite of art is, not ugliness; it is indifference. The opposite of faith is, not heresy; it is indifference. And the opposite of life is, not death; it is indifference."

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE a Romanian-born Jewish-American professor and political activist.

From its beginnings, philosophical inquiry has defined itself as the search for a criterion, a measure by which, knowledge could be distinguished from mere beliefs and opinions; reality from appearances. However, it seems that for most people in this resplendent land called Lanka, questions of discernment, judgement, and understanding; being, reality, and truth have expired.

We seem a people devoid of the ability to reason. Whether it is because of a willed indifference, or a lack of intelligence, is a question that has troubled me for a long time.

It is my considered opinion that the task of any human being possessed with a modicum of intellect is, to give a rational account of himself to the world around him; and his assignment in life is to grasp the truth. However, comprehending something means accounting for it, understanding what it is, and its law of development.

Dolefully though, the science of logic is as alien to the Sri Lankan mind as is curd to the buffaloes that are milked. We are not in the habit of thinking; thinking instead, only as a reflex of action and not to act following thought. We do not realise that thinking determines itself: that there are accepted approaches to natural and human reality.

Productive

Thought, as a whole has no limit.

To be productive, it must be finite, pure, and lead to understanding; and must have a content of its own. It must analyse and reveal the limitations of the thought subject, its nature, and concepts by exposing any inadequacy in the subject matter.

Is it because of a willed indifference, rather than a deficiency of intelligence, that we have become indifferent to everything except personal matters; and seek only to better ourselves only in terms of personal finance? We exhibit curiosity and scepticism; cunning and craftiness; deceitfulness and deviousness; shrewdness and slyness, in all matters personal.

Yet, give not an iota of thought about the country and the rest of them that live in it. When corruption takes place, we are either silent, or whisper silently.

Silence, by any yardstick is not golden; it is indifference; and indifference for whatsoever reason, is a crime. In this world, home to all life as is known to us, science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings to the corruption that bleeds a nation to the core.

Generally, shameful and shocking events are, most talked about shortly after their occurrence. Later, they move to the margin of our consciousness. Yet, when what was yesterday's history of despicability, still persists as today's happening; we refrain from talking about them and thinking about them, as if they have fallen down a memory hole where all dark matters are consigned to. Is this willed indifference, or because of a willingness, a desire, to do likewise if opportunity permits? If, on the other hand, it is due to our being a polite people; politeness is nothing but organised indifference; and this indifference would ultimately commend itself as a devastating weapon of self-destruction.

Indifference

Man, with his infinite capacity for illusion, has bathed himself in pitiless indifference. Perhaps that is nothing but a subterfuge for hiding the torments of his desires, and his evil designs. He is silent, because he is no better than the corrupt; tolerates corruption with a barely contained impatience for a chance, an opportunity, to be that: deceitful. He hides within, the urge to imitate the dishonest, the fraudulent, the rotten, the shady. For in it, he sees salvation: the ladder to success and riches.

The fact that indifference leads to despair, a hopelessness that will climb into people's eyes and reveal itself as an exasperating expression, is of no concern to him who is corrupt at the core. Except that, his rage and wrath, which his eyes exhibit, is not due to his indignation or aversion to wrong doing; but because of his inability to be unethical, unprincipled, and unscrupulous: venal as the other, whom he sees as more fortunate than him; and progressing in life, faster than him.

Thus, his apathy, his aloofness is, a cup filled with malice; and the resultant despair, like a narcotic, has lulled his mind to a willed indifference.

If this is the state of the mind of the majority in this paradise for corruption, pity the land that needs such people: a people fighting and competing with each other, trying to better the other to be unethical, venal, and vain.

Life, in time, takes every maidenhead, even if it has to dry it up; it does not matter how the owner wants to keep it. Up to then, all are born idealist and will remain so as long as nobody else enters their life. But they will find it difficult to stay that way, once other people enter their life and show them the short cuts to progress - if wealth alone is progress.

Inversion

A good life seems to consist in doing bad things; and so, after the first blush of sin, comes the indifference; no matter that, because of it, one dies before one actually dies; and he will live, bereft of his soul. The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion: a reversal of the natural order of things; and nothing is more deadly to his conscience. In fact, his preference, his folly of enthusiasm for indifference, is fatal to wisdom and prevents him from awakening to a much richer potential; his true ability. The question is, do we as a people want to awaken to our true potential; or let the cancer of corruption erode our society, our values, and everything else that defines the difference between a human being, and a sub-human being.

The universe we observe is not, made for the indifference of blind, pitiless, venal men. They have no consistency except for the consistency of greed, which in essence is inhumanity. Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible, for evil to triumph.

The blind, merciless, indifference of unfeeling people is the cause that evil exists. Every individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter. He that remain silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation; corruption and plunder; and voice not his objection openly, fearlessly; be neutral and indifferent; and lets tolerance degenerate into indifference; helps the oppressor, never the victimised. Corruption anywhere is a threat to the just everywhere, and to remain silent encourages the indulger, never the innocent. It may well be that our means are limited, and our possibilities restricted when it comes to applying pressure on the corrupt. However, is this reason enough to do nothing and be indifferent? Despair is not an answer. Neither is resignation.

Resignation only leads to indifference, which is not merely a sin but a crime, and a punishment given to the just of the society, for being just. If we let corruption permeate our society, democracy will die, and it will be a slow extinction through apathy and indifference: not a sudden death.

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