Daily Times

Today, we live in an era of confusion and hypocrisy. We follow two very different, rather, contradicting set of principles. For the first set of principles, we have been trained subconsciously via media, academic training and changing environment. It comprises of commercialisation, rationalism, capitalism and positivism. According to this set of principles, we have been trained to value everything only in terms of money. Anything that we cannot quantify and measure does not exist. We have been subconsciously trained to be selfish and to do monetary cost benefit analysis always and everywhere. This set of principles has been designed for us to become a good human resource.

The second set of principles is a collection of natural moral and religious values of compassion, selflessness, consideration and care. This latter combination of principles exists to shape us into good human beings that we are naturally supposed to be.

Now the question is what carrying two contradictory sets of principles does to us on an individual level. It generates a never-ending, rather, worsening confusion in our hearts and minds. Following the former set of principles is easy with loads of training manuals available. On the other hand, no matter how evil, selfish and money-minded we become, our conscience does not stop tormenting us internally. This leads us towards suppressed frustration, anger and guilt. Nonetheless, we do follow both sets of principles. We want to be smart, rational individuals who can maximise benefits within minimum costs, and yet we do not want to let go of moral principles as well. So we have found this guilt-free solution: use both sets of principles at the same time. When it comes to contributing to society, open your bag and put on the capitalist glasses. When it comes to receiving benefits from others, follow the second set of principles.

Today, we feel no shame as a society in selling justice in our courts, selling health in our hospitals, and even selling education in our academic institutions

This hypocrisy has far-reaching affects we see, every day, in our social structure. Today, we feel no shame as a society in selling justice in our courts, selling health in our hospitals, and even selling education in our academic institutions. We have commissions set on governmental levels for making purchases and forwarding files. Yes, we do hate lawyers, doctors and teachers who charge us heavy amounts to do their job. Every day, we see a perspective developing on media for a crackdown on doctors, especially who were supposed to be a ‘messiah’ but have become butchers instead. Why do we forget that these lawyers, doctors, teachers, government officers, have not only been trained in the same set of principles we all have been trained in, they also had to invest heavy amounts to get that training. When a teacher or a doctor goes to a bank, are they given any extra protocol? When they go to a market, do they get any concession? Obviously, no! It is because we have all become the same commercial entities who only want to maximise our monetary benefits.

I am sure we all tell our children to be honest, truthful, kind, and compassionate. Yet we take pride in being very smart — “I did not open the door when he came to get his money back, pretending not to be home”, “My son has an excellent job, he is very well paid but does not have to work too much”, “Throw it out of the car, I don’t have time to get it serviced all the time”, “How dare the doctor make me wait, does he not know who I am”, “It is ok not to tell aunty that mommy used some of her stuff without asking.” We are actually training them to cheat, to lie, and to be dishonest.

For the development of a happy, educated and healthy society, where there is no selfishness, cheating, fraud and nepotism, where respect and honour is given due to piety and not monetary standing, we need a two-stage strategy. First we need to realise that we have been subconsciously trained to be commercial entities, which we are not. Secondly, we need to create a conscious effort to shift towards the second set of principles. That is only possible if we redesign our education system and curriculum according to our religious values instead of following the west blindly.

The has a PhD in Economics from NCBAE, Lahore.