One of the principle tenets of the Bible and Christianity is not resisting evil and turning the other cheek if someone strikes you. Yet how many people – including those who call themselves good Christians – even try to live up to this ideal. It is an impossibly high standard in ethics.
The difficulty may be reduced if you do not marry and stay off sex. The Bible is categoric in its advice on this matter as well. It says – It is better to marry than to burn. Only burning in hell is worse than marriage. And you will burn if you commit adultery or fornicate.
I sometimes think that the Bible is only meant for seekers of God who have no interest in the world. A lot of the tenets of the Bible can only be followed if you do not have a family and financial responsibilities.
The Hindu scriptures are not as demanding for its adherents. Gurcharan Das in his book on the Mahabharata (The Difficulty of being Good) suggests that turning the other cheek gives the wrong signal to the world. It gives the impression that it is easy to exploit you.
Now you may not care whether you are exploited or not if you are a practicing monk. But if you have a family to support then you cannot allow this to happen.
So according to Das a suitable compromise is Presenting a friendly face to the world but not allowing yourself to be exploited.
For more on this topic please read the book referred to above. It is a thoughtful and readable discussion on ethics based on the stories and incidents of the Mahabharata.
In this connection I think there is a connection between the discussion above and a section of Aldous Huxley’s book – The Perennial Philosophy. Huxley was deeply inspired by Eastern Philosophy and the teachings of Christianity and other religions. He makes the point that the main purpose of our human lives is that we should realise our unity with God. According to Huxley that is the only reason for which we have come to this Earth.
The basic points that Huxley makes in the section (on Charity) are as follows:
- Civilization and the way it functions does not have the Perennial Philosophy or (to be more specific) Charity as its guide. Charity is defined as disinterested love (and not the meaning commonly given as alms giving).
- Without charity civilization functions by means of coercion of members of society. We work because we must (otherwise we will not be able to eat); we do not break the law because we don’t want to be arrested and go to prison and so on. Basically civilization functions by forcing people to behave in acceptable ways. It deals with the lowest common denominator.
Aldous Huxley deplores this characteristic about our civilization and delivers a bit of a rant on its evils. He has written another book – Island – in which he describes a society based on the sound principles of the Perennial Philosophy (I haven’t read Island but will do so soon).
But it is necessary for us if we wish to survive in this world to adapt to our environment. And whether Huxley likes it or not civilization has functioned for many thousands of years by following the precepts of dealing with the lowest common denominator.
For youngsters seeking guidance on how to deal with the difficulties of life I would recommend Gurcharan Das’ advice. Present a friendly face to the world but if you sense that your associate is not behaving like a gentleman and is trying to exploit you be prepared to use coerce him. In short use force (in legal ways) so that you get his cooperation and attain your objective.
I’ll end here. I hope you found this article interesting.
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