In an integrated society, there should be harmony between the material and immaterial worlds, between the superstructure and the concrete life. It is also an ideal for all of us that what we say, we should also do, and believe is right. We cannot say one thing and do another thing, and that is particularly important in politics since it is so visible there. When we build our opinions on certain principles and standards, our own and such belonging to the political party we belong to and the culture we live in, then we must also try to implement what follows and not deviate too much from promises given during election campaigns and afterward.

All this is good and well, you may say. But what about ordinary life and how we behave in the family, at work, in community situations, and more, shouldn’t we also there practice what we preach? Certainly, our religious beliefs, moral standards, values, and principles should be the foundation for what we do. Part of it is built on traditions and common opinions where we live, and part of it on more lofty philosophies. Most of the time, we just take things for granted and follow them without many questions and considerations, but without becoming too fanatical and one-eyed since we also know that things are not quite absolute but relative. In everyday life in the modernity we live in, there is often a discrepancy between what we really believe and what we do.

In my article last week, I mentioned that many times what we do is based on what benefit ourselves rather than our neighbour and community. We become self-serving and selfish. Often, we stretch principles and ideals because that is what the world around us requires. We have to fend for ourselves, otherwise we may lose out and others will benefit instead. People also say that this is how human beings are and behave, indeed so in modernity, we live with a worldwide........

© The Nation