Fountainhead - honesty
Found this conversation in Fountainhead on honesty -
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"The worst thing about dishonest people is what they think of as honesty," he said. "I know a woman who's never held to one conviction for three days running, but when I told her she had no integrity, she got very tight-lipped and said her idea of integrity wasn't mine; it seems she'd never stolen any money." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found this conversation quite interesting. Long back when I had just started my career , there was a couple in my team who were much older to me( maybe early thirties ). The husband was a senior lead and the wife was a team member under him. The husband was a bit of a arrogant idiot I would say ( forgive my use of words ). He had the habit of teasing everyone around him for no reason and little too sarcastically. His choices of words were very demeaning and insensitive. And unfortunately for his wife, he would tease his wife too in the same breadth. I mean, I failed to understand how can you insult your wife in front of dozens of complete strangers. And what is it that made his wife live with him after all those insults? And how about the people listening to his stupid jokes - were they not party to this insult ?
I would find this practice very disturbing - and I once shared the same with one of my colleagues . And his answer made me think. He said - No , No ! Dont get involved in their relationship. Its an equation they share - so dont bother. This guy otherwise is a very nice human being . He donates a lot to orphanages and old age homes.
For a minute I was stupefied. What really defines "being nice", "being true" or "being honest". Are you being true if you are being rude and insulting to your wife and go about donating alms to beggars. Are you being honest if you are not true to your inner self but have never ever stolen any money. In fact are you dishonest if you have stolen money for helping someone in need ? Or have you been untruthful, if you lie to protect an innocent?
Truth is, what your intellect says, is true and honest for a particular situation or circumstance. Ever been in a situation where you very strongly believed in a particular school of thought and your near and dear ones in another. What is "true” or “honest” in such a situation? "Being true", or "being honest" can be very subjective. It can vary from a person to person and for the same person it can vary from situation to situation. Which is why, a terrorist or a prostitute may see nothing wrong in what they are doing since they feel they are being true to their ideologies – and they are right in thinking so! And in the incident above, this sarcastic colleague of mine, for the limited perspective he had, obviously thought that he was doing nothing wrong.
Once you realize the narrowness of your truth, your intellect gives you a new platform to stand, new horizons to broaden your views on and consequently new levels of honesty to achieve. No Truth is permanent. Being honest, is therefore, a state in which we be true to the beliefs and thoughts that expresses our intellect and our inner self, rather than indulge in outward appearances of "not lying" or "not cheating", “supporting the poor” or “supporting the needy”, or "pleasing the society or the world".
