OPINION
OPINION
The more I argue with people the more I see that the solutions to issues are seldom black and white. From the chicken and the egg, to wave/particle duality, questioners are always trying to force you to make a decision and then stick to it even when, as time goes by, it starts to become increasingly clear that the original answer you gave was wrong!
Such is the way that our brain is structured, that once a decision is taken, many other decisions are based upon the it, and, as we grow older, it becomes an increasingly difficult task to change ones mind. This is exacerbated by the reduction of activity within our brains that inevitably comes with age also.
This problem can lead to increasingly simplistic thinking, but far more dangerous, leads to the cessation of normal healthy reappraisal. In short, people become locked in modes of thought, unable or unwilling to change a single premise, since they fear the intellectual repercussions of such an event.
It is not the case that people would despair, should they find that they now realise that they had based years of their life on a premise now thought to be incorrect. It is the shear intellectual effort which would be required to change the premise. The mind will only rest easy at night when all its thoughts and ideas are in tune, change a fundamental belief, and your brain would have to settle all the ramifications stemming from that change.
The inevitable, and truly sad outcome of this set of events is the realisation that change can only come about when the older generation die off. This has been the case in scientific, religious, and political thought. It seems to be a truism that one cannot 'teach an old dog new tricks' and one cannot teach an old man a new philosophy. Of course there are exceptions, however, exceptions is all there are, in the main the above is true. It will happen to me, eventually I will stop reappraising my beliefs from the bottom up, and I will start to rely on their 'solidity'. However, this makes me desperately sad, and although I know there is nothing I can do about the mental causes of the problem, there is, I believe something we can do about the social causes.
Society dams the hypocrite, it is crushing label, and when used, can be a powerful snub, to those who are trying to hold a different viewpoint to your own. And yet, to change ones views at a later stage in life, I believe that going through a stage of apparent hypocrisy is a useful and all too needed (for the reasons above), tool for change.
Who is the poorer man, the man who's brain will never again change a viewpoint, or even in some cases, entertain the viewpoint in discussion for a second, or the man, for whom a truth has dawned, but who realises that changing his entire life would require more effort than he could give.
Surely it is better to do something, rather than nothing. Surely that is better, even if, it places you in a more difficult position to argue, and a situation which would produce more disquiet in the brain.
This is not an argument for blatant, unashamed hypocrisy, which is in more ways akin to lying, (whereby no effort is in fact being made to change ones mind). It is however, an argument to society, which says there is more to reasoning than black and while, and to change, sometimes you must pass through a period, where, grey is the only colour, where, you can use your apparent hypocrisy, to change your mind. Something which society should be helping you to do, since it is in all our interests.
The example within my own life which, I think backs this opinion up quite well is vegetarianism. I have been brought up from year zero to eat meat. I have very much enjoyed it too, it was the major part of my diet. In the past few years, I have decided that it is wrong to eat animals. This is a decision, that I have come to for my own reasons, and is not the topic for discussion here. I realised very soon that it was going to be a very difficult change for me to do. To start the change, the first form of hypocrisy was to be against eating meat, and yet still be doing it! This, clearly shows how, for hypocrisy not to slip into its far harsher, and justified meaning, there must be change...
The next stage was to start to give up meat. However, I know myself well enough to know that, in order not to slip back, I was going to have to go through another form of hypocrisy: I didn't give up meat, I gave up beef. It was not easy. We're talking no more fast food, (luckily the last fast food I tasted was so bland that it tasted of carpet).
So, there I stayed, an attempted vegetarian, knowing where I wanted to be, and knowing that where I was, was not only a hypocritical, but was intellectually unjustifiable. Ham and Pork were my next targets. I have yet to give up chicken. However, although I am a hypocrite, I am making the change. I have not slipped backwards. I will get to where I want to be, a vegetarian. However, even if I could not make it that far, I would still have achieved more than the man who could not change is views, in the light of new thinking. I would be a hypocrite sure, but at least I would have tried.
Solid unbending hypocrisy is still to be regarded as a symptom of a ceased up brain, but, to change, we must admit to ourselves, and let others, go through a period of hypocrisy, because the change itself is so difficult.
"Yes, I recognise that I am being hypocritical at the present time, however I know what I should believe, and I am changing my view point."
FEEDBACK:
On Thursday, June 15, 2000, dailee wrote
Only non hypocrite is he who admits he is....
Please tell me what you thought...
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