Living As A Hypocrite, Amongst Hypocrites

Note: When I refer to man I refer to the disgust of a living thing: Humans in general. There might be some handful of people out there who do not fit into this categorization, but if you are reading this post then you are probably not one of those people.

Man. Often have we compared ourselves to their fellow living beings, beasts. We claim to be virtuous, all-loving protectors of Earth, of our species and of the beasts living together on the planet. We always say they are smarter and superior to beasts, because our brains allow us to be capable of reasoning and logic. But how far have we gone with their advanced brains, really? If we are truly concerned about Mother Earth then why have we spent all these years raping her of all her resources and effectively stripping her of her beauty? If we are protectors of our species then why are we the only things that kill ourselves en masse? If we are protectors of other species then why do we enslave and slaughter them en masse for our personal benefit and entertainment? If Earth is our home, then shouldn't everybody be family, and shouldn't other living beings be our pets?

The truth is, the only thing that man is, is a bunch of hypocrites. Our advanced brains and intelligent thinking have only led us down one path. We have abandoned Earth as our home. Our home is in fact shrinking. First, we divide Earth into countries, separated only by imaginary borders so we can fight for domination over such false perceptions. Are we so different from the beasts that fight over domination of perceived territories? Second, in these countries we further shrink their homes into apartments. Thus, now a home is just the apartment we own, our family is only those who are genetically linked to us, our pet is an animal just for our makeshift entertainment and display purposes. Also, what has become of the notion that we are all-loving beings? Love has too been reduced from the self-disregarding love of everything to the self-perpetuating love of only those that which pleases us.

The truth is, man as individuals, do not care about anything that does not concern itself, despite how much it tries to portray itself as otherwise. An individual's life is based on chasing its own goals and its ambitions and engaging heavily in materialism and mindless self indulgence for the sake of personal comfort. Some might even claim to be part of religions which denounce such self-idolization! "God is dead!", literally speaking. God is dead inside all their souls. Most religions has become religions of hypocrites, choosing that religion only because they think that by mere belief in God will make their lives better. They will continue in their self indulging ways with complete disregard to the values and practices of their religion. Some do it more discretely, while some do it more blatantly, but both are just the same. As the saying goes: Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.

The driving force behind us--the knowledge that there is something out there that is even more pleasurable to be felt; we desire it with all our heart and thus sell our souls and our lives away just so we can attain such objects. But what if the greatest pleasure is not that of any material object can bring? What if it lies just within us? What if the greatest pleasure is self-realization? The realization that we should be working inwards, that we can be content with ourselves the way we are, without the need for external objects to make us happy. Only by being aware of our ignorance will we be driven to greater wisdom and happiness; for all ignorance and self-vanity arises from lack of courage in the way we appear to others. "Dare to know! Dare to speak! Dare to be!". Only when everyone of us sees the pointlessness in indulging in material objects and ourselves can we restore the beauty back to Mother Earth and to our lives, and only then can we be truly enlightened.

Until then, I will be living as a hypocrite, amongst hypocrites.