Here are some of his words that challenge me to live at my best:
Pangs of Conscience
People have become accustomed to leading double lives – saying one
thing and thinking another. They
have lost the ability to speak the truth, the whole truth. And a half truth is the worst type of
lie; in a half truth the lie masquerades as the truth, hidden by a screen of
partial truth.
Conscience always arises from the depth of the soul. True honor is always in accordance with conscience. False honor is a mirage in a desert. And this mirage is harmful. It creates false goals which lead to
dissipation and sometimes to the death of authentic values.
Honor must therefore be in harmony with conscience.
How is inner honor expressed? When a person keeps his word. When he
behaves in a respectable way; when he does not violate ethical norms, acts
dignified, does not grovel before a superior or before any “benefactor,” does
not conform to outside opinion, is not obstinate in proving his own rightness,
does not settle personal scores, does not compensate people he needs with state
funds, with various indulgences, with arrangements for his people’s work,
etc. In general such a person
knows how to differentiate the personal from the state and subjective from
objective, in evaluating his environment.
What are we – afraid? In
truth there is no fear. Truth and
fear are incompatible. We should
fear only our own vicious thoughts, thoughts which are disrespectful toward our
friends, toward any person or toward our native land. There is only one fear we should have – the fear of
lying. Then there will be a
healthy moral atmosphere in our society.
What is important to a person?
How should life be lived?
Above all it is essential not to commit any acts which would injure
one’s self-esteem. It is possible
not to do very much in life, but if you do not do anything, even a little,
against your own conscience, then in this very way you will bring colossal
benefit. Even in our ordinary
everyday lives. But of course
there can also be difficult situations in life when a person has a choice
before him – to be disgraced in the eyes of those around or in his own
eyes. I am sure that it is better
to be disgraced before others, than before one’s own conscience.
