Authors can't afford to be a Hypocrite

                                 DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO

The false profession of desirable or publicly approved qualities, beliefs, or feelings, esp. A pretense of having virtues, moral principles, or religious beliefs that one does not really possess.~Dictionery

In Literature such protagonists are not uncommon who are hypocrites and are abhorred by readers. Sometimes such characters are successful in worldly sense, but the author does not like to establish supremacy of vices and shows how such characters burn in the fire of hell created by their own psyche.

That is why an author cannot afford to be a hypocrite himself. If he is good, he is good, if he is bad he is bad. There is no pretension, a desire to be respected for the virtues he does not possess. Many a times the personal life of authors are controversial, even to the extent that they are considered as a threat to the society. 

Authors usually do not follow the systems built by society and they have to constantly experiment with system and values of an Individual and the Society. They become a spectator and this neutral approach is the only source of their comprehension.

Author is a proletarian and has a matter-of-fact approach to solve the riddles of life. But his readers are aristocracy whose Hippocratic  life style  is exposed and criticized and in the heart they discard such books but admire openly in clubs and bars. 

Russians have a history of condemning hypocrisy. Putin has been alleged to have "Double Standard" when he attacked the Ukraine government for attacks action against pro-Russian separatist in eastern Ukraine while he has recently signed a   law criminalizing any act of separatist.

What would be 'height of hypocrisy' or who would be a 'hypocrite of the first order' could be a matter  of perspective or cultural thing, but some countries are definitely known for  hypocrisy which is part of their Diplomacy. The secret hegemonic ambition of a country or an individual are sometime so powerful that other nations (Canada, EU) which lack self-confidence find it secure to blindly follow them, shamelessly. Whether it is stand of Russia in Crimean case  or issue of Israel in Palestine the nations have no shame for double standard since it is accepted norm of behavior from politicians all over the world.

It is so surprising to see that even Religious leadership is also behaving duplicately, which is just opposite to the task entrusted by society on them. Whether it is a Hindu Brahmin who serves as a priest or a Muslim priest or a Christian Priest, they have crossed the limits of immorality while preaching morality to the public.

Some of them have been tried in the courts for rape, molestation, cheating, child abuse and even murder, but still the majority of the population of every religion has faith in their priest. If there is God, in all probability there is, He does not need a mediation of any kind to talk to us or solve our problem.

Andrew M. Greeley was an Irish-American Priest, and he wrote many fiction and nonfiction and never used contraception for his ideas. His deadly sin series and novels like The priestly sins were severely criticized for explicitly exposing religious catholic institutions.

In the end Greely says "I am a priest..Pure and simple.." And that is what every author has to be if he wants to create literature of the first order.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Author is also Advocate at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur