“The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will punish him and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” (Matthew 24:50-51)
A 1 July 1, 2008 New York Times Science article written by John Tierny, Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves, takes a look at hypocrisy.
The good and the bad news about hypocrisy?
”‘Hypocrisy is driven by mental processes over which we have volitional control,’ said Dr. Valdesolo, a psychologist at Amherst College. ‘Our gut seems to be equally sensitive to our own and others’ transgressions, suggesting that we just need to find ways to better translate our moral feelings into moral actions.’”
In other words our behavior is a whole lot more under our control than we sometimes care to admit. We are not forced to behave and think the way we do by the devil, by bad genes or bad parenting. We have real choices to make, can actually make them, and have to be prepared to accept the consequences for the choices we make.
Why then are we hypocritical at times?
“to gain the social benefits of appearing virtuous without incurring the personal costs of virtuous behavior. If you can deceive even yourself into believing that you’re acting for the common good, you’ll have more energy and confidence to further your own interests – and your self-halo can persuade others to help you along.”
Studies do show however that despite the self interest principle which governs much of what we do, humans have an innate sense of fairness which seems to be more deeply ingrained in us, though we can intentionally block it in favor of self interest.
“But as useful as hypocrisy can be, it’s apparently not quite as basic as the human instinct to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Your mind can justify double standards, it seems, but in your heart you know you’re wrong.”
In other words, we really do have a conscience.
We always would do well to remember the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ that each person’s heart is the source of sin for each of us (Mark 7:21-23). This is why the spiritual discipline is so important: it trains the heart – it forms and transforms the heart, not just informs it.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,
and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil;
for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
July 4, 2008 at 1:11 pm
[...] A good post, as always, from Fr. Ted, here. [...]