Preet Mohan Singh Ahluwalia

SikhSpectrum.com wishes you a Happy 2003. It has been a pleasant experience to publish this ezine for the past several months. We thank you for taking the time to visit us. We are pleased to inform you that SikhSpectrum.com got over two-hundred fifty thousand visits since the inaugural issue.

Watching Oneself When Alone

Analyzing the developments in China from 1937 to 1949, David S. Nivison ¹ in his paper Communist Ethics and Chinese Tradition has attempted to show how protagonist of the Communist revolution incorporated ethics and traditional Chinese philosophy to further their ideology.

One such principle effectively adapted is the Confucian ideal of “watching oneself when alone.” It is not my intention to discuss the paper. I will, however, apply the rule in a different context.

Confucius Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholars Program and East Asian Studies.

Nivison attempts to define the Confucian doctrine. According to him:

“The test of a really morally superior man is in his behavior, his speech and thought, in circumstances when these can be known only to himself.

If in such circumstances he still never departs even in the slightest from the way of virtue, he is fully self-cultivated; he has realized completely the total importance of the Tao; he has attained “sincerity,” through being able to ‘watch himself when he is alone.’”

To explain the idea further the author quotes a Chinese writer Ming-ts’ao who exemplifies Wen T’ien-hsiang, a Sung patriot captured by Mongols in the thirteenth century.

“The Mongols imprisoned him in Peking three years altogether, frequently trying to persuade him, hoping he would submit. Such was the respect the Mongol emperor Khublai had for him.

But all this could not shake in the least his ironlike resolution, and to the very end he serenely held to his principles. This is the model of ‘watching oneself when alone’!”

As in the case of Wen T’ien-hsiang, the behavior of self-cultivated people is influenced by true knowledge for they have developed “firmness and moral integrity which riches cannot corrupt, poverty cannot alter and terror cannot suppress.” The essence of self-cultivation is the unity between theory and practice. To know and not act accordingly is self-deception, and to rationalize it is moral cowardice.

Advertising and the Need for Self-Cultivation

Nowadays, advertising is perhaps the most creative way of influencing human behavior. It is an essential part of any business and is needed to create a market for the product. As goods become more innovative and competitive, differentiating one brand from the other gets harder and advertisements become more persuasive.

All means are employed to reinforce the “desire” by controlling and manipulating our senses – audio, visual, and touch. In the Republic Socrates explains that rhythm and melody are more powerful than words and that control over music is control over character. The truth in Socrates’ observation is evident in the modern context of advertisements, which tend to successfully employ both audio and visual techniques.

Whether it is a savvy corporation or one culture trying to assimilate another both use similar tactics to overpower the youth. The message we see and hear is: "Young and oppressed." The solution: "Come to us; we will liberate you." A cleverly choreographed commercial is employed to create a demand. If it succeeds then a mass of young men and women accept it with unquestioning obedience.

Young people are often times confused and overwhelmed by messages they see and hear and find themselves unable to make the right choice. More often it is the parental values that come in conflict with external stimuli. With the increasing numbers of teenage suicide, violence, and spread of disease, people worldwide are becoming aware of the media and its role in promoting a culture detrimental to the growth of a safe and healthy society.

A TIME report² published in early 2002 notes that alcohol abuse has risen among college students in the United States. It further states that since 1999 some 16,000 men and over 19,000 women took alcohol abuse screening at federally funded centers in 400 colleges across the nation. Among women there was a 150% increase in “unplanned sexual activity”, date rapes, and assault while intoxicated.

Cigarettes and second hand smoke kill more people annually than AIDS, drug abuse, alcohol, and road accidents combined. While abundant information is available that highlights risks of smoking and in spite of massive federal and state organized campaigns to educate teenagers against the use of cigarettes and alcohol, surprisingly, the number of young people joining the ranks of habitual smokers is on the rise. According to some reports teenagers are more susceptible to cigarette advertisements than adults.³

Under these circumstances what choices do young people have? Whether it is smoking, alcohol, or teenage sex the urge to fit in under peer pressure takes its toll. To say “no” is to invite ridicule and possible isolation. This is the most difficult decision a young man or woman is expected to make. In a culture where a life of abstinence is not rewarded, how does one resist the temptation?

Many parents are themselves responsible for leading their children astray. This is true for some first generation immigrant families where once the family acquires wealth and “status” the elders vicariously live a spent youth through the unrestrained lives of their sons and daughters. Many of us might know of people who fit this description.

It would be misleading to leave the impression that all is bad with the advertising world. It is encouraging to note that through this medium information on disease and possible cures can be disseminated to a larger population. Take the case of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. A recent report issued by the Human Sciences Research Council⁴ states that 80% of the respondents were aware that HIV causes AIDS and consequently young people aged between 15 and 24 years are changing their sexual behavior. Twenty-three percent have decided to give it up altogether and the vast majority of those questioned, report one partner in the past year.

According to Nivison, “self-watchfulness” is not a rule but a goal to achieve. By always questioning ourselves: What kind of person am I? What am I doing? In what respects am I distinguished from other people? The need is to develop self-consciousness, which is the existence of our true self. It is to live a life of discipline.

“We cannot be Puritans, everywhere aloof, hardening our countenances so that we are repulsive to other people, but must be able to live together and yet not let ourselves be infected by the bad habits of the old society; we must enter into the stream but not be contaminated by it."⁵

Have fun in 2003, and "watch yourself when alone."


Comedy

"True comedy celebrates the victory of good over evil, of right over wrong. It honors creation, not ridicules it. But, to some with a prejudiced mind, Comedy is to mock and belittle ‘others’, and a tool to spread hatred and lies," writes jetty Singh.