Self-Righteousness is one of the most important virtues for a peaceful and happy life. Nothing personal, everyone has a different belief. Somewhere inside you, there should be a strong feeling that you have never wronged a fellow person and you have been brave enough to stand up for you beliefs. This keeps the fighter inside you alive and helps in happily facing all the troubles head-on, and it's awesome! I have never been a very happy child. There always have been something else that I desired, maybe I never really made a strong choice for myself, maybe I looked out for people's opinion too much - after all, too many options is always a mess. Somewhere in my heart I have known what exactly is going to make me happy; I just never listened to that feeling. I somehow almost always let it slip, giving in to the other lusts. Today I stand, on the same cross-roads, having the happiness in my sight, aware of the fight lurking around it - knowing I will have to be selfless and let it slip.
I think I am killing the self-righteousness myself. If someone asked me to decipher the meaning, I would simply say - doing right to yourself. The society, should it really come into picture? Is it “Social-Righteousness”, another make-belief concept to keep things in order? Since the beginning of social history, people have been trying to bind others and domesticate them to behave in a set pattern. I think they have succeeded at many level; somewhere at such deep a level that society actually sits on it’s feces and feel that it’s the most wonderful time! People actually are unhappy and still pursuing the same path just to tag along the crowd that will someday be indifferent to them. There is a lot of chaos and a lot of sparks, someday this will rot away the chains – maybe not in my time, but it will.
Ayn Rand is one person whose philosophies I have actually liked. I have always said “you cannot make people close to you happy until you yourself are in that state”. If I start thinking on those lines, the only way to be self-righteous is to be selfish. It’s not being selfish in a way which means going out and taking advantage of others, but in a way that uplifts your whole being and makes you feel alive with passion. All the social good, charity, prayers, selfless acts are worthless if it’s not fulfilling your ultimate moral goal, and that goal can never be pleasing others. People have been trying so hard to get other’s approval that they somehow have designed pathway to make themselves look brighter, no matter how dark they actually are. The whole act of selflessness is the most selfish things you’ll ever do to yourselves.
I used to say - happiness is over rated. The usual bollywood drama - all the intense romantics - although I have been able to connect it to some part of my life, I never really believed that a special someone can have the power, so deep, that they can leave a rift in your soul. Life is too short for that serious part; there are so many things to do, ‘variety being the spice of life’. I stand corrected, there aren't. There are good things and there are distractions. Distractions are like a 5-minute joy ride in a amusement park; making you happy and bringing you back to reality. Good thing is like water – it will always be the same and it will always give you an unsaid satisfaction of varied degrees. I have always desired an intensity in moments, be it a tight embrace or the sparkling eyes that makes one feel that no words will ever be required. I know how the emotional hollow inside me will level but I also know that I will have to be selfless one last time. There will be a change and top rules will be – Be Selfish, Be Happy and Be Right. Guys, make yourself happy first and bring same to others in your own ways. The world can use a lot of originality, that space will never run out. Cheers!
