Abe in the World Society

A Social Conscience

There are folks who speak plainly … resulting in a transparency that spares nothing and takes no prisoners. They are the honest Abes of the world … and often decry the vain attempts of others at protecting pride and reputation. Its a great instrument for the individual … but … is sometimes … a thorn in social relations. On account of that … it experiences a rejection by others … on occasions when such honesty may be deemed inappropriate.

As a society … we have for a long time practiced a standard of decorum … that provides for a subtle promotion of the socially polite … as against the socially honest. It adheres to the rule of the social organization … that we are collectively subscribed … for a common good … and that discretion is the better part of valor.

The Indics gave a name to that personality. He's called Nakula … translated as ' the tongue of the wheel ' … or in other words … as the word that moves the affairs of men. Unfortunately … as one of the Pandava brothers in the war … he earned the irk of his brothers … by advising the enemy how to win the war. There are those of us who identify with that position … and know from our experience … what a boss or supervisor … thinks of us … as the one who gives it away.

In today's lexicon … such people are called … ' whistle blowers ' … and their attitude of fair play … extends to a point … where it may even endanger their own personal safety. However when we are afflicted by such an attitude … we are enraged by the way everyone manages a fair share of the experience of public good … to benefit themselves. As such the whistle blowers feel that they are correcting the balance … and bring some help to the underdog.

Such Nakulas in society bring another equally fascinating practice … in the engagement of love. They feel that they are themselves … the architects of the love impulse in them … and bring that love into expression … out in the open … in a clear declaration of the worthiness of the object of love. So true is the basis of the belief … to the object of love … that they will go on loving that object … until they crash into a wall of apathy.

That would imply therefore … that love has a basis in reason … whether we are aware of it or not. And someday if we had cause to search for that reason … we will find it … as the intelligence of creation … contained in our minds as fact. We realize it too late sometimes … for it to do any good … but we realize its because … we had moved away from the Nakula in us … on account of his blatant honesty.

In the global environment … this makes for some poignant accounts … that would be funny if not for the fact that they can also be deadly. At a lunch meeting … between my visiting Minister of Trade … and American business executives … I was asked by an American V-P of a leading bank … how he might address the minister. I told him what we call him … Tengku … meaning … Prince … because he was also a member of the royal family. The man stared at me without blinking. Realizing the situation for what it was … I then told him the minister's name.

In the tensions surrounding the Ukraine at this time … we come to understand the reasons such a situation develops. Ukraine wanted to join the EU. Their ruling government was unable to comply with the conditions set by the EU. Their citizens looked at the situation for what it is … and figured it was the old attitudes regarding Russian superpower status. They dumped the government. The Russian political administrators … took that as a slap in the face … flexed their military into a show of force … accepted Crimea's admission as an autonomous Russian state … and are doing eyeball to eyeball with the Ukrainian people.

It appears clear that … whether its a personal situation … or a world's stage … the issues behind the occurrences of events … are not far away from the personal nature of love and its variations. Its the nature of the specie … and the American people give a hand to such causes every where … as a statement of personal right and freedom to expression. No doubt that is a worthy cause … and reflects the American view of the matter … as important.

In doing so … humanity is squeezing in the cause of Honest Abe aka Nakula … as a part of the social decorum in today's world … as compared to the world of social politeness we observed before. As a political instrument … the cause of love comes back to our societies … home and family … to test the strength of our convictions. We need to be prepared.

The Oriental marries by offering tea to his future in-laws. Its an age-old custom … drawn from our decision making to love … between a man and a woman … that finds a variation in the Japanese tea ceremony. From blood … we get the intimation that they first exchange flowers … then some sweet cakes … and then an exchange of gifts. Thereafter they recite a poem … to each other … that expresses their view of the relationship they are entering into. Then they take a bath together and go home. Its the marriage of psyche and eros.

In the decision making they arrive at thereafter … they do so with … as complete as possible the intimations about the other … where such intimations form the basis … to enter into a love relationship. Thereafter we adopt the expressions of the other … and assume it true and entirely consistent with our own … until proven wrong. Its the love arrows of the Adonais. Its the same way that a man of faith … decides that the world is worthy of love … and makes a commitment to life.