Going Against One’s Conscience
A man’s greatest mistake is turning a deaf ear to his conscience. This is akin to morally killing oneself. Moreover, when the voice of conscience is finally silenced, one’s soul, too, will utter its last gasp.
During the last days of his life, Arnold Toynbee, the renowned British historian (1889-1975), once said that the staking of the claim by the Jews to Palestine as their historical homeland was like the Red Indian tribes asking for the return of Canada. The Jews have written innumerable books against the atrocities perpetuated by the Nazis, but the barbarous treatment meted out by the Jews to the Palestine Arabs is exactly as that meted out by the Nazis to the Jews.
This statement was made by Toynbee in Canada when Herzog was the Israeli Ambassador to that country. Herzog invited Toynbee to a discussion with him on this subject, after which a function was held at McGill University in which both took part. On this occasion, Herzog stated that the German Nazis had killed 6,00,000 Jews, whereas the number of Arabs made homeless in Palestine was negligible in comparison. He asked how both of these events could be treated on par.
In his answer, Arnold Toynbee said that what he had meant to highlight by comparing the atrocities committed by the Nazis on the one hand and the Jews on the other was not the actual death toll but the nature of the crime. One does not have to commit hundreds of murders to be a murderer. A single murder is enough. “I wonder why my words so offend you? I have said just what your conscience is saying.”
The voice of our heart is unfailing in speaking the truth. So, when someone rejects the truth, he, in reality, rejects himself. What causes an individual to do so? It is mainly stubbornness, partiality, and the desire always to appear correct, even when he is in the wrong. Therefore, whenever a man utters such false words, his heart bears witness to their hollowness.
A man’s greatest mistake is turning a deaf ear to his conscience. It is like making oneself a witness to his criminality. How strange is this moral deprivation! However, when a man’s insensitivity becomes extreme, he considers the outcome of this deprivation to be his victory. While morally, he is killing himself, he imagines that he is giving himself a new lease on life. When the voice of conscience is finally silenced, the soul, too, utters its last gasp.
