In the liberated and affluent societies of the West, and for the
relatively underexposed and simple people of the East, ‘solace
selling’ and marketing is done in the way the people of that culture
will fully appreciate and buy into. Dr. Khalid has covered this aspect
in a lucid manner. That Dr. Khalid chose to expose the underworld of
faith and belief reveals the humane and mystic side of his own nature.
For, were it not so the study would go un-noticed and the discussion
would be incomplete. Handling the topic thus also gives it a corrective
moral angle, and acts as a ‘warning system’ to the innocent and blind
followers of the ‘Truth traders’.
“Most
pseudo-mystics whether from the East or the West have cultish
personalities. They use their charm and charisma to hypnotize people and
paralyze their independent thinking and critical judgment. Their victims
become vulnerable to the irrational demands of these gurus and following
them blindly. Such pseudo-mystics discourage rational, logical,
objective and analytical thinking, instead using reference material that
cannot be objectively tested by scientific methods.,”
This is the whole purpose of the
exercise, for otherwise they would be challenged and exposed before they
can fill their pockets with material or non material wealth. By non
material wealth I mean the wealth of power over the minds and souls of
the needy and the innocent.
Further along the article Dr. Khalid says, “Finally
a stage comes when pseudo-mystics and their institutions lose control
and violence can erupt, either generated within the group or related to
conflict with the law. Disciples realize that they have been part of a
cult and have been badly misguided. Sometimes the process might take two
generations as children have been brainwashed by their disciple parents.
The cult makes every effort to censor and edit anything written against
it. The dissenters are penalized, persecuted, and some cases, killed. It
may finally become apparent to the disciples they have been dealing with
spiritual psychopaths who had been using spirituality to control and
exploit”. Truth has its own mystique and its own
ways. It finally shines through connivance and deceit, for, I am of the
belief that the Nature works on simple and honest principles which
finally shatter all else, and honesty prevails through the clouds of
dishonesty and deceit, for were it not so the whole basics of the
creation would lose all meaning and both the created and the creator
would be living in a sort of a deceitful pretence –Where the Creator
would be trying to befool the created and it in turn trying to joke with
the other.
Dr. Khalid says of the pseudo-mystics that,
“They proclaim,
“God
told me to do so.”
“I had
a sacred dream.”
“I had
a special revelation.”
Perhaps they genuinely believe it, just as a mendacious liar begins
to believe in his own sayings.
Taking lesson from the above I feel that It is faith and belief that
control and direct our lives and we can finally become what we choose
and believe in.
Regards
Ziauddin Ahmed
