Preface

Righteousness, honesty, truth, fairness are the topics which appear to be obsolete these days. But the fact is, howsoever we avoid these topics, we come across the issue of honesty or dishonesty throughout our life.

Whenever we meet a new person or start dealing with a person, we try to form an opinion about his honesty. Whenever we see a politician making a statement, we try to assess the truth behind it. Whenever we see a high profile scandal taking primetime of TV channels, we try to find the real story. We are always trying to judge the honesty of our subordinate, spouse, children, business partner and so on.

Even in the incidents, where we are not affected by a case, our mind still wants to know the real truth. It is this deep rooted element of curiosity and inquisitiveness that makes us human. We question everything and always try to get to the real truth.

It is a general feeling that dishonesty has become widespread in present times. It has become so acceptable that usually dishonesty does not bring disrespect to a person, unless the person is caught by law or exposed in media. Though few countries have achieved high level of honesty, in large part of the world, things are not in a good shape. This trend is very disturbing, especially to thinkers and social reformers. However there is a saving grace also. The movements against corruption have been getting a lot of voice and support by the public. Many heinous crimes committed by the influential people have met proper justice due to public protest and media support. This is a clear sign that this issue of rising dishonesty has high concern in the mind of public. Public is also well aware that it has affected the life of common man very badly. So, all is not lost and we can still be optimistic for future.

One reason for such widespread dishonesty is the highly dynamic social life of today. In earlier times of small towns or villages, social circle was very close knit and almost constant for whole life. Thus one was highly concerned of social stigma of being stamped as dishonest. There was also a culture of social boycott of people/families for the wrong deeds done by them. In present time of frequent change of residence, fragmented families and online socialising, such mechanism of encouraging honesty are missing.

While pondering on the issue of rising dishonesty, many questions arise in our mind. Are human beings basically honest or dishonest? Which path is the best to follow for a human being? What affects dishonesty bring on society and individual? Can honesty be infused in humans only by fear of God and the fear of sufferings after death? Can honestly come in humans as a natural introspection and maturity? Do dishonest people really suffer, as is said in moral books? Can a person be honest to a group of people and highly dishonest to other group? Does the honesty of person varies from time to time and situation to situation or is a broad constant?

Can humans be categorised in two categories of black and white on the issue of honesty or most of us are in the grey range? Can dishonesty be categorised in many levels ? Can spiritual self realisation bring honesty in humans? Does prosperity of society or an individual bring honesty? Can honesty be ensured by a strong legislation and legal system? Is it possible to reverse the trend in society, where dishonesty now does not bring disrespect? There are such numerous questions, which all of us come across frequently .

Based on life experiences and observation of others life, an attempt has been made in this book to analyse all the above questions. This book is not a traditional morality book, where the fear of God or some hidden power or some miraculous phenomena is given as the prime reason for us to be honest. Instead, the book tries to analyse all practical aspects related to dishonesty and honesty. However, it is also not the intention to undermine or disrespect the religious beliefs, such as ‘God as supreme Justice of the universe’ or ‘Rebirth’. They are not discussed in this book due to lack of enough evidence to establish such beliefs. The attempt has been made to make an honest examination of dishonesty/honesty and not to put a idealistic stand, thus letting the reader analyse and make his own opinions.