Tsay Miri/ ch.5, p.136/ summer56

"Happiness is what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony" (Mohandas K. Gandhy, Hindu religious leader and social reformer).

I think the meaning of this saying is difficult to identify at first. However, if we figure it out it may become a golden rule of our lives. In my opinion, Mohandas K.Ghandi wanted to say by this that it is important not to lie to yourself, so that your actions would be coherent with your thoughts. For example, imagine that you decided to go on diet for 2 weeks and lose some weight. You are full of determination and  gave yourself a word that you won't give up. But then after a few days you had a "cheat meal" because you craved for some carbons. You might have thought that a few carbons won't harm but after eating them guilt starts pervading your whole being. Why?  Because you just deceived yourself .You know that you shouldn't have done it because you promised not to. Your actions didn't follow your thoughts and harmony was destroyed, so now you have an internal conflict.

It is not difficult to define whether you live in harmony or not. Are you doing something sneaky when nobody can see you? Do you claim things that you don't believe just because you want to be perceived as someone else? If you answered "yes", probably there are some inconsistencies in your life. Even if it is just a small thing like example that I provided above it is necessary to work on it. The smaller incongruities are probably no more than small cracks in a foundation. But you wouldn't buy a house with cracks in foundation. Things and actions that do not coexist in harmony confuse us and lead to a very negative consequences.

Nevertheless, life is complicated and sometimes we have no choice but to lie to ourselves and to others for better purpose. Good example can be manners and politeness. I think that there are universal good manners that all encourage white lie to some extent. We lie to others because we don't want to hurt other people's feelings. But it is not that easy to define the boundaries of the white lie. Sometimes we think that we deceive because we want to protect the person from unpleasant truth, but is it always the case? I think that many times people just afraid of the consequences for themselves and reaction of others if they know the truth. As far as I am concerned I believe that white lie is acceptable when we truly care for others. Only that way we can maintain more or less stable harmony within ourselves and others.

In my short essay I wanted to provide a personal perspective on the saying of M.K. Ghandy. I want to conclude that we should always make efforts to become a better people for ourselves and others. It is important to know when you can tell white lie and when you should act coherently with your thoughts. That way you will be able to change yourself and influence others for better lives.