No to natter

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent warning against mindless negativity and pessimism that, he said, are 'no good' for the country's image and that can only sap the will of the Executive reminded your columnist of the wise counsel offered by the Chinese sage, Confucius, "He who exercises government by means of virtue may be compared to the North Pole Star which keeps it place and all the stars turn towards it."

Confucius also spelt out the golden rule of reciprocity, also laid down in Bible: Love thy neighbour as yourself! Aristotle, who lived in the so-called Axial Age around the same time, had a more selfish take: our friendly feelings towards others rise from the friendly feelings we bear toward ourselves, he wrote in Nicomachean Ethics.

Adam Smith echoed the same view in The Wealth of Nations two millenniums later, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly on the benevolence of his fellow citizens."

Evolutionary biologists say our tendency to dissemble and deceive may be the obverse side of humanity's self-love. Nor does this extend only to deceiving others. The so-called atma-vanchana is also reflected in 'confirmation bias' that is our tendency to spin fictional narratives of ourselves almost automatically: the creative or healing urge may co-exist with the destructive anti-image. This takes a high toll in loss of wellness. Switch it off! Feel the radiant change!