I believe that one of our most chronic problems, both in the case of the Nicosia Turkish Municipality and throughout the country, is the absence of an “Okay, the fault is mine” approach. In fact, this is the result of our search for inner peace, driven by the urge to confirm our own beliefs and evade responsibility by blaming others…
It is possible to describe this approach as the illness of our age... There are examples from around the world on this subject, and even cases that have been decided. It may seem strange to you, but there are even behaviors that are considered illnesses when it comes to attributing responsibility to other causes and justifying one’s innocence… For example* Newham Council in England pursues Z-Un Noon over a series of parking fines. Noon becomes angry and sues the Council for causing him “emotional distress.” In the end, Noon wins the case, and the Council is ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation. It’s hard to believe, but this is possible in today’s world.
Our scientists are quite adept at creating illnesses with new terms… And rumors that pharmaceutical companies fuel and finance this expertise of our scientists are being voiced too loudly to be dismissed with “Oh, come on.” When we consider the drugs used in psychology, which are evolving day by day, the emergence of new illnesses and the consumption of drugs intended to treat them are the clearest evidence of this… It is even a fact that illnesses are developed and then drugs are developed to treat them…
In light of this, we can think of the absence of the “Okay, the fault is mine” approach—which I mentioned at the beginning and which has become chronic—as an illness. Could a medicine be developed for it, or is there one already? I don’t know… But I can’t help recalling an approach that denies all these things—that is, fault and responsibility—at their core… John Gray, Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, has this to say: “There are some decisive and many other reasons for rejecting the idea of free will. If there are causes for our actions, that means we cannot act otherwise. In that case, we cannot be held responsible for our actions either. We can be considered free only if we are the agents of our actions. But we are products of chance and necessity. We cannot choose what we will be born as. In that case, we cannot be held responsible for what we do either.*” If we proceed from this idea, it hardly seems possible to say “You are guilty” about what is happening at LTB and those who are creating the country’s problems, and/or to expect those same people to take the position, “I am guilty.” But, based on that same idea, it is also possible to say that people not being held responsible for their actions, or doing injustice to others, cannot be considered a crime. And, in the same way, it is also possible to say that the concepts of morality, justice, and truth are dismissed in Gray’s idea…
Whatever idea we take refuge in, we cannot get anywhere with the problems at LTB or in the country unless those who do wrong say, “I am guilty” and “I have not fulfilled my responsibilities,” and unless we hold those responsible to account. But if we proceed from the idea that today’s world provides the infrastructure we need to evade our responsibilities, it is all too easy to find plenty of ideas to take refuge in…
Whatever the case, there is only one truth. Conscience follows human nature, not the times. Developing ways to escape within the framework of ideas can do no more than help us get through the moment and the day. You may have evaded responsibility in the moment, driven by the urge to find inner peace, but when night comes, the pillow you lay your head on will bring you the truth and inner turmoil. If it does not, and you are not reckoning with your conscience, it is clear that you would do well to question your humanity. On the other hand, I should also point out that a medicine for avoiding a reckoning with one’s conscience has still not been found…
Regards…
Wishing you plenty of soul-searching…
\* Quoted from Michael Foley’s book “The Age of Absurdity”.