Indifference, Independence and Indulgence

The downfall of mankind spurn from these 3 dangers. Without check and balance, we might miss seeing these dangers that comfortably seep into our human lives, diluting our philosophies, attitude, behaviour, and completely rule our livelihood. They affect us in a wide magnitude - our generation, and generations to come. All these 3 dangers are easy to remember, as they begin with the letter "I", as in how we also name our ego, the big 'I'.

With indifference, one practises complacency, a care-free, if not care-less attitude. Not giving a toss about anything till it 'disturbs' the person personally. There's no placing of importance in the significance to neither traditions nor cultures. This in turn, seeps into one's respect for things in the environment and people, making one lack respect for all authorities that ranges from the government to bosses and from elders to parents. Hence, making no strong stance for anything, even from correcting wrongs from right, or injustice to justice etc.

The next escalating danger to indifference is independence. An independence from God's Will, in where one thinks that he / she has a better plan and a better idea of what's good for oneself. There's no counting of blessings, but tons of cursing of God for things that did not work out. When there's good fortune aplenty, Godliness falls out out of one's decision-making as one becomes his / her own God in all dealings - Godlessness. The main danger in this is when one becomes ungrateful and pays no tribute to God's providence in blessing one, and one feels deserving due to one's 'good works' or 'hard works'. It's funny how God works in His Will, where we represent each jigsaw piece to contribute to God's big picture. From this viewpoint, independence from God is out of the picture.

What tops the list in amongst the 3 dangers is Indulgence. All these come in the form of different types of temptations, that teases our minds and coax us into taking the actions of sin. Hence, depending on our 5 senses do not always bring us glory nor wisdom but cheap experience. Not all experiences are cheap, as some lead to the formation of wisdom. However, experiencing is not enough in making an all-rounded wise decision, Godly wisdom is needed at the end of the day. When we indulge, we are become unaware of the consequences of sin, as we just head towards satisfying our need in satiating our desires there and then. May it be temptations through the taste (i.e. gluttony etc), the sight (i.e. lusting etc), the touch (i.e. earthly pleasures to the skin), the hearing (i.e. lewd things / lies etc) or the smell (i.e. associated with lust or earthly pleasures again etc). Altogether, these can be very secular, and can be very unGodly.

None of us can say that we've never been guilty of any of the 3 'I's one way or another. Obedience to God seem to be a hard task as we need to forego so many earthly pleasures that can be so tempting. All the 3 'I's offer earthly satisfaction, as it gives us the will of being our own God over our own selves. Are we truly happy and satisfied at the end of the day? This is really a question that we need to address for ourselves.