Two New Commandments !  

 Santosh Heleker

If I may make my own humble observations regarding the issues "du jour" of consistency and absolute truth, I would like to submit the following.

Consistency, by definition, is identified with rational thought and should have been the norm in the age of reason, if such an age had in fact fully dawned upon our world. 

Inconsistency, on the other hand, is a hallmark of a society that is given to blind faith, self-righteousness, and fanatical certitude - attributes that increasingly characterize modern politics and world affairs. 

Regarding absolute truth, the trouble is not so much a disbelief in it as it is a tendency to confuse it with one's own unshakable delusions, as epitomized to varying extents by the main political ideologies. 

Contrary to what one might expect in an age that thrives on intellectual accomplishments and technological advancements, arguments from ignorance are rampant, and irrational ideas and outlandish claims receive not just uncritical acceptance, but in so! me cases adulation and cult-like worship. 

This clearly is a weakness in our collective ability to think clearly and rationally. 

Political conventions and sectarian propaganda have been tailored to exploit this loophole in our rational mind. 

That is why people who know very little about a given contentious issue can preach with such great certitude and with such a strong sense of self-importance and self-assurance whatever they believe as the absolute truth. 

Alas, if only humility and self-doubt were the last two of a dozen commandments!