Psychopaths - Who is the Judge?

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( April 29, 2013, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘The psychopath’s role in the modern office environment’ by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

Dr. Abeyratne states ‘Psychopaths in today’s offices (corporate and governmental) are a common sight. Not even inter-governmental organizations, which offer a reasonable degree of job security are spared. These snakes in suits inveigle their way into a job by disingenuously presenting themselves as hard working corporate saviors and later abuse their colleagues trust, carry tales to the management and manipulate supervisors.’

Most of the above is about the effects by the actions of Persons who are labeled psychopaths. If an individual is thus named – even governments who demonstrate such characteristics / Gunas need to be thus labeled so we would have a Common path of assessment and judgment from bottom to top. As per the above description most of us carry the psychopathic gene. Where there is a person who demonstrates the above qualities – and the victims did not consciously expect to share in the loot when the psychopath was working hard – then those victims have idle minds in terms of that institution / community. They were not for or against consciously but shared in the profits of such behavior through the institutional position. These idlers contribute strongly to negligence. There is little value in their higher education if they fail to think for themselves and develop a natural opposition to the schemers. Applied at National and International levels - militants accuse governments of this kind of bad conduct. But to the extent the People idled and shared in the loot – the People caused the outcomes. The Government is only a medium where the people are active in self governance. Likewise any workforce. Where People idle – they become the medium of the Government for better or for worse.

Dr. Abeyratne defines ‘A psychopath is a dysfunctional person who suffers from moral depravity which deprives them of a sense of ethics and instills in them a disregard of the rights of other people’

We need ‘ethics’, law and common principles to regulate our conduct, thoughts and attitudes. When we regulate our thoughts and conduct through common principles / road-rules we would minimize hurting others. Hence we need strong structures. Truth is the highest regulator known to us. One who thinks within the boundaries of her/his Truth would have a stable mind that includes others as part of her/himself and/or part of her/his group. People who are not committed to Truth and / or common principles are likely to act as per their convenient thinking and if they hold positions that carry authority over others who do think through common principles and/or Truth – the actions of those who do not fit their positions would seem psychopathic as defined above. To those who do not contribute to such systems but work outside as per their personal thinking – the actions of the psychopath would be opportunities to take revenge or to make business out of . Then there is no room for psychopath to grow but chaos with little trace of institutional behavior.

Institutions / families are structures that help us formulate and conduct ourselves as per common principles and values. Towards this, placement of the best person for the position is essential. Those who have held those positions before us and feel ownership in the institution/family through that position are naturally the best qualified to recruit for that position. Their conduct that elevates the status of that position and the institution should be included in the new structure of that position. These simple measures would ensure reasonable harmony in families/institutions/nations. As per the Hindu religion – we make our applications successfully to the system of Natural Justice and hence are born in environments where we have better or worse experiences as per our contribution to Oneness. Similarly those of us who migrate on the basis of Truth.

My social position in Sri Lanka was/is much higher than it is here in Australia. In Sri Lanka social positions are strongly influenced by professional positions as well. Here in Australia, once I realized that I was not rewarded as per merit even by supervisors I respected highly – my Truth said I was in the wrong environment to give form to my true work. The last test was at the University of New South Wales where I was arrested for seeking to give democratic form to my work – as was required by the Selection Criteria. The passage sent to me from a Diaspora mate in the UK confirms the reason why such pain happens to good performers:

[“We all share in the trials of life together….Without an understanding of Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of happiness and the Saviour’s Atonement as the central feature of that plan, these challenges could seem unfair….The Atonement gives us the assurance that all things that are unfair in this life can and will be made right.”

Linda K. Burton Relief Society General President

Christians say, when Jesus died on the cross –it was unfair that he should die when he hadn't done anything wrong. But - it was God's way of ensuring we could be with Him. ]

Yes, Jesus had the power to save Himself from death. But in His natural social position at that time at that place – death was the natural outcome and Jesus accepted that. I responded to my Diaspora friend as follows: ‘Last year I went with a friend of mine to meet Mr. Somasundaram and his Manager Mr. Raja who practice pranic healing. I went because of my friend Yasmin who was helpful to me during the graduation ceremony for the young graduates from Jaffna who trained with Iceman at Kandana. I allowed myself to be 'treated' by Raja - which was largely - with me sitting there doing nothing and Raja using the crystal in the space around me. At the end of it I said it felt good - as if I had had a massage but that I did not think I would go through the process again due to lack of time. The following morning - during meditation I was able to move my upper body much more than I could before the pranic healing process and I was able to sit up straighter than I had previously. I then rang them and fixed another appointment and went through a few sessions. I read their brochure and learnt that their guru worked by connecting to the energies that existed in nature. Our intuition likewise gives us that connection. That way we heal each other. That is also the reason why Jesus died . Our feelings for Him would then heal those who are wanting in the strengths we have. If a bad person is hurt - we would not feel with that person. The outer experience may seem identical - but for the bad one it is punishment and for the good one it is protection and redemption for others without inner Divine strength, from being punished unjustly.’

Jesus as we know Him today – is in the position He Himself restructured through His Truth.

In contrast – Buddhist priests who are expected to conduct themselves as Buddha would have conducted Himself , have demonstrated that their Buddhist structure is crumbling. An example of them downsizing their social position was also shared within the Diaspora as follows:

‘Mervin/BBS Meeting

Perhaps the government has sent in their official Action Man in the person of Mervyn, well-known keeper of law and order and stickler for maintaining harmony in the country. ………………………………………………

Sirasa TV News at 7.00pm on 6th April, 2013 carried it, but not repeated at 10.00PM.

Watch the video......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3gKvo-fAK4’

The key to natural upward restructure is through the path of Non Violent Non Cooperation – the path highlighted by Gandhi. Once we react – we come down to the level of the other person. We thus demote ourselves and the social positions held by us – as demonstrated in the above episode by Buddhist monks. These monks would therefore weaken their natural and intuitive connections with those who believe in the Divinity of Buddha. Those who undertook to be Buddhist monks undertook the responsibility to be the children of Buddha and not the deputies of any Ruler. Religious leadership is equal to political leadership in a strongly structured society.

Dr. Abeyratne states ‘The typical snake in a suit is a person who knows he cannot advance in his career through performance and merit.’

Often even those who cannot advance due to the limitations of their supervisors also qualify as per the above ‘looks’. Ultimately we need to know that we have performed as per our understanding of our position requirements. That would go towards strengthening our position its current structure. All efforts beyond that level, need to be considered ‘facilities’ and every person who gives structure to those facilities is entitled to be considered an owner – and no longer just a paid employee. Such a person has the full authority to question on ownership issues - a CEO who is yet to make such a contribution through the CEO position. Likewise citizens including migrants who have practiced the law applicable to their official positions – beyond the required level. Thus a migrant could question a politician who is yet to perform as per her/his position – even though those of majority group / race do not. Usually those who benefit from the leadership position’s closeness to themselves are not likely to question the leader. This is the lesson I shared with those at the University of New South Wales – through Peaceful Assembly. If not for that ‘facility’ I developed, I would not have had the strength to remain Peaceful and would have reacted to the Security and the Police and given them a legal reason for the punishment they gave me. I remained Peaceful even in prison and when threatened with enforced medication for mental illness I still opposed it non-violently and actively sought Divine Guidance. I connected to my own investment in the good medical forces within the University of New South Wales as well as in my family – especially my husband who communicated to the authorities that I was highly valued by the Medical Faculty of the University of New South Wales.

Measuring what happened as stated above, through the definitions provided by experts - all of the above persons involved in punishing me would also qualify as psychopaths. Yet, unless they caused it all solely by themselves – they are co-contributors to psychopathic actions. If all those actions were carried out by a single person without any outside influence – s/he qualifies to be called a psychopath. I do not know of any such person. When it is the system – we are also responsible due to our enjoyment of benefits from that system. In other words most of us are psychopaths and some of us have the cure by working to contribute beyond the requirements of our position to feel ownership and include those psychopaths as part of ourselves –where they would be tame without opposition. Our earnings would balance the excessive benefits enjoyed by the idlers and as a group / family / institution / community / nation – we would not suffer from the effects of psychopathic qualities. Ultimately – those qualities themselves need to be cured by the individual. No external force could do that.