Holier Than Thou

This is so much more than an attitude displayed by the religious, all though I'll admit that given the obvious reference, they might have been the progenitors of it. "Holier than thou" is a reference to an attitude that ones morals make them better than others, and the interesting thing about it is that it applies to so many more situations than religion. I've seen people in academia with a holier than thou attitude, I've seen those in athletics with a holier than thou attitude, I've seen artists with it, and most ironically, I've seen many atheists and agnostics with it. My most recent encounter with someone displaying this demeanor was one that I recounted in my entry "Duality" and I feel like that's worth going further into depth on. The context here would be in terms of recovery philosophy, and like I said, the holier than thou mindset can be seen in all aspects of life. In a nutshell, the individual I encountered believed that his way of approaching addiction recovery was superior and the fact that another individual wasn't doing what he was, indicated an inferior approach. To say that he made this known would be an understatement, but it was such a clear cut example of the holier than thou mindset that I couldn't resist dissecting it. The fundamental problem with this mindset is the failure to recognize that in terms of achieving something, there is often more than one way to go about it. There are many different roads that could lead to a certain accomplishment, whether that be staying clean and sober, finishing school, or even getting into "heaven" or whatever understanding of an ideal after life that you have. Obviously I can't talk about this mindset without going into the subject of religion. Growing up in a Catholic household, I didn't actually see that much holier than thou rhetoric. I did see some, but it wasn't until high school that I encountered the true extent of the logical fallacy. Throughout my four years at my catholic high school, I encountered many people who thought of themselves as superior to their peers because of their faith, and this had a profound effect on me. Because of all of that, I still have a slight aversion to religion to this day, but at the same time, I recognize that the attitude isn't universal among the religious. In fact, the only reason I know that there is a technical term for the "holier than thou" mindset is because of one of my catholic religion teachers. That technical term is moralism. She had a whole section of the class dedicated to making clear the differences between morality and moralism, which I found very enlightening, however it seemed that it fell on deaf ears when it came to some of my peers. For the sake of fairness, I will concede that much of what I experienced in high school was a result of immaturity, and that many of those same peers have grown since then, which has been wonderful to see, however it's not the universal case. Thinking you are superior to others because of what you believe is not a phenomena confined to religion, not in the slightest, and I should talk about that as well. Pretty much any institution or group that has an extensive dogma will have moralistic individuals within its ranks. I've seen this time and time again, and it never fails to irritate me. Throughout much of my life, I believed that I disliked religion, but there came a point when I realized that it wasn't necessarily religion that I had a problem with, but rather it was fanaticism which is something that can be found in every corner of life. I recognize value in many things, but temperance is something I see as especially important. Humility is another trait I strongly admire and try my best to emulate, so naturally moralism is something that doesn't strike a positive chord with me. Believing that adherence to a certain dogmatic thought makes you superior to others strikes me as something only a weak minded person would do, not only that, but it's something a person with a shallow worldview would do, making it a demeanor that I dislike all the more. A "holier than thou" mindset only occurs in those who refuse to acknowledge that there is a bigger picture outside of what they know. It deals in the realms of those with a small mind and those who have no intention of widening their lens. I was considering ending this entry right there, but then I would have left out a really crucial aspect of the topic, which is my own hypocrisy. If I were to conclude this discussion without acknowledging my own imperfections, I would have failed in completely covering the subject. I'll admit that I've been guilty of moralism in some senses. Perhaps I haven't done so in a significantly public manner, but I have been guilty of it in private. I'll admit right here and now that I've thought of myself as better than others because of my ability to see things that I believe should be obvious. Let me be plain, I'm not a genius, I'm not a philosopher, and I'm not perfect. Reminding myself of that is the only way to ensure that I don't partake in the very practices that I decry.