Three Types of People
Imagine a world where all people are similar in looks and thoughts. Such a world would have been extremely dull and boring place not worth living. There would be no conflict but also no new ideas and challenges. No fun in meeting different people as everyone would be same. Someone has rightly said "If two people are identical, one of them is redundant".
It is by no chance but by design that Nature has made each one of us different so that no one is complete by itself but all individuals put together make the world a complete entity. Yet how many of us can appreciate the diversity of thoughts and actions. We almost invariably consider other people wrong, if his or her action or thoughts are different from us.
Three Natures of Man
Most religions presumed that all people have similar nature so there need to be only one path of salvation ie the unconditional devotion to God. While devotion is somewhere the easiest path to follow, yet it does not suit everyone. In the ancient philosophy of Gita, the most sacred book of Hinduism, Lord Krishna says that there are three paths of salvation. These three paths are the path of selfless action (Karma), acquisition of True knowledge (Gyana) and Unconditional Faith in God (Bhakti). He stated that people are born with different natures, and no single path is suitable for all people. Here one must choose the path based on his nature rather than the follow the path of others.
The effect of the three natures of the mankind is visible not only in the context of religion but also in every other aspect of life as it is basic to the nature of man. In the modern secular world, where the religious books have been replaced by the legal books, States expect people to have blind faith in laws just like the Pope and the Priests expected their followers to have blind faith on religion.
Blind Enforcement of Laws
Laws are made to achieve an end. People are punished for the criminal acts as these acts are against the interest of the society. Thus any law seeks to balance the welfare of the individual with the welfare of the society. Yet for some people, the enforcement of law becomes an end in itself. Some people have so much faith in the written laws that they can do anything for upholding the law without knowing the purpose of the law. This can be narrated by the help of a small story.
One officer was posted outside a temple to ensure that no person enters the temple with shoes. The temple had a law that was inscribed on the entrance of the temple gate.
Remove your shoes before entering in the temple.
The officer religiously followed the law and ensured that everyone removed his shoes before entering the temple. One person was coming barefooted from home He tried to enter the temple.
The officer stopped the man as said, "You can not enter in the temple. You have to remove your shoes before entering the temple".
The man said, "But can not you see that I am not wearing any shoes?"
"I am sorry Sir. Rule is a rule. There is no such exception in rule. entry in the temple. "
One Law: Different Views
Due to the inherent nature of the man and his state, the perspective of each person is different for the law. If we fail to understand these different perspectives of people, we may misunderstand the people and may develop a negative opinion about the humanity.
The first category of people is the masses that follow the law of the land religiously. The faith of people in laws is the most necessary requirement for the existence of any society. If the people lose faith is laws, it is likely to create anarchy in the society and weak the society. Faith in law suits most people as they do not have to apply their mind to find out the reasons or justification of the law. They just follow the law as they believe he laws to be sacrosanct. They have high moral quotient because the follow all the moral laws of the society too. They have the strongest soul but weakest mind.
Yet all people can never have faith in laws. You need some people who enforce the laws for the larger interest of society. This need is fulfilled by the people of second type ie the people having nature of "karma". They enforce the existing laws to make the society better by bringing order in the society. Such people enforce the law with best of his ability without any selfish motive as they believe that the performance of ones duty is the greatest service of State. They are the patriot of their country and heroes of the masses.
If we have only two types of people, then the world would have order but no progress as the society will soon reach the state of static equilibrium. Thankfully, nature has preferred variety to uniformity. There there are some people, who seem to defy all conventional wisdom and seek True Knowledge themselves. Einstein echoed the thoughts of such people when he said "I just want to know the thoughts of God. The rest are details." They simply can not follow any law or rules. They question every law and try to know the divine law or the True Knowledge. They are the rarest people and falls in the third category.
They face highest opposition from the society as they are very small in numbers but they have virtually everyone else against them. They are quickly branded as criminals by some and heroes by others. Yet as the time changes, their branding also changes. People like Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Mussolini were the biggest heroes of their time. Yet after they died, they became the largest villain in the world. People like Christ or Gandhi were treated as criminals and punished repeatedly in their lifetime. Yet they became national or even International Heroes subregently. In every society and every era, there are some people who are born to defy the law and rules only to discover newer laws which are more suitable for the man.
Science is No Exception
What is true for religion and statutes (State made laws) is also true for very walk of life. Science is no exception. Most people have blind faith on the "laws of science". They hate anyone who challenges these laws as if these laws had been created by God. There are other scientists who use these laws to solve the problems of man. They are the people of Karma. Finally there are scientists, who seek to know the True Knowledge. They challenge every laws of science and make new laws of nature. You can find these three types of people in every profession and every walk of life. Just think over it and try to view the world from this perspective.