by Paul Wolfe

The dictionary defines hypocrisy as “the practice of claiming moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.” This points to one of Vernon Howard’s basic teachings: mankind is divided within himself, and until he resolves this division, he cannot know peace.
Because we are spiritually asleep, we suffer. This sleep means living under the influence of different “I’s” — the passing thoughts and feelings we unconsciously listen to and mistake for ourselves. A new thought enters unnoticed, and because we are unaware, it takes us over. This explains hypocrisy at a basic level.
The way out is to observe what is happening within the mind from moment to moment. This is what the work seeks to teach us; we can become free from hypocrisy and every other form of inner suffering if we strive to understand higher principles. It’s very painful to live with claims of having virtues we don’t possess, because deep down we know we’re lying to ourselves. Mr. Howard reminds us that this is “long, hard work.” But what better use could I make of this life?
In Inspire Yourself, p. 43, it says, “Hypocrisy is a condition in which a man wrongly believes that mechanical knowledge is the same as a changed nature.” What we seek is a changed nature — not merely the idea or a fantasy of one.
In Pathways to Perfect Living, p. 42, Vernon Howard says, “There is a cosmic law against hypocrisy, but if a human one existed, everyone would have to rush out and arrest everyone else.” The work also teaches that when we overcome our own hypocrisy, we become free from the effects of other people’s hypocrisy. Ultimately, that is the purpose of the work: to be free — free from the falseness of this world and from the falseness of our own inner world.