The False People In Viyath Maga – Living The Lie Destroys One
By Shyamon Jayasinghe –March 11, 2017
Shyamon Jayasinghe
Oh My God! What a collection of intellectuals we saw at the Viyath Maga 2nd Annual conference Conference, on March 4th in Boralesgamuwa. The slogan of this movement is “professionals for a better Sri Lanka. “ Or in Sinhala, it is “Piripun Lankawak sandaha” (Towards a fully developed Lanka).
The venue was Rose Garden Hotel Boralesgamuwa. Dayan Jayatilleka has claimed a 2000 crowd of ‘professionals, entrepreneurs and educated people.’ I have seen this hall and in my estimate it cannot accomodate more than a thousand. Of course, some may have seated on the laps of others.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa admits in his speech he formed the front of these awe-inspiring intellectuals. That, somewhat let the cat out of the bag but we will come to that later.
Scrutinising the pics, I and some friends in Sri Lanka didn’t spot any significant numbers of known ‘professionals, entrepreneurs and educated people,” that Dayan Jayatilleka speaks of. I cannot say what Dayan means by ‘educated.’ But there were no noteworthy ‘formally educated’ persons in the audience. Although Dayan doesn’t think that employing the criteria of ‘educated,’ to a specific person raises inherently difficult issues, many would agree with me it does, and that the identification of an educated human animal is wrought with controversy. On the other hand, his confidence in deciding who is educated and who isn’t certainly illustrates Dayan Jayatilleka’s naivety and unsophistication.
The ‘intellectuals’ who graced the front VIP seats included Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dallas Allahapperuma, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, GL Peiris, Udaya Gammanpilla, Nivard Cabraal, former CJ Sarath N Silva, Nalaka Godahewa, Dayan Jayatilleka, Basil Rajapaksa, Bengamuwe Nalaka Thero and Ele Gunawanse Thero.
Gotabaya, in his speech twice addressed a “Janadhipthi Thuma,” and so I looked all around the picture for President Sirisena. In these times-one can never say. Not at all! Gota has forgotten his former strong-man bro has been deposed!
This gives a clue to the psychological condition of the ‘intellectual front’ that is very revealing. These are people living a lie so much so that they have come to believe in the lie.
In a research study, Winnicott (1960) and Rogers (1959) state that we all wear two selves – a false one and a true one. Oftentimes, we put on a false self before others for our protection and to keep conversation free-flowing. For example, for social etiquette purposes, it is common for us to put on a face that, ‘everything is right,’ although actually things may have fallen apart. This kind of behaviour is socially functional as it enables the to and fro of conversation. Politicians and marketers engage in pretences and even then it is acceptable. But only to a point. If one keeps building on this false image too far, without one being aware one is carried away to a psychologically pathological level of make-belief. It continues to be is a self protecting armoury to ward off one’s wrongs; but at great cost to one’s self. The false-self destroys its wearer. Not so much others, unless the wearer is in power or in control over others.
In the context of the intellectual VIPs in the front rows-they aren’t, mercifully, in power. To external observers, however, their true nature is seen in the naked. The false phenomenon becomes a naked one to the many others. The audience and wider public cannot but avoid asking questions about the true self of these posers.
Yes, self-queries simply pop up among observers. Their self-unaware nakedness is so stark that the organisers didn’t bother to create the facade in the first place. Like the fabled emperor who ‘wore,’ clothes. Officially they announced that this is an organisation of intellectuals solely to help form alternative policies. Good. But, then, why these particular former VIPs who belonged to the deposed government? Right in the front? Why let Gota come out and admit that he is among the organisers? The official organisers let this go because they are dangerously afflicted by the pathology of living the lie to such a point of no-return that the lie has become ‘truth,’ to the latter. Why create a facade when the facade is the truth?
