Is Everyone a Hypocrite?

In order to not be a hypocrite, you must rigidly adhere to whatever it is you claim to believe true. Your intentions should match your words, and your words should match your actions.

What you preach through speech, practice through passage.

I think most people tend to embody the definition of a hypocrite because anything superior to hypocrisy implies perfection. Perfection is an idealized, absurd beacon of human aspiration that cannot be found in a single fiber of even the most pure and awesome person. It seems the only way to not be a hypocrite might be to simply never express your beliefs to anyone other than the shared voice in your head.

To meander through life with your mouth intently sealed shut, silenced by a strip of soul-crushing (and self-applied) duct tape, you will be free of ever falling into the categorization of “hypocrite” — but it will be at the price of not telling your truth. Staying quiet is for libraries and funerals. When your inner advocate, that tiny person of humongous size within you whose voice is your own, is muzzled by apprehension… it surely becomes a funeral.

The values and visions that simmer in the Pot of your Person ache for a chance to become your Soup of Self. Let your reality brew, sprinkle the seasoning of your unique perspective, sip the sincerest version of you. Or you can avoid being a hypocrite, toss the lid on the pot, and let the hodgepodge rise in neglected vengeance until it boils over in ways that will earn you far worse labels than “hypocrite.”

I have struggled plenty with my own hypocrisies, especially since I began putting my words further out into the stratosphere of human (and especially peer) interpretation. I will sometimes second-guess myself before I express an idea of mine, out of concerns of being that “preacher” who fails in the realm of practice. There are instances where that second-guessing is healthy self-awareness and careful personal reflection. I am a flawed animal with traits I find lousy, ugly and undesirable. I understand the essence of my soul as fundamentally “good”, yet I intermittently struggle to live in tune with that goodness. I have held resentments. I have hurt people I love. I can be impatient, I can be selfish, I can be oh-so-very neurotic and I can be plenty of other things.

Each of us is a mountain under the sun. It is often a struggle for mountains to remember (because we’re mountains) that the sun takes turns beaming down on different sides of us. This always-alternating rotation of shine is what gives light to our lives, and in turn, causes us to fret over the flawed folds of our ridges caught in such intense illumination. It is in these times when we mistake the sun for an insufferable dental lamp, and second-guess ourselves in excessive romanticization of our own characters. We want to think of and know ourselves as sound spirits of admirable decency, and in our quest to prove that, we beholden ourselves to a non-human standard of that thing called perfection… that thing that has never found its way onto either side of the mountain.

Amplify that voice at your core that is dying to declare who you are. Let yourself contradict that voice from time to time, through your own impressive imperfection. Bellow your beliefs, proclaim your passions, allow the tide of your truth to finally crash. Whether or not the shore will feel where you’re coming from is irrelevant, as authenticity needs no audience!