Cult of personality is denoted to the system in which a leader is very successful for to control the public through his powerful personality.In this case,the leader may be dictator,army chief and political leader who uses different mass-media channels for to express his positive and powerful image.This is also called One personality, who controls the government and nation.
Life may be described as the evaluation of the individual. Each man has to develop himself in the best and full blossoming of one’s personality is the chief aim of civilization and culture. Those social fabrics, political or moral systems which do not provide the necessary scope and facility for self-realization, for the unhampered growth of the individual are reactionary and deserve to be scrapped. Society and state, laws and religion exist for the individual though, in his own turn, the individual is expected to behave in a manner which supports and strengthens the larger community and political system to which he belongs.
Why There is Always Need OF Personality Cult
Every individual has a divine spark in him. He is expected to keep this spark aglow. It is this light which has to burn steadily and blaze his track in life. Now life is always a race, a struggle, a competition in which everybody strives to outshine and excel others. This spirit of competition puts man on his mettle, spurs him on to ever-increasing efforts It is what psychologists call clan vital, the urge to live, the will to grow. This ego is the essence of life, the fountain head of all energy; success and glory. Once the ego is dormant, real life is extinguished.
The blossoming of the ego is the consummation of mortal existence. Each man tries to develop this essence of life in his own way. But the overt fruits or the extent of this growth vary in countless ways. Basically all men are equal in the eye of law or, in a high moral and spiritual sense, the life of each one is equally sacred; the murder of a villain or a beggar is as much punishable with death as that of a prince or a prime minister. Beyond this, however, serious inequalities creep in. Men are unequal in more ways than one. Their bodies as well as minds differ. Some are physical giants, other pitiable weaklings. Some are highly intelligent, other dunce. Again, some have their heart in the right place, others are moral wrecks. One is possessed of an iron will the other is vacillating and fickle. These diversities of physique, intellect and will power create singular.
A significant outcome of these differences is that in the struggle for existence some men reach the goal earlier than others. – Some are capable of performing extraordinary deeds, which crown them with glory and fame. They shine as conquerors, public leaders, statesmen, men of letters, artists or scientists. They become famous; they command the adoration and homage of their fellow beings not only in their lifetime but even after their death. They become heroes, immortal for their success and achievement. To put it differently, y these men develop their personality to a much greater extent than others.
Cult Of Personality Is Also Has Very Close Relationship With Character And Honor of The Man’s Nature.
Personality cult, or the worship of personality is thus a factor of the highest consequences in life. Personality is another term of character. It is the force of one’s character, the strength of one’s will, the tenacity of one’s purpose which go to make a mark in life. All great men have been persons with this indefinable force, a sort of magnetism, a spell which they are able to cast on all those they come into contact with.
Napoleon’s very name worked magic in France and on his soldiers. The building up of a masterful personality is, therefore, a laudable ambition. To strengthen one’s will, to overcome hostile forces, to mold an inhospitable environment are meritorious achievements. The world would indeed by a poor place to live in, if it ceases to produce men who can thrill, command and led their fellow beings to paths of glory and honor.
Respect for a great personality is an instinctive reaction and normally this is a harmless sentiment. But hero-worship does not always remain so innocuous. The homage which we initially pay to the great is usually born out of genuine love and regard, but in course of time, this sentiment begins to assume a less desirable complexion. A hero tends to grow a legend round himself; there is a halo round him, through which few of his admirers can penetrate. Hero worship thus tends to degenerate into slavish adulation. The great man is always right; his word is law; he must be always followed and seldom criticized and opposed it is these sentiments which eventually spring from the personality cult.
Why Great Personalities Always Control The Nation
A great person is often a dazzling being. His personality emanates power and influence. Those who come within the orbit of his radiance are likely to be swept off their feet, at least in the beginning. He will dominate their minds and action. This is indeed often fatal to real progress. No man is perfect; even gods have feet of clay. There are always two Tides to a medal. No body’s opinions can be gospel truth.
Now when the great man is constantly listening to his praise and appreciation he unconsciously becomes something of an egoist, imbibes a touch of the dictator is not prepared to brook criticism and difference of opinion. It is thus that he and his uncritical admirers and supporters work out their common doom. Napoleon out-stepped everybody in his career of conquest and fame and realized only too late that the people werereally not with him. Hitler met the same fate in our own day. Greatness so-called, is often like a powerful vintage which goes to one’s head, and before the intoxication is over the man is ruined.The growth of personality is indeed necessary and useful.
But there are certain things which are higher and more precious than the greatest of personalities. These are the eternal verities—justice, love courage, truth. Social and political systems may change, men may live and pass away, but these cardinal principles go on for ever. We love great persons but we should love great principles more. Truth and justice cannot be sacrificed for the sake of the greatest of men.
Historical Examples About Cult Of Personality
And it is just this danger against which the champions of personality cult have to guard themselves. Principles and not persons should ultimately mailer in life. The greatest of men cannot be allowed to set at naught the fundamentals of life. Churchill was called to the helm of affairs at the beginning of the Second World War, because his masterful personality alone was capable of leading the British nation to victory, but the same honored leader was thrown out of office, because he could not be a leader in peacetime.
If our homage to the great is tempered with this kind of discernment and balance it proves fruitful, but in case otherwise, it lands into impossible situations. Great men strides across the world like a colossus, but they do not make the world—they are not the world. A leader must have people to lead. He cannot be a leader in a vacuum.
Again, the greatness of a leader rests largely on the kinds of people he leads. It is an illusory leadership, if he drives only a herd of dumb driven cattle. He is not a leader but a dictator, a despot. Thus though men with a towering personality have a place of their own, the men whom they led and guide have also their measure of importance . The bedrock of society, state and government consists of the common man, the man in the street. If he is slighted or ignored the most dazzling greatness of the great is a dream, a chimera.
Is cult of personality Worth In Today’s Democratic World?
The march of civilization has brought out one palpable truth. That truth is the importance of the common man. It is not the age of kings and queens, nobles and barons, heroes and dictators, but of the peasant in the field, the man in the factory, the clerk in the office. The essential significance of their lives is admitted in the democratic set up of to-day. Democracy, no matter what its precise definition is, recognizes the value of the average individual who makes the government who throw up their leaders, who, in the last analysis, constitute the state and society. It is not the time when one can just sing songs in praise of a few heroes: the real song has to be sung in regard to these common men, who make our and their destinies together.
We referred to some of the basic inequalities of men. They are hard realities, inescapable inevitable. Nonetheless, there is a significant change in men’s outlook in regard to these inequalities. At one time greatness was considered to be divine gift, or at the lowest; the imprint of one’s indomitable will. The great man was able, by sheer force of character, to overcome difficulties and obstacles and rise to the pinnacle of glory and success. To day one does not feel inclined to pay such a glowing tribute to one’s will power and personal efforts. Accent is rather laid on one’s surroundings and environment. Even in the case of the highest the spirit of the age mounds the man. There are, it is urged, myriads of heroes in the embryo, who are unable to blossom into greatness owing to want of education and other facilities.
Thus democratic age of to-day does not pin its faith so much in colonizing individual heroes as in revolutionizing the social, economic and political structure in such a way that there is a hero in every home, hut and hamlet. Indeed that is the richest and noblest consummation which the personality cult can ever desire.
