Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Silent kindness is the top quality and top level of kindness”

Indicating that silent kindness benefits both parties Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said: “Silent kindness is the top quality and top level of kindness.”. Prof. Nevzat Tarhan also added: “There is an invisible kindness in silent kindness. It is a system where who does kindness is not known and the one who receive the kindness does not know. It is not one-sided but it is a two-sided kindness, and this is ideal.”. Stating that goodness and badness concepts have changes with modernism, Tarhan said “Accountability has been decreased in people. It can be asked that ‘why does a person do kindness?’. Unfortunately, that is the course of the world right now. This situation makes hedonism stand out and concepts of goodness and badness change.”. Tarhan also likened the kindness done by expecting something in return to usury.

Kindness done by expecting something in return is usury

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan made remarks on the effect of doing kindness on psychological well-being. Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said kindness is the most discussed concept within philosophy, ethical philosophy and theology.

There is no such thing as evilness, there is no existence of kindness

Expressing that, the line between badness and goodness must be know well in order to understand kindness, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said “Concepts of goodness and badness is also similar to the entropy law which is the second law of thermodynamics.  According to the entropy law, the universe goes from a regularity to irregularity. The universe gets colder. Since the universe gets colder, it will be a heat death. The universe is heated constantly with heat. Our orbit is heated by sun, milky way and stars. If it is not heated, it gets cold and that’s why, it must be heated constantly. Light and darkness are also in the same way. When there is no light, we called it darkness and they there is no heat, we call it cold. Similarly, when there is no kindness, we call it evilness. There is no such thing as evilness, there is no existence of kindness. There is no such thing as darkness, there is no existence of light. There is no such thing as cold but there is no existence of heat. Kindness must be a constantly active and in action. When kindness is not done, the evil spreads by its own. When there is no kindness, the evil is activated directly.”.

Modernism changed the concept of doing kindness

Stating that goodness concept has been changed due to modernism, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said “Modernism degraded the concept of goodness in two dead end (extreme). ‘If you do not like it is bad but if you like it, it is good. If it is suitable for your favor it is good but it is not suitable, then it is bad.’ This is what modernism teaches us now. The goodness and badness concepts taught by the West culture now degraded into that. There is no justice and it encourage to rivalry. This was promoted to have rivalry, and to realize what the one holding the power says and to increase the production. When this was encouraged, the production increased but people have become unhappy. Now, people who do not notice the poor, have appeared. There are many people who cannot access to clean water. The world leads to a serious income injustice.”.

Capitalism has become the only system

Emphasizing that this situation is a result of modernism, West culture and capitalism, Tarhan said “This situation was balanced by ‘Marxism’.  Marxism was playing an important and balancing role for the Europe to be a social state. Now, it is also disappeared and capitalism has become the only system. Now, it leads to a selfish and West-centered world. Goodness, badness and ethics have been reduced to that, as well.”.

Hedonism has become prominent

Saying a serious ethical chaos can be experienced in next years, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that “Because we changed goodness and badness concepts with modernism. The accountability decreased in people. It can be asked that ‘why does a person do kindness?’.  Unfortunately, that is the course of the world right now. This situation makes hedonism stand out and concepts of goodness and badness change.  Concepts of goodness and badness change with this regard. That’s why, silent kindness is very important. Now, we have given up on silent kindness and even though it is an act, we settle for kindness.  We are in a situation like this.”.

Silent kindness is a two-sided kindness

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan says “silent kindness is top quality and top level of kindness.” and he continued “There is an invisible kindness in silent kindness. It is a system where who does kindness is not known and the one who receive the kindness does not know. It is not one-sided but it is a two-sided kindness, and this is ideal. In our culture, there were charity stones, citizens were leaving something there and those in need would take as much as they needed. Still, this culture lives in the Anatolia. Some people pay the loans by customers of a grocery shop but it is not known by whom. It is not known to whom, as well. This is a two-sided kindness and a true silent kindness.”.

Kindness done by expecting something in return is the usury

Stating that sometimes if a person knows whom they did kindness to, they can have pride and arrogance, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said: “This risk is eliminated with silent act of kindness. We call this not being calculative but being voluntary. In a calculative kindness, there is an interest. It is like ‘if I give you chicken, you will give me goose other day.’. This is not an act of kindness. A kindness done by expecting something in return is some kind of usury because you are expecting a reward from it but a silent or random kindness is not usury.”.

The Western world teaches silent kindness

 Stating that the Western world now understands the value of act of kindness and especially silent kindness, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan also warned “They give social responsibility project courses in high schools. Students go to elderly care centers. They want students to serve there for a week and report that. Or, they demand them to go to a region in order to clean there and report that.  They demand them to go to child care centers and report their service. This is the Anatolian wisdom and doctrine of Qur’an. This is a universal understanding of prophet morals. By leaving this, it is going to darkness by getting away from the illumination.  It is getting closer to the evil by getting far from the good. If the evil goes up 50%, there will be chaos.”.

The good and bad are taught within family

Stating that concepts of goodness and badness are taught in the family, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the world becomes a place that can be lived in it thanks to goodness and continued:

“We understand the Notion of good and bad firstly from our mother, then our father. It is especially important during childhood. It is important that family and school encourages the child. There is a great saying by Mother Teresa: ‘The world becomes a place to live only by doing kindness each other.’. Kindness makes the world a livable place. I would like to give you an example: A young person working in a company attends a gratitude education randomly for self-development. That person buys a tie to their manager. Then, the manager gets surprised by this act and asks them what they benefit from it. They get shock and explains that they learned to do kindness to those who did the same in the gratitude course. He gets embarrassed but likes the idea and the manager wants to do kindness for a person he loves. Then, he decides to buy a gift for his son. His son starts to cry for the gift he received. His son gets a rope out of his pocket. He says he was thinking that nobody loved him and he was planning to hang himself that night. Act of kindness is what makes the world livable. Especially, silent kindness makes the society livable.”.

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)