On Life 9 – the Experiment – January, 17, 2014

   On Life we are to continue our dialogue, on the way of life we have to obtain vision and knowledge of what we do and how we do it. I will clarify what I mean through a story I read and it gets controversial around the whole world.

   A famous American Psychologist, “Philip Zimbardo” executed and experiment that gained huge fame and was called, “The Prison of Stanford University”. In his experiment, he divided a group of his students into two groups. One of them played the role of the prisoners and the others acted as jailers. The place of executing this experiment was in the vault of the University of Stanford which was prepared for the experiment and divided into separate rooms, so that it would look like a prison.

   Philip has done his experiment perfectly that he made its incidents resemble the truth. Even the students who played, “prisoners” were taken from their homes on the hands of the “Jailers” who wore police officers’ outfit. The only rule of the game was that there were not limits for the jailers. They can take whatever action they wish without being liable for any kind of questioning whatsoever.

   The outcome of the experiment was a catastrophe in every way possible and it raised a wide moral debate in all scientific communities. The jailers have totally altered as they felt they are above questioning no matter what they did. The psychologist worriedly monitored the incidents of the experiment through monitoring screens, as he surprisingly watched the jailers dealing roughly and even violently that they even began torturing their friends, “the prisoners”. The strange thing is that the people who were torturing their friends were known for their quietness, good manners and academic success that helped them enter this great university. So, the psychologist ordered to stop the experiment immediately; realizing the truth that now written in all the books of social psychology:”Absolute authority brings the worst at the human soul!”Accountability or questioning that I mean is the group of principles and values that every man sets for himself on the path of life. Through them he can know how reach the goals that he wishes to achieve.If the existence of goals in one’s life is a vital thing that man can’t spare, it is a fact that goals without values that limit, correct and regulate the way of achieving them will turn into catastrophes. So, travelers on life path must realize that if they do whatever they want with no rules or questioning, they will definitely change to the negative form and will be far from their humanity. Our values and principles help us preserve our humanity and this of people around us and it guarantees that we take advanced steps on the ladder of success. They say, “Failure comes when we forget our values, principles and goals that we have” One of the greatest sayings is that, “People who care more for the privileges they receive more than their principles will quickly lose both” …On life we are to sail for more…. 

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center