The masks hypocrisy wears can be flagrant or self-deceptive.  Jesus held the hypocritical Pharisees and the dishonest theologians in great contempt.  He looked with contempt on all leaders who were not sincere.

Jesus preached sincerity.  "If any man would come after me, let him disregard himself, take up his responsibilities daily, and follow me.  Be not ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and hypocritical generation, even as I will not be ashamed to acknowledge you when in glory I appear before my Father in the presence of all the celestial hosts."

To the Pharisees, Jesus said: “Do not you foolish men understand that the God of heaven looks at the inner motives of the soul as well as on your outer pretenses and your pious professions? Think not that the giving of alms and the paying of tithes will cleanse you from unrighteousness and enable you to stand clean in the presence of the Judge of all men.”

Self-Deceiving Hypocrisies

The idea that sacrifice is privation is hypocrisy. Individuals and countries must realize the power of the aspiring is pureness of heart. Hypocrisy of thoughts is an obstacle to attaining communion in spirit.

Emphasis on personality indicates insincerity. This personality attitude is deception and illusion .

Futility of Hypocrisy

Thought is identical to action. Thought has the same affect as the deed. Anyone who wishes to take part in world evolution must understand the significance of thought.

Understanding the sameness of thought and deed will reveal the deceit and the futility of hypocrisy.

Moral ideas must be examined from the scientific viewpoint as well as the spiritual. Even primitive people regarded trust as fundamental to relationships. Only after developing hypocrisy did people assume false masks thinking it possible to deceive even their own inner consciousness.

If someone says he is neither for nor against something, regard him as being against it. People hope to hide their opposition under a mask of hypocrisy. It is especially valuable when a man has the courage to speak his opinion. Isolation does not exist.  The person who separates himself falls into a lower strata and injures himself.

Rationalization

Cunning accompanies hypocrisy. People deceive themselves to justify their own weaknesses. They do not consider the dangers they create for themselves.

Spatial currents influence the psychology of entire nations and cause new kinds of illnesses. The unfavorable currents of national psychology can also cause unfortunate events in the lives of individuals. When dealing with negative spatial currents, it is important to avoid hypocrisy, superstition, or cowardice. Each vacillation makes one  more subject to the power of chaos.

No other idea is as distorted as hypocrisy.  It hides itself under the mask of good.

Hiding Crimes

Experience either kindles love or sharpens hatred. This fact is subtle and one can stumble over it, or fall prey to hypocrisy. Love must become wise and active.

People do not realize the extreme harm in any falsehood, but hypocrisy and bribery are its grossest expressions. One should realize how each false thought spreads.

As regards bribery, it is blasphemous to hire clergy for prayer. (It is criminal to try to deceive Deity.)

Worldly people advise everyone to look beyond the cruelties that surround them.  Such people have no life. Political leaders speak of the achievements of culture, yet they allow slavery to continue under a mask of hypocrisy. 

Range of Crimes

No human emotion or impulse, when overindulged, produces as much harm as the sex urge. Intelligent submission of this impulse to the rules of society is the supreme test of any civilization. Secrecy and hypocrisy hide sex problems, but they do not provide solutions or advance morals.

Self-control is the ever-increasing demand of advancing humanity.

Humility before God is proper in the depths of men’s hearts.  Meekness is commendable, but the hypocrisy of self-conscious and attention-craving humility is childish and unworthy of the enlightened sons of the kingdom.

Jesus said the Father disdains pride, loathes hypocrisy, and despises wickedness.

"Woe on you who dissimulate when you take an oath! You are tricksters since you teach that a man may swear by the temple and break his oath, but that whoso swears by the gold in the temple must remain bound. You are all fools and blind. How can you justify such hypocrisy and dishonesty in the sight of the God of heaven?”

"Woe on you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  You would shut the doors of the kingdom of heaven against sincere men because they happen to be unlearned in the ways of your teaching. You refuse to enter the kingdom and at the same time do everything within your power to prevent all others from entering. You stand with your backs to the doors of salvation and fight with all who would enter.

Joy of At-One-Ment

The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the Thought Adjuster.  The great achievement of mortal life is attaining a true and understanding consecration to the everlasting aims of this divine spirit who waits and works within each man’s mind.

A devoted and determined effort to realize everlasting destiny is compatible with a lighthearted and joyous life and with a successful and honorable career on earth. Cooperation with the Thought Adjuster does not entail self-torture, mock piety, or hypocritical and ostentatious self-abasement.  The ideal life is one of loving service not an existence of fearful apprehension.