What is transparency?

In the physical realm transparency is defined as “the quality  of allowing light to pass through so that you can see the object(s) behind (the transparent material)”.  In a wider and more universal sense, it means that something is openly and easily perceivable and detectable.  When dealing with humans transparency signifies that nothing is hidden or secret – everything is revealed and open for anybody else to know.

Lack of transparency is the main reason why the world has so many problems

Imagine a world where everybody could read everyone’s’ thoughts and emotions.  While scary to contemplate, it would immediately do away with the concept of lying.  If everything is out in the open light, you can no longer hide your true intentions.  The vast majority of problems in the world are created from some kind of lie or dishonesty.  Most rules and laws in a community or country have been created to combat lying and trickery.  So, we see that transparency in this sense is the same as honesty.

An example where transparency would greatly improve a community

Let’s say you go to church.  The Christian church, for example, is supposed to be a place where the community (its members) are supposed to help each other when they are in need.  So, basically everybody gives of their abundance (money or time) to those who have a difficult time due to lack of means.  Now, without transparency nobody in the community either knows who needs help or who has the means to help.  In a transparent world, we would know how much money everybody in the church makes and how much time and energy they posses to help others.  Nobody would be able to hide from their responsibility – those who have a lot must help a lot, those who have little must help little.  Needless to say, this is not the case in any church.  I am using the church example to demonstrate that in a community that is supposed to be good transparency is an absolute must.

Transparency in Politics and all other areas

Think about the huge improvement transparency would bring to politics.  I don’t think I even have to point out how much trickery is present in modern day politics.  I would dare to say that modern day (and maybe the old ones, too) politicians are the very essence of deceit and lies.  Imagine a politician that has to do everything they promised.  If they want to much money for their work all would see their greed and condemn them,  if they are in it for their own selfish ambition and glory, all would see and condemn it.  It is fairly obvious that the world would be a better place and all the individuals would benefit from not wasting their energy by hiding their intentions and true feelings and thoughts from each others.

Final Thoughts

Of course, we cannot read each other clearly enough to have this transparency I am talking about but I think we should consider forcing each other to be transparent in almost all situations  except in very private matters (insert private and shameful scenario here).  I fear that transparency is dying and that we have long ago decided that non-transparency (opaqueness) should be the norm in daily living.  Sad really.

Author of:  Real Estate Photography Creston – a scenic town in southern BC