Freedom or Wisdom. Self-destruction or Full Development and Prosperity.
Freedom as a Main Value at this Stage of Development of Civilization. The Cause. The Effect. The Conclusions. Freedom or Meaning.
“Freedom” as informal “god” of mankind
Thinking about the state of a certain human, human society, civilization, it is difficult not to pay attention to such an amazing phenomenon as the great bulk of the people worshipping “god”, who runs the show on the Earth for almost a few centuries in spite of he does not have official divine status.
This informal but influential “god” is “freedom”.
Attitude of this concept can tell much about the past, the present and the future of mankind.
Is freedom as a main value? Is freedom more than love, beauty, justice, life and death?
Undoubtedly according to the scale of values of the modern people freedom is the highest value prevailing over life and love.
Ones can hear axiomatic assertion like “freedom rises above life”, “love should not stint my freedom”, “freedom comes first”, “everything is for the sake of the freedom”… At the same time it is impossible to find another generally accepted value, which is superior to freedom. Today for the freedom’s sake people are ready to lose their life with full confidence and unbelievable zeal. Can’t they waste time reasoning if justice can be more important than freedom? What about love for one’s neighbours? What about love between a man and a woman? What about compassion?
Before someone has time to pay attention to these and analogous questions, he gets into common unshakeable belief in freedom which comes first. Flag with image of amazing and powerful “god” Freedom is hoisted so high and has become so huge that it covers all the sky and weltanschauung horizon, and the person looks for his protection under this flag, planning his life and the life of his country and even all mankind with regard undoubted importance of worship “god”.
It is not a pity to kill oneself and other people for freedom – they say so on television and in newspapers. And no any number of deaths, i.e. murders, must stop those people who fight “for the freedom’s sake”. For the freedom’s sake ones can “temporarily renounce justice”, “temporarily become mean and do foul deed” because “freedom is more important and more valuable for people”. For the freedom’s sake you can refuse relationships with loved one because nobody “have right to limit your freedom”. Moreover you have to refuse human friendship, because freedom comes first. For the freedom’s sake a person can refuse belief in God, that was proven during the revolutions.
A lot of bloodsheds between people happen as a sacrifice to god freedom “named Freedom”. For the sake of it people were making revolutions, countries were fighting with each others, millions of people were dying and continue to die. Why?
If this amazing “god” is worth of selfless worship? What does such people’s attitude towards the concept of “freedom” talk about?
The person’s freedom, human attitude towards freedom.
I think that this blood-thirsty “god” named Freedom is not worth this attitude towards him, because he is fabricated and meaningless. He has neither essence nor sense. He is all in distorted human mind and also the very opportune instrument in the hands of people who like to manipulate the masses, mass consciousness being a slave of the same “god of freedom”.
Attitude of people towards freedom can tell a lot. It allows estimating the level of development of both certain person and our civilization on the whole.
“Man’s freedom” and human childhood. Is a freedom a god thanks to juvenile level of human development.
Freedom can be the main value, something like “God”, “The Most High” only if a person, using this concept, stays in childish, juvenile stage of his development, when protest against everything takes place rather at physiological and hormone level than at conscious one. When natural potential, which is inside the person, tries to come out, overcoming any barriers indiscriminately, not thinking about in what direction and with what purpose to apply strengths and energy.
Mankind generally behaves like child or teenager who starts feeling strengths inside and tries to let them out. And mankind does it using the concept freedom as a base because there are no others bases. Have discovered growing ability to influence on surroundings, effect on it by means intellect, mankind tries to increase maximum strength and power of influence, not striving for comprehension its actions and opportunities. And in this process the concept “freedom” corresponds that quality of thinking and perception, what it is capable of.
How can we use attitude towards freedom for estimation of the level of maturity of the person?
We can use it with comparison of two variants of attitude towards freedom.
One of them is generally accepted variant of attitude towards freedom when “freedom” is the highest value, which more important than love, beauty, belief in God, honesty, good, justify, friendship, life and any other values.
The second variant appears when the person realizes that it is silly and senseless to say “freedom comes first” because this statement contains nothing in itself. When thanks to his reflections and observations he comes to a conclusion that only the Universe as a whole one can consider itself free, in this Universe, if it wants it itself and if this concept has meaning for itself. So any individual free part of the Universe (e.g. a man, human association or millions of civilizations) depend on endless world, it exists in, its properties, laws and conditions, it was born in and found abilities and abilities including opportunity to reflect about freedom.
This person can understand that his own mind is a display of the reason of the Universe, one of the forms of its expression, that his abilities, opportunities and achievements are achievements of the Universe, as well as an ability to play the piano is not achievement of the hands or fingers but that one who control the hands and fingers, who can listen to music and admire it, and therefore he/she wants to play musical instruments doing it by means of the fingers.
What does mature man think about “freedom”? What is more important human freedom or the meaning of human life?
At this level of comprehension the person realizes that other value is more important than freedom – the meaning of human life, the meaning of existence of the mankind. Exactly this meaning connects limited and ultimate things with infinite ones, what makes mortal man participator in the plans of Immortal person, what is the beginning of the transformation from mortal man to Immortal one?
What is life of the mature man devoted to if not to freedom?
So when this level of comprehension is being open, the person wants to devote his life not to “freedom” as it is but “freedom from everything that prevents to reflect the meaning of own existence, to know own predestination”, “freedom from everything what does not let open all internal natural potential and apply it the best way according to expectations of that forces and laws which cause this potential”.
To put it more simply, the second variant of the attitude towards freedom is more mature and adequate. It is not based on the protest and the riot. It is based on the knowledge about himself/herself and the world, comprehension of himself/herself and the world.
The status of reflections about freedom. What benefit can we use from reflections about freedom, human attitude towards the concept “freedom”?
I dare say that nowadays these reflections about freedom can pretend to be “the most useful” because they break the main illusion what doesn’t let the person grow mature, doesn’t let people turn from the association of the silly and hasty teenagers into the association of the mature persons.
We can name our long-suffering mankind as association of weak-minded idiots, miserable and silly teenagers, who thrash each other, kill, bomb, break, using hands of one fools they destroy “sand castles” built by another fools’ hands. And they have been doing it for a few thousand years.
Do you remember how many human creations were destroyed for the last thousand years? How many people were dead during the bloodsheds, nobody knows its sense and are not going to know because they were senseless and were as result of human folly?
Aren’t these troubles not enough to deserve maturity, to realize foolish of own behavior and pay attention to power and value mutual understanding, comprehension ourselves and the world and true mature intelligent relationship between people, between a man and society, between mankind and the Universe…
Can’t such growing happen before a man gets rid of worship “God Freedom”, while his outlook is still not free from this huge idol what covers and substitutes everything?
Why do reflections about freedom deserve the status “the most useful”?
Reflections about freedom deserve the status “the most useful” because they can put an end to all these misfortunes and tragedies, senseless confrontation between people, mutual destruction and hatred.
Mutual understanding and help in development and prosperity is lot of adults and mature people who are going to be the foundation of finding of maturity of mankind as a whole one.
Have refused worship “god named freedom”, the person gets a chance to become a part of himself and association of mature people, association which is suitable in its behavior its main predestination become the reason of appearance of humankind.
How to change the world for the better? Who will do it?
Those people who will have enough courage, sincerity, attention to realize the meaning of the concept “freedom”, to understand what attitude towards this concept better correspond to outlook of mature and sensible person. As persons they will become the factors, the reasons what will change the world, mankind and people’s life.
It is not going just to be changed but to be changed for the better. What can be better for a person and mankind than correspondence to the nature of the person, his main predestination, his purpose he was born and exist for?
Only proper attitude towards freedom let get rid of the habit to lie and cheat oneself, hide from oneself the motives, the purposes and the reasons of one’s deeds, to fight, to kill, to spoil health with incorrect way of life, wrong attitude towards time, people and the world.
How exactly?
We need to discuss it next time.
As a first topic I would choose “Accusation and punishment. Feeling of guilt. Obstacle on the way to self-knowledge and true mutual understanding between people”. It will let be wondered once again how many misfortunes are caused by the false idea about freedom and think if we have a chance to change situation. Then we can talk about other topics in detail such as:
– Freedom of the Will
– Freedom of the Choice
– Freedom from the Stereotypes
– Freedom and Other Values
– Freedom, Self-dependence, Covetousness, Vanity, Self-deception
– Freedom and Love
– Freedom and Justice
– Freedom and Honesty
– Freedom and Conflict, Contradictoriness of Interrelations
– Freedom and War
– Expectation of Freedom from Outside – from Politicians, Laws, State and Society – and Expectation of Freedom for which the Person are Responsible Itself
And now I am going to summarize aforesaid this way.
Reflections about freedom open for people the way to realizing of importance of searching for the meaning of own existence. Once has realized this importance and has felt of necessity of the searching for the meaning, the person can ever refuse this wish. And he will oblige to admit that he became philosopher, i.e. the person who likes wisdom. Though the most precise meaning of this word is “loving sense”.
When the love to freedom makes way for the love to wisdom and meaning in the most people’s hearts, humankind can consider itself adult, and people who before were potentially sensible creatures will have a chance to became really sensible with indefinite perspective:)
Substitution of freedom for wisdom will become replacement the perspective of self-destruction by the perspective of full development and prosperity according to the main natural predestination of the person.
And the love to wisdom, aspiration for comprehension of meaning of own existence, i.e. philosophy, will become the standard way of life for any person, the base of his origin and strengthening of healthy terms with himself, other people and revealed and unrevealed world.
Grigori Tigal
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