REFLECTIONS ON FREEDOM

Orlin Baev

web | Transpersonal psychology. Sacred sexuality

What is freedom? Freedom means unlimited state. Unlimited in what? - In the levels of the complex being named man. Freedom of Spirit, of will, freedom of thoughts, freedom of emotions, freedom of actions.

As we have seen from the studied material of man in society, the existence of the individual according to some authors is like living in a prison, kept by ourselves and constantly reenacted by the means of social control. In my opinion, being of human individual in society can be more easily compared to that at school. Since the purpose of human life is to study - from his own mistakes, from the wisdom of people wiser than him, from pain and difficulties, from our limitations perceived as depriving us from our freedom. I think life in contemporary society seems to be more or less like living in a correctional school, where the living parameters are sternly determined the regulations and norms of existence are strictly defined and laws are severe and merciless. Why - because of the lack of conscientiousness and the wild narcissism and ignorance of man. Here the question arises, how can things be changed? The first answer more trivial and acceptable to the mind of the laic in sociology would be different levels of disobedience - from trifle hooliganism to revolutions. But is the result of such actions freedom or libertinism - this is a rhetorical question. Another solution - isolation - does not solve the problem of freedom but rather is a kind of escape. Even in isolation from the human norms with limiting requirements, man would continue being limited in his inner state of mind within the heavy knocks of his emotional and intellectual determination. Such actions only transfer the problem from one horizontal level to another but do not solve it in depth.

The second more meaningful solution states: if the society we are living in was not a correctional school but a normal one in which observing regulations and norms is not external or internal repression but the norms of behavior are observed as a result of conscientiousness. We should mention in addition that in such a case the legal norms would be different, there would be no more need of army and police, courts and mental asylums. Violence, wars, greed, envy, ignorance - even if they still exist being a part of our older brain structures, would be controlled by the humane in man. Then freedom becomes joy of cooperation, creativity and group development. It this utopia? It depends on the perspective and the view on the world and life and on intuition. How if we compare the social structure to a university, where attendance is completely voluntary and is based on personal desire and strife for development? Bu here our presentation stands against different levels of conscientiousness, humanity and personal responsibility, of natural ethics and harmony with the Oneness, which for the brain of the average zombilike individual are completely abstract. Is it so? In my opinion, no, it isn't. The vision of an average member of society is limited to social understanding imposed by his background and school education, from the mental police over the means of social control, whose main principle is: free thinking is if not a taboo, at least something weird and unattainable. The social frames are necessary in order that the system of society functions. As the cells of an organism serve the plan of functioning of the whole biological system so the individual limits within the frames of the social norms in the name of the functioning of the whole.

But let us come back to the context of the topic. What is freedom at the other level of the human complex existence? What is an emotionally free man or society? In order to understand this, we should look at what causes our emotional dependence, attachments and limitations. These are the manifestations of a large part of human brain which is in its greater part a brain of an animal and includes all the lower structures typical of the lower animals - from the ameba through the reptiles up to the higher mammals. A product of these ancient brain structures in us are the whole scale of animal passions, drives and fears. In every human there is deeply rooted a basic fear - a constant insecurity, which makes us constantly strive for security, in order to catch a glimpse behind the bushes and listen around not to become the prey of the stronger member of the nutrition chain. The beastly drives in us worry us until our death with their derivatives - the burning passions. They drive us to maximum females, to severe competition to win them, transferring the competition to different human activities, such as politics and business. Jealousy, a typical animal emotion, tortures us in the iron grip of suspicion and distrust; greed forces us to store as much as we can for the winter months (the amount in our bank account); strife for greater dens (properties); envy opposes us to everyone who is different from ourselves. All these in combination with human intellect creates a crucial combination - the society we live in as we know it. If we draw a parallel between the structures of human society and the animal ones we will observe that there is no difference in quality. We differ in our ability for logical thinking and something more - self-awareness, selfless Love, we can experience and our intuition. The problem of society and its comprising unit - man - is the beastly inheritance, subordinating the humane in man. All the above mentioned emotional states are natural for the animal and along the law of evolution they are available in man but in order that they are present within the frames of the normal and not be main parameters n yet another two-legged animal, which should be called man, he should be able to control them, to neutralize them and govern them. How can this happen? Man, i.e. self-awareness, should be able to sublimate them in their finer equivalents which are part of the true human essence. The approaches for this sublimation are of interest to the psychology, and that is why they are outside of the scope of this essay.

Freedom at Mental Level

The definition of human personality given by the ancient peoples is Homo Sapiens - Intelligent Person. Human logic is part of this Intellect. In a great part of humanity the ability as well as the desire for free thinking is very low, in comparison to the great prevalence of emotions over them. They are controlled by their instinctive desires and necessities such as sex, food, the beastly joy of uncontrollable entertainment etc. The small part of humanity who succeed in taking control over and transforming the beastly instincts achieve the function typical of Homo Sapiens - thinking. Until then it has existed in a subordinate and half dormant state. Humanity and its progress are moved by a few free people overcoming the frames and understanding of the other people similar to bio-robots.

Human thought is free, when it can bravely trace the infinite horizons of endless space of the unknown to bravely explore laws and original causes, unavailable to the small man living with imposed standards. Such a thought seeks answers to all secrets with brevity. It does not stick to authorities - it flies like a hawk above the grey dusty clouds of the small thoughts of people.

Freedom as Will and Intuition

There is an aspect of man and thus of society, i.e. of the collective unconscious, which we could name will. In order that human will and intuition function freely, one should have already mastered his other two functions - feelings and thoughts. The will seems to close the circle and comes back again at the level of everyday actions, manifesting in daily life and social relations. In contemporary society there are few people with strong and free will, even fewer than the individual possessing free thinking. If the former we could name to be talented people, the latter are geniuses.

I would like in conclusion to make a summary: Freedom is predominantly an inner concept. One could be chained in the darkest cell of a prison with the heaviest chains but to be freer in his mind than the mass of his brothers who flow along the current of the stream of life with the slightest resistance possible. This of course is an extreme example. I am the opinion that for freedom to become socially available this process could be induced and carefully controlled. Unluckily, the establishment and the few ones who stay behind and control it, keep humanity in a state far distant from freedom.

Note: the structural guidelines of the article are inspired by David H. Kessel's outline on the book "invitation to sociology" of Peter Berger" .

© Orlin Baev
© Galina Markina - translated from bulgarian
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© E-publisher LiterNet, 29.12.2010
Orlin Baev. Transpersonal psychology. Sacred sexuality. Varna: LiterNet, 2010.