TRUE FREEDOM
I read long ago that Aristotle summarized the human spirit into two
great traits: the human sense of beauty
and the human sense of aggression—although, he could not offer any answers why humans
possessed such dichotomous feelings. I
know that even Socrates had trouble understanding this human phenomenon as we
can perceive it in his dialogues throughout Plato’s works. Nevertheless, other philosophers like Buda
and Jesus, sensing the same conflict opted to reinforce the beauty aspect of
humans. They believed that the practicing of the
golden rule could conquer or subdue human aggressive tendencies. Undoubtedly,
these two latter philosophers, whose lives are worth analyzing, raised some discomfort
among their contemporaries with their life’s passive aggressive approach
because in their time, a peaceful person was viewed as weak. Let me try to reason this concept somehow with
a question I have: Have you ever questioned why we humans can manage to
influence large masses either to build marvelous things or to commit horrible
atrocities? If you had never asked yourself this basic question, I don’t know
how to introduce you to the concept of true freedom. But, I will give it a try.
Let me start by
stating that human aggressiveness, in a good sense, can be channeled to build
great things, or to wage wars in a horrible sense. But, in a positive sense, for
instance, I can safely say that the ancient cities of the Giza Plateau, and the
city of Athens and Rome, just to name a few, attest to this principle of
passive aggressiveness. I also realize
that the real catalyst behind these human accomplishments has to be the sense
of beauty. The construction of these cities flourished in peaceful times when the
aggressive drive was properly channeled to the Arts. How else could those
architectures be conceived without some sense of beauty, or constructed without
an educated aggressive drive? The reason
why in these days we have trouble comprehending the amount of effort and
dedication applied to construct those ancient cities it is because we have lost
their vision of beauty (which were connected with a sense of spirituality), and
our aggressive drive is applied solely to economic gains (which is the tragedy
of our time).
Let me use another
example of applied passive aggressiveness. Many scholars agree that the middle
ages did not produce anything other than superstition and torture. But, they
forget to recognize the works of the cathedral builders. The cathedrals’ work
kept many generations of craftsmen dedicated to the Arts. The psychology behind
those monumental works is the development of the sense of being free from that
basic uncontrolled aggressiveness. While many hands were producing architectural works to last an eternity, these men
were also developing patience, tolerance and internal peace, which in turn,
once mastered, becomes true freedom.
It is the honor to work, the honor to learn a craft,
and the honor to conquer and master one’s own self that gives an individual the
correct measures to appreciate the cosmos. That’s true freedom. I could also have used the example of field
workers or peasants to illustrate the concept of passive aggressiveness even
though they seem to be lost without intellectual work. In reality, they
understand the cosmos at the spiritual level. This is something completely
missing from the intellectual point of view. Finally,
I could never have used the image of a soldier for the same purpose because they
are not free. They are captives, blind oppressors
of true freedom. They were tamed to believe that they fight to keep the world
free! What a catastrophe…look at the cities they invade obeying corporate
insanity; look at the bodies they leave behind…It would be better to had used the hands to plow a field, to build a
home or a bridge, or to teach the youth. I hope I have disturbed you to think
again of what it takes to be truly free. These days that we are living are
fulfilled with messages of inverted values.
So please, leave the paranoia that we need an army for protection. The
best protection is to build peace through collaboration and sharing of resources.
Andre Gomes July, 19 2013.
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