True Freedom

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.