The Nature of True Freedom
The most powerful God-given bounty bestowed upon the individual is freedom. It is unlimited, irrevocable, and immutable. Failure to recognize these qualities in it is the greatest mistake that can be made in its consideration.The second greatest mistake in this regard—normally a corollary of the first—is the conscious exercising of freedom in ways that outwardly flaunt its reality, that is, free choices that are for their own (freedom’s) sake. Such choices to “do it because I can” reflect moral immaturity, and almost never result in the most progressive, useful, correct (good) action. The latter qualities (or, more precisely, their absence) manifest as a result of the nature of such decisions. If I want to make a choice that shows off my freedom, I must choose something that defies expectation, and thereby draws attention to me. To defy expectation I must oppose logic, authority, popular opinion, good advice, or the like. Obviously, by opposing any of these forces, I become an irrational source of disunity, at least to some degree, and, usually, deviate from truth in my decision-making process.
Given the lofty station of freedom as an individual blessing, it must be understood before it can be wielded correctly. If freedom is the most powerful force accessible to the individual, where does this power lie? To reference a cliché, we must bear in mind, with great power comes great responsibility. That said, responsibility to what? The answer is in those even greater bounties: collective ones. In order to effectively use the power of our freedom, we must recognize and actively serve our responsibility to the interpersonal forces of unity, altruism, and humility; thus renouncing the attention-seeking power of egotism. In virtually every moral interaction, among the infinite possibilities of choice are those that are self-serving, and those that are altruistic. Only by fixing our sights squarely on self-sacrificing (altruistic) intentions and actions can we possibly hope to exercise our freedom responsibly, for choosing otherwise is certainly to abuse the power of freedom, and thereby diminish it.
Of course, amongst our possibilities lie many means of self-exaltation and self-sacrifice. Furthermore, some choices may yield mutual benefits to oneself and to others, or, conversely, serve no genuine progression for either. While the latter is blatent idiocy of choice, the former presents a moral dilemma. With options of total sacrifice for the benefit of others and those of mutual gain, the right-minded choice would seem to be highly circumstantial. As a spirit of faith, one’s own (primarily spiritual) reward for sacrifice make all altruistic choices result in a mutual gain, although in a somewhat indirect sense. Thus, the dilemma becomes a question of spiritual capacity. It is equally irrational to attempt sacrifice that is beyond one’s spiritual fortitude as it would have been to use underdeveloped logic to justify selfish means. We can only afford to make sacrifices that we can live with in the spirit of service, humility, and love. If you ask of me a favour that I consider to be unreasonable, or that I know I cannot complete in the spirit of service (free of resentment, etc.), then it would not be spiritually beneficial for either of us if I begrudgingly perform the favour, knowing that I “should” want to serve you. In this way, Delphi’s ancient inscription comes into play: Know Thyself. If I can’t identify situations that are beyond my spiritual condition, then I am bound to make many decisions based on the “should”, and thus behave insincerely.
So, if we are able to recognize when pure righteousness is, however temporarily, beyond us, but we are constantly striving to evade the trappings of selfish choices, how can we approach such moments of recognition? The absolute last resort is compromise. Find a choice of lesser mutual gain that leaves both parties partially satisfied. Of course, it is always better when a compromise is sought in the spirit of collaboration; that is, both parties should approach the situation focusing on what positive things they can bring to the table. But sometimes, even that scenario is impossible (due to the spiritual condition of one or both parties). Obviously, resorting to compromise should be viewed as a failure, at least to some extent. Identifying such scenarios must inspire us to make conscious efforts for increasing our (actualized) spiritual capacities to better deal with future interactions of a similar kind.
Actual date of authorship: June, 2007
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