No. 57
To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do; to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition.
-- Eric Hoffer --
from Reflections on the Human Condition
Are these the only types of freedom?
It strikes me that one is positive--able to do what one wants-- and one is negative--not having to do what one does not want to do. I can see how someone with a positive view can feel free to grow, but how would someone who can grow feel free under the negative view.
Something's missing here. . .
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Friday, August 22, 2014
Eric Hoffer: some thoughts on freedom
Some random quotations from Eric Hoffer on the nature of freedom:
No. 55
We take for granted the need to escape the self. Yet the self can also be a refuge. In totalitarian countries the great hunger is for private life. Absorption in the minutiae of an individual existence is the only refuge from the apocalyptic madhouse staged by maniacal saviors of humanity.
Fortunately we don't have any of these maniacal saviors of humanity, around here, do we? We don't have people here who are convinced that they and they alone have the Truth and God's blessing on them and their ideas and are willing to create chaos and massive disruption unless they get their way, do we? We are so lucky, aren't we?
No. 56
One of the chief objectives of freedom is to make it possible for a person to feel himself a human being first. Any social order in which people see themselves primarily as workingmen, businessmen, intellectuals, members of a church, nation, race, or party is deficient in genuine freedom.
Since I retired, I've met a number of retired people who are unhappy, confused, and lost. They do not know how to define themselves anymore. They no longer are teachers, business executives, engineers, police officers, clerks. . . They defined themselves in the past by their occupations, and now, since they no longer work, many are lost and no longer see themselves as anything. They are lost and bitterly speak about retirement for they no longer have an identity.
Others take refuge in politics and redefine themselves as Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, or Greens. Politics, which had been of lesser importance in the past now becomes their all-consuming interest. They now become staunch supporters of their party, complete with closed minds and unwilling or unable to listen to opposing views for fear that they may develop doubts and again lose their identity. And others turn to religion, again rejecting and demonizing those who think differently.
On the other hand, it's harder to see oneself as a human being only because then one has to make one's own decisions about the pressing issues of the day. Being a staunch member of a political party or a religious group gives one a ready-made collection of maxims or rules to follow, a set of criteria for making the "right" decision, and leaders who explain the right way to think, the approved opinions and ideas.
It isn't just retired people who are this way. There are many who are not retired but show the same attitudes about the groups they belong to and also about those who are different. I'm not saying all members of any political party or religious group are like this, but they are there and generally they are the ones who cause the most problems. They have a way of making others, who are not as adamant or unswerving in their faith, appear to be less than genuine members of the group. They are loud in their condemnation of others who are not really True Believers, as defined by them, True Believers really being those who think the same way as they do. They and they alone are qualifed to decide who is and who is not a real member of the group.
These true believers are really slaves, trapped within an imperfect belief system, as all human systems are, and cannot really breath the fresh air of freedom for they spend their waking hours making sure that they and all others are on the One True Path to Paradise.
Quotations are from
Eric Hoffer
Reflections on the Human Condition
No. 55
We take for granted the need to escape the self. Yet the self can also be a refuge. In totalitarian countries the great hunger is for private life. Absorption in the minutiae of an individual existence is the only refuge from the apocalyptic madhouse staged by maniacal saviors of humanity.
Fortunately we don't have any of these maniacal saviors of humanity, around here, do we? We don't have people here who are convinced that they and they alone have the Truth and God's blessing on them and their ideas and are willing to create chaos and massive disruption unless they get their way, do we? We are so lucky, aren't we?
No. 56
One of the chief objectives of freedom is to make it possible for a person to feel himself a human being first. Any social order in which people see themselves primarily as workingmen, businessmen, intellectuals, members of a church, nation, race, or party is deficient in genuine freedom.
Since I retired, I've met a number of retired people who are unhappy, confused, and lost. They do not know how to define themselves anymore. They no longer are teachers, business executives, engineers, police officers, clerks. . . They defined themselves in the past by their occupations, and now, since they no longer work, many are lost and no longer see themselves as anything. They are lost and bitterly speak about retirement for they no longer have an identity.
Others take refuge in politics and redefine themselves as Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, or Greens. Politics, which had been of lesser importance in the past now becomes their all-consuming interest. They now become staunch supporters of their party, complete with closed minds and unwilling or unable to listen to opposing views for fear that they may develop doubts and again lose their identity. And others turn to religion, again rejecting and demonizing those who think differently.
On the other hand, it's harder to see oneself as a human being only because then one has to make one's own decisions about the pressing issues of the day. Being a staunch member of a political party or a religious group gives one a ready-made collection of maxims or rules to follow, a set of criteria for making the "right" decision, and leaders who explain the right way to think, the approved opinions and ideas.
It isn't just retired people who are this way. There are many who are not retired but show the same attitudes about the groups they belong to and also about those who are different. I'm not saying all members of any political party or religious group are like this, but they are there and generally they are the ones who cause the most problems. They have a way of making others, who are not as adamant or unswerving in their faith, appear to be less than genuine members of the group. They are loud in their condemnation of others who are not really True Believers, as defined by them, True Believers really being those who think the same way as they do. They and they alone are qualifed to decide who is and who is not a real member of the group.
These true believers are really slaves, trapped within an imperfect belief system, as all human systems are, and cannot really breath the fresh air of freedom for they spend their waking hours making sure that they and all others are on the One True Path to Paradise.
Quotations are from
Eric Hoffer
Reflections on the Human Condition
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