Thursday, October 15, 2009

Freedom: Looking from a different perspective

Freedom is defined as the manifestation of one’s right to act freely according to what he thinks is right. Is this definition complete? What about the result of the action, which I do. Does that not come into the periphery of my freedom? Actually, what this definition tells is just one perspective of freedom. The definition can’t be complete if we don’t take into account the result of my action. According to me, I can call myself free if I am free to act according to what I feel is right and its result is such that everybody is willing to get benefited by it. Natural acceptance of the result of my action to everyone is what I call freedom of result. Freedom of action and result, both comprise my freedom. For example, if I produce a chemical which is earning a lot of profit to me, but polluting the environment, I can’t call it my freedom. On the other hand, if I cultivate a farm, I and everybody else as well, is benefited by it, therefore, it is my freedom. For long, we have seen only one perspective of the freedom, which has been the freedom to act. Due to this freedom of act, we have gathered the destruction material which can destroy the whole earth 23 times, polluted our earth to the extent of global warming; we have reached to a condition, where even the existence of human being is a question mark? All this is result of incomplete understanding of freedom.

Freedom is the most fundamental human right, which is an argument I very frequently hear from the people who are seeking a change in the prevalent system, be it the issue of westernization of culture, materialistic approach to life and many others. I am not talking about right and wrong here and that does not mean that changes are not desired, but they should be seen with full perspective of freedom in mind. Freedom of action as well as the freedom of result both should be taken into account. There is a very thin line between freedom and manmaani, which should be carefully observed.

Freedom is desired in each and every form and aspect of human being´s life. I want freedom to take any decision related to my life. It is a fundamental right; although with its own limits, which are in a way my responsibilities. This limit is often very abstract and ambiguous and its understanding comes with thorough study of my natural acceptance and its realization.

10 comments:

  1. I don't think, there exist something as 'Freedom of Result', I would rather say that one should analyze the possible outcome before acting itself so that it is naturally acceptable as well as mutually fulfilling.

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  2. We are not talking here about a freedom which has been granted by anything external (e.g. a government or some constitution). We are talking about the freedom of myself which is acceptable to me. It is actully certainity of the result, which I am refering to as freedom of result. If I reallize my natural acceptance, it will automatically lead to my freedom of result because there will not be uncertainty of the result. What you are saying is also correct, but to understand freedom completely, one needs the freedom of the result as well.

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  3. A nice article differentiating freedom and manmaani :-) Any action done with keeping only "me" in mind will create suffering.

    Although we are not always sure of the result of our actions, we must try not to do anything which creates suffering and conflict.

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  4. Freedom is bound to turn into "manmaani", in fact freedom IS manmaani, as it is impossible to find out whether an act is responsible or not. That's the reason so may regulatory systems like family, ethics, culture and law come into the picture. The need is to create a synergy between freedom and the regulations rather than changing the whole definition of freedom.

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  5. Freedom is a feeling which everbody enjoys. Any external mechanism can not grant me the freedom. It is a feeling which when understood propely leads to the welfare of everybody. This is the underlying universal regulatory mechanism as well. It is independent of state, family, culture and law. When freedom is taken as externally granted gift, it turns into manmaani.

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  6. "Freedom is defined as the manifestation of one's right to act freely according to what one *thinks* is right." I was wondering if we have any freedom from "thought" itself? Freedom from the mind. :-)
    (Since we are always thinking it would be nice to stop thought, at least once in a while.) Do we have a choice to do so? The power to do so? Maybe we have a choice but no power to exercise the choice. Then is that freedom (assuming choice is related to freedom) ?

    In case we actually manage to stop thought, what is the meaning of "my freedom"? Is there a "me" left? :-)
    Do we need anything called freedom then?

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  7. True freedom is the complete absence of the thought "I am in bondage".

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  8. Nishanth, I know you are interested. We will have time to discuss it personally, dont worry :).

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  9. @ Tiwari: Understandings of two different individuals may differ. That does tarnish the whole idea of "welfare of everybody". That's why regulations come. They divide freedom into small freedom and give everyone his/her own domain of freedom.

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  10. Understanding of two different individuals: Here comes the issue of right and wrong, which according to prevalent notion is different for every individual. But, I beleive, right and wrong are absolute, not relative. Please, refer to one of my previous articles, which addressed this issue directly. It will be a nice discussion to have with you.

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