Freedom - 1 FOR FREEDOM CHRIST HAS SET US FREE 1. Freedom an insufficiently understood concept a. Freedom is often simply equated with free will, the capacity to choose between different objects. It is true that freedom begins as free will but, as we shall see, is a much richer concept. b. What full freedom is not i. In the United States we think of ourselves as free for two reasons. 1. We are not much restricted: we think, say and do whatever we want a. We used to think of ourselves, rightfully, as free in contrast to citizens of the Soviet block who were limited or controlled. b. We were always told that there were elections in the old Soviet Union but only one name on the ballot! As much as that it true, there was no freedom there. 2. Another idea of freedom for those who think about it is that freedom is having multitude choices. a. OPI, one company that produces nail polish, has over 450 colors to choose from. ii. But freedom is more than just absence of restrictions to choose among things. 1. Of course, it includes not being inhibited from choosing in the first place, perhaps by coercion or fear, e.g., shotgun weddings of a century ago. 2. Freedom is not just freedom from coercion but freedom to do something desirable. c. Freedom, in the end, is the ability to determine the kind of person one wishes to be: an engineer or a teacher; a violinist or a fiddler; an athlete or a couch potato; a truly good person or a mediocre one. i. You may see where I am going. True or complete freedom requires the development of one s ability which is virtue. It is the perfection of one s self. 1. One cannot simply say I want to be a brain surgeon and start operating on people s heads. 2. No, she must spend years studying the basics of biology, then the intricacies of the brain, then the skills of surgery. 3. Slowly, stage by stage she acquires the ability to save people s lives by correcting malfunctions within their brains. 4. The choice each day or perhaps each hour of the day to keep studying, to keep reviewing, to keep practicing gradually produces a brain surgeon.
Freedom - 2 5. Her acquired abilities comprise true freedom so that she may perform the intricacies of brain surgery well and be a bonafide brain surgeon. 6. In reaching her goal, she receives satisfaction, a limited form of happiness. ii. Another example, perhaps easier to appreciate, is the ability to play a piano. 1. Who is free at the keyboard a child who does not know a thing about music but sits there pounding away or a virtuoso performer like Arthur Rubenstein who, I was once told, could play all of Mozart s piano concertos by heart? 2. Both strike the piano at will (in a sense, freely), but surely the one who can produce beautiful music (or any other sounds he wishes) is the one who demonstrates true freedom. 3. And most likely the one who plays the piano well is more satisfied than the pounder. iii. On a moral plane freedom is the ability to be a good person who acts rightly in every kind of situation. 1. As in training to be a surgeon, the freedom to always act responsibly requires attention and practice. a. One must acquire virtues to dominate the passions. Passions can move one to act selfishly or irresponsibly; e.g., aversion to effort can make studying difficult. b. Similarly virtues enable one to act rightly in difficult situations; e.g., fortitude to keep at a difficult task or prudence to know when to stop studying for an exam and to get some sleep. 2. Acting virtuously is itself satisfying but living a moral life will end in eternal life. d. The capacity to choose and realize the kind of person we are to become the meaning of freedom in its fullest sense -- is so wonderful that Vatican II called it an exceptional sign of the divine image within man (GS, par. 17). 2. Biblical notions of freedom a. Freedom as emancipation from slavery, i.e. political freedom or freedom from, found in the OT i. Dt 15:15 Because God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt, Israelites are to release their Hebrew slaves from bondage in the seventh year. See also, Ex 6:6, 14:30 and 18:10. b. In the NT freedom takes on a new, deeper dimension the gospel becomes the law of freedom enabling a person to do good deeds that bring blessing: But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a
Freedom - 3 hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does. (Jas 1:25) i. The freedom possessed in Christ (Gal 2:4, 4:31) signifies a liberation from the spirit of slavery (to the law) and of fear of God (Rom 8:15) which is frequently seen in the OT (e.g., Ps 34:12). ii. Some characteristics of the law of freedom 1. It has been accomplished through Jesus Christ (Jn 8:36, Gal 5:1; et al.) a. For freedom Christ has set us free. 2. It requires the abandonment of personal righteousness (Rom 10:3; Phil 3:9) 3. It comprises a vocation directed to each person (Gal 5:13, I Cor 7:22) a. For you were called to freedom 4. It orders the Christian s life according to the Spirit (Rom 8:2, II Cor 3:17) c. So what is freedom in the Scripture? i. It is the capacity to live a good life (i.e., with due perfection) as God wills. 3. In the Aristotelean-Thomistic tradition freedom is the perfection of human activity that enables the person to achieve happiness. a. Along with law, freedom of choice forms the two polls of moral life. i. Law does not take away freedom but serves as a warning of where one may not go if s/he wishes to achieve virtue b. Freedom proceeds from the intellect and the will as the power to engage in activities that will make one happy. i. What one must do to achieve happiness is not self-evident but requires thought and practice. ii. Evil complicates the issue by clouding true happiness and must be taken into account. iii. Also, pleasure enters the equation. How does it relate to happiness? c. Wisdom shows that happiness is achieved through mastery of knowledge and of self. Thus, perfect freedom requires the excellence of virtue. i. Pinckaers calls freedom in this sense the freedom for excellence which he contrasts with the freedom of indifference. ii. Since the Greek word for virtue (arête) is also the word for excellence, we can say that we become free by developing the virtues that enable us to control our inclinations toward evil. d. Human nature is seen as a guide. If one understands where it is leading her, then she can make the right choices to arrive at the goal of happiness. (Nature here does not include the corrupted will attributed to Adam s sin but the pristine human nature the image of God.)
Freedom - 4 4. Nature signals that happiness is the true goal of life. But what does happiness consist of? a. Certainly no material thing can make us happy forever. Money in itself is nothing but the means to procure other things. Pleasure is fleeting. b. Aristotle believed that happiness consists in contemplation. c. Christian Scriptures reveal a new source of happiness the Beatific Vision (eternal life): dialogue whereby we discover from Christ life s mysteries. i. A happiness that transcends that of Aristotle but does not contradict it. ii. Once again freedom, moved by the intellect and engaging the will, has to choose happiness which is a gift but still requires human involvement. 5. EXERCISE From To Althea, from Prison Richard Lovelace (1618-1658) Stone walls do not a prison make Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage. If I have freedom in my love And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty. What concept of freedom does Lovelace show in this verse? 6. The idea of freedom serving the quest for happiness held sway until the fourteenth century when William of Ockham, a Franciscan philosopher, conceived the idea that freedom precedes the intellect and will in that one can choose to think or not, to act or not. a. Ockham is famous for the so-called Ockham s razor which holds that the simplest explanation is the preferable one. i. Ockham s ideas gave rise to the school of philosophy known as nominalism which says that universal or abstract terms are mere necessities of thought or conveniences of language and therefore exist as names only and have no realities corresponding to them. 1 ii. He dispensed with the Aristotelean-Thomistic more complicated notion of freedom and of other philosophical realities in favor of much simpler conceptions. b. Ockham s positioning of freedom before intellect and will separated it from the natural inclinations toward happiness. That is, freedom does not naturally lead to 1 Webster s New World Dictionary, College Edition (Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1968)
Freedom - 5 happiness but only to a choice of what we want to do at a particular instant (free will). c. Therefore, humans need, first and foremost, law to tell them what to do to be good. i. The Creator imposes law on humans extrinsically. It is not part of their nature to act in this way. ii. The person becomes moral by following the obligations and prohibitions determined by law and not by developing virtue. She does not strive to perfect her natural inclination toward happiness but only to conform to the law. d. In time Ockham s emphasis on following the law developed into the Kantian idea of duty. i. The moral life came to be considered as following the categorical imperatives of doing one s duty. ii. The Christian s response to the gospel invitation to eternal life was considered an egotistical quest. iii. People are to love others not because it brings them happiness or even because it is necessarily good for the beloved but because it is their duty to love. iv. The manuals of moral theology developed after the seventeenth century follow Kant in making love of God and neighbor a duty rather than considering them as Aquinas and the tradition saw the way to happiness with ultimate as well as some immediate, emotional satisfaction (joy). 7. Rediscovering Spiritual Nature a. Need to rediscover spiritual nature in yearning for truth, goodness, happiness. i. Nature makes such yearning part of the human constitution. ii. Renewing freedom requires more than a discussion of ideas, but the experience of personal action with subsequent reflection. 1. As we live a virtuous life, we become aware that freedom is leading us to happiness and not the continual disappointment of offending others and ourselves. b. By excluding the desire for happiness from morality we have deformed the latter because the desire for happiness is part of divine spark within us. 8. Human freedom is always limited by different physical, psychological, and social factors. a. But the limitations do not necessarily determine who we are to be. b. There remains the power to transcend these limitations with human effort and divine grace. 9. Pleasure and Joy: Two Conceptions of Happiness a. Concerns that raise question about happiness as the end of morality:
Freedom - 6 i. individualism, self-interest, and egotism as experienced desires of (corrupted) soul; ii. the fact that personal happiness seems contrary to disinterested love, selfforgetfulness and generosity which demand a sense of duty; iii. the worry that seeking happiness may corrupt one s focus into a search for personal comfort (utility) and one s individual good in opposition to universality of moral norms. iv. So, should we classify all happiness-oriented systems as egotistic, utilitarian or, possibly, even hedonistic? b. Christian philosophers are aware of these concerns and resolve them by distinguishing between joy and pleasure as fulfillment of the desire for happiness. i. Pleasure belongs to realm of senses; joy to the spiritual and moral life ii. Pleasure is agreeable sensation caused by contact with exterior good. Joy is interior and is experienced as direct effect of excellent action, e.g., the savor of a long task finally accomplished, the awareness of truth understood and goodness loved. iii. Pleasure and pain are contraries. Joy is born of trials, of pain endured, of sufferings accepted with courage and love. iv. Pleasure is brief, variable, and superficial; joy is lasting because it is profound. v. Pleasure is individual and decreases when the good that causes it is divided up. Pleasure ceases when good is removed. Joy is communicable and diffusive. Joy repays sacrifices readily embraced. It belongs to purity and generosity of love. c. Still joy and pleasure can co-exist and intersect. i. Pleasure is a much more limited experience because it concerns the external, physical sensation. 1. We can derive legitimate pleasure by choosing freely what is good, e.g., the experience of enjoying the well prepared Sunday dinner. ii. Joy concerns the inner, profound yearning for truth, love, and goodness. iii. The call to greater good demands a break from charms of pleasure 1. Yet joy does not destroy but refines and rightly orders pleasure. 10. EXERCISE: A Thought Experiment a. Take a moment to think of a goal that you want to achieve in life. i. Would achieving this goal more likely bring you joy or pleasure? b. Now think of what you will have to do to achieve this goal. i. Does it entail making the right choices or developing skills? ii. What may interfere with your achieving the goal? c. Would you conclude that true freedom involves pursuing the virtues that will make you a happy, joyful person.
11. Summary a. Freedom in its deepest sense is the ability to live a life of virtue. b. Still freedom is mistakenly understood as the absence of restriction and the presence of choices. c. True freedom comes from following the natural inclination for happiness. d. Freedom requires the attainment of virtue. e. Freedom brings joy which rightly orders pleasure. Freedom - 7