Authority, freedom, will and whim

The contemporary society is obsessed with freedom. Freedom is most of the times mistaken to being restricted by one's whim. There is deep difference between whim and will. Beautifully articulated by Erich Fromm in his book, "The Art of Being", he says - 

"Following whim is, in fact the result of deep inner passivity blended with a wish to avoid boredom. Will is based on activity, whim on passivity..A whim is any desire that emerges spontaneously, without any structural connection with the whole personality and its goals...The desire itself - even even the most fleeting or irrational one - today requires its fulfillment; to disregard it or even to postpone it is experienced as an infringement of one's freedom!.....The chief rationalization for the obsession of arbitrariness is the concept of antiauthoritarianism. To be sure, the fight against authoritarians was and still is of great positive significance. But antiauthoritarianism can and has become a rationalization for narcissistic self indulgence, for a childish sybaritic life of unimpaired pleasure. Fear of authoritarianism serves to rationalize a kind of madness, a desire to escape the reality. Reality imposes its law on man, laws that can only escape in dreams or in states of trance - or in insanity" 

In my inclination to personal freedom, and my abhorrence to authority, it might have appeared to the reader that I vote for that arbitrary relativism. This article is to clarify that confusion. It is not that the ideal way of being is to do what subjectively one feels. It is not about basing our thoughts and action by our own value judgement, totally devoid of the laws of nature, or the "truth". One has to first know the truth, using his reason, to snap himself free from the illusions of the mind, society and other conditionings. Once a man is able to see the truth, then it is his prerogative to express his unique potentialities through spontaneous activities, based on love. 

So, to some extent authority is mandatory. This is because unless man knows what is truth, he has to be directed to the truth. This has to be done through proper education, contemplation, and practice - using his reason, emotions, and the whole personality. This is a personal process which man has to undergo. It is about knowing the truth, and following the same. Once man is centered with this central axis, he is eligible to exercise his will. It is very important, as Fromm has put forward, to develop the sense of discrimination between whim and will. To be able to develop this understanding one needs to undergo a directed process. 

The essence is to find the balance, and develop the discrimination where and in what dose authority has to be applied with total freedom to exercise one's own will. This typically is very relevant in the realm of leadership in any form - either parenting, or in a typical corporate world, or in say a social context. Man has to be aware when and what form of authority that needs to be exercised. The bottomline is that authority might be needed to nourish, develop and grow a person to be able to enable that person to know what is right and wrong. The idea is about educating and guiding a person to lead him to the truth. Doing this, the leader has to be aware that he does not stifles and chokes to death the individuality of the person being led.

Leadership is about being like an artists trying to make a clay sculpture. He knows how and when and where the right pressure has to be put on the clay to mould it to a beautiful idol. In doing so, he allows the unique characteristic of the clay to add that special sheen and texture to the idol. Although the conception of the idol is the imagination of the artist, he does not kill the individuality of the clay, and allows the clay to express its own self. In no instance does the clay-smith disdains the existence of the clay, and collaborates with the unique and independent existence of the clay, to bring to form his imagination.

Mankind has to defend himself and his offsprings from this whimsical fantasy which is termed as freedom and independence, in the contemporary world. Imagine what will happen if a sharp sword is handed to a baby. Having said that one also has to keep in mind that one cannot act as a sadist, trying to control, subdue and manipulate the subordinate using him just as a means to his own personal ends. The idea is not about being soft. None of the masters of the like of Buddha, Spinoza, Socrates, Plato etc were softies. They were ruthless to be centered with the ideal. But at the same time, they gave space for the optimum development of the unique faculties of humanity. It is of prime importance to understand and appreciate this balance between authority and freedom, between will and whim.

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