we have a couple of different ways to understand things…
one: we can go from the universal to the individual…
we have forces such as gravity and evolution, the “clockwork” mechanisms
of nature and from those we deduce our individual status…
two: we can go from the individual to the universal…
I am Kropotkin and I am this, this, and this, and what that means is,
I am a human being with human needs and wants and desires…
because I am this way, it leads us to understand the universe this way…
the question has often been asked, how are we to understand such concepts
as freedom with so much of who we are is based upon universal forces such
as evolution and gravity and electromagnetism, the forces upon which
our universe is built upon… how are we to understand freedom given
we are bound by these forces that created the universe? how are we to be
free in a clockwork universe?
the other side of the equation is, how are we to find a home in a universe without
a solid base of operations? In other words, we are homeless right now given
our understanding of the universe where we are not the center of the universe,
where we are minor, at best, players in this immense universe where our actions
do not change or affect the universal forces that have created and still dominate
the way the universe functions………
we are bit players in our own lives… given the forces that are described by
Newton, Einstein, Marx, Smith, Freud… forces that are beyond our abilities
to affect or change… natural forces of gravity/evolution and social forces such
as capitalism and Marxism………forces that are also beyond our ability to change
is religious… we cannot understand or change the religious as described by
Jesus or Mohammed or the Buddha……
We live in a universe that is beyond our capabilities
to understand, little less to change or affect………
and that universe is a universe where we are homeless because we cannot, cannot
understand or change this universe… if you cannot understand or change something, you
are not at home with it… you can’t be…….
so those vast exclusive theories of Einstein or Marx or Jesus, also make us
homeless in those theories for we cannot exists in theories we cannot change or
understand… a theory of man as a greedy, selfish being is a theory we can be
at home with because we understand what it means to be greedy or selfish…
How are we to be free in a universe where we have no place in it?
How does man be free in a theory of forces that are beyond man’s ability
to either understand it and/or change it?
To say man, human beings exists in a universe where there is a god as defined
by the bible is to say, man has no home because he cannot understand god’s plan
for human beings and, and he cannot affect those plans……
the grand theories of human beings are also theories that deny, prevent
human beings from freedom and from being at home…….
think of modern science explanation of the beginning of the universe,
the big bang theory and think of how over time, the earth was created
and over billions of years, life was created and billions of years after life
was created, came man, human beings and we began as apes and after million
of years, we became human beings and we went from animal to human beings…
where in all of that, do you see freedom? where in all of that do you see choices
and possibilities of what we could be?
I was born into a society, the American society that had its dogma’s and
ideologies and I was indoctrinated into those dogma’s and ism’s and habits
and prejudices and superstitions…….where is my freedom given how I was
born into this dogmatic society that had certain beliefs that are given as
“certain” and “absolute”? How do we become who we are when we
are given dogma’s that are so indoctrinated into people, that to
even raise doubt about those dogma’s is to invite punishment…
if I doubt that America is the greatest country on earth, I am inviting
punishment, both from individuals and societal…
in other words forces like gravity are supposed to be like
the ideologies of America… infallible and certain and disagreement with
those ideologies leave one without a “home” and without any recourse to
freedom…of freedom of action…and, and freedom of thought…
how do I find freedom given the ism’s and ideologies of America
are no different then the forces of gravity and evolution… and to
find freedom in such ism’s and ideologies means to deny such ism’s
and ideologies… but why must I have to deny ism’s and ideologies
to be free? why can’t I be free and accept such ideologies and ism’s?
because the two, freedom on one hand and ism’s, ideologies, dogma’s
on the other hand, are incompatible because they demand different things…
freedom is the freedom of action and speech and ism’s and ideologies demand,
demand complete and absolute obedience to them…………
so do we engage in freedom or do we engage in obedience?
do we work toward freedom or do we engage in obedience to
our ism’ and ideologies/dogma’s?
that is the question…
Kropotkin