Jeanna Albano, MBA
A Doctoral student in Developmental Management of the Divine
Word College of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Abstract.
Understanding
and applying the concept of freedom is contextual. Living life freely within
the social context. Thus, since it is within the social context, freedom is not
a license to do whatever you want to do, it is not an absolute. Your freedom
ends when you cross the boundaries of the freedom of others and cultural,
social and moral values. Western society and eastern society may understand and
apply freedom in different way, not necessarily the same. The purpose of education is to teach children
to live their freedom within the context where they are.
Key Words: Freedom, social context, values.
Introduction
Freedom is
one of the most frequently used words in our time and often it is misused. Thus
it is necessary to be defined and well understood. Proper understanding of
freedom will help us to conduct ourselves properly.
Different
societies often time emphasizes different meaning of freedom. Western and
eastern societies may emphasize different freedom. One might emphasize outer
freedom and the other inner freedom. Outer freedom is freedom of action,
political or social freedom. Inner freedom is freedom of the mind, freedom from
the bondage of ignorance of human nature and its potentialities. Ignorance
breeds fear, suspicion, hatred, and confusion.
However, in
order to function in the society, one must give up his identity, conform to
anonymous authorities and adopt successful roles (Monte Mayor, 1999). Thus he
escapes from inner freedom. The more he escapes from his inner freedom to act
according to his will, the more powerless he feels and the more meaningless his
life seems to be. If life loses its meaning because it is not lived, man
becomes desperate. The ideas of freedom and democracy deteriorate into nothing
but irrational faith once they are not based upon the productive experience of
each individual but are presented to him by parties and states which force him
to believe in these ideas.
This article would like to discuss
further the meaning of freedom and how we are going to live this freedom within
context and teach the children to live freely within context. In this article,
the context that the researcher wants to emphasize is eastern context.
Freedom Defined.
What is freedom? Freedom is not license to do whatever we
want. The word freedom has many different meanings depending on the context.
Each person's construction of meaning for their own life depends on freedom.
There are two kinds of freedom: The first is freedom of thought, freedom of
mind or freedom of conscience. This is what we call inner freedom, a
function of maturate growth or maturity or self-actualization. The second is
freedom of choice or freedom of action. This is called outer freedom. The
two are interrelated. True freedom emerges when true inner freedom translates
into authentic outer freedom.
The
definition of freedom varies with the cultural context. The principles of
freedom and democracy are based on responsible freedom which is freedom of
thinking and feeling derived from the activity of the human conscience. Inner freedom is a function of
morality; it means maturation of personality integration of conscience.
Conscience is the biological mechanism for maintenance of integration of the
human personality in a complex social environment. The human conscience is a
free conscience and development of the human conscience depends on fulfillment
of human needs for unconditional love, work etc. Morality is a function of
moral development. Moral development is a function of the development of the
human conscience. The human conscience is the human spirit. It is the guardian
of the integration of the human personality. It is the core of human values
which have evolved through natural selection as a result of its survival value
to the human organism's need to adapt to a complex social environment. It is a
biologically based intrinsic valuing system which is developed as a protection
for the integrated human organism. It is the result of evolutionary processes.
The human organism depends on the conscience and the spirit; it is for survival
of the individual organism and survival of the species. Development of
the human conscience results in humanistic morality or free morality as opposed
to authoritarian morality. Free morality is morality based on inner freedom.
Development of free morality is a result of development with inner freedom. And
it is the biological basis of the so-called higher values.
Still in line with the meaning
of freedom, according to Mortimer Adler (1963), there are three distinct
meanings of freedom: 1) an individual is said to be free when external
circumstances permit him/her to act as he wishes for his own good; 2) an
individual is said to be free when he/she has acquired enough virtue or wisdom
to be able willingly to do as he ought, to comply with the moral law, or to
live in accordance with an ideal befitting human nature. This kind of freedom
resides in an individual’s state of mind or character; and it is quite
independent of all external circumstances; 3) all men are said to be free
because they are endowed by nature with the power of free choice, the power to
decide for themselves what they shall do or become.
The Western Concept of Freedom
The Western concept of freedom is a freedom of choice. In
the Western world, freedom is perceived in terms of the ability to satisfy
personal desires and impulses for self-expression in the absence of
obstructions and restraining influences of authoritarianism. The emphasis
is on external factors of freedom as they relate to the outer aspects of life
or politics - freedom of expression, autonomy, self-determination, self-dependence,
self-regulation and democracy.
Such concept of freedom has influenced economy and political
concepts. The freedom and capitalism denigrate the value of true freedom in
American capitalist society. In American culture, the ideals of political
freedom are used by the propaganda machine in the interests of capitalism to
divert people's attention to the choice of products which they as consumers can
buy. In the consumer society people are kept ignorant of the real meaning of
freedom and conditioned to think that they enjoy the freedom to choose. Freedom
of choice as outer freedom is not the translation of freedom of thought. The
inner freedom is to act from conviction and internal harmony according to one's
own will or conscience.
Freedom of conscience is not encouraged or even allowed. Freedom
of capitalist society is the outer freedom which emphasizes the outer aspect of
life and is often confused with political and social freedom. As a result of
suppression of inner freedom, the individual does not know what he wants, what
he thinks or what he feels. He is not free according to his own will, acting
from inner harmony and conviction. In order to function in the society, he must
give up his identity, conform to anonymous authorities and adopt successful
roles. The more he escapes from his inner freedom to act according to his own
will and conscience, the more powerless he feels and the more meaningless his
life seems to be. Freedom as inner freedom emphasizes the inner aspect of life and can be likened to the
German word for freedom - 'freiheit' in which the root 'heit' refers to
the inner condition or state of mind or consciousness state. The closest
English equivalent would be 'freedom hood' meaning 'freedom of one's
consciousness state, the conscious inner struggle for inner freedom for which
all human beings striving for understanding and knowledge of one's
connectedness with the world and other beings in the world (Maguigad, 2005).
The Eastern concept of freedom is a freedom of the mind. In
the Eastern world freedom is perceived in terms of the ability to act according
to those convictions which result from internal harmony and freedom of
conscience or free will. Emphasis is on internal factors of freedom as
they relate to the inner aspects of life or the inner life - freedom from
conditioning, freedom from fear, freedom from desire, and freedom from sorrow.
Inner freedom is not a question of will but of observation and contemplation.
Inner freedom is based on the ability to see reality as it is, with a sense of
responsibility or caring i.e. love in the sense of loving-kindness, wisdom of
compassion and creative intelligence. Creative intelligence is functional in
normal growth and development of social. Social
intelligence is a function of optimal mental health. Social intelligence is
also a capability to sense social reality and taking social reality into
consideration when making decision or action.
Education for social intelligence is education for cultivation of the
total human being; example is the holistic education. Holistic education is
responsible education which allows for freedom to learn from experience or
experiential learning.
Teaching the Children to Live Freedom within the Eastern Context
and Values
To teach the right meaning and practice of freedom can be
done through holistic perception and holistic education. It should
be reminded that freedom is the most important condition necessary to ensure
the cultivation of natural development - not freedom as license but freedom with control and responsibility.
Although freedom in the eastern context is the freedom of the mind, the ability
to act according to the conviction which results from internal harmony and
freedom of conscience, however, the application of such freedom is not absolute,
in the sense that someone cannot just act based on his conviction alone but
social realities and moral values are factors to tame freedom. In the eastern
context, freedom is not regarded as free ticket to do whatever you want to do
but freedom that is placed within the social context. Such concept should be inculcated in the
beginning of childhood. Since childhood, a child is oriented what it means to
be free within the context.
Learning is a natural function of the brain and the healthy
mind. There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education
functions either as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration
of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about
conformity to it, or it becomes the practice
of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and
creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation
of their world. The development of an educational methodology that facilitates
this process will inevitably lead to tension and conflict within our society.
But it could also contribute to the formation of a new man and mark the
beginning of a new era in Western history.
Real freedom is a consequence of
development and education; it is the consequence of latent guides, aided by
education. It is the construction of the personality, reached by effort and
one's own experiences; it is the long road which every child must take to reach
maturity. Development cannot be taught. Freedom does not
consist in keeping up an uninterrupted and unimpeded external activity, but is
something achieved through conquering, by personal reflection, the difficulties
that prevent immediate overflow into action and spontaneous success and genuine
freedom is intellectual. It rests on the power of thought. To cultivate
unhindered, unreflective, external activity is to foster enslavement, for it
leaves the person at the mercy of appetite, sense and circumstance (Kesson,
2010).
The result of good education must
be to produce a mature person. A mature person would be a person who knows how
to use his freedom in the proper context. Though the concept of freedom is
universal but the application of such freedom is contextual. Contexts are
always different depending where you are in this world. When you are in western
culture, the application of freedom should be adjusted to western context and
when you are in the eastern world, the application of freedom should be
adjusted within eastern context. Western culture may emphasize individuality
and independence, while eastern culture would emphasizes social harmony,
interdependence. As a consequence, the application of freedom for the eastern
would be limited by the concept of harmony. Your freedom ends when you destroy
the harmony and the social relationship. It is not like ‘mind your own
business’ and don’t mind my business as in the western culture. Thus children
must know where they are and learn how to exercise freedom within the context
where they. It is like a Filipino behaves like American and American behave like
a Filipino. It is what is happening. Besides there can be no freedom
independent of social, moral and cultural context. For the human
individual in a cultural context, the nature of reality is determined by the
nature of the cultural environment. The nature of the cultural environment is determined by the cultural values, moral values and belief systems.
Teaching Methodology
Teaching children about such
freedom is not an easy job; given the fact the world has no boundary because of
technology. Internet has communicated directly to the children or students what
is happening around the globe. However, such situation is not an excuse for
educator to teach children about the meaning of freedom within their cultural
values and social values. Human are product of its environment.
In line with
that idea, educators must analyze the cultural context in which they are doing
their work of educating. There can be no educational policy or practice
independent of a social and cultural context and therefore there is no such
theory as objective educational theory. For the human individual in a cultural
context, the nature of reality is determined by the nature of the cultural
environment. The nature of the cultural environment is determined by the
cultural values and belief systems. Stimuli from the cultural environment are
directly related to the basic assumptions underlying the values of the culture.
They are peripheral to the stimuli in the field of focused attention. As
peripheral stimuli, they are processed by the brain at the subconscious level.
The cultural values are a product of the cultural belief systems which make up
the cultural consciousness. The cultural belief systems are a product of the
history of the culture. The cultural history forms the basis of the cultural
consciousness, source of the peripheral stimuli processed subconsciously by the
individual in a cultural context. The individual's thought and behavior
patterns are influenced by the subconsciously processed peripheral stimuli from
the cultural environment. Unconsciously perceived and processed by the brain,
peripheral stimuli from the cultural environment are inherent in the so-called
cultural consciousness. The educational process for the individual within a
cultural context involves conscious thought patterns in the framework of
unconsciously processed environmental stimuli of the cultural consciousness.
The learning process combines the processing of environmental peripheral
stimuli with conscious thought processes involved in cognition. Educational
policies are formulated in the context of a prevailing cultural worldview which
is inherent in the prevailing cultural belief systems and values. Cultural
belief systems are created in the framework of the basic assumptions underlying
the cultural view of the world - the reality which is perceived from the point
of view of the people living in their own time. The individuals within a given
culture perceive their own world from their own point of view, with the technology,
the resources and the education accessible to them. They identify with the
belief systems of their culture and perceive the world from the point of view
of the cultural belief systems. An individual educated within the context of
given cultural belief systems internalize the cultural values. The cultural
values are derived from the cultural beliefs (Miller, 2005)
Conclusion
From the concept of freedom alone shows a difference
between the west and the east. Thus human conduct must be different too. Human
are product of its environment or society. Eastern world emphasizes social relationship
and harmony and while western culture emphasizes on individuality. Such
concepts naturally influence how human from two different context live life
differently. Thus, the application of the concept of freedom is then
contextual. For the western, freedom is absolute but for the eastern, freedom
is not absolute. In that case, social context, values, cultures defines the
boundary of freedom.
References
Maguigad, R. B..2005.
Philosophy of Man. Libro Filipino 90-D N. Ramirez Street, Galas, Quezon
City
Montemayor, Felix M. 1999.
Introduction to Philosophy Through the Philosophy of Man revised Edition.
Navotas Press, Navotas, Metro Manila
Kesson, Kathleen. 2010.
Critical Theory and Holistic Education: Carrying on the Conversation. http://wwwholisticeducation.com
Miller, John. 2005. Holistic
Education in a Prophetic Voice in Worldviews, Educational Orientations and
Holistic Education. http://www.holisticeduactor.com
http://www.holisticeducator.com/culturalcontext.htm
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