Essay #1 Essay #2 Essay #3 Essay #4
Eighth in a series
By now, assuming that you have read 1 through 7, you – my reader – may have reached some understanding of where I am coming from about the role of the state. I will expound more on what I think is appropriate for the state and society to do to and for the individual in other essays, but to round a square peg for the hole, I need to discuss what I feel the individual owes society.
Remember, life is a contract. We have to abide by its terms or there will be problems.
In nature, it is fairly simple: Follow the rules or die. We humans have added a level of humanity to that harsh dictate and say that we are to follow the rules or adverse effects may visit you.
In nature, the universe abounds with creative destruction, with almost everything reinventing itself to adjust to changes in its environment. It is a thing of beauty and is one reason that I find a belief in God not mutually exclusive from a belief in things like evolution or scientific study. God, the creator, Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, Ra or whatever you choose to call this entity created the Universe. God set down the rules.
I am not about to go all religious on you right now, I just wanted you to understand that there are rules out there that transcend those made by humans.
However, when humans get involved, then they have to evolve their own set of rules. It is part of being a thinking, rational (at least I hope we are), cognitive, aware species that has the ability to create language and visualize intangible thoughts, concepts and ideas. Actually, it happens with all living creatures that form societies; be they flocks, herds, packs, hives, colonies, pods, etc.
So, society makes these rules. Well, actually, individuals within society agree that certain standards and behaviors are acceptable and certain standards and behaviors are not acceptable. These rules are passed down from generation to generation until they seem immutable. They aren’t, of course, as we have seen happening in societies and cultures around the world lately.
So, what is the individual’s role in all this?
Well, first and foremost, the individual is obligated to choose to abide by the rules of his or her society. I chose my words carefully here because I wanted to emphasize two points.
First, the individual has the right to choose. It is his or her option to accept the rules. That is the freedom that we all have as individuals.
Second, as a member of any society, we have to choose to follow the rules, because that is the price of admission. Everything comes with a price attached. There is, as the cliché goes, no free lunch. You can argue that, but it is one of those immutable laws that that deity that a lot of people today want to deny set down. In physics, it is called the conservation of energy. In some religions, it is called the wages of sin. But anyway you want to phrase it: Nothing, but nothing, is free.
So, since belonging to society, or culture or civilization (or even just a club or group) must come with the individual’s acceptance of the rules of that entity that is the price you pay as part of your contract. You don’t like that, join another universe.
In addition to being willing to abide by the rules of your society, there are a couple of other requirements that usually come along with it. Such as being willing to defend the rules and the society against all enemies foreign and domestic, or being willing to pass on to the next generation the core precepts that encapsulate the rules.
If you choose to do that, then you basically have met the core requirements of the social contract. Unfortunately, in the modern world as in eras past, doing those things sometimes takes more than the minimum effort to get along. People being such as they are, well … you know that asking them to do more than the minimum often is a dicey proposition.
There are those who believe, or at least say, that I did my time in the barrel, that is all I have to do. Well, I disagree with those people. I am not saying I am right, but I am saying that from my perspective that the contract with society is an ongoing thing and we are obligated to keep paying. This is not like a simple purchase where you pay a price and get to keep whatever it is you bought. No, being a member of society is more like a rental contract where you need to keep up your payments.
That is why John Kennedy’s words in his inaugural speech were so apt: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
I guess, in a way, I have bought into the cultural concept of “nobliesse oblige.” (Not that I am any higher – or lower – than anyone else).
Its definition says those of “noble birth” have “the obligation of honorable, generous, and responsible behavior associated with high rank or birth.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noblesse%20oblige>)
Only in my view, we all are of “noble birth.” Now, you can disagree with that, but I would say you are wrong. We are all noble human beings.
That being the case, then each individual has the obligation of honorable, generous and responsible behavior as the price of membership in the society in which he or she is in. To me, it matters not what culture you are raised in, that obligation remains a constant. Those raised in the Christian tradition are specifically obligated by the words of Jesus to reach out to the poor and less fortunate, but the value in that is replicated in most other religions as well.
Where I differ from some people is that I don’t believe it is society’s right to force me to do those things. Yes, society can express its disapprobation with my choice, my behavior, but it cannot force me to act against my conscience.
Again, there is that concept: Freedom of conscience.
You see, unlike Franklin D. Roosevelt, I define the four freedoms a bit differently. It is not the freedoms of speech, worship, want and fear, for to be free of all of them is impossible. It is impossible to free from want, for want is undefinable and unlimited. It is impossible to be free from fear, because it is a natural human response to stimuli.
I agree that individuals should have the freedom of speech (within the limits of the common law torts of defamation, libel and slander) and of worship. However, I would define worship as the freedom of conscience, the freedom to view the world through our own world view, our own prism, so to speak, without undue interference from society or government.
And rather than freedom from want, I would say freedom of choice. We have the freedom to make our own choices, take our own directions, do our own thing (so to speak), as long as we understand and are willing to accept that there are consequences for those choices and actions. It is sort of like saying we have a freedom to want.
We have to realize that Newton’s Third Law of Motion holds true in life as well as in physical sciences: For each action there can be an equal and opposite reaction.
Issac Newton was a very bright person, as he also postulated that in his First Law of Motion: “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”
Those two concepts really offer a great summation of human interactions.
Finally, I would offer the freedom to fear. Fear is a great force for change. It is a great force to help remind us that our freedoms are not free.
Nuff said, for now but use these words as food for thought.
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