Truth and Freedom are fundamentally linked. We often make the crucial error of separating freedom from truth. Instead, we equate freedom with license; but they are not synonymous. Freedom is not simply the ability to choose what you want, when you want it. In fact, true freedom is impossible without sacrifice. And we can only know what and how to sacrifice by knowing what is true. Therefore, we are free to the exact extent that we are able to recognize truth. And freedom is not to be taken lightly.
Freedom is the great responsibility of humanity. Aristotle said, “[e]very man should be responsible to others, nor should anyone do just as he pleases; for where absolute freedom is allowed there is nothing to restrain the evil which is inherent in every man.” What he means is this: license (what some consider “freedom”) and choice, at the expense of morality (truth), is a framework for corruption and evil. Put simply, if my “freedom,” in any way, opposes objective truth, which is goodness itself, then it is not true freedom; it is a childish desire to have what I want despite the fact that it offends my true happiness and the happiness of others (we will come back to happiness later, but stay with me here). Slavery is the classic American paradigm for this. Freedom without truth is not freedom; it is tyranny. True freedom is not simply the ability to choose one thing or another. It is the ability to choose what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful.
If this is the case, we must ask ourselves how we can discover Truth. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” Two very important points are made by Dr. King here, which are necessary for this argument. Firstly, we can discern the truth by way of Greek reason and logic. Second, it is the imposition of true freedom which leads to the understanding and acceptance of it. I mean to say that we must institute laws which are just in order to inspire order and morality, for “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; It must be demanded by the oppressed,” (King, Letter from Birmingham Jail). Freedom follows truth. Morality follows the law. If you want good and moral citizens, you must have good and moral laws! This means that even if I don’t like what is just, it is better for me to be subject to something which is not my preference, and is moral, than to have the liberty to make immoral choices which harm my neighbor and myself. Murder, stealing, violence are all classic examples of this.
Everything from the Emancipation Proclamation, to women’s suffrage, to child protection laws were once considered an “infringement” on someone else’s freedoms. Men no longer have the “right” to own women as property. White people no longer have the “liberty” to own black people like animals. Parents no longer have the “freedom” to treat children however they wish. All of these hard-won freedoms were widely considered impositions by the vast swaths of the American population. Now, they are accepted as good and moral. These freedoms were won by way of reason, truth and logic and only now have they been adopted by the majority as good and acceptable. It is our essential duty to create that “tension in the mind,” which transforms man from the position of mere animal to a place among the gods. It is our divine inheritance to seek the truth, even when the truth is uncomfortable, even when it means we are wrong, or need to change, or even die! The truth is worth this much. The truth is worth dying for, because truth and freedom are the parents of happiness.
Happiness is when the internal ethic (truth with conscience) is in complete alignment with the external self (thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, words). Happiness is not, as so many believe, the accumulation of wants. For as Aristotle pointed out: “it is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.” How idiotic of us! He means that if want/desire is your aim, you will forever be left wanting. You will never be truly satisfied if satisfaction is your God. This is a hard thing for all of us to accept as it means constantly letting your desires die. And believe me when I say that one is constantly dying if you make truth and freedom your aim. However, if you are willing to die for them, happiness is yours. If truth, honor, and the good of the other are your goal, then you can always be happy. Because what you desire is within your control. If you want more truth in the world, say it. If you want more goodness in the world, live it. If you want more love in the world, give it. You can embody this ethic and be the living evidence of goodness in the world. It is truly the Fallen Human condition to want. It is the Divine Human condition to have. Anything less than this is not happiness; it is mere circumstance.
Why does any of this matter, and why am I writing it within the context of the 4th of July? Because we are discussing the apex of where private human morality meets politic and law. If we want a good and moral country, we must have good and moral laws. If we want to truly be “The Land of the Free,” then we must have laws which uphold Truth. If we really want the possibility to “pursue happiness,” then we must make freedom and truth our aim. So I say, “let freedom ring” again in this country! Let the strong protect the weak! Let civilization return, and the captives be set free!
America! We have been wrong on the subject of abortion for the last 49 years. Thank God Roe v. Wade was overturned. We have so much work left to do.
...ON THE SUBJECT OF CHEESE 