What associations do you have when you hear the word "freedom"? The first thing that comes to mind is the ability to do what you want without restrictions.

Freedom implies the possibility of choice. So why don't we do what we like?

Why do we get up and go to work in the morning, listen to and tolerate incorrect remarks from management, worry about what people will think of us, and so on. What prevents us from being free, and is freedom really the ability to do what you want? Let's figure it out.

Interpretation of the concept from different sources

To answer this question, consider how etymology interprets the concept of the word "freedom".

• In ancient documents, this word is found only as an adverb, as an adjective.
• The Old Russian words "svobod" and "svobod" are compared with the ancient Indian word "svapati", which means one's own master ("svo" - one's own, "pati" - master, lord).

If we consider briefly the history of the development of the concept of the word freedom, then it changed its definition from freedom in creative expression to the freedom to go beyond the usual and see not only a solution to a problem or the result of a goal, but also see many options for behavior in a given situation.

American psychologist Rollo Rees May defined freedom as a unique opportunity for an individual to see a wide range of possible options for action in any situation that happens to a person.

And this choice is the wider and more diverse, the more developed the self-awareness of this person and his ability in the imagination to choose desired option behavior for a particular situation.

The more opportunities a person has to change the situation, the wider the choice of ways to respond to what is happening, the more free she is.

A person is able to project what is happening on himself. But if he does not see opportunities due to the fact that he does not know something or is afraid, then he misses these opportunities, and misses them consciously. Not wanting to get rid of unnecessary addiction, but preferring to sit and regret.

Those people who live according to such principles and do not want to change anything, . And they will willingly praise their living conditions, so as not to seem to you unfulfilled in their careers, business, personal lives. This is also an addiction, fear of what people will say. Another self-deception.

Not everyone can take responsibility. It is much easier to blame others for your problems or your failure.

But if a person strives for freedom, then he will free himself from such dependencies step by step.

Of course, a psychologically immature person is incapable of making decisions and responsibility, therefore freedom and infantilism are rather antonyms, and freedom and responsibility are synonymous words.

There is this aphorism: There is a monument to freedom (Statue of Liberty), but, unfortunately, there is no monument to responsibility».

What is true freedom

Freedom is a state of a person in which she (the person) is the main initiator of her actions not dictated by any other factors.

Freedom has several more definitions:

• In ethics, the word freedom means voluntary adherence to moral standards and principles. The concept of freedom of conscience corresponds to philosophical and ethical understanding, and allows a person to independently form his own worldview, without violating generally accepted norms and principles.
• Philosophy defines this word as an opportunity for a person to express his will, based on the knowledge of the laws of the evolution of society and nature.
• In the concept of law, freedom is when all actions of an individual are subject to laws enshrined in a legislative document (this includes freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.).

Even Immanuel Kant argued that a person can be free only when he obeys not another person, but a universally binding law.

The article “Two Concepts of Freedom” by Isai Berlin is considered a classic of freethinking. In it, political freedom is divided by the author into negative and positive.

Summarizing his reasoning, we can conclude that negative freedom This is the freedom of action of a person, in which other people do not interfere. A positive freedom- this is the ability of a person to perform any action independently, based only on his own interests, without taking into account the interests of other people.

Based only on these definitions, we can conclude that a completely free person cannot be due to three reasons:

1. Human actions should not infringe on the interests of other people.
2. They must comply with the moral standards accepted in society.
3. They should not violate the laws of the state in which he lives, and even more so be a threat to the lives of others, here the law acts as a restriction.

So is freedom a myth, a ghost? Not really. A person cannot exist outside of society. Therefore, it is worth considering the freedom of a person without separating him from society.

According to Marxism, the individual and society are a single whole, and the essence of a person is determined by the social conditions in which he is.

By changing these social conditions, adapting them to himself, a person changes himself. It is necessary to consider the real conditions in which a person lives, and not artificial or hypothetical, in which not a single subject will find himself during the entire period of his life.

Another thing is what a person can get from interaction with society. If a society is developed and cares about people, it can give a lot of options for a person to choose. Choose the type of activity, what he wants to do, what he wants to wear, eat, watch, listen, where to work, live.

Each person must voluntarily participate in the development of the society in which he lives.

As an example, different levels of development of states. They try to get into some states and obtain citizenship, while they flee from others without looking back. The reason is the number and level of opportunities provided. These factors determine the level of external freedom of a person.

We can conditionally distinguish four parts of freedom:

1. Political.
2. Economic.
3. National State.
4. Individual rights.

People experience fears that fetter their inner freedom. You can not talk about the fear of losing money, fame, power. People with such fears are addicted, and, most likely, this addiction is conscious. Therefore, they are unlikely to be attracted by inner freedom. It's like trying to persuade a person with an alcohol addiction to go to treatment. He understands that this is necessary, that it is for his good, but he still drinks further and does not try to change anything.

And if a person is afraid of losing housing, work, family, health, these are already important and significant components of life. Here freedom appears already as a necessity. The need to make independent decisions, and be ready to be responsible for them. Realizing that the decision could be wrong, that it was not possible to take into account all the risks.

The absolute responsibility for one's life lies only with a person, and this can be called true freedom.

What is expressed

Freedom is expressed in the ability to choose the best for oneself from all options, while not affecting the interests of other people, without violating the law and following one's own principles of morality and morality.

The feeling of free will enables a person to feel himself the creator of his life.

Only if a person feels that he affects the world with his actions, he can change this world and make it the way he wants.

This feeling of freedom of choice makes a person the author of his own destiny. A person, influencing the world and receiving feedback from it on his actions, learns new things, gains experience, learns the world, himself, lives. With a sense of freedom, a person has an understanding that he is responsible for his life.

How to feel free

A person feels as free as he can afford it.

For the most part, a person drives himself into a framework, from which he then tries to get out. From childhood, prohibitions and all kinds of restrictions remain: don’t do this, it’s impossible. From birth, a person is not free. First, he depends on his parents, then on school, university, friends, environment. He is still trying to get his life experience, but he is being imposed on a “ready-made”, proven path. But what about development, which is possible only through the acquisition of personal experience.

The process of isolating the individual "I" from the collective "We" took a significant period of time in the life of the human race. What is the meaning of this process? A person knows himself, becomes a person.

A person's self-knowledge goes through several phases:

1. Knowing your needs and abilities.

2. Acquisition of free will, freedom of choice and awareness of their boundaries, awareness of the responsibility associated with freedom.

3. Acquisition of dignity, that is, an inner conviction in the value of one's personality.

4. Finding the meaning of life.

Awareness by the individual of his needs and abilities for certain types of activity is found already in the time of the barbarians. The circle of both is quite narrow, it is associated with survival, the struggle for territory for hunting, etc. People do not have freedom of choice, they must obey strict group discipline (kind, tribe). Even the leader acts according to a custom he dares not break, rather than according to his own discretion.

As the standard of living rises, the tools of labor, production and hunting improve, the autonomy of the individual increases: he is now capable of hunting animals alone or growing cereals, forging axes, etc. At the same time, the circle of his needs is expanding, and there is a demand for new abilities. A person acquires freedom of choice, in his actions he can be guided by his own will, not obeying the will of others. This state is called freedom.

Free will means that a person has no obstacles to achieve his goals. The word "freedom" means the absence of external obstacles, primarily the pressure of someone else's will, the word "will" means the readiness of the individual to overcome internal obstacles - doubt, fear, laziness, self-doubt, etc.

The desire for freedom is one of the strongest human feelings. With freedom, a person associates the implementation of his life plans, the ability to choose life goals and ways to achieve them at his own will.

But man does not and cannot have absolute freedom. It is limited by many circumstances, which in science are usually called factors.

First, human abilities. No matter how much he desires to become a great artist and uses his freedom for this, but if a person does not have the ability to draw, he will not achieve his goal. However, as a rule, in this case, he will not set himself such a life goal, but will direct his freedom and will to achieve goals that really correspond to his abilities.

Secondly, a person's freedom is limited by his socio-economic status. Slaves and serfs were practically deprived of their freedom. But even now, when citizens of the states of the world can freely travel from country to country, most of them do not have the opportunity to use this freedom due to lack of funds.

Thirdly, one cannot live in a society being free from it. Each person is constantly in contact with other people, and he needs to reckon with them. Therefore, there is a moral constraint on freedom: "Do to others as you would like them to do to you." Or two “nots” can be inserted into this phrase: “Do not do to others the way you would not want them to do to you.” These rules of life are called the "moral imperative", that is, mandatory requirement morality, ethics. Violation of this moral imperative leads to arbitrariness, that is, the abuse of freedom to the detriment of others. Not only moral, but also legal, state law protects from arbitrariness. In the Constitution Russian Federation(Article 17) says: "The exercise of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen must not violate the rights and freedoms of other persons."

A responsibility

It must be said that it is not easy for a person to bear the burden of freedom. After all, if he is free in his actions, then he is responsible for their consequences. And who else? Freedom is always realized by a person “at his own peril and risk”. Therefore, not all people are ready to use their freedom, they try not to accept independent decisions not to take responsibility for the consequences, but shift this burden onto others so as not to be responsible for anything.

However, for those who consider themselves a real person, freedom is a great blessing, it enables a person to fully reveal their capabilities, and a sense of responsibility only stimulates the exertion of all forces to achieve the goal. Freedom cannot be irresponsible. And this applies to all aspects of human life, all types of his activities. The freedom of an irresponsible person is dangerous for society.

There is one area of ​​freedom where a person can successfully resist its limitations in any conditions - this is the freedom of thought. Even prison cannot deprive a person of freedom of thought. Freedom of thought is a prerequisite for any creative endeavor. To create a new one, one must be able to abandon old ideas. Freedom of thought is the ability to independently comprehend any phenomenon, to have your own opinion, even contrary to the opinion of the majority or the opinion of authoritative, respected people. Once Aristotle, in a polemic with his teacher, said: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer." Plato's disciples, enchanted by his thoughts, thoughtlessly repeated them without subjecting them to their own analysis. Aristotle questioned them - and it was an act of free thought - and established that the teacher was wrong.

A person is greatly influenced by other people's opinions, theories, teachings, religious beliefs, prejudices. Falling into the consciousness of a person, they can deprive him of freedom of thought or severely limit it. A person who submits to other people's opinions, ideas, beliefs without trying to comprehend them on their own is called a conformist.

Important qualities of a free person are honor and dignity. Honor is a high positive assessment of a person in the eyes of others, an assessment that a person is proud of and considers deserved. Dignity is self-respect, a person considers himself worthy of other people, worthy of their respect. Honor and dignity are the categories by which a person is evaluated and compares himself with other people. For a free person, this measure is the equality of all people and their evaluation according to their merits. Respect for honor and dignity is an important prerequisite for normal communication between people. Any belittling or humiliation of honor and dignity causes a defensive reaction in a free person and condemnation of others. The law also protects the individual from humiliation of his honor and dignity. If an offended person endures insults and humiliation of his dignity, it means that he has not yet “ripened” as a free person.

Meaning of life

The highest phase, the highest point of a person's knowledge of himself and the formation of a free personality is the acquisition of the meaning of life. How will a free person dispose of his freedom, what fate will he choose in life, what goals will he set for himself? (Note that a non-free person cannot find the meaning of life, because he does not control his own destiny, the meaning of life is determined by those to whom he is subordinate.) Of course, one should not think that every person deliberately thinks: what is the meaning of my life? It is not formed theoretically, but consists practically of the specific goals of a person that he seeks to achieve. Should I indulge in selfish pleasures or try for the good of my own, my family, friends, society? "To have" or "to be"? This is how philosophers have formulated this question. “To have” means to strive for material enrichment, for the possession of things and money, for the accumulation of material wealth for the sake of wealth, and not for the sake of its consumption. The prototype of such a person is the Miserly Knight from Pushkin's play of the same name: his favorite thing and the strongest experience was the contemplation of chests of gold. “To be” means to realize all your abilities, to do what you love, to reveal all your human qualities: love for your neighbors, care for children, friendship, enjoyment of beauty, etc. A life lived in this way is a contribution to the humanization of humanity, as discussed above.

Of course, one cannot absolutely oppose “to have” and “to be”: after all, in order to “have”, one must at least have a little “being”, and in order to “be”, it is not bad to have something. It's all about what is considered an end and what is a means. A person whose goal is the possession of material wealth subordinates all his abilities to this passion, becomes a slave to things, greed and avarice develop in him, and the loss of a thing seems to him a catastrophe. For a person with the “to be” attitude, things are also necessary, and wealth does not hurt, but for him it is a means to a full life and the realization of his abilities and intangible interests. Wealth that exceeds his needs, he often uses for various socially useful purposes. So, the Moscow merchant P. Tretyakov founded an art gallery (museum), which now bears his name. The manufacturer S. Mamontov maintained an art gallery and an opera house. The names of patrons M. and S. Morozov, A. Bakhrushin and others are widely known. In 1997, the famous Russian hockey players Fetisov, Larionov and Kozlov contributed large sums of money to purchase ammunition for young Russian hockey players.

People rarely think about the meaning of life in their youth. They remember him when it's already too late and nothing can be fixed.

Brief conclusions:

1. In the process of isolating the individual "I" from the collective "We", a person cognizes himself, becomes a personality.

2. A person gains freedom of choice, in his actions he can be guided by his own will, not obeying the will of others.

3. In free will, the word "freedom" means the absence of external obstacles to action, and the word "will" means overcoming internal obstacles - fear, uncertainty, etc.

4. Man cannot have absolute freedom. It is limited by his natural abilities, socio-economic status, moral and legal rules of conduct.

5. Freedom is inseparable from responsibility for deeds of free choice.

6. Freedom of thought is the ability to independently perceive information and evaluate it. No one can forcibly deprive a person of freedom of thought.

7. Honor and dignity are indispensable qualities of a free person. They are a measure of the respect of those around him and a measure of his own self-respect.

8. The meaning of life is determined by the life goals that a person sets for himself. "To have or to be?" - one of the main questions of the meaning of life.

Tasks for reflection:

1. From your point of view, what could be the biggest reward in life?

2. When we are talking about freedom, then it can be considered from two positions: freedom from whom and freedom for what. What are you most in need of?

3. Is it possible for you to evaluate the students of the class in which you study: less worthy and more worthy?

Victor MUSHINSKY, Doctor of Law

The will of man and its freedom: the definition of the will, its freedom, the rational-conscious orientation of the human will

What is the will of man?

Will is understood as the ability of the soul, reasonable ability human personality to set in motion, to carry out their decisions and plans. This ability is manifested in total, combining the mind, feelings and will of a person. “Only being a function of the whole soul, will the will pulsate in all its depth and strength,” says Professor V.V. Zenkovsky.

How should we understand free will?

Freedom, as such, is inherent in all the faculties of the soul: freedom of mind manifests itself in its reasonable direction, freedom of feeling in its varied inquiries and expressions, free will- in its ability to meet the needs of a person, to serve his reasonable self-determination.

What is the rational-conscious orientation of the human will expressed in?

This orientation is expressed in the fact that when solving vital issues, a person is guided by the motives of the proposed case, listens to the voices of conscience, duty, responsibility and independently selects the most important of them to make the necessary reasonable decision and proper action.

3. The beginning of free will and its completion

The beginning of free will and its completion: motivation, motives and their struggle, decision making and determination to put this decision into practice with a real deed, evaluation of the completed deed

Free will in its implementation goes through the following volitional moments: motivation, struggle of motives per and against forthcoming action, the action itself and its evaluation.

What is an inducement?

Motivation – it is a general, purposeful reason for doing something. It is expressed in preliminary tuning, in the setting of the soul, in the excitation of all its forces for the upcoming work. Motivation arises within a person, from his deepest needs and most often manifests itself in vitally active actions. But every action is determined by the struggle of motives per and against this action.

What are motives?

motives – it a number of considerations in favor of the upcoming case or against it. As a result of the heterogeneity of motives in the sphere of human self-consciousness, fight motives. The whole person is involved in this struggle. The mind analyzes the situation that has arisen, the mind evaluates it. Conscience gives its voice, its pressure is exerted by a sense of duty, responsibility and worldly practical considerations and needs.

What is the role of our I am in this struggle of motives?

Our I am unites all these voices and forces, guided not only by motives as a common cause, but also by the high purpose of man. The struggle of motives usually ends making a decision on this issue and the emergence of the determination to implement this decision, finishing it real thing.

What are the stages of development of human free will?

The will of a person, as the ability to introduce him into a real, practical connection with individual phenomena of the surrounding world, has the following stages: impulse(general purposeful reason for doing the deed) struggle of motives(formal freedom) solution(overweight in favor of the cause when choosing motives per this case) determination(initial moment of real freedom) action(case) assessment of a completed deed with the use of its fruits in the subsequent life of a person(evaluative action of freedom).

4. Types of free will

Types of free will: the interaction of free will with the high purpose of man; formal freedom, rationally conscious, real freedom; moral freedom, based on a highly moral self-consciousness, choosing the best in the light of the truths of God, having in its basis the fulfillment of the will of God; ideal freedom, an example of the achievement of higher freedom, its achievement by a person who enters into the fullness of obedience to the will of God; awareness of one's freedom through self-observation and the power of moral feeling

How does free will interact with the high purpose of man?

Will in its development passes through the following moments: formal freedom, real freedom and evaluative freedom. will manifests itself in many ways, for it is closely connected with the high purpose of man. His appointment consists of immediate and more distant duties and tasks. This includes personal, family, social, industrial and labor responsibilities. The degree of fulfillment of these duties depends on the degree of development of the many-sided freedom of a person. And freedom can be formal and real, moral and ideal.

What kind of freedom is called formal?

Formal is called the freedom of a person to experience his ability to incline towards good or evil. Therefore, it is a conscious act of self-determination, inclination of the will to good or evil, but not yet an affirmation in one of them, but only a stop in the choice on one thing.

Such was the condition of the prodigal son from the gospel parable, when he, dying on the far side, faced a choice: either to die in a foreign land, or with a repentant feeling to return to his father. This happens to each of us when we are faced with the need to choose: the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of this or that intention or deed.

What is the real, rational-conscious freedom of man?

Usually, free will does not stop at a formal preference for one motive over another or one action over another, but fixes its choice. real excitation of all the forces and abilities of the soul to perform the chosen action for reasons of vital practical goals and needs. In this case, the choice leads to the adoption of a decision, to the accumulation of strength for the upcoming business and the very completion of it. This will be the real, rationally conscious freedom of man.

What kind of freedom is called moral?

moral freedom is formed in the sphere of internal highly moral self-awareness of a person. Therefore, in the struggle of motives, our I am manifests himself with full moral determination and strength. And the actions here can be and really are truly free, although they are often preceded by self-compulsion, trampling on one's self, natural pride.

On what grounds does moral freedom make its choice?

Moral freedom consolidates its choice by the real excitement of all forces and the ability of the soul for the forthcoming work, not for worldly practical reasons, but based on highly moral self-consciousness, and manifests itself with full moral determination and strength.

What does moral freedom choose for a person?

Love of Wisdom teaches that freedom manifests itself in the ability to choose intelligently and without restraint to do the best. Moral freedom therefore manifests itself as the active faculty of the soul, not enslaved to sin, not burdened by a condemning conscience; it selects the best in the light of God's truths and puts that best into action with the help of God's grace.

What does moral freedom strive for?

This freedom cannot be constrained by anyone, for it is based on the will of God. Moreover, not to the detriment of himself, for he strives to fulfill the will of God and has no need to shake the decrees of men. Moral freedom is perfectly willing to obey the law and legitimate authority, because it itself wants what obedience requires.

When does ideal freedom reveal itself to a person?

Perfect Freedom is revealed to us when we live in God, goodness and truth, and when, as a result of this, our the personality becomes free from its created limitations. This freedom is also called triumphant freedom. It is inherent in the ascetic who has conquered himself, his egoism, selfishness, pride, and thus his own opposition to God and people. Here is no longer slavery to sin, but slavery of righteousness(). This "bondage" is dominated by freedom from sin and complete surrender of oneself to the obedience of love for God and people. In this freedom dwell angels and holy men who are established in God.

Who gives us an example of achieving the highest free will?

Christ the Savior gives us such an example. He gave His life for the salvation of people and for the love of them endured in Gethsemane wrestling motives to excessive and unprecedented tension - to bloody sweat to enter into complete obedience to the Heavenly Father (). In doing so, He showed us how difficult it is to achieve true, higher free will.

For what kind of person is such freedom possible?

It is possible only for a person who is constantly fighting and has achieved victory over himself, over sins and passions, when “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”(). People are not born with ready-made freedom. It is developed, forged by a sinful person in a hard struggle with his own self and with immoral phenomena in the life around him. Every person must suffer and earn his freedom.

“If the flesh is not mortified,” teaches the Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus, “and the person is not entirely led by the Spirit of God, then he cannot do the will of God without compulsion. When the grace of the Spirit reigns in him, then he will no longer have his own will, but everything that happens to him will be the will of God.

Thus, the highest freedom of will is possible only for a person who chooses for himself the highest principle of Christian freedom - the renunciation of his limited human will through entering into the fullness of obedience to the will of God, good and saving.

Why do we lack awareness of our freedom?

This is because we are not always attentive to the rapidly changing flow of our mental processes. It is usually only in the big and responsible issues of life that we are serious in making reasonable decisions. Most often, in our minds, the internal flow of motives goes by itself. From here to our I am necessary develop self-observation clearly distinguish between voluntary and involuntary, good and bad internal states and movements. It is also necessary to have purity and strength of moral feeling, without which it is impossible either to struggle with sin or to have a clear consciousness of one's moral freedom.

5. Doing good

Good deeds: good deeds - observance of the order of life established by God, three meanings of the word "good", perfection of good deeds, the beginning of a good deed and its development, an excellent alphabet of good deeds, reading the internal law on the tablets of one's heart, a stable mood to do good, interaction with the grace of God

What do we call virtue?

Make good - means to follow the order of life established by God. In the Bible, this order is called righteousness carried out by goodness. According to the words of St. Mark the Ascetic, “the fulfillment of a commandment consists in the fulfillment of what is commanded, and virtue happens when what is done is consistent with the truth.”

Closely associated with goodness real manifestation of free will. According to St. John of the Ladder, “good will gives birth to labors, and the beginning of labors to virtues.” He calls the beginning of doing the "color" of doing good, and the "fruit" - constancy. Doing good must be constantly trained and acquired “skill”, and through it, rooted in good.

Thus, in the word doing good concluded the idea of ​​human activity aimed at committing goodness - to observe the order of life established by God.

How should the word be understood? good?

This word contains the understanding of human activity, performed out of a sense of duty or following code of conduct, built on the basis of free self-determination, or striving for the highest goal of life.

In the first sense good is that which is good, which corresponds to its nature and purpose. In this sense, we understand the best works of art and everything that bears the stamp of perfection, a sign of high quality.

In the second sense good is the norm of human behavior, determined by his moral sense and created by free self-determination, that is, on the basis of the struggle between good and evil in the human soul.

And in the third sense good should be considered that which exists objectively, independently, independently of us, and what is good and good in itself. In this sense Good and Good is only God. Living connection with Him based on the religious experience of man, and is the highest goal of life, and therefore, good in the third sense of the word.

On what does the perfection of virtue depend?

Doing good is universal, it concerns all aspects of human life and its activities. Where there is no goodness or it is not enough, sinfulness, willfulness, and evil are established there.

Where does it start Good deed?

Good deeds start with ideas about him and is fixed in the mind of a person through sustained attention to the image of this goodness. Attention calls heartfelt sympathy to the supposed good deed and encourages a person to mobilize internal forces and external means for the realization of the intelligible good. At the same time, both the sense of duty and the sense of obligation, as well as conscience, raise their voice, prompting them to do good deeds, seeing in it the fulfillment of the will of God. Influenced by all this wish really have an object of thought turns into determination have and create it and then and into business.

Thus, the matter begins with the idea of ​​it, with the idea of ​​goodness, and is picked up by active attention to it. The determination to do good in a particular case and the most good deed is a manifestation of the will of man in the hope that it coincides with the will of God. As a result, the whole person participates in the performance of any good deed: his mind receives an experimental knowledge of the good, the will calms down, having fulfilled its desire, the feeling experiences satisfaction and joy from the perfect God-pleasing deed.

What does St. John of the Ladder call the "excellent alphabet of doing good"?

Doing good, says the Reverend, is associated with certain inner experiences of a person. At the beginning, he does good deeds with difficulty, with self-compulsion, and even with sorrow. But having succeeded somewhat, he ceases to feel grief from them or feels little of it. When carnal wisdom is conquered by him and taken captive by zeal, then the person performs them with joy and zeal, with great desire and with Divine help.

To the perfection of good deeds a person is helped to come time and patience, for the holy virtues are like Jacob's ladder. They are connected with each other, who correctly disposes of his freedom is elevated to heaven.

For those who strive to assimilate goodness as a norm of behavior and thereby enter into union with God, the Reverend points to the virtues that follow one after another, like letters in the alphabet: obedience, fasting, confession, silence, humility, vigilance, courage, labor, malice, contrition , brotherly love, meekness, simple and inquisitive faith, simplicity with gentleness, and others.

What essence does a person read on the tablets of his heart with the help of this alphabet?

Assimilation of this alphabet gives a person the opportunity to read the inner law of his heart in all undertakings and in any way of life. The essence of the law is as follows: test whether you truly do your deeds for the sake of God? And the fruit of the test: for beginners - success in humility for those in the middle of the road - ending internal strife, for the perfect multiplication and abundance of divine light.

How does the alphabet work towards the highest goal of human life?

The beginner Christian, when he looks at the perfect, understands what made them so stable mood - always do good. It instilled in them good habits and habits of doing everything in their life in such a way that the good they did made them related to God and brought them to perfection. In this way a person gets used in good in accordance with their nature, calling and purpose received from God; gets accustomed to goodness as a norm of behavior, conditioned by the experience of ascetics of faith; strives to get closer to the Good and the Good, to enter into unity with which he regards as the highest goal of life. A Christian can achieve all this only through constant interaction with the grace of God, which gives his soul zeal for a God-pleasing life. For it (zealousness) gathers all the forces of human nature to do good, pleasing to God and useful to all members of His holy Church.

6. Building goodness in family life

If a good deed begins with an idea about it, then family life is not complete without a proper idea of ​​how it will proceed.

The first period of family life

First period family life: the building of the family by the Lord, the need to watch that the Lord is the center created family; building a house with blessed parental icons, introducing church orders into family life, meeting the family with the problems of the surrounding sinful world, the main condition of this period is the ability of a husband and wife to mutual spiritual love, unity and community life purpose spouses

Why is it so important that the Lord build a family?

What does the Christian family encounter at this time?

She meets with the complex problems of the surrounding sinful world. Family members, united by faith, the Law of God, the Sacraments and the hierarchy, meet them together with God and His means overcome them. Thus, those building a family can easily get carried away with the acquisition of material property, considering it to be extremely necessary in a modern home. Such a fascination with material concerns so fascinates the newlyweds that they do not have enough time either for each other or for the Lord. You should not rush into this matter. Before those who are married, a whole life. It is not worth wasting time thinking about new furniture, about the comforts of life that seem so necessary. It is much better to pay attention to the main thing: life according to God's rules.

What is the main condition of family life during this period?

The main condition during this period is the ability of the husband and wife to mutual spiritual love. Wherever it is found, there is a source of strength and beauty of family life. In fact, a person is called to see and love in a beloved woman (or, accordingly, in a man) not only the carnal beginning, not only a bodily manifestation, but also the soul - the originality of the personality, the peculiarity of character, the depth of the heart. only then does it acquire spiritual joy when it is placed before the face of God and the rays of God illuminate and measure the beloved person. In that deep meaning The Sacrament of the Wedding, which opens before the spouses the path of spiritual glory and moral purity, lifelong and indissoluble community. The strength of the family requires that people desire not only the comforts of love, but also responsible joint creativity, spiritual community in life.

What creates the unity and commonality of the life purpose of the spouses?

In marriage, a new spiritual unity and unity of husband and wife arises, giving them, by the grace of God, an understanding of each other and a readiness to share the joys and sorrows of life together. To do this, they are called to perceive life, the world, and people with a single heart. Such homogeneity of spiritual assessments creates unity and common life purpose for both. In this case, the husband and wife will be able to correctly perceive each other and believe in each other. This is the most precious thing in marriage: complete mutual trust in the face of God. And mutual respect and the ability to form a new vitally strong spiritual cell of society, capable of actually carrying out the spiritual education of children, are connected with trust.

The second period of family life

The second period of family life: the growth of the family, the appearance of children, the primacy of God in the house through icons, making walking before the eyes of God at the forefront of one’s life, the perception of worship by the eyes and ears of a small child, the perception of the life-giving word of the Church, the perception of the parental word, when “God is the father ours" will become the God of my child; children are a legacy, a reward from the Lord; the importance of the parental home, where children live and grow up under the shadow of icons

What is special about this period?

The second period of family life is associated with the growth of the family. Children appear and live, at first unconsciously feeling "Ancient". Then, already consciously correlating their actions with the presence of God. God's presence through icons always dominates the house. reigns. Dictates. Teaches. Educates. And he achieves this practically through the life of parents, adults who consciously put constant walking before the eyes of God at the forefront of their lives. Even in the smallest things of life - relationship with God's law. And happy are the children who opened their eyes for the first time to meet the eyes of their parents, absorbed their light along with the most necessary vital energy and found in these eyes the first God's radiance, the first God's presence. Happy are the children who begin their lives in the church. Honor and praise to the mother, who from early childhood carries and leads her children to church very often. And children from childhood imbibe the church. First, with eyes and ears, unconsciously, simply with their being, they really absorb. “At first, the child perceives worship with his eyes and ears. Consciousness connects later, over the years. If a child is simply present in the church, this is already very important, already very good,” says a certain spiritually wise pastor. According to the gospel, the Church of God is like a man who sows a seed, but how it sprouts, rises, grows, he does not know. The “grain” of the soul, unconsciously still, feeds on its Mysteries, its strength, its breath. And it grows. And he constantly begins to open his eyes - and see.

Ears begin to listen to the already familiar from childhood, native, blood, life-giving word of the Church. And hear. It, the word, is gradually growing, acquiring "flesh" - meaning and strength, which can already educate.

And then the heart will speak. He will say: “God our fathers!”, “Abba Father!”, “My God!” My . "My Lord and mine!" And this is happiness. For through the parental heart, through the parental word, in one mysterious moment of life, “God our father” becomes the God of my child, his heart, his love, his breath and life. It seems that this is the purpose and meaning of the family in this period.

Why does God call children an inheritance, a reward from Him?

“This is an inheritance from the Lord: children; reward from Him is the fruit of the womb. As arrows are in the hands of a strong man, so are young sons. Blessed is the man who filled his quiver with them!”(). This wonderful years, but at the same time requiring a lot both financially and physically. These years are full of surprises. often expands our quiver, the number of children in the family. And God calls each of the children an inheritance, a fruit, a reward. God considers every child important, wanting them to be given the same importance in the family. During this period, parents will be busy and tired. But if their attitude towards children is correct, then they will be able to think not only about the labor invested and the work done, but also see the potential in every child given by God.

Why is parental home important for a child?

When the child grows up, he is already in an adult state, he will begin to seek and educate in himself what he had in the family as a given, as a bright gift, as a determination of the path. And it will exist with him as an almost unattainable, but goal.

And here again a word about icons. The house begins with them, and the house of the icons is built. Each room has a Front Corner. It becomes the center, it becomes the OCOM for the house, testifying to the presence of another world, which is unusually close, primordial, Fatherly by its nature. From them is born the feeling of the presence of Heaven. The honor given to the icons, "ascends to the Primordial". Children live under the shadow of icons. They walk before God's eyes. And before the holy saints of God, their heavenly host. At first, happily unconsciously, but always feeling them with a child's heart.

This is how parents build their house so that it stands strong and is for the children of the whole universe, both Heaven and the Promised Land. In such a house, children find everything.

The third period of family life

The third period of family life: its essence is that children grow up and become independent, thinking teenagers; helping children at the family hearth to acquire a taste and flair for the spiritual understanding of life, love for the motherland and the Church, the main thing for him is to learn to love God and people; understand the idea of ​​​​the Motherland and fatherland; meet the idea of ​​rank through the perception of the authority of the father and mother; cultivate a healthy sense of private property and social expediency; frankness and honesty of parents with their children - the gifts of God; The house is a sacred and strong place, the front room is a hall where parents and children gather to celebrate the Feast, pray to God and read the Gospel, where the fullness of the soul is brought from the church, where “from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”; then the main thing at home becomes the main thing in the soul of a grown-up person

What is the essence of this period?

This period begins when small children grow up and become independent, thinking teenagers. By this time, parents, raising their children, lay the foundations of a spiritual nature in them, bring them to the ability to engage in self-education.

At a spiritually meaningful family hearth, parents help children acquire a taste and flair for the spiritual understanding of life, raise them as faithful sons of their homeland and the Church, and prepare them to create their own family.

What is the most important thing in the life of an adult child?

By this time, the child, first, must learn to love God and people. Driven by love, he must learn to suffer, endure and sacrifice, forgetting about himself, and serve those who are closest and dearest to him. In a healthy family, the soul of a person from early childhood is taught to treat others with respect. respectful attention and love, she is attached to a close home circle and with this life attitude she enters adulthood.

Secondly, he must absorb and be able to pass on to others the spiritual, religious, national and paternal tradition. If the family became for him native place on earth, he understands idea of ​​the Motherland- the womb of his birth and fatherland - earthly nest of his fathers and ancestors. And he begins to look at his future family as a school of mutual trust and jointly organized action.

Thirdly, in the family, the child has learned to correctly perceive the authority of the father and mother. He met here with the idea rank, learned to perceive the highest rank of another person. In a healthy family, the teenager has learned the conviction that loving power is a beneficent power, and that order in social life presupposes the presence of the same organizing and commanding power. Having matured, the teenager is convinced that he has found the way to inner freedom, has learned, out of love and respect for his parents, to accept their orders and prohibitions, voluntarily obeying them.

And finally, the adolescent has developed a healthy sense of private ownership, learned to make his way in life with his own initiative and at the same time appreciate the principle of social mutual assistance. Being a private person and an independent individual, the teenager has mastered the basics of education: to appreciate and protect the bosom of family love and family solidarity; learned independence and fidelity - the two main manifestations of the spiritual character; acquired the skills to deal creatively with property, to develop and acquire economic benefits and at the same time to subordinate the principles of property to some higher social expediency.

What wisdom do parents need in dealing with their grown children?

While this is the main thing a teenager learns for himself, the family experiences some kind of extraneous intrusion into the family's previously safe environment. School, new friends, other people's philosophies, illnesses, accidents, difficult questions - all this can lead to a crisis in the family. These are difficult years. Parents in this period should be frank and honest with their children, treating them as gifts of God. And when they come and ask questions, the only correct approach is to try to answer them frankly and honestly, asking the Lord for wisdom.

How does the atmosphere at home instill the main thing in an adult child?

In the house of residence of the family, the main, front room is always arranged - the hall. This is the place where parents and children celebrate the Holiday together. Where guests are welcomed. Where in the evenings they gather to pray to God and read the Gospel. Where the Christmas tree is decorated and the children are happy around it. This room in the Front Corner is dominated by the best icons of the house with lamps in front of them. And in every room of the house there is a Front Corner with lamps in front of the icons. The hall also builds a house, creating a certain atmosphere, mood, center. And it has centripetal power. The hall transforms its visitors. The fullness of the soul should be brought into it from the church, where the mouth speaks out of "the abundance of the heart." Gathering after a church service, one should talk and talk, sharing the main thing, sharing impressions, sharing the excess of the soul, equalizing it and calming down - dividing it.

This amazing place on earth is Home! It becomes for a man his place on earth, sacred and powerful, the "Promised Land"! Joyful, festive events and sad, mournful, solemn events in sorrow take place in it. In it, prayers are performed before domestic icons - thanksgiving, parting, at the beginning of every good deed. And memorial services more than once need to be served in it. Then Home lives and acts. And the house accommodates and stores it.

The “main” of the house then becomes main in the soul of an adult: he is ready to create his own family, his own home.

Fourth period of family life

The fourth period of family life: its essence is that parents stay together to live the remaining years of their lives together without close contact with their children, with joyful memories and consolation from meeting with them; another concern is to prepare for the transition to eternity; a mortal memory that fills life with the highest meaning, every word with reverence and love, every gesture with greatness; death is the beginning and the path to eternity, a moment of reflection: what mark the deceased person left in our life, evidence that a person brought some light into the twilight of our world, and we must preserve and increase it; understanding and entering into eternity, where our departed have passed, a deep feeling of the values ​​belonging to that world, making them one's own too; the process of reconciliation with all in preparation for death for ascension to eternity; the last kiss of the deceased is the moment when all the knots in the soul are untied and one can say from the depths of the heart: “Forgive me!” and: "I forgive you, go in peace"

What is the essence of this period?

This period is similar to the first. The children have grown up and have families of their own. Parents stay together to live the rest of their lives together, but without close contact with their children. This is how it should be. Holy Scripture states that marriage is indissoluble and the relationship between husband and wife is inseparable, but this does not apply to the relationship between children and parents. The parent-child bond is temporary in many ways. God says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother.” The family, in the center of which the Lord, will certainly be accompanied by the blessing of God, which gives joy to parents. There will be joyful memories, consolation from meetings with children and grandchildren, the closeness of communication with them.

But there will be another important concern - to prepare for the perception of death as a transition to eternity, to live at the level of the requirements of death, to become more perfect, to become "the undistorted image of God."

What is the meaning of the "memory of death" for spouses?

When people live without mortal memory, they spend their current life as if hastily, carelessly writing a draft of their life, which someday, in their opinion, will be rewritten. When there is a thought and memory of death, then real life is given a higher meaning. The presence of death, ready to come to a person at any moment, encourages spouses in this period of life fill your every word reverence, beauty, harmony and love, which during the previous time of living together have accumulated in their relationship.

The memory of death helps spouses to do with greatness and meaning all that seems small and insignificant. For example, how you serve a cup on a tray to someone who is on his deathbed, with what movement you straighten the pillow behind his back, with what filling your voice sounds - all this can and should become an expression of the depth of the relationship.

Only the memory of death allows the spouses to live in such a way that they do not face the terrifying evidence, with terrible words: it's already late. It is too late to utter the words with which they could express their kindness and attention, it is too late to make a movement that could express the depth of the relationship, the depth of respect and love.

The meaning and purpose of history (collection) Jaspers Karl Theodor

1. The goal is freedom

1. The goal is freedom

In all the contradictory aspirations of our time, there seems to be one demand that unites everyone. All peoples, all people, representatives of all political regimes unanimously demand freedom. However, in understanding what freedom is and what makes its realization possible, everyone immediately disagrees. Perhaps the deepest contradictions between people are due to their understanding of freedom. What one sees as the path to freedom, another sees as the exact opposite of it. Almost everything that people strive for is done in the name of freedom. In the name of freedom, they even take the path of slavery. The possibility of giving up freedom by the power of a free decision seems to be another higher freedom. Freedom breeds enthusiasm, but freedom breeds fear. Sometimes it even seems that people do not want freedom at all, moreover, they strive to avoid the very possibility of freedom.

From the moment the understanding of the great crisis of the West, from the French Revolution of 1789, penetrated into the minds of people, anxiety for human freedom seized the whole of Europe. The most prominent people saw the possibility of losing freedom. If Hegel could still calmly consider world history as the history of freedom in consciousness and reality, then people who experienced a deeper spiritual shock were horrified by the possibility that freedom would be completely lost by people. Now this question has completely passed into the sphere of politics and social organization: such great minds as Burke, Benjamin Constant *, Tocqueville, Max Weber, were primarily occupied with the problem of freedom. Our contemporaries, a number of thinkers in all countries of the world - W. Lipman, Ferrero, Hayek, Repke * - conjure people to share their anxiety. They include economists, historians, writers who are not affiliated with any party; they call on all people to save that one, true common good, without which a person ceases to be a person.

Philosophical concept of freedom. It is customary to talk about political freedom, public, personal, economic, religious freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, press, assembly, etc. Political freedom is at the forefront of discussions. Already here there is no unanimous answer to the question of its essence.

If by freedom we understand the participation of all citizens in the will of the whole, their access to knowledge and activity, then history shows that only in the West were attempts made to gain political freedom. But even here, their implementation in most cases ended in failure. These attempts help us understand what caused the disappearance of freedom in Athens, in Rome. In our time, the most pressing question for Europe, for all mankind, is whether our path leads forward to freedom, or again to its disappearance for indefinable times.

Everything that happens, of course, depends on people. There is nothing that can be considered inevitable. All human activity, above all spiritual, is to find our way among the possibilities open to us. It depends on us, on each of us, what will happen, although an individual person never prejudges the course of historical development.

The concept of political freedom becomes purely external and distorted if it is not based on the deep meaning of freedom, which should be considered the realm of human being and behavior. Let us try to give a philosophical definition of this essence of freedom.

1. Freedom is overcoming that external which still subjugates me. Freedom arises where this other is no longer alien to me, where, on the contrary, I recognize myself in the other, or where this externally necessary becomes a moment of my existence, where it is known and has received a certain form.

However, freedom is at the same time overcoming own arbitrariness. Freedom coincides with the inherent necessity of the true.

Being free, I want not because I want to, but because I am sure of the justice of my desire. Therefore, the claim to freedom means the desire to act not out of arbitrariness or out of blind obedience, but as a result of understanding. Hence the claim that, by anchoring the origins of all things, we proceeded in our desires from our own origins.

However, it is easy to make a mistake. Arbitrariness again appears as a claim to the right to have one's own opinion; and the premise here is that every opinion is valid because someone defends it. However, opinion is not yet understanding. And freedom requires overcoming what is just opinion.

This overcoming is accomplished through the limitations that we, as individuals, impose on ourselves in our coexistence with others. Freedom is realized only in the community of people. I can be free to the extent that others are free.

Retreating before reasoned understanding, what is mere opinion disappears in the struggle of love between neighbors.

At the stage of a certain socio-political state, opinion turns into the consciousness of objective truth through a public clash of opinions, in the recognition of different opinions, but only in their movement and demarcation.

Freedom requires two things: the depth of human communication between individual people existing in their own self and conscious activity in the name of freedom of social conditions through joint understanding and the formation of will.

However, absolute truth, and thus complete freedom, is never achieved. Truth along with freedom is on the way. We do not live in an eternal perfect harmony of souls, but in a temporary process of a never-ending need for transformation.

2. Freedom requires that nothing be left out. Everything that has being and meaning must acquire its right. The condition of freedom is the ultimate latitude. Therefore, the content of freedom is revealed in life, full of polarities and contradictions.

Each position is opposed by a position opposite to it. Freedom is everything in its own way. She is ready to perceive everything that comes from outside, not only as an opposite, but also to introduce it into herself. Freedom is the mind of boundless openness; the ability to listen and freedom are in this true open space the broadest consciousness with the determination of a historical decision. That is why freedom seeks these fruitful polarities, where one side would perish without the other.

Freedom is lost where polarities are abandoned in favor of limitation—whether in a social order that forgets its own boundaries, or in extremes that vehemently deny that order, or in any one pole that regards itself as a whole.

On the contrary, we regain freedom where we are open, where we preserve the possibilities given to us in the tension of opposites, where in the course of changing situations we make decisions based on our historical origins, and perceive life in its new content without prejudice.

3. If freedom coincides with the necessity of the true, it always remains fragile; for we never have the assurance that we are in full possession of the ultimate truth. Our freedom is defined differently; it is not causa sui. If it were, man would be a god. True freedom is aware of its limits.

In his subjectivity the individual man has the knowledge of origins: that I am not free in my own nature, on the contrary, precisely where I feel myself truly free, I know that I am gifted to myself by some transcendent basis. I may not be for myself - this is the mysterious border that corresponds to the possible experience of being gifted to myself. Therefore, the existence that we can be, only together with the transcendence, thanks to which we exist. Where existence is sure of itself - where freedom becomes clear to itself - it simultaneously becomes sure of transcendence.

In objectivity of a free community of people, the freedom of the individual is linked to the freedom of all others. Therefore, political freedom cannot be a final and guaranteed state. Freedom is on the way here too.

4. Freedom seems impossible - polarities give rise to alternatives: I must in each this moment make a concrete decision - to understand for what and in the name of what I live. I cannot be everything and must take one side, fight against what I myself recognize as inevitable.

Indeed, freedom is the path of man through time. He moves towards freedom, claiming freedom. Therefore, movement and dialectics are inherent in freedom.

This movement seems to be possible in thinking thanks to mind. By reason we mean the omniscient openness, which in every act of reason is something more than reason. Reason gives us an idea of ​​the true, using the forms of rational thinking for this. Through their deployment, the mind tries to establish a system of unity for everything conceivable. However, at the same time, he rushes to the contradictory. Thus reason is the driving force that brings reason to the point where it fails. Reason accepts opposites, however, going beyond the sphere of reason, it is also a force capable of uniting them. The mind seeks to prevent a final separation in anything. He wants to overcome the alternatives of reason. Thus, the mind connects what it simultaneously brings to the last degree of polarity: the world and transcendence, science and faith, the structuring of the world and the meditation of eternal being. Therefore, reason is the highest dialectic - with the help of consciousness, reason brings the actual dialectic to its final conclusions.

However, the overcoming of opposites is limited by concrete alternatives to the real situation. This constantly happens where thinking cannot remain in itself, where its expression in time and space is required. Only those who are able to make a decision are free here. When making a decision, a person takes upon himself the unfreedom chosen by him. Rejecting various possibilities, he freely implements his decision, but at the same time limits himself. Through this realization, freedom receives content, but receives it on the way to unfreedom.

Freedom cannot be owned. There is no isolated freedom. Therefore, the individual sacrifices his frozen empty freedom in the name of that freedom, which can only be won together with others.

This freedom comes only with human change. It cannot be created by means of institutions forcibly introduced into a community of unaltered people; it is related to the nature of communication between people who are ready to change. That is why freedom as such cannot be planned, but people, in the course of correct planning of specific tasks, collectively acquire freedom.

To bring people to freedom means to bring them to a state where they will open up to each other in conversation. However, this is still not free from deception, if some unspoken ulterior thoughts remain, if reserves are saved, which are resorted to, internally interrupting communication with the interlocutor, if the statement, in essence, lies an attempt to hide something, deceive or cheat . Genuine communication is sincere and frank. Truth is born only in complete mutual openness.

Both a calm philistine existence within the framework of accepted conventions and submission to dictatorial power are incompatible with truth, and thus with freedom, when there is only one established worldview for everyone and one can express one’s thoughts only in appropriate phrases that penetrate even into private letters; just as incompatible with truth and freedom is fanatical pathos, with which the possession of truth is declared aggressively and offensively to others and which, in essence, is aimed only at humiliating others. In this fanatical emphasis on truth, the lack of it is manifested precisely in insufficient communication.

In reality, no one has the ultimate absolute truth. To seek truth means to be constantly ready to communicate and to expect this readiness from others. With someone who really strives for truth, and therefore for communication, one can speak with complete frankness about everything, and he himself can talk about everything, but in such a way as not to offend and at the same time not spare the one who really wants him listen. The struggle for truth in conditions of freedom is the struggle of love.

Do we know, after all this reasoning, what freedom is? No. However, this is explained by the very essence of freedom. To the reproach that all the above provisions did not make clear to us what freedom is, we should answer: freedom is not an object. It does not have a real existence in the world that we, by observing, could explore. Freedom as a subject of scientific knowledge does not exist. Therefore, freedom cannot be defined by a firmly established concept. However, what is not available to my objective knowledge, I can mentally embrace, bring thoughts in motion to a conceptual presence - and then talk about freedom as if it really exists. At the same time, of course, a tangle of many misunderstandings arises.

Power and political freedom. Theoretically thinking about what is desirable and reasonable, we easily forget about the main reality, about power, which is present in our lives every day, albeit in a hidden form. Power cannot be bypassed. However, if there is no such human existence where power is not present as an inevitable reality, regardless of whether each individual is aware of it or not, if power, as such, is evil (Burkhardt), then the question arises: how to divert power really necessary sphere, how to turn it into a moment of order, acting up to that limit, beyond which there is almost no need for it to manifest itself? In other words, how to eliminate the inherent evil of power?

The struggle between legality and violence that has been going on in history since time immemorial provides the answer to these questions. Justice must be carried out by law, on the basis of some ideal law, on the basis of natural law. However, this ideal law finds its real embodiment only as the historical law of a society that creates laws for itself and obeys them. The freedom of a person begins from the moment when the adopted laws come into force in the state in which he lives.

This freedom is called political freedom. The state in which freedom based on laws operates is called legal state. A state governed by the rule of law is a state in which laws are adopted and amended only by legal means. In democratic states, it is the will of the people, their activities or participation, expressed directly or indirectly through their representatives, periodically elected through free elections, invested with their confidence. We call a state free if it has sovereignty in relation to other states. However, speaking of political freedom, we have in mind the freedom of the people, which is the internal freedom of its political state. The external freedom of the state can be combined with internal despotism and lack of freedom. The external lack of freedom of the state usually, although not always, entails, along with the loss of sovereignty, internal lack of freedom. For if the state power that enslaves its subjects strives for political freedom, it can allow this within the framework of a dependent state only to the extent that the subjects enslaved by it become independent members of an all-embracing state.

The strength of internal political freedom initially grows, however, only from the political self-education of the people, constituting itself as a political nation. Departing from this state, such a nation can awaken and liberate other peoples. However, these liberated peoples remain politically students and must humbly give up the proud consciousness that they are the creators of their freedom.

All this sounds very simple; one gets the impression that it is enough for people to show due understanding and good will in order, by virtue of natural law and the legality arising from it, to live in conditions of ideal freedom. However, firstly, law is always specific to each given historical situation - that is why laws change in accordance with changed conditions; secondly, it is necessary to curb the power that is always ready to break the law - hence the violence based on the law directed against the crime.

Where there is violence, we experience fear: where the law reigns, we live in peace. The actions of the authorities cannot be foreseen, they are arbitrary, the individual is defenseless and completely dependent on them. The law can be foreseen, it brings order, the individual finds in it the protection of his existence. In the conditions of legality reigns spontaneity, freedom and peace. Silence and secrecy, coercion and restlessness reign in conditions of violence. In a state governed by the rule of law trust prevails, in a state of violence - a general distrust of each other.

Trust needs a firm footing, an unshakable foundation, something so universally respected that any violator can without any difficulty be declared a criminal and expelled from society. This invincibility of trust is called legitimacy.

Max Weber distinguishes three types of legitimate authority: traditional(faith in the holiness of long-established traditions), rational(faith in the legality of the existing order and those who are called to exercise power in them) and charismatic(belief in holiness, heroism, or the unattainable perfection of someone). The bearer of power is in these three cases: established by law ruler, called by virtue of tradition (for example, by right of inheritance) sovereign and charismatic leader.

Ferrero put forward, perhaps somewhat schematic, but penetrating the essence of our time, an alternative: freedom based on legitimacy - despotism and fear within the framework of Illegitimateness (and he considers the charismatic leader as a version of the latter). Ferrero sees the basis of legitimacy in the hereditary right of monarchs or in the majority of votes in popular elections. The bearer of legitimate power can rule fearlessly relying on the consent of the people. The ruler, not relying on legality, is afraid of the people, the violence he carries out gives rise to the violence of others, out of fear he is forced to resort to ever-increasing terror, and this, in turn, leads to the fact that fear becomes the predominant feeling in this society. Legitimacy is like a sorcerer who constantly creates necessary order through trust; illegitimacy is violence, which everywhere breeds violence based on mistrust and fear.

The basis of legitimacy can easily be criticized, seem doubtful: for example, inheritance law can be considered unreasonable, because it also gives legal power to stupid and spineless people, and election by a majority of votes is unconvincing, since it can be caused by a mistake, an accident, committed under the influence of a momentary mood due to the manipulation of the masses. Therefore, legitimacy is always in danger. Reason can easily call it into question. Since, however, the choice can only be between legitimacy and despotism, legitimacy is the only way (especially since mistakes can be corrected along this way) by embarking on which a person can live without fear. Hence the reverence of the intellect for the source of legitimacy. Our era sees it in elections and voting.

There are many flaws in the foundations of legitimacy, much is unfair and inexpedient. People elected to government posts can be fools, laws can be unjust and pernicious, their effect is outrageous. The legitimacy of power protects the elected and the laws, but not completely. New elections displace people, new legitimate decisions change laws. The fact that both of these acts are carried out legally allows for the necessary correction without the use of violence. The consciousness of legitimacy forces one to put up with serious shortcomings in order to avoid absolute evil - terror and fear under a despotic regime. Political freedom is not established as a result of purely rational considerations, it is associated with legitimacy.

In order for power not to degenerate into omnipotence, legitimacy is necessary. Only in the presence of legitimacy does freedom exist, since legitimacy fetters power. Where legitimacy disappears, freedom also disappears.

The idea of ​​political freedom gave rise to a number of basic provisions in the Western world, they originated in England and America, were borrowed by France, and after the French Revolution, by other states, and underwent a philosophical rethinking in the Enlightenment (for example, by Kant).

Let's try to briefly formulate the main points. Political freedom as an internal political freedom has the following features: 1. The freedom of an individual person - provided that all people are free - is possible only if it can exist along with the freedom of everyone else.

V legal relation the individual person retains the sphere of his arbitrariness (negative freedom), which allows him to isolate himself from others. However, in moral attitude freedom is manifested precisely in the openness of mutual communication, which is revealed without coercion on the basis of love and reason (positive freedom).

Only in the exercise of positive freedom, guaranteed by the right to negative freedom, does the thesis acquire its meaning: a person is free to the extent that he sees freedom around him, that is, to the extent that everyone is free.

2. Man has two claims: 1) to be protected from violence; 2) on the significance of their views and their will. Gives him protection constitutional state, the significance of his views and will - democracy.

3. Freedom can only be won if power is overcome by law. Freedom fights for the power that serves the law. She achieves her goal in legal state. Laws are equally valid for everyone. Change of laws occurs only by legal means.

The necessary use of violence is regulated by law. The actions of the police authorities can only be directed against offenders in the forms prescribed by law and excluding arbitrariness. Therefore, there is no need for political police.

The freedom of the individual is guaranteed as the freedom of the individual, the inviolability of property and home. Restriction of this freedom is admissible only under the conditions established by the law, extending on all. Fundamental human rights are preserved even under the operation of the law, for example, a person cannot be imprisoned without giving a reason for arrest, without interrogation for a certain short period of time and without providing him with legal means for protest and public defense.

4. To the inviolability of human rights as an individual is added his right to participate in the life of society. Therefore, freedom is possible only when democracy, i.e., with the participation possible for all in the expression of will. Each person, depending on the level of his political maturity and the persuasiveness of his views, can count on recognition.

When voting during elections, everyone has equal rights. The secrecy of the vote is guaranteed. The nomination of candidates by different groups of the population is not limited. Through elections at regular intervals, a government is formed. Therefore, in a democratic state, the government can be legally and without violence overthrown, changed in its composition or subjected to various transformations, and this actually happens all the time. In a free democratic society, the same people cannot continue to hold government positions for long periods of time.

The protection of the individual from violence corresponds to the protection of all from the power of the individual. Even the greatest services to the state are not the basis for the inviolability of the power of the individual. A man remains a man, and even the best of men can become dangerous if his power is not restrained by certain limits. Therefore, irremovable power causes fundamental distrust, and even the one who has the greatest power must, at least for a while, retreat after the next election. Under these conditions, there can be no exorbitant exaltation of any statesman, but the one who, in the current situation, unquestioningly transfers his power to another, becomes the subject of universal gratitude and respect.

5. Will is formed in the decisions made during the interview.

Therefore, freedom requires an open, unrestricted discussions. In order for this discussion to be carried out on the basis of full awareness, freedom requires familiarization with all the information available to people, with all the data, with the argumentation of the opinions of all parties - and this requirement is imposed on the entire population.

Therefore, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech is necessary. You can convince, you can engage in propaganda, but only in free competition. Restrictions are possible only in time of war, but even then only the communication of information is limited, and not the communication of opinions. Restrictions also exist in criminal law (protection against slander, insults, etc.).

Each person comes to a decision through joint discussion. A political opponent does not become an enemy. Freedom can only be preserved by being willing to joint activities even with the enemy. In principle, the discussion has no limits at all (the exception is the situation in which the criminal is involved), the parties strive for joint action on the basis of agreement and compromise.

6. Political freedom is democracy, but it appears in historical data forms and gradations. They exclude the rule of the masses (ochlocracy), which is always in alliance with tyranny. Therefore, preference is given to the aristocratic stratum, which is constantly replenished from all segments of the population, depending on personal activities, merit and success, and in which the people see their representatives. This aristocracy does not act as a class or an elite. Shaping it by education, by testing its merits, and by choice, which can only to some extent be deliberate, is the condition of a free democracy. It is an indispensable requirement of democracy that this elite should not become fixed and thereby turn into a dictatorial minority. Free elections should serve as a test of its merits and subject it to constant scrutiny, as a result of which the persons in power succeed each other and return, reappear on the political arena or leave it completely.

7. The holding of elections and the formation of the political elite are carried out parties. In a free society there are necessarily several parties, at least two. The party, by its very concept and verbal meaning, is a part. In a free society, the party's claim to be the only one is ruled out. A party with a claim to totalitarianism is contrary to freedom. The victory of such a party destroys freedom. Therefore, free parties want other parties to exist alongside them. They do not seek to eradicate them at all. The parties defeated at the moment go into opposition, but in doing so bear their share of responsibility for the whole. They act in accordance with the fact that at some point, with different results of the elections, they, in turn, will be in power. The presence of an influential opposition is a necessary feature of a free society.

8. Connected with the technique of democracy democratic way of life. The absence of one feature would mean the disappearance of the other. The state of political freedom can be preserved only if the consciousness of freedom is constantly alive in the mass of the population, if it is always directed to all the realities of this freedom and people take care to preserve it. It is known at what price this freedom was won, both in the course of the historical process and in the self-education of the people as a whole.

Democracy is unthinkable without liberalism. It must be associated with freedom; otherwise it degenerates into ochlocracy or tyranny.

9. Political freedom must create an opportunity for all other human freedoms. The policy is aimed at the implementation of the goals public order as basics, not as ultimate goal of human life. Therefore, two things are simultaneously inherent in political freedom: a passionate desire for freedom and sobriety in assessing the goals immediately facing it. In order for the social order to afford man the greatest freedom, the legal order must be limited to what is essential. The politics of freedom becomes impure if it gives place to other motives. And impure politics becomes a source of unfreedom.

10. A sign of political freedom is separation of politics from worldview. As freedom grows, religious (confessional) and ideological struggles are eliminated from the political sphere.

In politics, we are talking about what is equally important for all people - about the interests of existence independent of the content of faith - about so understandable to all people that with the help of order, law and contract they can satisfy mutual demands. The question arises, where does something that is not common to all people manifest itself: worldview, historically established faith, all those specific tendencies that need their own sphere of action. Here, the only common thing for all is that such a sphere exists for them.

It is common for a person to consider his way of life the only correct one, to feel every existence that is unlike his own, as a reproach, as an infringement on his rights, to hate him. And this leads to the desire to impose one's own ideas on others and, if possible, to shape the whole world in accordance with them.

A policy based on tendencies of this kind stands in the way of violence, increases violence. She seeks not to listen to the enemy or to negotiate with him - except for appearances - she subjugates him.

Politics, on the other hand, whose source is man's striving for freedom, overcomes its illegitimate impulses and is satisfied with a modest goal. It limits itself to the interests of existence, seeking to provide people with all the opportunities available to them, as long as they do not run counter to what is vital for everyone. This policy is tolerant of all except those who, by their intolerance, promote violence. It follows the path of a constant reduction in violence.

Such a policy is based on a faith that strives for freedom. Faith can be infinitely varied in its content, but what is common for believers is a deep seriousness in understanding the necessary justice and legitimacy of conditions and processes in human society. Only believing people are capable of greatness in humility, only they are reliable in the moral aspect of their political activity.

Since politics concerns human life, as it were, on its lowest level, at the level of its existence in the world - it is true that everything else depends on it, hence the sense of responsibility and passion in political activity - however, it does not directly concern the lofty problems of a person's inner freedom, questions of his faith and spiritual life. She only creates conditions for them.

Let's take an example. Christianity is a matter of faith. A Christian can choose any party, belong to any party, as far as worldly matters are concerned. He can vote communist or capitalist, republican or monarchist. For this or that ordering of worldly affairs follows not from the biblical faith itself, but from the peculiarities of the manifestation of this faith determined by the church. Only a Christian cannot wish evil. Christianity, which has taken on a political coloring, becomes doubtful as a faith.

Meanwhile, since only faith can bring passion to politics soberly limited to its immediate meaning, the modern free world was created by believing Christians.

Another example: scientific Marxism gave an extremely fruitful method of cognition, but as an absolutized total doctrine in the field of philosophy of history and sociology, it turned into a delusion - which can be scientifically proven - into a worldview that indulges in fantasies. The socialization of the means of production large enterprises in order to eliminate the appropriation of surplus value by private individuals is a political goal that one can strive for, recognizing it as fair, and without being a legitimate Marxist.

The principles of faith, as the guiding thread of politics, do harm to the cause of freedom. For the claim to the exclusive possession of the truth leads to totality, and thus to dictatorship and to the destruction of freedom. Under conditions of political freedom, an instinctive distrust of ideological parties develops, which thereby actually lose their influence. Movements based on a particular worldview or belief are hostile to freedom in their politics. For it is impossible to come to an agreement with fighters for the faith. In politics, the whole point is that everyone learns to negotiate and show tolerance, solving those life issues that can unite all people, regardless of differences in faith, worldview and interests.

11. Maintaining freedom presupposes having ethos of living together which becomes, as it were, a self-evident property of human nature; it is an understanding of forms and laws, natural humanity in communication, attention and willingness to help, respect for the rights of others, a constant willingness to compromise in everyday matters, a refusal to use violence against minority groups. Within this ethos, all parties operating in freedom are unanimous. Even conservatives and liberals are in solidarity in their loyalty to these common principles that unite them.

12. Freedom is guaranteed written or unwritten constitution. However, there is no such absolutely reliable mechanism that could guarantee the existence of freedom. Therefore, in a free society, there is always a concern aimed at preserving inviolability the most essential for it, freedom itself, human rights, the rule of law, to protect them from encroachments and from the majority party temporarily in power. The inviolability of freedom must not be violated by the outcome of elections and the result of voting. Such instances are needed that can come into force if the government elected on the basis of a majority of votes for a moment forgets about the basic requirements of universal political freedom (this includes the adoption of repeated decisions after a certain time sufficient to review the issue, a plebiscite, court hearings establishing the constitutionality decisions taken). However, such an instance can be reliable and effective only if it is identical to the political ethos of the people. Both of them must jointly see to it that democracy is not destroyed by democratic means, that freedom is not driven out by freedom. It is not the abstract absolute significance of democratic methods and not the mechanical majority as such that are in all cases a reliable means for expressing the real, genuine will of the people. If in most cases these democratic methods are effective, then sometimes it becomes necessary to put them within certain limits, but this is permissible if and only if the danger threatens human rights and freedom itself. In these cases, in these borderline situations, principles must be sacrificed in order to save the principles themselves.

Tolerance has no place in the face of intolerance, unless it is nothing more than a harmless eccentricity of individuals, which can be treated with complete indifference. There should be no freedom to destroy freedom.

13. There is no such the final stage of democracy and political freedom that would satisfy everyone. Conflicts constantly arise when the individual experiences limitations, going beyond guaranteed, equal opportunities for all, when free competition is restrained, unless this happens to prevent a clear injustice, when the inequality of natural abilities and merits of people is not taken into account, when many citizens do not discover in the laws of the state that justice, which they have already laid as the basis in the sphere of their immediate existence.

Democracy means the opportunity for everyone to advance according to his skill and merit. The rule of law means that these chances are guaranteed, and thus the need to change this legal guarantee, depending on the situation and experience, is also guaranteed, but without the use of violence, only in legal forms.

The will to justice is never fully satisfied. But when political freedom is threatened, there is much to put up with. Political freedom is always achieved at the cost of something, and often at the cost of giving up important personal advantages, at the cost of humility and patience. The freedom of the individual does not experience restrictions when politically conditioned justice is infringed, as long as a legitimate, although sometimes lengthy and unsuccessful struggle for a just cause is possible.

In decisive moments always remain necessary elections, in which everyone participates population of this country. but formal Democracy, that is, the right to free, equal and secret suffrage, as such, is by no means a guarantee of freedom, on the contrary, rather a threat to it. Only under the prerequisites described above - the ethos of living together, self-education in the communication of people to solve specific problems, unconditional readiness to defend basic human rights, the seriousness of faith - freedom is reliably guaranteed. Freedom, especially if it is granted to a people not prepared for this by self-education, can suddenly not only lead to ochlocracy and ultimately tyranny, but even before that, contribute to the fact that power will be in the hands of an accidentally rising clique, since the population, in essence, does not know what it is voting for. Then the parties lose their meaning. They are no longer organs of the people, but self-satisfying organizations. They nominate to the highest state posts not the elite, but routine “parliamentarians” and spiritually dependent people.

How true democracy is protected from ochlocracy and tyranny, from random cabals and spiritually dependent people, is a vital issue of freedom. Need to create deterrents, capable of counteracting the suicidal tendencies of formal democracy. The absolute sovereignty of the majority that happens to be in power at a given moment must be limited by something stable, which, however, since its functions are carried out by people, in turn, can only be based on humanity and a genuine desire for freedom inherent in the population as a whole. It must, in the final analysis, also choose the restraining instances mentioned, but in such a way that they do not include parties that otherwise could come to autocracy.

14. It all depends elections. It is known what ridicule democracy is subjected to, what contempt the results of the elections cause. It is easy to detect obvious errors and distortions, and it is also easy to declare the results of elections and decisions taken by the majority of votes as absurd in a number of cases.

However, in objecting to this, it should be constantly repeated: there is no other way to freedom, except for the one indicated by the will of the whole people. Only with complete contempt for all people, with the exception of oneself and one's friends, can one choose the path of tyranny. This path leads to the self-appointment of separate groups, supposedly called upon to rule over slaves who are not able to determine their fate and need guardianship; the views of these slaves are shaped by propaganda, and the horizon narrowed by artificial barriers. V best case this may, by the will of fate, lead to a mild dictatorship.

Both appeal to the people: both the democrat and the tyrant. The world has entered an age when whoever wants to rule over a people must speak certain phrases. The people are addressed both by the demagogue who plots crime and deceit, and by the one whose intentions are noble, who serves freedom. Which of them will succeed - only the people can decide; thus he predetermines his own fate.

However, if this is the final decision to be made by the people, then everything possible must be done to help them make the right decision. Tyranny invents methods that, in the deafening roar of the electoral campaign, give the appearance of the will of the people, by which people learn a lot (to serve as a useful tool for political struggle), but remain unable to make their own judgment. On the contrary, democracy, since the outcome of the elections remains its only legitimate means, tries to make the elections the true expression of the genuine, unchanging will of the people.

The only effective means for this is to introduce all people to knowledge, to awaken their will, so that they learn, by thinking, to gradually become aware of it. People should by no means be taught, as in school, only technical methods and skills (if they learn only this, they will turn into only instruments of slavery capable of fulfilling fascist demands: to believe, obey, fight). In order to make an independent judgment, we humans need to learn to think critically and understand, we need the world of history and philosophy. In the process of constant growth in education, it is necessary to raise the entire population to more high level to lead him from partial to complete knowledge, from random momentary thoughts to methodical thinking, so that each person rises above dogma and ascends to freedom.

This is the hope that the majority of people will reach a level in their development that will allow them to consciously and deliberately make the best decision in the course of elections.

The second way is the practical self-education of the people through the participation of the majority in solving specific problems. Therefore, for the development of a democratic ethos, a free and responsible communal administration is necessary.

Only what people learn in their daily practice, what they constantly do in a narrow area of ​​their lives, can make them mature enough to work democratically on an ever larger scale.

The third way is to organize the election campaign itself. The form of the election is of great importance - the nature of the vote (by roll call or by lists), the calculation of the results of the vote (majority or proportional), direct or indirect elections, etc. There is no one correct type of election. However, the nature of the elections may predetermine the course of events.

Genuine elections are the decisive factor in the preservation of freedom and the rule of law, in the elimination of despotism and terror. The hallmark of despotism is the elimination of genuine choices, replacing them with the semblance of choices, through which despotism seems to do justice to the striving for freedom that is rooted in our time. The elimination of genuine elections is reminiscent of the executions of kings in the past; now the execution is carried out over the sovereignty of the people. The destruction of the sources of legitimacy immediately entails monstrous violence and the destruction of freedom.

Observing the events of the French Revolution, Tocqueville penetrated deeply into the meaning of what constitutes submission to the majority. In all those cases when they bowed to the human mind, showed boundless confidence in its omnipotence, its right to any transformation of laws, institutions and mores, this was, in essence, not so much a bow to the human mind as to one's own mind. “Never before,” writes Tocqueville, “have there been so little confidence in reason in general, as was characteristic of those people.” They despised the crowd and God almost equally. “True, respectful submission to the will of the majority was as alien to them as submission to the will of God. Since that time, such a duality of character has become a distinctive feature of almost all revolutionaries. At the same time, they are very far from the respect that the British and Americans show for the opinion of the majority of their compatriots. They are proud of their reason and trust it, but without arrogance; wherefore there reason led to freedom, while with us it invented only new forms of slavery.”

It has long been argued that one vote in itself does not matter. Voting is not worth the trouble. All this procedure causes only disappointment in publicity, reduces the significance of meaningful activity in self-consciousness. This is indeed an important problem in shaping the beliefs of a democratically minded modern man. Even if we assume that one vote is almost irrelevant, then after all, the decision is still made by the sum of votes, each of which is this one vote. Therefore, in our day, the conviction could also be affirmed: I vote with all seriousness and responsibility, although at the same time I understand how little the voice of one person means. We also need humility, and in that humility, the determination to do our best. The almost complete helplessness of each individual is combined with his desire to ensure that the decisions of these individuals in their totality decide everything.

Chapter 13 Economic Freedom, Personal Freedom Libertarian discourse about economics, as always, begins with the idea that all people have the right to do whatever they want with their lives, bodies, and possessions. People employed in a business, commercial or economic