Freedom is...a nothing rather than a something,
a possibility rather than an actuality.
It cannot be grasped by thought
only known through the exercise of freedom;
and perhaps even then it is only in those rare moments
of anxiety in the face of freedom that we perceive
something of the abyssal and primordial character of freedom.

[John Macquarrie  Existentialism (Penguin, 1973) p. 139-140]

     Nothing is more characteristic of the human spirit than freedom.
We are persons of spirit to the degree that we shape our own lives.
As children, before our spirits had developed very far,
we had little capacity to resist enculturation and choose our destinies.
We were largely the products of our genes and our upbringing.
As we became teen-agers, we may have manifested spirit
as rebellion against authority—especially parental authority—
but we had not yet focused our freedom into constructive projects.

     Behavioristic psychology denies the reality of human freedom:
It claims our sense of choosing is an illusion,
that our behavior is really caused by our genes and conditioning.
The social sciences offer models to explain human behavior.
And if all our behavior can be accounted for
within these deterministic models, we are not yet persons of spirit.

     But as adults most of us can resist enculturation,
can rise above our social circumstances, at least to some degree.
If we were not free, we would all be mindless consumers,
hopelessly in debt because advertising would make us buy, buy, buy.

     Most enculturation is extremely useful.
Years of socialization have enabled us to function as adults.
We have learned how to listen and speak, how to read and write,
how to relate with other people for our mutual benefit,
and how to function successfully within our
familial, social, economic, political, and technological systems.

     But enculturation becomes an influence to be resisted
when it dictates the essential content of our lives.
As we become more free, we will certainly use what we have learned,
but we need not pursue the purposes and goals provided by culture.
On all sides we are surrounded by social pressures
trying to squeeze us into various conventional patterns of behavior.
But when we notice that others have resisted conformity,
we may decide to design our own lives around our own goals
rather than accepting society's ready-made roles.

SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 9

     The capacity to transcend enculturation develops gradually.
The better we understand the social processes that created us,
the greater our capacity to take responsibility for our own lives
—and become self-creating persons.
As we successfully resist conformity in small matters,
we exercise and develop the spiritual 'muscle'
that will empower us to break out of the expected patterns
in even more important and dramatic ways.

     The freedom inherent in our human spirits
enables us to rise above the social circumstances
that would otherwise control us entirely—if subtly.
Instead of remaining normal, well-adjusted adults,
we learn to name the internalized influences
that would shape our lives if we did not exercise our freedom.
And as we come to understand what is expected,
we can choose which (if any) of these expectations to fulfill
and which to reject and replace with purposes we freely choose.

     We exercise freedom most powerfully in selecting our own life-goals.
While we were quiet, unwitting products of enculturation,
our lives were just the unfolding of the assumed cultural patterns,
the psychological outcomes of forces holding sway when we grew up.
But as our spirits develop more fully,
we can choose to pursue lives never before attempted.

     This freedom to choose our life-purposes comes in every degree
—from the smallest deviation from expectation
to the ability to re-design ourselves completely.

     Many 'spiritual institutions' are actually anti-spiritual
because they are primarily means of enculturation.
Many organized religions promote very narrow rules of behavior.
But if becoming persons of spirit means rising above enculturation
and choosing freely for ourselves, one step in becoming more free
may be disconnecting ourselves from narrow-minded religious groups.
In exercising our freedom, we may uproot ourselves
from the places where our spirits first began to grow.

     How can we develop of our capacity to choose?
As children we were free only in the negative sense (freedom from)
—we could say "no" to whatever others told us to do.
But later we become free in the positive sense (freedom for).
After we discover within ourselves what Søren Kierkegaard calls
"the anxious possibility of being able" (not knowing what we can do),
we may arbitrarily exercise our freedom, choosing almost at random,
until we ultimately create a fundamental direction for our lives.
Of course, we may freely change this basic thrust at any time.
But if we consistently pursue purposes we have freely chosen,
we create ourselves around what becomes our 'project-of-being'.
We invent ourselves by making life-shaping decisions.

SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 10

    Everyone who believes in freedom must confront determinism
—the doctrine that all human behavior is determined (caused)
solely and entirely by hereditary and environmental factors.
We might undercut this dogma by challenging its philosophical basis.
The determinists hold that their belief has a scientific foundation.
Granted, much evidence has been collected supporting the belief
that people are the products of their genes and learning.
But has anyone collected evidence supporting our freedom of will?

     All scientific disciplines must be able to specify
what new evidence would upset their hypotheses.
Beliefs that cannot be overturned by new evidence are dogmas.

     So this is the challenge to all determinists:
Try to conceive of a method of research that could possibly conclude
that some people (at least occasionally) exercise personal freedom.
I have yet to meet a determinist who could even imagine an experiment
that might have as one of its possible outcomes the discovery
that some individuals make choices independent of their enculturation.
If an experiment can only support a theory (and never disprove it),
the experiment is pointless because we know the answer in advance.

     This shows that determinists are dogmatists, not scientists.
If they acknowledge only evidence that confirms their dogma,
how can they claim that their belief is based on experience?
If a free act were to occur,
the determinists would not be able to recognize it
because they have decided in advance to interpret all human events
in ways that support the dogma of determinism.
If only one kind of evidence can be recognized, is that science?

     Clearly most human beings are products of enculturation.
Determinists may be a good example of how indoctrination works.
Thru a process called "education" human beings can be led
to embrace beliefs contrary to their immediate experience.
Usually they learn determinism from psychology courses in college.
Such indoctrination is so effective for some people
that it cuts them off from their experience of making choices
—acting in freedom—which they have been doing most of their lives.
Instead of trusting their own obvious, daily experience,
they trust the 'scientific authority' of the determinists.
Fortunately, this brand of psychology shows signs of giving way
to more humanistic approaches, which affirm personal freedom.

     We must agree that our acts are profoundly shaped by culture,
but this very recognition can become a tool to pry ourselves loose
from the life that would result if we never exercised our freedom.
As we develop in spirit, it becomes easier and easier
to transcend enculturation and to choose our own paths thru life.

James Park  Becoming More Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism

SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS: SIX CAPACITIES OF OUR HUMAN SPIRITS by JAMES PARK 11

    If you would like to explore the concept of freedom more fully,
See especially the first chapter of Becoming More Authentic:
"From Conformity to Autonomy".
This chapter explains how we can freely set our own goals in life
and then proceed to fulfill those purposes in workable ways.

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.