A question: can I know what I want without knowing who I am, what I am? And is it always a question of wants (not needs, rights, obligations, capabilities)...in which case the question turns, once again, on what is meant by the self, the 'I'?
Two students came up to me last year and said, you know what, freedom in the west means that incest is okay. Yeah, okay. And I know where they're getting this from, who they're getting it from.
1.Freedom. Not western freedom, eastern..
2. Engaged freedom, not abstract freedom (though principles are important and they inter-act with one another).
3. A constellation of ideas: freedom for all means universality, equality. But also: liberty, equality,and solidarity don't always go hand in hand. Pluralism.
4. Lots of things to say on the evaluation of freedom (Sen, Sugden, etc) but...
In a dream last night I saw the words, I, I. and thought: freedom is this doubling up, reflexivity which is a breaking out of nature's circles. As the rastas say: I&I. Saw the swami, hugged her. Freedom is a space, the space of absence, the ache, the longing in one's heart. No heart is as free as a broken heart. Broken circles. A jewish thought, a 'sound' thought: exodus, the ability to think,and think again (second spaces). Riddled with it, by it.
Freedom is connected with the things we have reason to value. But it is also spontaneity, the ability to move (and not just what we move to). What would be the highest freedom, then -there are degrees, yes? Spontaneously moving to what is beautiful, true, loved? What the Allama calls a 'higher' fatalism?
what is freedom?
a question.
a series of questions.
love, hope, desire...
how you write is what you write: grammars of the soul:
love & hope & desire.
&.
distinctiveness and connectedness.
I & I.
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5 comments:
but incest in the west is ok. i suppose it is just as ok as it is in "the east". although there are some nominal punishments somewhere inscribed in the laws in the west just as much in the "muslim world" they're almost never enforced because it's just boring women problems and the whole world knows it. just as much as incest probably only is interesting when it can be used as proof against the decadent morals of the west? or am i too cynical?
not sure I follow you. Don't know much about the punishments or how many cases are effectively brought to trial when it comes to incest (have read somewhere that it is ridiculously, absolutely shockingly low, in other cases of violence).
Does lack of conviction mean its "okay". I hear what you're saying. Maybe it is a reflection of the growing acceptance of violence and lack of concern.
That was not really my point (haven't finished the post yet, anton). It was, rather, that the notion of freedom is thought exclusively in terms of the lack of constraints or "wanton preferences" and not connected with reason or the good..with a vision of what is right, beautiful, good, but , rather, a matter of impulses or the will only.
So, yes, it is not out of any concern with freedom per se or the rights/welfare of women, but a cynical bit of polemics: virtuous woman of the east vs whore of the west. Or, that is what freedom ends up in:chaos, loss of values, purity, decadence.
freedom is, for the maulvi, ultimately a matter of a woman's body. That's it. [I use the word maulvi not in the exclusively religious sense, but as a state of mind or mindlessness].
And not a fucking word, or even the faintest hint or a mention of, the atrocities that are committed in the 'land of the pure'.
that's all i want to think about in this post, not about the specific examples which would require a lot of soul-searching and reading. In fact, if you would like to write a guest post on my blog on this (or anything else) I'd be honoured (it's okay, no pressure, if you don't want to, just don't!:-)]
I'm asking other friends as well this week. Nabil has already agreed.
keep well,
b.
oh long comment. i'm not disagreeing with any that you say. i also see the problems with this narrow definition of feeedom or kind of relating it only to wants.
it's only that these people always only drag incest or any kind of other "marginal" problem out of the closet in order to serve their interests. like you say used to prove the golden morals of us here at home and in the west there are all bad whereas i think you find the same crap everywhere and the convictions always are low. old hat really. all i wanted to say.
ok post not finished i see. it wasn't exactly clear to me n which direction this was going.
guest post oh dear :) thank you for asking. interesting. i think about it or some topic, ok? or do you have something in mind i could or should write about?
anton, of course I'm easy, either way. But no formalities. seriously. only if you want to write something, do. it would be like a kind of autograph book for me. Something to keep. so, it could be a passage you find beautiful, or a post on something you think is important. anything. Even if you don't write that's okay, your continued presence here is always welcome and gratefully acknowledged.
best wishes,
b.
b i like the idea. really. i will write something. only i dont know when not today. but soon. i think of something. thank you for asking.
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