Freedom as fullness of life;
Gregorian Perspective
Fr. Bijesh Philip
H. G. Paulos Mar Gregorios (1922-1996), a reputed theologian of the Indian Orthodox Church, was always conscious about his vocation to show a way forward for humanity at the dead ends. With his immense wisdom and spiritual commitment, he could serve as a torchbearer of human civilization. By detecting humans’ danger of overthrowing all kinds of authority hoping for freedom, P. G. attempted a deeper analysis of the meaning of human freedom. Freedom was one of the dearest themes of P.G. The titles of his books like ‘The Joy of Freedom’, ‘The Freedom of Man, ‘Freedom and Authority’, ‘Love’s Freedom a Grand Mystery etc. refer to his special concern for freedom and dignity of humans. It seems that a proper understanding of his concept of freedom will disclose the beauty of the major portion of his theology.
‘Freedom’ came to be accepted as a widely accepted watchword of modern scientific civilization. From the time of Renaissance onwards, people in the West struggled hard to free themselves from the extreme authority of the church and also from the sovereign God as presented by the western church. “The Christian church has been too much authoritative and has too often failed to foster freedom”1. In the post-renaissance, secularist phase of human civilization, the centrality of God was ruled out and an anthropocentric world view was overemphasized. Science, technology, ideologies like humanism, Marxism etc. came forward to ensure the welfare of human kind by recognizing the dignity and freedom of humans. Though P.G. admits their contribution to humankind, he was also fully conscious about their atheistic emphasis and the bondage and evil spread by their denial of the transcendent reality. Much hoped about freedom turned out to be bondage in various spheres of life. P.G., while supporting the attempts to remove the sovereign, freedom-hating God whom western civilization created, suggests alternate world views especially that of the eastern Orthodox Christian thought which fosters highly the freedom and dignity of man, as an important guidance for moulding a new world.
P.G. develops his theology of freedom mainly based on the teaching of the 4th century eastern Christian father St. Gregory of Nyssa2. Nyssa saw the freedom of man as the central element to which everything was to be related. Being created in the image of God, man should have all the god things in God and among these the most important is freedom. God is free. He is not bound by his creation, He is transcendent because of the difference of his essence from that of the creation. God is independent in other dimensions also. He chooses and aids good without any external pressure. Since God is free, humans who are His image, can also be free and independent.
Gregory of Nyssa saw the tension between the ideal and the real in humans. ‘Mankind dreams constantly of becoming something other than what it now is. This nostalgia for home points to his true nature. He is now in bondage to something which is not his real nature. Freedom means attainment of that dynamic and true nature of man3.
Certain important aspects of ‘freedom’ as described by P.G. in his various writings can be summarised with the titles a) sinberation b) liberation, c) Parhesia d) openness to other traditions e) Praxis (doing good).
a) Sinberation:
This is a term coined from sin and liberation to indicate P.G.’s idea about inner freedom or freedom from evil. Evil is a hidden possibility in human freedom. Misuse of free will was the beginning of evil. Sometimes humans, in spite of their heroic efforts against evil, found it very difficult to overcome the power of evil. But God became man in Jesus Christ and conquered the power of evil and became a source of sinberation and hope. By turning to Christ, humans can experience also the joy of freedom (Galatians Ch. 5).
Wealth,’ sex, power etc have potentiality to enslave us and destroy our freedom. This is why P.G. says that any mastery of the universe unaccompanied by a mastery of one’s own self, cannot lead to true freedom4. So it is foolish to reduce the kingdom of God to an urban technological paradise. The trap of the consumerist culture which is ever ready to satisfy uncontrollably the human instincts of greed, permissiveness, hatred, competition etc. will lead us to bondage. P.G. explains Nyssa’s concept of ‘apatheia’ as the capacity to enjoy life in the spiritual and wordly dimensions but without losing one’s equilibrium or becoming slaves to sensual pleasures. This theme may be closer to the idea of detachment in Gita and Indian spirituality. Inner purification and detachment by the help of the Spirit of Christ is an essential aspect of freedom (II Cor. 3-28).
b) Liberation:
P.G. prefers to use the term liberation to describe the freedom from social, political and economic enslavement. The notion of freedom as liberation from oppression, injustice and exploitation is predominent in Jewish idea of salvation, Marxism and most of the modern contextual theologies and liberation struggles. But for P.G. this liberation is only the first part or negative phase of human freedom. “Liberation only places us on the threshold of freedom”’. He has given a short but beautiful description of some of the major liberation movements in the 20th century like political decolonization of Asian countries, black movement against white superiority, revolt of youth and student rebellions, women’s liberation etc. Recommending a fuller participation of women in the Indian church he writes: “women’s work has been largely confined to teaching and serving. It seems essential that a fuller role in administration and decision making has to be taken by women in the Indian church in order that their gifts of charity and imagination may bring some change to the power-crazy and unimaginative structures of authority in Indian church and society today”6. Of course in the Indian context, the church has a responsibility to participate in the struggles of adivasis, dalits, women, prostitutes, slum dwellers etc. for a just society.
P.G. exhorts us to question, examine and overthrow the law and order if those who are in power justify and continue their oppression by appealing to the law and order situation. Law and order should not be absolutized. He goes to the extent of saying that our reluctance to participate in revolutionary struggles for radical changes means choosing to support the oppressive structures which keep many poor victims in inhuman conditions. “The decision to enter a revolutionary struggle involves for the Christian a momentous decision to walk the way of the cross to the very end, expecting neither comfort nor applause in return for his sacrifice”7. His tremendously revolutionary words written about 25 years ago still inspire us to fight relentlessly against the dehumanizing structure of poverty, descrimination, exploitation, displacement, etc.
c) Parrhesia:
This Greek word means bold access into the presence of God (Eph. 3:12, Heb. 4:16, 10:19). A clear conscience and the presence of the Spirit make it possible for us to turn boldly and spontaneously towards God. The Joy of freedom P.G.’s book about Eastern Orthodox Worship, explains this theme in detail. “Prayer is the joy of freedom, which characterizes the children of God”8. On another occassion, he says “God’s grace in Jesus Christ has given us free access into the presence of the Father through the Spirit without being hampered by our sin”9. This boldness of access is an important aspect of human freedom. The distortion of the values and world view caused by the secular scientific civilization deprives humans of true worship resulting in boredom and purposelessness. P.G.’s emphasis of joy of freedom in worship as an important aspect of our inherant freedom should be understood in the context of secular civilization’s attempt to close the eyes of man to the transcendent dimension of reality and enclose him in a historical world. True worship divinizes us and makes us mature Christians and true humans.
d) Awareness of universal tradition
In line with Nyssa’s thought, P.G. also viewed humankind of all ages and all places as one single entity. This awareness and openness to all traditions is also an expression of human freedom. As P.G. says: “The full freedom of man demands that we unite our traditions and hold the whole thing, with all its success and failures, as our common heritage”10. From his own experience, he considers it as a practically possible ideal: “Erecisely because I hold the whole human experience as my heritage, I cannot be exclusive in my adherence to eastern Christianity. I have learned much by being open to both western Christianity and Hinduism, as well as to Judaism, Islam, Budhism, secular humanism and Marxism. All these belong to my tradition””. In short, commitment to one particular tradition and openness to all traditions is possible and is an important reflection of human freedom.
e) Doing Good:
Liberation and sinberation are negative phases of freedom whereas fulfilling the capacity to choose the good and do it is the positive aspect of freedom. As God is doing good without any external constraint, man, who is the image of God, can also work for the welfare of the rest of the creation without external pressure or authority. Without such positive actions, one cannot fulfill authentic humanity by participating in the freedom struggles of the victims of oppression. The Greek words autokrates, autexousious, eleutheros etc. used by Nyssa to denote the freedom of man imply actions of one’s own power without any external constraint. It is when humans grow in love, wisdom and self-control and serve sacrificially, they become truly free. This norm of assessing human freedom and independence is extremely valuable in the context of crazy competition for more selfish comforts and luxury.
“The ultimate freedom of man in history would be when all have become free and mature, needing no authority, all committed totally to the welfare of mankind, all using their disciplined power, love and wisdom for the whole of mankind. There is no stopping place short of that”12.
Constant struggle against evil
Unceasing vigilance is the price we have to give for preserving our freedom in good shape. At any moment, communities or individuals can incline to evil. P.G. rightly puts it thus:
“Evil is at the centre of the Christian person himself, and if he forgets this, he can very quickly become an instrument of evil, in the very process of the fight against evil;. If evil is not overcome within ourselves by the discipline of prayer and fasting, then we run the risk of being sucked into the side of evil by the massive power of evil. This is why a Christian ethics which is a pure socio-political ethic can soon become demonic”13.
On another occasion, he asks us to fight against evil continuously: “We are essentially wrong if we assume that we can walk into the heaven of freedom without a struggle..........the whole Gospel is the message of a continuing battle with the forces of evil”14. Fighting against evil will sharpen our free will. It is our confrontation with the evil that provide the occasion for the true exercise and development of freedom.
Experimental community and freedom
P.G. shares with us a vision of experimental communities where genuine internal and external freedom can be developed through discipline in a more systematic way than in the traditional institutions like family, schools, church etc. Such a community can be Christian or interracial or an interreligious one. Such a disciplined community is comprised of members having short term or long term commitment. They will have to question the norms of society by practicing values freely and wisely chosen by it. They will practice the shepherdly pattern of the authority instead of arbitrary authority. The good shepherd will not only feed and care for his flock but would also protect the weak sheep against the fat and mighty within the flock (Ezhekiel 34, Ps 23:1, Jn. 10) P.G. thinks that the way forward to the healing of humanity lies primarily through the recovery of this type of authority in communities and eventually in the whole world. Ideally there could be celibate communities and married communities within one complex. They will form a free and dignified society of human beings where mutual respect and love can enable each to sublimate his or her instinctual drives. Sexual drive can be sublimated through creative form of hard toil, personal sacrifice for the poor and the oppressed, profound worship and prayer accompanied by fasting and above all love. Experimental community should address the real issues and problems of humanity and it should not be simply inward looking. Its energy should be directed to the outside world in love and compassion. The engagement in the affairs of the world and the disengagement of worship in the joy of freedom will go hand in hand.
Conclusion
P.G.’s integral holistic vision of freedom can well serve as a critique of the pitfalls of many of the contextual theologies and other revolutionary ideologies. At the same time, in this vision, there is no compromise in unceasing fighting for liberation of the victims of dehumaminsing structures. It seems to be closer to the Gandhian view of freedom in its fullness. P.G. could express this freedom to a great extent by his constant struggle against communalism, nuclear disarmament, the negative impact of globalization, environmental crisis etc. He was so free to serve the welfare of the human kind that he did not count to be known as an Indian Christian theologian a thing to be cherished.
1. Varghese (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, Madras, p.x
2. For a detailed description of freedom according to St. Gregory of Nyssa see Paulos Gregorio’s Cosmic Man, 129-154.
3. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, 61.
4. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, 129.
5. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, 113.
6. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, 122.
7. Varghese, (P.G.), Freedom and Authority, 127.
8. Gregorios, The Joy of Freedom, 64.
9. Gregorios, The Joy of Freedom, 66.
10. Varghese, Freedom And Authority, 141.
11. Varghese Freedom And Authority, 142.
12. Varghese Freedom And Authority, 151.
13. Varghese Freedom And Authority, 100.
source: http://www.paulosmargregorios.info/About%20Gregorios/Fr.%20Bijesh%201.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment