Notes of a philosopher from “the far Country”.
For Professor Robert P. George
Nazism and Communism, two rider’s of utopian Apocalypses galloped across human history, their horses had been hurtled and barbarous rider’s were unsaddled and felled down in bloody mud but Her Majesty Utopia, was calling for the third crazy rider. New Hannibal, Mad Max – Liberalism one monster with two faces: Globalisation and Anarchism are standing today ad the World portas. Many people think these are opposite ideas; different ways of social life. May be … But really this is only one, the same way ... to hell.
It is come back of old story, because history it is semper idem, sed aliter: In 1951 Yves ReneSimon wrote in the first page of the “Philosophy of Democratic Government”: “Communism and national socialism have come to resemble each other in so many respects that their historical diversity and their lasting opposition arouse wonder. In spite of common features that are profound and increasingly obvious, they prove altogether repugnant to effecting any kind of merger. The task of fighting them would be greatly eased if followers, actual and potential, were led to believe that one system, i.e. , the one which appeals to them, is substantially identical with the other, i. e.., the one which they hate; but such identification never was very successful as a polemical instrument. Conservatives in the 1930’s were given a fair chance to understand that nazism was but brown bolshevism; yet many of them helped the Nazis. Today it seems that it should be easy for all concerned to recognise in communism the very features that they hated most in nazism; but not all do.” Nazism was brown hard totalitarian, bolshevism. Liberalism is pink, soft totalitarian communism. Liberalism is, like communism and nazism, a totalitarian ideology. People don’t believe that liberal unlimited freedom is like the nazi state of violation - infected fruit of utopia. The root of modern new born global totalitarism is liberal ideology. Let me justify my opinion.
Ideas are not ideology. An idea is an intellectual form; a picture of a thing in the mind. An idea depends on a thing. An idea is formed according to truth. Ideology is a “manner of ideas characteristic of a person’s group as forming the basis of an economic or political system”. When are ideas transformed into ideology? When the idea becomes alien to the truth. Then the idea is oriented not towards the search for the objective truth but towards a justification of a subjective action. Then cognitive thinking isn’t directed by things but by desires of the directed Will. Desires may be of one man (private) or of many men (public, politics). Virtue exists in a person’s soul if his mind is a conductor of will and passions, rather than passions and will conducting his mind. Virtues aren’t made defective by man’s cognitive of objectivity but moral faults (bad habits) make then defective. Virtues open a person to the truth. Faults close a man to truth and open person to falsehood. Moral defects (defects of man’s internal subjectivity) are sources of a defect of knowledge (defect of interior mirror of objectivity). Mistake is a cognitive defect in an interior sign of objectivity. The consequence of a mistake in knowledge is a mistake in action. The consequence of moral falsehood (defect) is falsehood in action (tragedy). Plus fault – more tragedy. Plus tragedy – more fault and more falsehood. Moral faults are a barrier for truth and widely open doors of the soul to any falsehood – the father of a vicious circle of ideology and tragedy. (It’s a reason that is not easy to liberate liberal ideology). Ideology depends not on things but on public faults (immoral political targets).
Being is a source of truth and being is a source of ideas. Truth and being are the same, one thing. No truth without being; without being there is only falsehood. No truthful ideas without being, without being is only ... ideology. But liberals are agnostics. Liberals don’t respect truth. The truth of things - liberals proclaim - is certainly never recognised by the human mind (agnosticism). The truth of things and truth of thoughts according to liberals can not ever meet together. Liberals don’t believe in human cognitive skills because liberal doctrine considers truth and certainty two false and contradictory axioms. From these axioms – is flowing, as if from infected sources, the flood of liberal liberation which overflows the World. The first, small source is scepticism: certain is only one thesis: that nothing is certain. Only doubt is certain. The second is agnosticism. Liberalism supposes that there is only one truth - no one truth exists. Certainly we know nothing about things and certainly nothing about things we will ever know. Therefore the object – the World is what we will never really know. The only one object - world which we really and certainly know is our own mind. From these axioms is following one conclusion: only one certain truth is - no one certain truth exists. From false consequences all and whatever. Therefore liberals from absurd axioms with iron logic conclude nonsensical consequences. From the false truths of liberal doctrine follows the utopia of liberal liberation. Liberation mixing truth and falsehood and also good with evil and this way slowly transforming culture into anti-culture, and the States - human fellowship into global luxury Konzentrationslager .
Agnosticism – the liberation of truth transforms liberalism into totalitarian ideology. Why? Every man is conducted by ideas. And each State is conducted by ideas. Because there is no action without understanding and no understanding without ideas. Being is a source of ideas. Idea (forma) is a medium between a thing and the mind; between the thing studied and thought studying. There is no understanding (theory) without ideas. No action for example politics – state action, without understanding. The idea of the thing and the idea of action (plan) are necessary to action. The mind of a liberal is closed to the truth. In consequence the mind of a liberal is open to falsehood. The mind of a liberal is closed to the truth. In consequence liberals ever have to be fabulist in service of fantasia but never can be scientists in service of truth. The mind of a liberal is closed to the truth. In consequence liberal agnostic doctrine is a totalitarian ideology. Because liberal whole (Latin “totus”) „truth” about reality has to confabulate without perceiving reality. That is a reason why liberalism is an a priori doctrine. An a priori doctrine “cleansed” of truth - that means doctrine content with only a lot of falsehood and a little sense. A doctrine which was born not near being – exclusive sources of truth, but far away from being. In the happy world of fantasy. Liberalism is the doctrine, which has been created without respect for truth and liberalism is a doctrine, which is implemented in life without respect for life. The real world and real, live people must respect an unrealistic, fabulous liberal doctrine which is far from truth. If they don’t respect the liberal rules, fabulous and unrealistic doctrine will not respect them - they will be proclaimed by liberals as politically incorrect persons (it is a modern kind of ancient banishment or in same place in the liberal, super - tolerant World it is a sentence of civil death.)
Culture is a fundament of State. For culture essentially is based on nature. Don’t fight but collaborate with nature. If someone has got a garden and is waiting for flowers he ought to weed. It’s a basic rule of agriculture. Agriculture is kind of human culture because it is rational. In other words, it is: based on true cognates of things. Truth is thinking about things by things. The spirit of truth examines our knowledge if our thoughts (ideas) are examined by nature (essence and existences) of things. The good farmer collaborates with nature. For culture essentially is based on nature. Liberal culture doesn’t respect the truth and in consequence fights with nature. Therefore liberal culture is not a culture at all. Liberalism fights with nature in the name of false freedom. The being is the truth. The being is a sources of truth but first of all the being is only one source of life. No life without being. Without being and without truth is a dark country of death and falsehood.Therefore liberalism is not a culture of life but an anti-culture of death. Agnosticism is a factor which transforms the enlightenment ideology of unfinished liberty into the totalitarian ideology of unfinished slavery. We will see it very claire et distincte (clearly and distinctly) when we will examine liberal concept of freedom.
Is there any grain of truth in liberal, unrealistic doctrine? Yes. It is a postulate of freedom; promoting liberty for example political freedom from outside correction (occupation). Is something wrong with liberal doctrine? Yes it is a postulate of unlimited freedom and promotion of absolute liberty. The anthropology of liberalism is not realistic. The man in liberal doctrine is out of the world being: a free angel of a global supermarket. The heart of liberty according to liberal pseudo gospel is the absence of coercion by others. Isaiah Berlin in these words has described his own conception of negative freedom: “I am normally said to be free to the degree to which no man or body of men interferes with my activity. Political liberty in this sense is simply the area within which a man can act unobstructed by others.” The above words are only charming human sounds, like music, but are not words. The words have to have not only wonderful melody and worldwide influence but first of all – ad rem sense. Neither liberal freedom, divine liberty or liberal free man inthe real world exist at all. These are phantasmagorias. The existing being isn’t truthfully described by monadology. The real man isn’t a monad of Leibnitz. Each of the people in the world exists in the deep web of relations: each person is a son of his mother and father; and brother of his brother and sister; is a husband or wife or single. (It is also a relation!). He is a member of some church (for example the most missionary and world wide atheistic church of all countries consumers). Can You imagine a man absolutely free? It ought to be a man who doesn’t look for his own family, nation and state; the man who is afraid of neither God nor people; the man without honesty and honour; dangerous human rubbish; the governor-general of Hell on Earth. Many were trying to achieve this model. But such possibility really doesn’t exist. Even the Devil is at least in one, strong relation. He is God’s creature and all history evil couldn’t change this fact.
The man of liberals doesn’t exist and the liberal freedom doesn’t exist either. Being is prior to freedom. The man is a potential being for example the new born child before he will be a potential consumer: a powerful maker of market decisions. (It is of course a former marketer’s irony) Absolute freedom is an absolute nonsense. Therefore liberal doctrine identifies human relations with inhuman coercion; lack of coercion with lack of relations. A man is never absolutely free in the liberal sense, because man is never absolutely alone. Because man is always submerged in the deep water of many human relations. (Even in an isolated cell in prison.) The man is never absolutely free in the liberal sense but the man is always absolutely free in the Christian sense. The man is never absolutely free in liberal sense because he is God’s creature and he always is at least inrelation to the Creator. The man is always absolutely free in the Christian sense because he has got a divine gift of God –the free Will (liberum arbitrum). He can always make a good or bad decision. He always ought to make a good decision and do good but he has got free Will and he can make bad decisions and do evil. The man has got free Will and this is the reason why negative freedom is always positively oriented; negative freedom has got a strong connection with a positive one. Natura abhorret vacuum, and the man never exists in a vacuum. Therefore negative freedom always transforms a into positive one. Further – negative freedom doesn’t exists, if negative freedom exist it is always positive freedom. Because the human condition requires the man to fill the empty space of his life with anything. The man is a potential being and always has to act; he must do something. Even the absence of a human act is always a human act. The man has to make negative freedom productive and do something. This “something” may be good or may be bad; may be true, may be false. But this “something” has to be same one; must have got same moral quality. Each human act has got always same logical or moral quality. Therefore each negative freedom is always also a positive freedom. That is one proof that negative freedom doesn’t exist at all.
More – let’s imagine that “this something” is an accidental something totally false and deeply wrong. And some man’s fulfilment of the whole space of his freedom. Let’s imagine that “this something” is alcohol or drugs. This something may be also a desire of sexual adventures; or now more and more advertised desire of unlimited consumption of new attractive products in human market. Is he a happy man? We can suppose that no. His life is probably a whole pack of evil and tragedy. Is his family happy and his enterprise successful? At the beginning may be it is, but the tragic end is guaranteed. God has forgotten always, the people – sometimes, but the nature – never. Why? Because the truth is the only way to human fellowship. To happy family and to justice of the State. The truth is this wonderful, difficult way to happiness. The truth, not ideology closed to truth!
Let’ s imagine You are a school bus driver. You have a bus full of children, but the bus has not any windows. A school director is going and You hear an order: “Drive!”. It is as, if it had been, a horrible dream, isn’t it? But Liberals are like the school director and the people of the World like the bus driver. Liberals are agnostic but they are the greatest influence on modern culture, to such a deep degree that modern culture is called liberal culture. We can strictly say that Liberals are … directors of modern culture. They are directors but they are blind directors, because they don’t respect the truth. They don’t respect the truth not only because they are agnostic, but first of all because they are against nature. The nature of family, nature of society and worst – the nature of being.
We Thomist fellows ought to teach them, that truth is the only way to human fellowship; to the justice of the State. The liberals say that the truth is the main enemy of human fellowship especially in multicultural and multi-religion society such as the United States of America. But it isn’t the truth about the role of the truth in societal life. I have got an empirical proof. A historical state which existed during nearly one thousand years in the heart of Europe. This State was the Ist Noble Republic of Poland. The State of Two (may be even four) Nations; The Motherland of Polish catholic and Lithuanian evangelic, Russian orthodox and a lot of Jews. My Country Poland from theBaptism in the 966th year to the third Partition in 1795 had been the Catholic State of Polish Nationand – in the sometime and the same place - a “Paradise of Jews” (Paradise of Judeorum) This is not only my opinion but opinion of the Greatest Luminaries of The Enlightenment expressed on pages of The Great Encyclopaedia. What had been a secret of this peace and harmony, such long coexistence? What principle had ruled this unique, extraordinary society? It had been liberty of the truth; order of the one truth into liberty of all. It had been peace of order of the truth; order of the analogy of being. My antecedents had very well known that only the truth is a single way to the just State; that only the truth is a single, one way to the liberty of all. The Just State means not only agnosticism and moral indifferentism (liberal toleration) but unlimitedly, infinitely more – to the friendly State of friendly people (the Polish toleration). The State which had solved many problems of multicultural and multi-religion society not in a false way of agnostic and moral relativism and permissive (it is a whole contents of modern magic, panacea, for all evil of the World – liberal toleration, an atheistic Messiah) but on truthful way of analogy of being. The analogy of being is a very difficult theoretical problem. The human society, state fellowship is a very difficult practical problem. But we ought to learn this lesson. We should teach ourselves to serve the truth – servire veritati – good (the second name, secret name of God) and beauty. The nature is a fundament of culture because the nature is the being in action. Therefore the only right way to the core of nature is going across the truth. The truth is the one window on being. Therefore only the truth may be the basis of right, truthful culture.
A core of liberty is the truth. The essence of liberal falsehood is liberation of liberty from thetruth. The liberation of a man from the truth is condemnation of the man to a slavery of falsehood. My ancestors knew freedom is only an instrument not a target. When authority of Poland had respected that truth in political practise, the I Republic - Union of Poland and Lithuania had been the powerful State. When my ancestors, like golden liberals today, started thinking that the liberty isa target, from this moment on started the end of power of Great Poland. This is the reason why I think we are live at the beginning of the end of Western Civilisation. Liberals adore, as the Polish nobles in the XVII century, when the I Republic of Poland was near to collapse, the new, pagan God – the divine liberal Liberty. Liberals are singing: Freedom uber alles. Above truth, above good, above God. But liberal liberty is a wide road to Sheol? Worse – to the Hell of private and public slavery. What is the main illusion of liberal liberty? Liberals mix together two fundamentally different things – eating and living; medium and goal. Liberty and truth. The freedom isn’t a final target of all. The divine liberty is only an instrument. The instrument – like money in banker’s hands, like a sickle in a reaper’s hands, like a microphone in a “rap” singer’s hand. The instrument is not the main purpose. Liberals mix liberty of the truth with the truth of (about) liberty. The freedom which the truth gave the people isn’t the truth about the freedom. From the source of false liberal truth about liberty is flowing false liberal freedom. What happens when an instrument becomes a target? Let’s come back to our alcoholic to make the question clear. Is a rich alcoholic a free man? In the negative sense of freedom – yes. He has got money, he does not need to work. He can do what he wants. It seems so at first sight. Is he free from coercion? Out side – yes, but inside – no. He can do all he can – it seems to him and it is the truth, even if all he will do, is a one – drink a vodka. He is and simultaneously isn’t free in negative sense. But in common sense not such sophisticate sense he is a slave to of his own weakness to vodka, whisky or another kind of alcohol.
Have You altogether wherever and whenever seen or heard about an absolutely free man? I have not seen but I have listened to the extremely and totally free man. My interlocutor has been also a witness and his testimony is certain. He had seen an absolutely free man in the hell of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. The free man sacrificed his own life to save the life of our witness Mr. Franciszek Gajowniczek. The name of this free man is now - Saint Maksymilian Kolbe. The man may be absolutely free in absolutely no free conditions. The man may be extremely positively free in extremely negative slavery. The slave in prison may be free (Joseph in Egypt after not he didn’t consume his date with Putyphar’s wife). These examples make evident that freedom is inside the man and the outside situation is absolutely not essential for human liberty. Someone maybe be absolutely free outside (have negative freedom, but be a slave of alcohol, drugs or pornography. It is negative freedom to bad habits; dark freedom of moral defects. No stress by external violation it isn’t freedom and stress by strong, external violation it isn’t slavery. Liberty is in the human soul and does not depend on external violation. Because the freedom is inside.
Liberal open society is like a city without walls, like a law without rules, like mathematics without elementary axioms. Liberals probably want good, but the want of good is turned into bad facts. Secular Europe is near to death. Europe is likely to disappear. Liberalism is like a hungry borer (termite). The power of America, power of the Free World, is as powerful, rotten at the heart tree, but too many nations are protected under it shadows from burning sun of tyranny, therefore we could not let the tree die. Therefore those who really look for democracy and the power of Western Civilisation ought to fight liberal culture. Promotion of immoral liberal culture is profitable but it is an anti-state crime. Anti-state, terrorist action. And more it is a suicidal action of liberal promoters. I will quickly make clear my thesis. Is democracy an absolute value? Many people today say: money is an absolute value. The believers in the power of money promote liberalism because they believe liberalism promotes their money. But the adorers of golden bull are suicidal. Why? The state is protecting money. They promoted and protected liberalism but liberalism destroyed the State. No State no money. No money no business. Political liberalism is killing economic liberalism. They promoted and protected liberalism but liberalism destroyed morality. Can one imagine any serious enterprise in trade without honesty? No business without honesty. No business without money. Global triumph of liberalism will soon kill global business.
The state must be moral, immoral state is Mafia (Saint Augustine “De Civitate Dei” IV, IV). History gives many examples of murder state’s: communist Russia or Hitler’s Germany. But the liberal State is immoral as deeply as it is liberal. That means: the liberal state may also be a totalitarian, criminal state. Maybe I ought to say – the word “liberal” is contradictory with “state”. Before the “iron wall” fell communist propaganda frequently used the expression “people democracy” - neither “people” nor “democracy”. A phrase has got the same logical value: “liberal state” I think. The State liberation from the truth is deeply sick; rather it is simply death. The State without truth is an empire of falsehood; and such as expressed the most popular president in the history of US – Ronald Regan - empire of evil. Now we ought to conclude and say shortly: Community? Yes! Communism? No! Liberty? Yes! Liberalism? No! Do You want the extraordinary liberal’s liberty? Thank You, no! We prefer, usual but real, sweet, human freedom! The difference between the true Liberty and liberal liberty is like that between solidarity and solitude. Solidarity requires from man to be dutiful and responsible. Demand Christian hope for future life and future return to lost Paradise. The sweet Christian hope is the rational, realistic reason for transcending the boundless of usually, (sub)natural human egoism towards supernatural altruism (caritas). Solitude content an empty promise of temporal paradise, now at this moment. Moral liberals are lonely slaves of false liberal freedom. The man ought to be only a slave of the truth. The truth sometime for somebody may be bitter, heavy weight to carry, even humiliating at the beginning. But a proud man abase, humbled by the truth ought to remember one truth. Being is alive; it is going from potentiality to actuality; it is going from start to finish. But being is alive and finish of being isn’t the end. Therefore the slave of the truth is a successor of unlimited hope.
On the end of my speech I would ask You yet one question. What am I - a philosopher from the far Country, Poland - doing here in Maritain Conferences? And citing passes from Yves Simon’s works, one of the greatest of Maritain’s disciples? Only for pleasure to meet such outstanding auditorium? And see a Princeton University? From my point of view – not only. Destiny of The free World is in the balance. America is still a power. But Europe, the Old World, is falling in now. Europe is plugging into a liberal black hole of evil, into a anarchy of legal illegality (abortion, euthanasia). And I am, like my great ancestor Ignacy Jan Paderewski, asking now Americans for help. Necessary help is only one – truth. No tomistic, no liberal, no Greek, no Jews but one for all, catholic (Old Greek - catholios) – universal, global truth. Common, friendly but brave servire veritati. Truth is no danger - never, anywhere, for any one. “If you will stay in my teaching, You will find truth and the truth will free You” said Jesus Christ. Neither euro communism nor globalism but truth “libera nos a malo”; libera nos from the new generation of bloody utopia. The world waits for freedom but hates liberalism. Because liberalism kills truth, hope and freedom. Uncle Sam’s boys! Help us, help yourself, help America. Help us fight against liberalism for the victory of freedom!
The American Maritain Association's 2002 Annual Conference, Princeton University
Inne tematy w dziale Technologie
