Mind-forged fetters

 

 

 “Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

– Burke, letter to François-Louis-Thibaut de Menonville, 1791

 

Those are good - and true - thoughts, BUT -  for myself, and for others I presume - understanding the words is not sufficient for us to attain the freedom Burke is talking about. What is needed is an insight particular to us as unique individuals; an image or phrase that captures who we are and why we do not possess the freedom we long for. 

First, of course, we need a taste of that freedom, or we would not desire it; a great effect of the 'fetters' is to keep us from gazing on larger freedoms, or feeling the fresh breeze blowing from the land of righteousness.

In whatever manner that 'taste' comes from, we know it when it happens.

Then an image or phrase just nails us - rings us like a bell - and we truly see what we've been about, and how artificial fetters have constricted us. For me, the vehicle has been the poetry of Rumi (1207-1273). An example or two from Coleman Bark's translation in The Soul of Rumi (2001) - page numbers refer to that volume - '

From "The Pattern Improves" (Page 30)

'Leave thinking to the one who gave intelligence.

In silence there is eloquence.

Stop weaving, and watch how the pattern improves. '

I'll not comment on this, as it it not the kind of thing that needs explanation so much as revelation.

Or, the entirety of "Looking into the Creek", one of my favorites (page 38) :

'The way the soul is with the senses and the intellect is

like a creek. When desire weeds

grow thick, intelligence can't flow, and the soul creatures

stay hidden. But sometimes

the reasonable clarity runs so strong it sweeps the clogged

stream open. No longer weeping

and frustrated. your being grows as powerful as your wantings

were before, more so. Laughing

and satisfied, the masterful flow lets creations of

the soul appear. You look

down, and it's lucid dreaming. The gates made of light

swing open. You see in.'

We need, I think, a glimpse of Joy - the 'far country' - to recognize the lack of it in ourselves. Then, the work of understanding how we have manacled ourselves by unthinkingly hewing to tradition, or unthinkingly parroting a creed. By all means understand your tradition or your creed! - that is necessary - but it is up to YOU to accept or reject them partially or wholly. It is a Quest.

Please comment below if you'd like...