1/31/2015

Nikolai Berdyaev - On Freedom

Nikolai Berdyaev
1874 - 1948
Philosophy ... is the creative perception by the spirit
of the meaning of human existence.
-- Solitude and Society

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On Freedom

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Freedom is the ultimate: it cannot be derived from anything: it cannot

be made the equivalent of anything. Freedom is the baseless
foundation of being: it is deeper than all being. (MCA, 145)
The philosophy of freedom begins with a free act before which there
is not, nor can there be, existence, being. If we were to begin with
being as the basis, and recognize this primacy of being over
freedom, then everything, including freedom, is determined by being.
But a determined freedom is not freedom at all. (SC, 109)
Freedom of the spirit which itself gives birth to consequences, which
creates life, is revealed to us a bottomlessness, baselessness, as a
force from out the boundless deep. We cannot feel a base, a
foundation for freedom, nowhere can we find some solid element
which determines freedom from within. Freedom of the spirit is a
bottomless well. Our substantial nature could not be the basis of
freedom. On the contrary, all nature is born of freedom. Freedom
proceeds not from nature, but from God's idea and from the abyss
which preceded being. Freedom is rooted in 'nothingness'. The act of
freedom is primordial and completely irrational. (FS, I,183)
Freedom is not only man's freedom, but man's fate as well. This fated
freedom is the most mysterious phenomenon of human existence.
(TR, 56)
Truly there is nothing more torturing and unbearable for man, than
freedom. (DI, 205)
Man's freedom is indissolubly linked with his obligations. Man's
freedom is not a claim, but a duty, not so much what he demands as
what is demanded of him. Man must be free. God demands and
expects this of him. (CCW, 70)

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Sui-Generis/Berdyaev/qf.htm

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1/31/2015

Nikolai Berdyaev - On Freedom

Our democracy is willing to destroy any or all freedoms for the sake
of equality. (CE, 312)
They have no right to speak for freedom, who recognize freedom
only for themselves and their friends. (CE, 313)
Every freedom always predicates discipline and asceticism and
always perishes if these are lacking. (CE, 313)
Freedom demands that man maintain his dignity and purity, that he
control himself. (CE, 314)
The secret of evil is the secret of freedom. Without our understanding
of freedom the irrational fact of the existence of evil in God's world
cannot be understood. At the basis of the world lies irrational
freedom, in the very depths of the abyss. And out of these depths
pour the dark currents of life. This abyss hides all sorts of
possibilities. This bottomless darkness of being, pre-existent before
all good and all evil, cannot be rationalized, fully and completely: it
always hides the possibility of the outflow of new, unilluminated
energies. The light of the Logos conquers darkness, cosmic order
conquers chaos, there is no life, no freedom, no meaning of the
process which is taking place. Freedom is founded in the dark abyss,
in nothingness, but without freedom there is no meaning. Freedom
gives birth to evil as well as good. Therefore evil does not deny the
existence of meaning, but rather confirms it. Freedom is not created,
because it is not nature; freedom existed before the world began, it is
rooted in immemorial nothingness. God is almighty over being, but
not over nothingness, or over freedom. And this is why evil exists....
(FS)(CE, 187)
In reality, freedom is aristocratic, not democratic. With sorrow we
must recognize the fact that freedom is dear only to those men who
think creatively. It is not very necessary to those who do not value
thinking. In the so-called democracies, based on the principle of
popular sovereignty, a considerable proportion of the people are
those who have not yet become conscious of themselves as free
beings, bearing within themselves the dignity of freedom. Education
to freedom is something still ahead of us, and this will not be
achieved in a hurry. (SC, 110)
He truly loves freedom who affirms it for his fellows. (SC, 111)

Sources

www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Sui-Generis/Berdyaev/qf.htm
Last revised: February 22, 2008
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Sui-Generis/Berdyaev/qf.htm

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