The wealthy and the poor have been present for centuries according to religious, economic, social, and psychological variables. . Currently,within our capitalist system, the gap and discrepancies are absurd . This essay addresses the haves and the have nots from a humanistic and non humanistic framework by presenting a brief synopsis of a few historical figures and their acts of disobedience , obedience and freedom within the last 6000 years .
The Old Testament begins with themes of disobedience, obedience and love of God from a patriarchal point of view. There’s an emergence of a father figure God who establishes just principles, laws, rules for men to follow, and stands for the highest value of good.
Love for a father figure was represented by the faithful obedient,loyal and with submission . It’s his love,his protection as a helping father in times of difficulty. Further, it is up to man to respect his commandments and lead a moral and ethical life.
Adam and Eve , in the Garden of Eden , biting the apple symbolized disobedience . Their actions allowed them to open their eyes and recognize each other as strangers in the hostile world. Man was now independent and humanistic,
Acts of disobedience,obedience and independence followed with Moses . He challenged Ramses and freed the Hebrew slaves.They became independent ,free and dependent by believing in God . Now, man did not have to be a slave ,constrained and exploited by others, Moses ,with God’s assistance, assisted the poor by allowing them to have an opportunity for independence of thought, ability to love , respect others within the context of being an obedient follower, The separation from being a slave , in Egypt, under Ramses allowed them to pursue freedom- independence within the context of being protected by the father figure- God if one remained loyal, but not by erecting a golden calf to worship. Humanism , justice and faith prevailed.
The father figure God , disobedience , obedience and freedom continued with the emergence of Jesus’s dogma.. Jesus was a rebel, who “revolted” against Rome . Pontius Pilate ,the Roman governor, found him guilty. Jesus's followers ,at the time ,were poor , socially despised, down trodden and they castigated the rich and powerful. With Jesus the human father God delivered and respected the poor with salvation. Life was dangerous, evil, unfair and unjust . And, with salvation, God -Jesus delivered the individual from sin and its consequences with a life in the hereafter.
Respect for the poor have-nots was established. Humans must suppress cravings ,possession and they must totally liberate themselves and share with solidarity.. For example Luke 6:27 stresses "love thy neighbor" …full concern for other human beings and complete surrender of all selfishness.”. Avarice is the root of all evil. The humanistic dogma regarding the poor is clear and free from contradiction per early christianity.
Centuries later, the philosophy and attitude of Christianity in medieval times was clear. Summarizing the medieval church era 1. The dignity of man was expressed . 2 The freedom of his will, and the fact that his efforts were of avail. 3. A likeness between God and man. 4. And man's right to be confident of God's love .
.Economic interests were necessary ,but subordinate to salvation and morality according to St. Antonio "riches exist for man, not man for riches"..., avarice is a deadly sin..... owners must be ready to provide to those that need it , even if they are not in actual destitution. .”
These ideas contrasted with the Reformation era -with Luther's theology with the middle class.1.They were fighting against the authority of the church 2 They resented the new moneyed class 3 They felt threatened by rising capitalism 4. They were overcome by feelings of powerlessness and individual insignificance.
The disobedient Luther rejected and rebelled against the authority of the Catholic Church. However, with an authoritarian character structure,Luther’s take on the people was that in this life, the people were dangerous, evil , despicable and required being dominated and controlled.. But, It was only God who could deliver the individual from sin and its consequences with a better life in the hereafter. Respect for the poor, the have not’s was not established in this life. Luther’s self hatred was projected onto others . The people had wicked thoughts with much anxiety. Only with salvation , could the poor be blessed and would only then find "happiness" in God’s afterlife.
The power, obedience and submission to God was clearly the belief of the disobedient Martin Luther. The poor and others were not worthy unless God was in their lives. There was no chance of salvation without loving God. Luther’s “love” of God was based on his unconscious feeling of being powerless. He projected his insecurity and consciously believed that man was evil , vicious and not soundly equipped or able ,on his own, to cope because of the depravity of his nature and man must submit to God for salvation in this hazard-filled world . Man’s only choice was to totally submit to God.
Luther’s words :::For God wants to save us, not by our own by extraneous justice, and wisdom,by a justice that does not come from ourselves and does not originate in ourselves but comes to us from somewhere else..... That is, a justice must be taught that comes exclusively from the outside, and is entirely alien to ourselves. And..”. God-ward man has no "free will", but is a captive, slave and servant either to the will of God or to the will of Satan.”
The young educated Martin Luther entered the monastery and became a catholic priest. This psychologically troubled man had “a fit in the choir.” The fit has been interpreted by many differently . Luther , during a service “fell to the ground, like one possessed and roared with the voice of the bull. “ The German version was "it isn't me!" The Latin with "I am not!" Was this behavior associated with mental illness ,a reaction of his soul, psyche ,spirit and related to the Holy Ghost ?
Luther ,according to Prof. Preserved Smith in Erik H. Erikson’s Young Man Luther: A Study In Psychoanalysis And History. claimed that “ Luther is a typical example of the neurotic quasi-hysterical sequence of an infantile sex complex.... and Luther's childhood wasn't happy because of his father's excessive harshness, and that he was obsessively preoccupied with God as an avenger, with the devil as a visible demon, and with obscene images and sayings."
With the transformation to capitalism ,psychological, non-humanistic motivations were also apparent by the economic shift and development toward the end of the Middle Ages . Work now became increasingly a supreme value. In fact, work efficiency assumed the role of a high moral virtue. Also occurring, was the desire for wealth and material success as it became an all absorbing passion. Simply put, the objectives of capitalism are capital, cost efficient labor, mass production (supply ) and excessive consumption(demand) equals massive profits for only the deserving elites.
According to Martin Butzer, a preacher ..’ running after all those trades and occupations that will bring the most gain….... all the clever heads which have been endowed by God with a capacity for the nobler studies, are engrossed by commerce, which nowadays is so saturated with dishonesty that is the last sort of business an honorable man should engage in."
So far it's clear that man has a limited degree of freedom, but is able to achieve "independence" only with a powerful father figure. However, with the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution demonstrated that man didn't have to be enslaved by a King or human powerful father figure .Man was viewed as being fundamentally good and his behavior an end in itself rather than unnecessarily serving other needs. And, according to Rousseau, evil arises from social organization. Man is good and becomes spoiled by a bad society. Furthermore, man can pursue true equality among men while pursuing and building a better and more just society in this life .
The halves-the Kings ,queens, princes, princes , emperors, popes and monopolists represent a small number of individuals. The masses have God as their protector,- in the afterlife. However, capitalism now gave more individuals opportunities and more freedoms. But, capitalism still required the have-nots not only to produce but to consume. Adam Smith warned the power structure not to give the poor too much political power because they'll slowly take unequal control of your wealth .
The misquoted , not understood Marx was disobedient to capitalism. First, Marx suggested that man has two types of drives and appetites. The first was a constant , fixed , such as hunger and sexual urges. The other drive ,he called relative appetites which "owe their origin to certain social structures and certain conditions of production and communication." For example, "Need for money.... Is therefore the real need created by the modern economy, and the only need which it creates... This is shown subjectively, partly in the fact that the expansion of production and of needs becomes an ingenious and always calculating subservience to inhuman, depraved unnatural and imaginary appetites." 2 Marx's central criticism of capitalism is not the injustice in the distribution of wealth; it is a perversion of labor into forced alienated meaningless labor, hence the transformation of man into a crippled monstrocity. 3. Marx did not want to abolish private property …so that the worker would own what the capitalist now has. 4. Marx stated an enforced increase in wages would be nothing more than a better remuneration of slaves and would not restore ,, either to the worker or to the work, their human significance and worth. 5. Marx’s central theme is the transformation of alienated, meaningless labor into productive labor, not the better payment of alienated labor by a private or abstract state capitalism.
.
Marx 's theory suggested that man could become psychologically healthier when given an opportunity to take part in the manufacturing decision-making. With greater equality, participation and control, a humanistic man could become more independent , free with the ability to love self and others.
At this point in history, more individuals, while still dependent on God,established more freedom and independence. The poor significantly demonstrated their power in India with Gandhi’s leadership . The British Empire was supreme and ruled India – one of its colonies. Gandhi disobeyed , organized the poor have-nots, and they went on strike against their English rulers. They shut down India with their passive strike. Disobedience, obedience and humanism was clearly expressed .
This country was established and psychologically ,associated with economic interests pertaining to power, status, and possession in the late 1700s. And ,the Declaration of Independence was created by the haves ,the landowners. All men are not created equal irrespective of what was written. This idea is simply a fallacy, false, mistaken, and simply not true. The Wasps required slaves to participate and further their capitalistic pursuits. However, Amendments to the Constitution established more equality among its peoples.,.
However, the poor remain poor and are required to support the halves. There’s a symbiotic relationship between the haves and the have not's. Halves cannot exist without the have-nots and the have-nots cannot exist without the halves. The idea of salvation, currently, may be expressed in stated "beliefs" but not in universal, daily practice..Trump ,a human godlike father figure is present -to be obedient , to be submissive in order to receive some form of his blessings and safety.
There are protests of disobedience but it’s not as powerful as in the previous historical times . Listening to the day's news reinforces the idea of the poor being exploited ,discriminated against and being subjected to cruel and unjust actions by the government and others.
In summary , humanism, disobedience and independence can be associated to Adam ,Eve, Moses, Jesus, Rousseau, Marx, and Gandhi and the nonhumanistic attitude to Luther, Jefferson, the Founding Fathers and capitalism .Within history, man has made progress since the Old Testament in terms of his ability to understand his world, have more comforts, more achievement opportunities, more variety, better health while in survival. However, the dynamics of the haves- the powerful and the have nots - the poor continues and is exacerbated. by capitalism and the powerful Megachurch groups, a religion of the power structure with a different mentality from early Christianity. They now provide and promote avenues for success, avarice messaging ,political authoritarian compliance along with their moral scandal failings .The Jesus’ teachings do not promote avarice nor Trump’s authoritarian attacks on the poor etc..The basic nature of mn”s Insecurity remains.and It results in a powerful quest for union irrespective . That continued unconscious search for union, a safe and secure father figure, protector ,object of worship can be with God , another human , idolization of money, power, status, possession or AI technology.
Reference
.Fromm,Erich. Marx’s Concept of Man.
Fromm,Erich. The Dogma of Christ.
0 comments:
Post a Comment