In 1849 Henry David Thoreau
wrote his famous essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. In it he states – at the time inspired by slavery and the Mexican-American
war – that if one considers a system to be unjust or immoral, one has the duty
to stop partaking in it, ‘the duty to wash his hands of it and […] not to give
it practically his support.’ Thoreau’s writing inspired both Gandhi and Dr. Martin
Luther King in their ideas of nonviolent resistance. Dr. King writes about him:
‘noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with
good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this
idea across than Henry David Thoreau.’[1]
Some people criticize me when I choose not to
partake in everyday society but rather travel and go to live in ecological or
spiritual communities abroad. They say it is a form of escapism, trying to get
away from the duties and responsibilities of society, living in a dream and not
willing to face everyday reality. And you know, I think they are absolutely
right, apart from one aspect: that that be a bad thing.
Wikipedia
defines ideology as a comprehensive set
of normative beliefs, conscious and unconscious ideas, that an individual,
group or society has. It is typical for any ideology in society, that it
considers its way of living the best and only one and any deviation as a threat
against it. This is a way for the system to protect itself. As Thoreau says: A very few […] resist [the state] for the
most part and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.
However, any given society is not necessarily
the best one. Thoreau writes: It is not
armed with superior wit or honesty. There may be good forces active in it,
but it is also a product of historical and cultural circumstance. It is made up
of people, and therefore it is imperfect. It has evolved through the centuries,
and though it will always clad itself in a myth of inevitability, it definitely
is not. As mentioned, it claims to be the only way, and that is how it keeps the
system going. People put their blinders on, everybody happy, or not?
Because society is not morally superior,
Thoreau reasons, it is not a higher law, and one is not morally obliged to
follow it. The only obligation which I
have […] is to do at any time what I think right. In other words, you do
not have to follow the threaded paths if you do not believe in them. If you do
not believe it is the best way for people to live together, if it does not
fulfill your deepest desires as a human being, by all means, do not do it. Your
only duty towards your fellow man is to live a live that is true to you. So you
can go out there and live your dreams, try to establish a different kind of
society and be the change you want to see in the world. This is the duty of ‘civil
disobedience’ as Thoreau calls it. He himself chose to live a simple and quiet
life in the woods in Walden. For now, I choose to join a spiritual-ecological
community in India.
And I do not believe this really is a form of escapism.
Again, this thinking is part of the ideology. Ideology says there is a system
and you can either be inside or outside of it. You are either part of the gang
or you are not. Ideology splits up the world in two sides: the good ones and
the bad ones. But the truth is, there is no such divide. There is only one
mankind and we are all connected to it. No matter how hard we try, lest we kill
ourselves and eradicate ourselves from everyone’s memory, we will always be
connected to others. Any act you make will influence those around you and the
society of man at large.
Of course, the system will always try to brand
people who do something completely different as ‘hippies’, ‘weirdos’, ‘escapists’
or ‘radicals’, but this is just because it does not want to give any serious
credit to any other ideals than its own. This is how the system prevents
change. But the truth is, and the system know this – that is why it reacts so heavily against it –
that this is the only way to create real change. If no one would be trying to
do something radically different, the system would never be really challenged,
and nothing would ever really change. It is only through ‘escapist’ utopian
ideals and action that people can be shown a different way of living. Thoreau
says: Action from principle is
essentially revolutionary. […] Let
your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine.
Live the life you really want to live. Be true
to your ideals. Be radical if need be. Be revolutionary. Be ‘civilly
disobedient.’ Do not let yourself be turned down by talk about ‘fitting in to
society’. Follow your heart and escape.
Comments
Post a Comment