In his beautiful and profound book Escape from Freedom (1941) Erich Fromm gives us an accurate analysis of the concept of freedom in its psychological meaning. Human beings on the one hand have a deep longing for freedom, but on the other hand fear nothing as much as that very freedom. Historically our culture and our consciousness have developed in such a way that we became free and autonomous individuals, able to make our own choices and decisions. We are proud of being independent. Nobody can tell us what to do. We have shaken off all feudal dominance. We no longer tolerate someone else having power over us. Ever since the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, aided by economic developments such as the upcoming capitalism, a change in consciousness has taken place. Man has become psychologically more himself. Fromm has called this cultural development, following Jung, individuation. In developmental psychology we can also see this individuation taking place, when the child in the course of its physical and psychological growth strips off its primary bonds with its parents and grows out into an adult, full-fledged and independent human being.

Fromm points to the fact that this craving for freedom lies deeply anchored in our psychological structure. We have the intuition that our thinking, feeling and willing is somehow free and can and must be controlled by own motives. Who else but me determines what goes on in me? This is the most fundamental freedom, that I may form and control my own thoughts and emotions.

Fromm presents us an historical analysis of what this upcoming freedom has done to us humans. In the time of the Reformation man freed himself from the old feudal structures and guilds. He became politically and economically more independent. In personal life it meant that he became less protected by the social bonds of which he formerly had been a member. In the past the guild and the clear social demarcation in fixed classes provided a safe harbor of support. But now man was thrown back on him self. He was indeed more free but his freedom entailed also entering the fight more. In the fierce competition of upcoming capitalism he often got the worst of an upper class that could invest more capital.

He was more free, also in his thought and in his feeling. But for his daily life support this freedom had not made life easier. For economically his life had not become more certain. This fear began psychologically to take its toll. It gave the average man of the late middle Ages feelings of uncertainty and powerlessness. The new freedom frightened and alarmed him. We find this fear and powerlessness reflected in the new theologies of Luther and Calvin that addressed the psychological fears of the common man. Man is uncertain, full of sins and fears and is for his salvation dependent on a far away God. It seems that this cultural process of individuation in the Renaissance and late Middle Ages benefited only the elite within society. The average man of that period felt weakened by his newly won freedom.

And so man in modern times had won a freedom that had not made him any happier but more fearful instead. He had become free of but had it made him also free for something positive, for personal happiness?  It seemed he could not manage his newly acquired freedom. In the twentieth century this problem became even worse. Humans had become more free still, due to ongoing technological developments. But due to alienation in his work and due to being only a neglectable part in a whole, man felt excluded and worthless. He was the plaything of a world of which he was no part. Frei aber einsam.

So freedom for most humans ended psychologically in solitude, isolation and fear. And fear does odd things with man. Fear is an illness of the mind of which man wants to liberate himself at any cost. Fear is unbearable. If no real solution is found then one wants to push aside the fear using a pseudo-solution that gives some temporary relief. The form that one chooses for that pseudo-solution is according to Fromm pregiven by one's character structure.

the authoritarian character

The most rampant social character is the so-called authoritarian character, a some what misleading term because it seems to suggest that this character is only fixed on power and domination of others. Authoritarian here means that this character is solely preoccupied with power. It loves strong authority because of the strong feelings of security that can be obtained from it and of which it is in need of. It makes no difference at all if one obtains this security and reduction of fear by means of domination or subjection. Just the mere feeling that a strong authority rules on the outside, gives the person in question rest and a feeling of stability in an uncertain world.

Fromm calls the nature of the authoritarian character sadomasochistic, a term here used with little sexual connotations, only psychological. One wants either to submit to authority or bear sway over others. The unbearable fear of isolation has to be pushed aside. When ruling or when dominating one is no longer alone. One derives power and security from the sway that one bears or to which one subjects one's self. As one of the most harrowing examples of this sadomasochistic tendency in man Fromm mentions the rise of National Socialism in Germany at the time of the writing of his book. Whole tribes of people submitted to the power of a leader who  promised them prosperity and security in difficult times. Men were free, but they couldn't cope with their freedom. They'd rather give it away.

Fromm points to the fact that this surrender of freedom may be psychologically explicable, but it is not defensible according to standards of mental health. Individual man gives up his self in exchange to an authoritarian social self. This is a pseudo-solution. For real mental health can only stem from the individual self. Man must derive power from himself. Only when he obtains that power will he be complete. Only then will he reach perfect mental health. Only then will he live in freedom and will he be in full control of himself.

Another mechanism to escape the provoking feeling of freedom is destructivism. Only few men choose conscious or unwittingly for this form of fear reduction, because everyone well knows that destructivism rather leads to an increase of solitude than to a solving of it. Yet in extreme cases the psyche sees no other way out than to set fire to the whole lot or to destroy it otherwise. A no longer existing outside world or a reduced outside world can inspire little fear. The destructive person has difficult time to cope with its own freedom. He feels too isolated from society to have remorse about damage or destruction done. In these cases the instinct of deathly anger takes complete control.

the conformist

But the most occurring mechanism to escape freedom is, being  everywhere in vogue, conformism. Man dares not to stand alone. He dares not to have a strong divergent opinion. He lets his feelings be determined by the emotions he sees all around him. It is better to adapt to the world around you. Then your surroundings will accept you. You will no longer stand alone.

But with adapting himself to the outside world, man runs the risk to lose his own unique individuality. Sometimes the thinking, the willing or the feeling of an individual is much more pure than society thinks, wills or feels. An individual who lets his own conscience speak and dares to resist the pressure of a collective, that forces him to act wrongly, is much more valuable to society than an always conforming citizen. Through conscious acts and the independent and creative thinking of individuals cultures have been brought to a higher level. Therefore culture needs members with a highly developed and independent self.

Not only in social life can we see the tendency of humans to surrender themselves to the will and views of others. Also in personal life  are humans so anxious and so isolated that they completely lose themselves in relationships of dependence that take away their freedom. They surrender themselves to the requirements, expectations and images of someone else, that limit their growth and freedom. They exchange their own self against the pseudo-self of a temporarily made up feeling of 'we'. In this strong dependence and this loss of freedom the self feels hatred rather than love for the partner. The deeply anchored craving for freedom is pushed aside in the daily routine of compromises. In this grumpy repression hatred finds an excellent breeding ground. Where there once was love, now hatred and frustration grows of not being a self anymore. And with hatred and frustration despair grows. One becomes tensed and more afraid. Because of this tension and fear we become more afraid of our own isolation and aloneness. Thus once more we want to surrender to the mercy of someone else who needs to help us and deliver us from all painful thoughts and desperate feelings. On the search again for the Magic Helper. Ad infinitum.

But only to a certain point, when we dare to break this vicious circle. So let's finish the thoughts that Fromm has formulated and let us wonder how we can reverse this negative spiral and realize real freedom in our lives. For his analysis shows how important it is for our health to feel free as an individual. And not only the health of the individual is improved upon, but also society as a whole reaps the benefits. Fromm has described the reasons why our freedom frightens us. He spoke about the mechanisms we invented to escape that freedom. But can we realize a total and radical freedom that need not frighten us? Can we obtain the courage to be alone also? Is there a psychological state possible in which we can trust ourselves and can communicate with our fellow men without losing our self?

The questions are very important. History has shown with numerous examples how great the disaster can be, when humans hand themselves over to a power out of their control. Hitler could come to power because the individual in Germany was weak and afraid. One gave up one's freedom and just look how terrible the consequences were. Therefore is it very important that man is critical and dares to think independently. He must fight against powers outside of his self and look for the anchored powers that are active in his own self. He must learn to trust his freedom. For in freedom the power of the Self manifests its self.

mysticism offers the only real freedom

At this point mysticism can lend us a hand. She can offer us a theoretical and practical basis to come to terms with our freedom. Mystics are the really free people. They nourish their freedom. They are in no way afraid of being free. They learn to trust their self. For in their eyes the self is nothing but a gateway to the higher Self. Behind and beyond our self can we  learn to know that Divine Self that is the basis of everything. If we come into contact with that deepest Self, our freedom will no more intimidate us. That very freedom will establish a basis for real self-confidence. Only then are we really free. Only in God can we be really free, as the wisdom traditions teach us.

After writing Escape from Freedom in 1941, the developments have speeded up in rapid pace. Especially since the sixties and seventies man and society have become even more individualized. Fromm's book certainly made a contribution to that development. In the sixties the book was on the shelf of each self respecting intellectual.  It has been a major factor in shaping our culture. In the book he described the psychological and cultural pathologies that were caused by a constantly growing freedom for the individual in our modern society. Even now we are still haunted by these pathologies. But in the future these pathologies can become healed. Then man will dare to be really free. Recent developments, as well in science as in society, make us hopeful. In psychology more attention nowadays is being paid to investigation into religious experiences and their effects on our psyche. One strives to combine the experiences of many cultures and traditions in an integral embrace. Humans of today are more conscious of their selves than a number of decades ago. This is an ongoing development that can make us hopeful about more future evolutionary growth of our consciousness.

Arnhem December 2002

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