Where the mind is without fear

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high / Where knowledge is free / Where the world has not been broken up into fragments / By narrow domestic walls / Where words come out from the depth of truth / Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection / Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way / Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit / Where the mind is led forward by thee / Into ever-widening thought and action / Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Chitto jetha bhayashunyo: 'Where the mind is without fear' is, one of the most quoted poems of Rabindranath Tagore. It applies, without reservation, to all mankind, the entirety of the human race; without the bias of cast, creed, country, religion. It represents Tagore's dream of how an awakened and enlightened country should be: a country that has reached the highest stage of enlightenment.

Where the mind is without fear, life is without fright.

A life without fright is a life without panic.

A life without panic is a life without fatigue. A life without fatigue is a life full of verve, vigour, and vitality. Freedom of thought is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other freedom.

Freedom of thought, also called the freedom of conscience or ideas, is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. It is different from, and not to be confused with, the concept of freedom of speech or expression.

A mind without fear, possessed of freedom of thought, is the derivative of, and thus is closely linked to other liberties: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. It is a very important concept in today's world. "Where fear is; happiness is not," said Seneca who was a Roman philosopher, Statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was also tutor and later advisor to Emperor Nero and was, forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity to assassinate Nero, though he may have been innocent. Times hardly change, only reason and the methodology remain.

Mind-killer

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the semi-death that brings total obliteration.

Fear forces people to lose their vision of mankind as one people; a single mass of humanity, related by blood, and blood alone; not separated by caste, creed, and religion.

Where the words of truth come out from the depths of the heart, and are, spoken out courageously in the open for the world to hear; fear suppresses the voices. Fear diminishes the clear light of judgement.

Where blind superstitious habits of thoughts, ought not to put out the light of reason; where people's mind should not dwell upon, nor delve into, the mistakes of the past, nor be, possessed by it; fear fuels, and propels it on. It is impossible to know with certainty what another person is thinking. At best, it is only possible to surmise.

Thus, suppression of thought and conscience is not possible, unless through repression: the exclusion from consciousness of painful, unpleasant, or unacceptable psychic material, as memories, desires, and impulses, which are thus compelled to manifest themselves through the unconscious. This too is not an easy process to follow when a whole mass of people are involved. However, suppression through repression is possible, if enforced selectively; and in addition, if, and where, the mind is with fear.

Throughout history, 'Freedom of Thought' has been the subject of various debates. Although Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates had discussed Freedom of Thought minimally, the edicts of King Asoka, of Kalinga in India, of 3rd century BC, are the first decree respecting Freedom of Conscience. In European tradition, apart from the decree of religious toleration by Constantine I at Milan in 313, the philosophers Themistius, Montaigne, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, Vinet, and John Stuart Mill have, all been considered major proponents of the idea of Freedom of Conscience. Queen Elizabeth I of Britain revoked a thought censorship law in the late sixteenth century, because, according to Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, Statesman, scientist, jurist, and author who served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England: "she did not like to make windows into men's souls and secret thoughts."

Evidence

It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. Free-thought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds opinions should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism and not authority, tradition, or other dogmas.

Thus, freethinkers strive to build their opinions on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any logical fallacies or the intellectually limiting effects of authority, bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other beliefs.

However, freedom of expression can be limited through censorship, arrests, or propaganda, and this tends to discourage freedom of thought.

If the hypothesis that thought is inherently embedded in language is, true; an effort to limit the use of words of language is actually a form of restricting freedom of thought.

This was explored in George Orwell's novel 1984, with the idea of Newspeak, a stripped-down form of the English language lacking the capacity for metaphor and limiting expression of original ideas. The Buddha was the foremost advocate of free thought. He challenged dogmas and urged people not to follow anything due to mere tradition.

In the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha says: "It is proper for you, Kalamas [the people of the village of Kesaputta], to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon, what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration. 'The monk is our teacher.' Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them.

Do not accept anything by mere tradition. Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures. Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your pre-conceived notions. But when you know for yourselves - these things are moral, these things are blameless, these things are praised by the wise, these things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to well-being and happiness - then do you live, acting accordingly." If only one were to follow the Buddha's teaching, and not just blind belief devoid of understanding?

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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