Pa - Term Paper Final2

8/2/2019 Pa - Term Paper Final2

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Authors point of view regarding freedom and love

The authors view is that freedom and commitment of love are not in opposition but are

complementary. He quotes Msgr. Josemaria There is a necessary interconnection between

freedom, commitment and love. Any opposition felt between freedom and commitment is a sure

sign that love is weak for freedom resides in love. For that very reason I cannot conceive freedom

without commitment or commitment without freedom: one reality underlies and affirms the other.

The author refutes popular belief that freedom and law are opposed to each other since it is

assumes that law binds and freedom leaves one free, he however correct this misconception by

informing us that freedom binds, if it does not, it is good for nothing and there is no point in having

it.

The author brings out the concept of love and freedom when he speaks about binding ourselves to

God. He says to choose God and to stick to stick to one choice is the best use of our freedom. To

bind oneself to God is the possible use of our freedom. To bind oneself to God is the freest of acts

and the one that most sets man free.

He further informs us that choice is not just about choosing anything but about choosing good

things. Where we choose evil/ bad things, we voluntarily choose slavery and where we are in a

position to only choose bad things, we are in complete slavery as well. To reinforce this concept he

introduces St Augustines dictum: love and do what you like the love he speaks of here is the

love of God. He says that the person who tries to make the love of God the motive of all his

actions want what God wants, and likes what God wants. Since it is always possible to do what

God wants, he can always do what God wants and be the freest of all men.

On the human level the author tell us that we can only obtain true happiness when we fully bind

ourselves to that which we love. He illustrates this using marriage where he says that only when

we choose to commit to and indissoluble marriage can we truly find happiness.

How convincing is the author

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The author shows us that freedom and commitment and love go hand in hand. In the passages, of

the specified articles we are informed that for man to be able to love he must be free but if he does

not love he can never be free. This shows us that freedom and love go hand in hand.

The author further explains that to love is not just for anything but to love something worth lovingand when we love something worth loving and when we love something worth loving we are

then truly free, this is because we will commit ourselves freely and in so doing we will become

free. To choose God is the best use of our freedom.

The author has illustrated the concept of love using marriage. From the passage he says that to be

afraid to bind oneself is to love is to be afraid of love. He goes further to show us that fear of

commitment in marriage (that is binding ourselves indissolubly in marriage to another person) will

result in denying ourselves happiness. This shows us that in orders\r to commit ourselves we must

first be free and as a result we must choose to bind ourselves and this will result in happiness as in

the case of true marriage.

Where we choose to bind ourselves to evil or lower things, we voluntarily choose slaver and

consequently unhappiness, this is because when lower passions rule our life, we are unable to

reach our ultimate goal in life and thus we lose our freedom.

Lastly, the author quotes Msgr. Josemaria where he says that love that is opposed to freedom is

weak this is because freedom and commitment are realities that underlie each other that is onecannot exist without the other

Arguments of the author with regards to the topic freedom and love

In ordinary usage, the word argument is often used to refer to a heated dispute between two or

more parties.

Argument has a different meaning philosophically, it is a set of propositions, one of which is the

CONCLUSION and the others are the PREMISES of the argument. Conclusion is the main point

the author is trying to make. Any thesis on a topic can be a conclusion. Thesis is theme topic of an

argument. Premises are reasons given by the author in support of conclusion.

To present an argument is to provide a set of premises as reasons for accepting the conclusion.

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Argument is a form of talking or writing whose purpose is to convince another of the truth of some

statement.

Cormac. B, argues that to choose marriage is to choose a good thing, a great thing, if it is a true

marriage that is chosen. But to choose a true marriage is to bind oneself indissolubly for life to oneperson. To choose a dissolvable marriage is not to choose marriage at all. To be afraid to bind

oneself to love, is to be afraid of love, to be afraid one has not found true love, or that one is not

capable of true love.

The freedom of each one of us is indeed meant to be conditioned or restrained by the freedom of

others. A true freedom-lover sees this, and is voluntarily prepared to restrict him out of regard for

others; that is to freely limit his own freedom where this is necessary so as to enable others freely

and legitimately to exercise theirs. The person, who loves his own freedom but not that of others, is

not a true lover of freedom; he does not truly love freedom as such.

Freedom and rights and obligations are inter-connected. A truly free man is not only free to

exercise his rights. He is also free to fulfil his obligations. And he fulfils them. Freedom and

responsibility, freedom and duty, freedom and fulfilment, are inseparable.

The author argues that one obeys with the fullest sense of freedom if one chooses freely and

personally to obey, if one obeys willingly, above all if one obeys out of love. Love is the big

motive we need to put behind our obedience. Love is what makes our obedience fully free. For theperson who wants to follow Christ, the law is never a burden. It becomes a burden only insofar as

one fails to discern the call of Christ in the law, or is not keen to follow the call of Christ.

Therefore, if the law some time seems burdensome, it may not be the law as much as our keenness

to follow Christ that needs amending. If you love Me, you will keep my commandments (Jn

14:15). There is nothing wiser than love. Obedience is the free choice of love.

The road to freedom is an uphill road, and the difficult steps by which a man follows it are truth,

justice, service, humility, chastity, love. The more a man fights his way uphill along this road, thefreer he becomes. And the freer he becomes, the more he possesses himself, the more he exercises

full possession and control over all his faculties. His is the freedom of having ones lower faculties

or instincts properly and dynamically subordinated to ones higher facultieslust to love, anger to

justice, for instanceand of having ones higher faculties joyously related to higher values: love to

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Some of our free choices develop us more; some develop us less, while others hinder our

development. Certain restrictions are a safeguard of freedom; if one doesnt observe them, one can

lose his freedom.

According to Hannah she has learnt that freedom is the enablement of the human person to make achoice, a choice of the good, the power to become fully oneself, to realize ones potential as a

human being and lies squarely in the will. Love on the other hand is a feeling of strong attachment

induced by that which delights or commands admiration; paramount kindness or devotion to

another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters.

T potency to love is in all human persons but until one fully internalizes the concept of freedom,

the two will always in conflict and opposing stands. To be free demonstrates maturity and as such

a full realization of this capacity.

After reading this article, she agrees with the author that love is purely not on conditions but it is a

free act thus a good thing to do. It is not an act of convenience and temporal occurrence but endless

in itself if true and genuine in its totality and done freely. Feelings are varied since she can feel

differently today as to yesterday and therefore love cannot be pegged on feelings. Love is a power

superior to feelings and should be taken as so.

According to Christine, Salvation was not an easy task: it took a lot of commitment and

willpower: enough willpower to say no to the easy choice of giving in to temptation and instead tostrive for virtue. With time, this choice became easier not because the temptations decreased but

because she no longer choose good over evil as a curtailment of her freedom that is , she did not

choose to obey Gods commands out of fear of going to hell but out of love for Him. Her choices

became an act of love not as a result of fear. By wanting what God wanted of her, she found

greater happiness than she would have had if she chose evil and thus become enslaved to sin.

According to Anthony, from his experience he has realised that freedom is not only being able to

control his actions because he relied on his guardians who guided him to achieve his objectives, herealised that there are many types of freedom. Love is not just girl boy relationship but there are

other forms of relationship such as Parent- children relationship, teacher student relationship

among others.

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Through freedom and love he was able to form social groups that helped him develop confidence

that has led him to control of his actions and decision making. Through freedom that is control of

action he has been able to choose his career and future objectives. It is also through love and

freedom that he is able to impact others life and helps them realise their dreams.

According to Victor, after reading the articles he has a better understanding of freedom .On the

article on crisis of freedom it states that we forget that freedom is a matter of being free from

internal restraints and self imposed restrictions which hinder our development as true

personalities.

He finds that statement very relevant to his experience because as a child he was very selfish but as

he became older he realized that freedom was more on exercising an internal power as stated from

the article internal power includes self dominion- that is self control, self-possession and self-

realization in any close relationship.

According to Beatrice she learnt that freedom is not doing what one wants with no restraints. She

agrees with the author that to the contrary, freedom has limitations. Freedom enables one to attain

a given goal that he has chosen with the intellect and will. She learnt from experience that to

achieve these goals, one has to choose to do good and not evil. Choosing good means that there are

things one has to forgo and just as the author puts it, freedom is a function of nature and mans

nature is consistently subject to many limitations. The author says that freedom is not the power to

do what one wants but is the freedom to do well. In regards to love, she learnt that for love to be

successful then the element of freedom has to be there as it entails one giving oneself freely to

another. One has to freely grasp the fullness and perfection of another and it is by trying to achieve

the fullness and perfection of another that one achieves his own fullness and self-realisation. This

can only be achieved when one gives oneself freely. This is consistent with what the author says,

he says that a true freedom lover is voluntarily prepared to restrict himself out in regard for others.

He further says that the freedom of each one of us is indeed meant to be restrained by the freedom

of others.

Conclusion: The general view by the group members is that the authors claim is consistency with

their own experience on the topic freedom and love.

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Positive issues brought out regarding freedom and love

According to Cormac. B., there are several positive issues regarding freedom and love that are

brought out on the specified articles of study for this paper. These issues are:

Freedom and happiness: One of the positive issues emerging from the topic is that if man is not

free, he cannot love, and if he does not love he cannot be ever be free. Freedom is really meant for

love and freedom without love makes little sense and it is practically worthless. According to the

various experiences by the group members they were able to have freedom once they appreciated

love and had a deeper understanding of it.

Freedom and choice: Another issue is that Choice that is made without love is, at best, a poor

exercise of freedom-so poor and exercises that, at worst; it can be a step towards a total loss of

freedom. As stated by one of our members he felt that being denied freedom was an act of hatred.

So he lost both love he had for others and the freedom to do things independently. It was only

when he learnt how to love that is when he become free.

Choice must be exercised do as to expertise freedom or else we will experience paralysis. This is

evident when the author says And those who are afraid to choose, or exercise tentative choices

quickly revoke them, contradict and annul their own freedom

Freedom and respect: The author brings out the fact that freedom lacking in ideals or values is

worthless, this is because we must respect that which we love and we must love that which we

respect so that we may as a result achieve happiness,

Internal freedom and love: From the articles given we see that man has within himself tendencies

which must be rightly ordered in order for him to be fully free. He needs to control tendencies such

as lust, anger and vanity by subjecting them to the government of the mind and will. When such

passions are under the control of higher values such as love and Justice, he is able to acquire

freedom and hence love purely and truly.

Love and God: The author shows us that to bind ourselves to God is the freest act and one that

sets man free. This is because God has laws have our best interest at heart, so when we chose to

love God and thus do what he wants, we will in essence love what God loves and in doing thus; we

become the freest of men. The author has discussed mans relation with God as liberating love

which is love for God. Liberating is a great positive issue because love for God is one of the issues

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that set man free. Liberating love ends up in mans union with God, hence making it possible to

take care of his own salvation.

The beauty of marriage: Despite popular belief, the author shows us that marriage is a good thing

and when we choose to bind ourselves indissolubly to one person for we will experience truehappiness. He goes further to tell us that the essential need of love is to commit itself to the loved

one. To choose a dissolvable marriage is not to choose marriage at all, this fear of binding oneself

to love has lead to several divorce cases in the world today and this is a very immoral situation to

the society.

These are some of positive issues that are brought out on freedom and love by the author.

Issues have been left out by the author

During the group discussion and after reading the articles specified for the paper we realized that

there were various issues left out by the author, while others are not demonstrated in a manner that

allows us to better understand the relationship between freedom and commitment to love.

The author argues that people should love freely by committing himself to the loved one

freely so as to be really free. He however, fails to demonstrate clearly whether polygamous

marriage relationships which are highly increasing in the society today are as result of free

commitment to love.

The author is more concerned about the Christian love. From our personal experiences, we

agree with his argument that only in the possession and enjoyment of God can man be truly

himself and truly free.

He also argues that those who do not believe in God can seek perfect freedom, but they will not

find it. He does provide us with the extent other religions like Muslim and Hindu that do not

believe in good possess themselves freely. He should elaborate further on how such persons do

not find true happiness.

The author does not speak clearly on the issue of love and freedom with regard to parent child

relationship and well as friendship.

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As a group we saw that the author spoke of happiness in a marriage that two people enter into

consensually. He does not explore the scenario of arranged marriages where either or all of the

parties do not consent to the union. He should shed light on whether there is a chance that such a

union can result in happiness for the parties involved.

General lesson learnt by the group members

This term paper has been of great benefit to the entire group members, by reading the articles

specified and holding various discussions we have managed to realize whole the broad

interconnection between the two topics freedom and love, which almost all the members had a first

impression that the two topics are not at all related. We appreciate having the opportunity to do

thorough research on freedom and love and we feel more enlightened.

The entire positive issues regarding freedom and love have helped us improve our personal

character and we have a feeling that this an opportunity for us to lead a more dignified life.

We have learnt a lot on liberating love which is Gods love and on how we can take advantage of

the same to obtain our salvation and in choosing to love god, that is wanting what god wasnts ofus, we will experience freedom.

We have also realized that human freedom demonstrates maturity and as such full realization of

our capacity as human beings. Freedom and love are two major topics that will enable us develop

our true natural personalities, in companion with all the other many types of freedom, we

discovered to be in existence.

We have also discovered that love has every title to be regarded as the maximum expression and

essence of freedom, because love is an essential property of freedom. This love must be towards

good things so that we will experience freedom and not slavery.

We have also grown to appreciate the beauty of marriage. This is because we have seen when we

voluntarily enter into an indissoluble marriage, we will find true happiness.

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Pa - Term Paper Final2