Freedom?
Most men who seek freedom end up becoming hopelessly enslaved. They seek self actualization and a sense of personal freedom, but they often cannot achieve this on their own. So they are drawn toward an individual for his apparent self actualization, and independence of thought. They do this with the hopes of becoming like him, but end up being blind followers.
All too often we find this contradictory phenomenon of men seeking enlightenment and freedom and ending up with ignorance and imprisonment through mindless obedience - the very opposite of what they were striving for.
When men give their blind loyalty and obedience to other men willingly, they often do so because their leaders tend to seem larger than life. They project powerfulness that others are drawn to. And it is because men worship and fear power that they give their loyalty to those who dispense it.
But this explanation only touches the surface. Men don’t become willing slaves out of calculating self interest. Their slavery is rooted within their soul.
The traits of the leader, however, are often of secondary importance compared to the actual experiences of the followers. Their motivations are more or less universal one broken down to the most fundamental level. The dilemma is that men are mortal animals conscious of their own mortality. Any animal facing annihilation will attempt to escape it. But it is less the death of our physical being that we fear; it is the death of our symbolic self. We feel the annihilation of the unique identity we crafted for ourselves.
We fight and struggle and suffer and sacrifice to construct ourselves as a unique creature; dignified, noble, and transcending the human condition. And within this there is no scenario that does not end in decrepitude and death.
Therein lies a theoretical solution. We cannot overcome death literally; we attempt to do so symbolically. The appearance and attraction of an unconflicted person promises the conquest and transcendence of symbolic death. we are seduced by him because he does not appear to suffer the same conflicts that other men do. Such a man possessed levels of knowledge, confidence, and the daring to do what no one else dares to do that other men lack.
It goes beyond this because the unconflicted man allows others to express secret desires and forbidden impulses. And with this central personality to latch onto, other men do not feel that they are alone with their smallness and helplessness. they believe they have the powers of the hero / leader with whom they are identified.
This is how the charismatic leader turns his followers fundamental source of misery into a pathway toward salvation. The inevitable result of this is a rejection of self identity.
It doesn’t end with this. It’s not that the leader permits or orders it: it’s more of a magical heroic transformation of the world and of oneself. This is why men are so willing to submit themselves to a leader, and becoming capable of doing what any rational mind would condemn. This transformation does not merely provide a philosophy or a justification for action. It provides a story, almost a mythology that gives the world - and the annihilated self - a fundamental purpose, and meaning to death.
This transformation also inevitably simplifies a subtle and complex world into one of “insiders and outsiders.” There are only heroes and villains; imagined destinies and unquestioned entitlement. The helplessness, conflicts, and guilt of the followers are transformed into a narrow and artificial construct of meaning and identity. All of this is facilitated by the “leader” who absolves his followers from any personal responsibility. And in exchange for this he absorbs their individuality and personal freedom.
But the leader also loses his individuality. His freedom is annihilated because he has to continually qualify for leader ship by acting in accordance to the group’s assumptions and expectations - which inevitably escalate beyond what he ever intended. inevitably the leader and his followers end up where they began; struggling to free themselves from a set of principles that once promised symbolic victory over death, but have proven meaningless and ruinous.
Being inspired by other men is not a problem. It can produce very useful results. But it can also expose other underlying issues. In our time as in ages past and yet to come, Young men yearn for leaders who offer safe haven from their troubles, and where they feel like they belong. It’s an essential search for father figures in the sense of a source for purpose and meaning. It is an instant immortality formula.
But these models are in permanent and cannot truly fill the void that lingers under the surface. This is because leaders offer stories and stories demand illusions. Sooner or later, all illusions fall apart, because the men who convey and act upon these illusion-based stories inevitably corrupt them when they act out of their own self interest.
We are puzzled when each person we admire has a different version of life should be. We find ourselves following one person’s ideas, then another, depending on who makes the biggest impression upon us at any given time. However, as time goes on, we get a perspective in all these different versions of truth become more and more pathetic. At the moment when we think we have the formula for conquering the limitations of our lives, A new epiphany emerges that proves us wrong. Some people run from this idea and will not admit there are errors. Others abandon what they once embraced, but are left with emptiness and bitterness.
It is vitally important to be aware of these dynamics in order to judge whose ideas we follow, who we give our allegiance to, and to determine if they truly aim to empower others. Or merely serve to empower themselves.
If you find yourself fascinated with someone’s worldview or ideology, ask yourself what you actually see as truth and as lie. Ask yourself who you are and who you really want to be. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself when examining what actually draws you toward a leader.
The main lesson is that the world is always bigger than what anyone man imagines it to be, or says that it is. Reflect, be critical, seek multiple perspectives and bodies of knowledge, and safeguard your freedom, your moral compass, and your individuality. No man can ever be great enough for you to sacrifice these things to.