Third Reflection

unrestrained rule of general will is itself a major cause of totalitarianism and destruction of human freedom. One may say that unconsciously Rousseau was ahead of Marx. According to Marx, realization of freedom requires abolishing private property and rejection of all forms of economic inequality. He believes that such communism brings about the “withering” of state. For Marx, there can be no communist state because communism necessarily eliminates state. Perhaps, Rousseau understands that communism and forced equalization of economic outcomes can only happen under an interventionist state that would regulate all detailed aspects of human life. Otherwise, in the absence of such control all kinds of inequality would emerge. Rousseau’s general will represents a totalitarian state in which society has the right to regulate all aspects of individual’s life. But that is precisely the ultimate unfreedom and bondage. But Rousseau’s words are important because he asks a most important question. Baha’u’llah’s word in The Hidden Words also make a contrast between the way God created man, and the way man has debased himself. His solution, however, affirms the imperative of overcoming human self-alienation from his or her spiritual truth. But such spiritual consciousness must become the occasion for a reconstruction of the world in accordance with this inherent dignity and nobility of all human beings. Human Being in Pre-Modern, Modern, and Postmodern Worldviews We can distinguish between the pre-modern and modern views on human dignity. Both groups have supported the thesis of human nobility. The traditional, Eastern, and pre-modern view believes that humans are noble and sacred because of their belief in God and religion. Humans are defined as the image of God and therefore as sacred and noble. This view is present in various religions. In the view of Iranian prophet Zartosht (Zarathustra), humans are the highest and last creation of God Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. The same idea is found in Judaism where humans are the image of God. Christianity and Islam have said the same thing. In Hindu scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, the ultimate spiritual truth is the identity of human soul, atman, with God. In Buddhism the highest mystical knowledge is discovery of the Buddha nature in all being particularly the human soul. Despite these lofty praise of humans, the traditional praise of humans was not extended to concrete and living human beings. On the contrary humans were treated in the most abased manner. Caste system, burning of widowed women, ritual impurity of unbelievers, hostility against women, use of violence and jihad against unbelievers, support of slavery, political despotism, and spiritual despotism namely obedience to clerics are examples of this treatment. As a reaction to this actual degradation of human beings in traditional logic, modernity tried to defend human nobility. But this time the basis of human nobility is rejection of religion and God. The background is of course the Christian misunderstanding of the Bible which assumed that through the original sin, all humans by blood are wicked and evil. Thus the philosophers of the 18 th century Enlightenment thought that by rejecting religion and God they can bring dignity to humans. They were successful in extending human dignity at the level of some social institutions for example they defended political democracy. But their rejection of spiritual truth of human beings led them to increasingly degrade humans to the level of animals and objects. First as opposed to Pascal’s word who said men are born tyrants and thus they pursue their self- interest, Voltaire said that the cause of human civilization, prosperity and harmony is the fact that humans are selfish and follow their interests, the same thing that was mentioned by Adam Smith. Thus this philosophy turned what was perceived to be wicked and made it moral and noble. Other philosophers went further and said that God is a mirror image of despotic kings, and therefore,