154 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
portion of an action, whether it is performed under the
compulsion of nature or according to the requirement of
an ethical norm, is felt to beunfree.
Humans are free to the extent that they are able to obey
themselves at each instant of their lives. An ethical deed
is onlymy deed if it can be called a free deed in this sense.
We have examined under which conditions a willed act is
felt to be free. What follows will show how this purely
ethically understood idea of freedom realizes itself in hu-
man nature.
To act out of freedom does not exclude moral laws, but
rather includes them. Still, it stands on a higher level than
action dictated by moral laws alone. Why should my ac-
tion serve the welfare of the whole any less if I have acted
out of love than if I actedonly because I feel a duty to
serve the welfare of the whole? The simple concept of
duty excludes freedom, because duty does not recognize
individuality but demands instead subjection of individu-
ality to a general norm. Freedom of action is thinkable
only from the standpoint of ethical individualism.
But how is it possible for humans to live together so-
cially if everyone is striving merely to express his or her
own individuality? This objection is characteristic of mis-
guided moralism, which imagines that a society of human
beings is only possible if they are all united by a common-
ly determined ethical order. Such moralism fails to under-
stand the unity of the world of ideas. It cannot conceive
that the world of ideas that is active in me is none other
than the one that is at work in my neighbor. To be sure,
this unity is merely a result of experience in the world.
[34]
[35]
[36]
