By Fabian Lyngdoh
Society is the natural organization of human beings in their day today living, where the interplay of individual freedom and the collective order is sought to be maintained in a state of equilibrium for the interests and satisfactions of all. Society is a conceptual structure of human interactions for common wellbeing, which becomes manifested in various social institutions. It is the background behind all human interactions: economics, political and cultural. It is for the equilibrium, the balance and continuity of that human unity in social living that all social activities and interactions have their roots and meanings. Human beings have in their nature the ability to transcend instinctive relationships into a complex system of values and norms sufficient enough to satisfy the aspiration of each and strong enough to maintain the integration of all. When this complex system of values and norms acquires momentum of propagation from generation to generation it is called culture.
“Individual Freedom,” is the force that exerts its pressure in society seeking to defend the interests of one against all; and “Collective Order” is the force that exerts its pressure in society seeking to impose the interests of all against one. The source of both these forces is the same, and that is, the interplay of human individualities in collectivity. When these two forces are in equilibrium, “Social Order” is established. So Individual Freedom and the Collective Order are the coordinates of the Social Order. The point at which these forces are in equilibrium considering any particular cultural and historical context is “Justice”. The collective authority guarding this Justice, we may borrow from Thomas Hobbes and call it “LEVIATHAN”. Leviathan in this context is the supreme and ultimate human collective authority in society. It emerged from the general will of individuals. It is the authority which keeps the society together. This collective authority or the Leviathan has an ideal and abstract existence and only becomes manifested in social events. The Government at any particular point of time is only one aspect of the various manifestations of the Leviathan. The Leviathan is greater than the State and government. The Leviathan had transformed the structures of many states, had toppled many a government and had beheaded many kings and dictators. It is the total resultant force or power that emerged gradually with the emergence of the society. It resides not in an institution but in the mind and will of the people in general from which the government as an institution of power derives its legitimacy. The Government of the State is unique to a particular State while the Leviathan is universal. The Leviathan is of the same nature in every society. When governments of two or more States join hands to fight a common enemy, it is the Leviathan which unites them. When the government functions in accordance with the principle of balancing individual freedom and the collective order, the hand of the Leviathan is with it. If it functions contrary to that, the Leviathan would in a gradual manner withdraw its hand and take sides with the movement that seeks to redress the imbalance.
Society evolved, grew, functioned and had been maintained, on the principle of balancing individual freedom and the collective order. Unrestrained individual freedom is anarchy and absolute collective order is tyranny. Human rationality arose as a result of this balancing act between individual freedom which is natural and instinctive, and the collective order which is societal, in ever improving conditions of human existence guaranteeing continuity of protection and security for all. Therefore individual freedom and collective order must coordinate on equal strength to maintain a healthy society. Collective order restricts the acceleration of individual freedom. Human individuality desires unlimited manifestation. If any individual acquires the power to do whatever he likes without any repercussion unto himself, he would not restrain his behaviour, and from his mouth shall flow forth all the values and norms of society together with the law of State, and sanctify his harem as a temple of the gods of Kamasutra and employ pretentious, flattering priests to sanctify his unrestrained lust. This is excellent ancient blue film in hardware on temple walls. In line with modern academic fashion, this remnant of vanity and lust is pretentiously being philosophised as a temple of Divine love, glorifying the wisdom of the past. Human vanity knows no bounds, its limit is the threshold of divinity. Love is an aspect of the collective order and hate is a reaction of the individual freedom. Therefore, love and hate operate together in the human heart according to situations of social interactions and the individual’s personal perception of social situations. Each individual has a private and personal perception of security and danger in his own surrounding. The same situations in the surrounding may affect individuals differently according to their own personal perceptions of the degree of security and danger. Situations that guarantee individual freedom in collective living, arouse feelings of love but situations that threaten or seem to threaten individual freedom arouse hatred and anger as a defence. Collective living is what Morris Ginsberg says, a situation ‘ in which man cannot live at peace, yet without which he cannot live at all’. The balancing act between individual freedom and collective order is demonstrated in Schopenhauer’s famous simile of the freezing porcupines which crowded together to save themselves from being frozen to death, but separated again as soon as they feel one another’s quills, until at length, they discover a mean distance at which they can tolerably exist. The mean distance at which they can tolerably exist is the balance between individual freedom and the collective order. Individual freedom in this context means the urge of every individual to be free without restraint, and collective order is the unconscious agreement by all to collectively regulate the exercise of individual freedom. So, basically, individual freedom and collective order are concerned with the regulated and secured welfare of every individual. The weighing balance is in the hand of the Leviathan. Individual Freedom lies on one side of the balance and collective order on the other side, and justice lies at the fulcrum. Law is an instrument by which the government regulates this balance, with justice as a point of reference. The legitimacy of any law is based on this balance, or in other words how near it is to the point of justice. Any law framed by the political authority shall have to contain the right proportion of the collective order and individual freedom in order to be just. If any society is in disorder and lawlessness it is because the laws are not in line with justice. Justice is not that judgment or action according to law. But a law itself can be unjust if it is not in line with justice. All good laws should proceed forth from that point of equilibrium of justice. However, the perfect balance between these two co-ordinates of social order is only a guiding ideal. It had never been practically achieved in social history. Solon drew up a table of laws to replace the severe code of laws framed by Draco, and said that they were, “not the best he could device, but the best the Athenians could bear”. It is a balance which keeps on swinging.
This idea may not synchronize with the opinion of some intellectuals and academics or may even be contradictory to established political theories or jurisprudence, but this writer is convinced of the fact that society started with a gradual adjustment between individual freedom and the collective order; that justice is the point of equilibrium between the above two most fundamental social forces; and that law, whether customary or statutory is the instrument of the political authority in society to regulate the balance between individual freedom and the collective order, with the point equilibrium as reference. Analyzing any particular law, we would find that it has inherent link to the issue of balancing individual freedom and collective order. Any law that has no inherent link to this issue is no law at all. It may at best be the arbitrary and personal idiosyncratic command of a dictator.