Deeper Critique of Liberalism: D.C. Schindler's "Freedom From Reality: The Dialectical Character of Modern Liberty"

In this magisterial work of metaphysics, D.C. Schindler shows the "liberal" understanding of freedom (as diabolic, in the etymological sense of "to tear apart") to be the opposite of the classical and Christian as symbolic, (etymologically "to join together."). By "symbolic" he means a cosmos in which every being is, internally, related to every other, in an intelligible order, even as each enjoys its own inner integrity or form or soul. Additionally, every existent participates in a "greater Good" even as it embodies it, uniquely, and points beyond itself to its source, the Good. The "Greater Good" or God is a source of boundless generosity and "liberality" because it is "actual" which is to say that it has being, reality, completeness. According to this tradition, Being (all that is, insofar as it is) is always True, Good, Beautiful and One. Even better, the Source of all being is so generous and "liberal" that allowance is made for fruitfulness and purposefulness to be shared...and thus, our freedom is reception, reciprocity, engagement and donation to the Good.  Etymologically, our words "freedom" and "liberty" are rooted in connections with procreation and love and ecstasy and so freedom is the spontaneous, non-necessary acceptance of, participation in, and contribution to the Good. It is an inner principle of agency that moves towards a goal or telos even as it has an interior integrity and a disposition of rest; even as it relates, intrinsically not accidentally, to others and to the whole and to God. Liberty, as construed by Liberalism, on the other hand is the exact opposite of this: it is "diabolical" in that it intends to disconnect the individual from all bonds...tradition, the past, authority, and community. Such liberty is defined as freedom from constrain and therefore as release from the "other" as oppressive...be that other people, religion, or whatever. And so the Self becomes a disconnected, isolated center of agency understood as agency outward, extrinsically, without any prior internal relatedness. Freedom is the ability to entertain and choose from limitless options, without being in any way already oriented or determined by a prior connection or a greater Good. Freedom is not understood positively as integral participation in the Good and True, but negatively as removal of all restrain, relation and determination. In detail, Schindler shows how this core concept of freedom as isolation has penetrated all arenas of life and all the institutions of modernity. But really, it is far from a gloomy picture. He does not call for a retreat into the desert. He heralds VERY GOOD NEWS! If the diabolical view of liberty, however prevalent, is wrong, then the symbolic is right. And this is MARVELOUS! It means that Being, in all its splendor, is already and always and everywhere, True and Beautiful and Good and as such is irrepressibly, boundlessly and invincibly generous, magnanimous, delightful, fascinating, and intelligent. And so, true philo-sopher (lover of wisdom) that he is, he issues no call to action, no program of renewal or revolution, no exhortation to moralism or activism. Our path is clear,  pleasing and hopeful: to receive All-That-Is-Given, gratefully, soberly, peacefully, hopefully; to engage in and exult in it, ecstatically; and then participate in it fearlessly, recklessly; fiercely, magnanimously! The dynamics of isolation and impoverishment operative in the Liberal mindset cannot prevail because they are not True or Beautiful or Good. And so, even if the prospects are grim in the superficial and short-sighted view, they are boundlessly fecund in the deeper, longer view. In a telling phrase, he suggests that our founding institutions (global market, expanded state, rule of law, freedoms of speech/religion, etc.) as "possessed" need not be executed, but must be exorcised. This means that peacefully we can receive them with their flaws and strengths, and patiently re-orient them to the Good; revive within them their integrity or form; and reconnect them with each other, ourselves, Creation and God.  (to be completed.)