While Fromm speaks of love as the basis for a blending of rights and responsibilities and, consequently, as a basis for a new freedom—a classic humanistic perspective—other writers introduce a more transcendent and spiritual element. They speak of the “grace” that is required of true freedom (May, 1988, p. 139). Grace, in turn, comes from a divine presence or from a shared commitment to community and to some all-embracing and sustaining sense of collective purpose coupled with a recognition of the divine worth of the distinctive, individual person (“personal grace”). There is a need for consecration and covenant in such a community. There must be a sense of trust and, ultimately, faith in one’s ability to collaborate with others to create a sustainable and worthy future that nourishes both the individual and the collective soul. We can sustain this future, in part, because we need no longer act alone but can rely instead on the support of other people in the community. We need this support not only because we can’t do it alone but also because there will never be completion but only progress, and there will never be contentment but only a continuing challenge. Freedom is painful and in need of continuing community support (May, 1988).
Individualism and Habits of the Societal Heart
At the heart of the dialogue that Fromm introduced is a basic question about the relationship between freedom and responsibility. This is a relationship that is often strained in a society that emphasizes individualism—such as that found in the United States. In reflecting on the American culture in Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and his colleagues (1985) speak of the personal emptiness that lies at the end of the successful quest for total autonomy. Carol Gilligan (1982) similarly describes the inadequacies of individual rights when they are not integrated with collective responsibility. What are the parallels between the individual developmental process toward maturation, which includes a concern for both rights and responsibilities, and the social developmental process toward a free and just society?
In studying the development of a personal sense of morality, Gilligan (1982) proposes that American society has tended to emphasize individual rights at the expense of collective responsibilities for the past two centuries. In part. This is because American society has been dominated by an emphasis on distinctiveness and separation in contrast to an emphasis on connectedness and similarities between people. This emphasis, in turn, has been reinforced by the American economic and political systems.
