We have to realize that we are as deeply afraid to live and to love as we are to die.
R. D. LaingRead
There are good reasons for being obedient, but being unable to be disobedient is not one of the best reasons.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Obedience can be justified, but blind compliance without the ability to question is not a virtue.
This quote by R. D. Laing emphasizes the importance of having the capacity to question authority and make independent choices. While there may be valid reasons to follow rules and directives, the inability to be disobedient suggests a lack of critical thinking and autonomy, which can lead to blindly following unjust or irrational orders.
Themes
ObedienceDisobedienceFreedomAutonomyCritical Thinking
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about authority in society.
More from R. D. Laing
All quotes βMadness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.
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The experience and behavior that gets labeled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.
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The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
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Here we have the paradox, the potentially tragic paradox, that our relatedness to others is an essential aspect of our being, as is our separateness, but any particular person is not a necessary part of our being.
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