In his essay entitled "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem," psychologist Erich Fromme states that "Only if a man has emerged from mother's lap and father's commands, only if he has emerged as a fully developed individual. . . can he have the courage to say 'No" to power or to disobey." What Fromme is attempting to say with this powerful quote is that a person can only achieve true freedom and become a well-rounded individual by severing the maternal/paternal ties that have bound him since childhood which hopefully will result in the ability to refuse to be controlled or manipulated by all higher powers, such as the government, the church and other social entities.
             Generally speaking, Fromme is trying to point out that "this surrender of freedom," i.e. being controlled by authoritarian figures, "may be psychologically explicable, but it is not defensible according to standards of mental health. . . (A) man gives up his self in exchange for an authoritarian social self (i.e. a person wears a mask which conceals the true self while displaying the socially-acceptable self). . . (yet) he must derive power from himself (and) only when he obtains that power will he be complete. . . and live in freedom and be in full control of himself" (Erich Fromme," Internet). Thus, Fromme has pinpointed the actual cause of much social unrest and chaos, namely, that human beings have been conditioned from birth to accept and abide by without question the laws and tenets of those in power which effectively oppresses and destroys individualism and the ability to say "No" to power and to disobey the laws which to a great extent, are unjust and unfair. This is very similar to what Henry David Thoreau was attempting to say with his civil disobedience stance, for a person can only achieve the freedom of the self by rejecting social authority, thus finding the courage to ...