Budding Free-ness in a Catastrophic World

a flowing, self-organizing, adaptive entity

Tian Tan Buddha, photograph by Chris Kench

I wish for each of us to embody our capacity to become universal flourishing itself, where personal well-being and the bringing about well-being in others intertwine. To bring about well-being is to free, with a two-sided intention: escape unnecessary suffering; and open into a more profound relation to lived experience and the quality of being with an other. I wish for each of us to embody the intention toward freedom for all living beings, and through that deepen our attunement to the fundamental bases of the good life: meaning, connection, happiness, resilience, clarity, justice, transcendence. I offer this piece as an orientation for us to hold. How we then choose to move forward is up to us.

The last lines of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities describe the piece’s orientation best. While the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan’s empire crumbles around him, Marco Polo tells the Khan: “Seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.” Let us find the bases of flourishing, and set all free. 

~

In the context of our present world, we commit to freeing ourselves and others to transition into a post-violence, post-suffering, and post-global-catastrophic-risk world.¹ This commitment lies both on the level of the individual and on the community and societal levels. Just as an individual can commit to freeing, a group decides whether it encourages or limits freedom. Any attempt to improve the condition of the world ought to take into account how it rebalances freedom and unfreedom, whether by direct change or second order/system effects. Ultimately, the desire to bring about a more free world for oneself and others lies inherent within us. It is the root of the good life. 

I draw inspiration from two traditions to define ‘freedom’: The first is Buddhism, which transcends a sense of self. The second is Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach, which deepens a sense of self. Buddhism describes freedom as a) recognition of the inherent emptiness of all things, b) nonattachment to a self that latches onto an idea of permanence and separation, and c) the resulting compassion for all interconnected beings. In a feedback loop each piece of freedom reinforces the other. What follows naturally is lived experience transformed into liberation for all, as the sense of self is transcended. Nussbaum and Sen argue that freedom is the end and means of development, as defined as the continuous improvement of society through institutions. Sen writes in Development as Freedom that freedom is “the expansion of the ‘capabilities’ of persons to lead the kind of lives they value—and have reason to value.”² To free is to help oneself and others realize their ability to live in alignment with fundamental values and understand their place in the world, as a sense of self is deepened. With more alignment comes more capability and vice versa. Freedom begets freedom, as the sense of self is simultaneously deepened and transcended. Then we grow our understanding of how the world works with our capacity to enact positive change.³

In a fractured world with a multiplicity of perspectives and ways of life, to free is how we will live well together. How we manage to live together will shape how humanity navigates the increasing threats and possibility of large scale catastrophe. So let us venture to find the conditions and opportunities to bring about freedom at the individual, interpersonal, and societal levels.

Inferno and Non-inferno

We can broadly conceive of Calvino’s inferno as the ‘hell of the living’ that maps onto our freedom/unfreedom typology as unfreedom; non-inferno as freedom. If the non-inferno is that which frees, the inferno is that which restricts, captures, controls, manipulates, and commands. The inferno is the systems of relations between one and herself and others that give rise to suffering and the anti-valued aspects of lived experience. It seeks to solidify arbitrary meaning to reinforce a separated sense of self that is closed off from healthy relation. While the non-inferno inspires hope, clarity, intention, capability, openness, and compassion, the inferno induces confusion, fear, and greed; arrogance, hate, and addiction. The inferno is confusion, fear, etc.; and the non-inferno is hope, clarity, etc. They are both object and action. At times subtle.

We ask, What conditions at the personal, interpersonal, and societal levels give rise to the inferno and non-inferno? How can we encourage the latter? 

The language of inferno and non-inferno also maps onto that around caring/uncaring, love/hate, selflessness/ego. How do we care? How do we love? How do we be selfless? How do we bring about these qualities in ourselves and others?

These are vital questions.

Our intention is to find the seeds—and saplings, and trees—of the non-inferno sprouting within the inferno, and make them endure, give them space to grow. 

I must clarify, ‘giving space’ is not passive. It is an active process of creating the conditions that support the natural emergence of a more beautiful way of being. Freedom in this sense is not about giving one more ability to do anything, but rather strictly about helping one live in true alignment, transcendence, and understanding. It is about giving one space to move about with courage in the non-inferno, not about making us more comfortable in the inferno. 

We give this freedom by enabling the agency inherent within all. This is what Buddhism means when it says that all have Buddha-nature. The seed lies dormant within all. Guidance, empowerment, and space—not force—beget freedom. We all want to live in flourishing. How do we support this process?

If one lives in an enclosed cell, he who frees pulls and pushes at the walls, centimeter by centimeter expanding the volume of the cage.

enclosure of ashen blocks, dripping

rags softly aflame,

I do as I can,

lean against the cold stone,

breathe, 

and with all the strength

seek to lessen your burden -

as I do mine -

for millennia to come.

May we be ever much so free, to 

breathe.

We cannot bring sustainable freedom to an individual through coercion. Someone with body dysmorphia cannot be coerced into sustainable positive health behaviors; a child cannot be coerced into curiosity; individuals living in poverty cannot be coerced into a change of fortune. Instead we learn to give space and empower, to hug he with body dysmorphia and help him prepare any meals he feels are right; to ask the child what she cares about and give her options to pursue that care; to offer those in poverty a safety net (whatever that may look like) and support their projects and plans. We bring sustainable freedom by giving people the courage to step into their own alignment. Again, because the non-inferno exists inherent within the inferno, all that is necessary is to allow for the non-inferno to emerge. 

Self

We begin to set the non-inferno free by finding its seeds within ourselves. We offer ourselves space—compassion, love, care, commitment, courage—so that we may grow our capacity to do so in others. Live from the heart.⁴ Know thyself. Seek and learn to recognize the non-inferno budding within you. It’s there. You know how. Set it free.

Sangha; or, Community

In Buddhism, the path of liberation consists of the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The Buddha is the teacher, or all who inspire to educate—they who seek to free. The Dharma is the teachings of liberation that show one how to realize impermanence, interconnectedness, and the inherent emptiness of all things—the non-inferno itself. And the Sangha is the community who support one another on the path.

Each of the Three Jewels is necessary for liberation. They act as an energetic field to jolt us out of suffering and into liberation. They act as a mirror for us to recognize the non-inferno within us.

Using our freedom-as-space view, the importance of the Sangha is this: on the path to freeing oneself and others, one leaves trails of seeds wherever she goes. She smiles at those who frown, listens to those who need to be heard, finds ways to support others’ life projects, asks kindly “why” to nudge discovery of deeper motivations. In each moment, she embodies the agency-increasing force and radiates it around her like a flower does its scent. Embodying the path to freedom is less a specific set of actions than a mode of being. Words like “energy,” “presence,” or “vibe” help to describe the power she has to inspire those around her.

Importantly, one has to be receptive to that radiance. One may be too overwhelmed within the inferno to notice the existence of the non-inferno. Only when I am receptive to these seeds, this radiance of another who seeks to free, can I begin to cultivate them. In the midst of the inferno one can be lost, misperceiving parts as seeds of freedom when in actuality they are only perpetuating cycles of pain, suffering, and restriction. The role of she-who-seeks-to-free is to find points of receptivity (openness) within herself and others that are true seeds of non-inferno, and seek to expand them from the inside. 

The Sangha is the container that holds a budding non-inferno at the interpersonal level. As the inferno/non-inferno are relational, the Sangha is the container of mutually supportive non-inferno relations: You and I give each other space, so that together we can seek to find and free others. The Sangha is a collective who together hold a welcoming space for others. A Sangha turns the flames of inferno into fertile soil. It sows seeds. The stronger the community, the faster the seeds of freedom will grow.

Society

As distinct from a Sangha in that it is made up of abstracted relationships between people who have never met, a society can also make up the inferno or seek to become non-inferno. The liberating society cultivates in its people awareness of their fundamental values, then it helps them grow their capabilities to live in alignment. As people live in greater alignment with their values, they understand them better. A virtuous cycle ensues.

Nussbaum and Sen argue that freedom is the basic end and most effective means of development. Does one have access to quality education that nourishes one’s sense of place in the world? Quality health care that supports long-term health? To nourishing foods and peaceful places to contemplate? Can one turn his resources into living a life he values? Access to these freedoms gives one greater access to more freedom. The healthy, educated and self-aware woman simply has greater choice-making capacity to start projects she cares about.     

While some may try to define development via simplistic proxy values (e.g. GDP per capita growth, income distribution, economic complexity), proxies are never complete. Proxies simplify our complex value set to harmful ends. Imagine (recall) the numbed and depressed billionaires who have not recognized money’s lack of intrinsic value. Imagine (recall) the ethnic groups deprived of decency. Nuance, care, and holistic understanding are necessary for societies to orient their development toward freedom. If development goals showcase the intentions of a society, then the non-inferno society seeks the capability-enhancing development path.

Using our viewpoint, we can begin to ask a few questions: Does a society encourage distractions that feed desire, like many advertisements? Does it encourage products/services that substitute deeper values like intimacy, attention, and open conversation with agency-reducing desires, as social media does with ‘likes’ and ‘friends’? Does it facilitate ritual that brings one into transcendence, like through prayer, meditation, symbol resonance, or social movement? Does a society in its education system encourage its youth to explore their unique relation to the world, to ask “why” all the way down, or does it sweep that inquiry under the rug, because those who, for instance, critique the accruement of capital are less likely to donate to their universities? Does the political system allow for nuance in options for voting or just a simple ‘yes’ or ’no’ (where one may lack the agency to enact her values politically in a simple voting system)? 

We can also begin to think of examples of what the capability-enhancing society looks like. Imagine if social media algorithms asked whether its content was improving or degrading your well-being, and optimized curation for the former. Imagine if ‘advertisements’ showed the soft rustling of trees or the slow movement of a whale in the ocean, or if billboards displayed information about community events or new civic services. Imagine if methods of introspection were taught to middle schoolers, and continuously advanced through college. Imagine if ‘voting’ consisted of deliberation around what people actually care about (as opposed to what their political party says).⁵ Such examples are seeds of the non-inferno. 

Let us seek to allow these seeds to grow.

The non-inferno society implies the ability to hold pluralism. How one most desires to live will look different from others–different religions, families, opinions, ethnicities, lived experience. What we will all share is, if you will, the meta-value to allow for this multiplicity of ways of being, perspectives, and values to co-exist well. Because people value love, seek the well-being of themselves, their community, and other life, the non-inferno society is possible—as long as the inferno remains.

Concluding remarks

How can we think about bringing about a more free world? How can we relate to ourselves and others more freely? What examples already exist at each scale? What community projects allow for non-inferno? What interventions at the societal/global level are necessary to bring about more freedom? What holds us back? What do we do next? 

To free is a process of which the end is unknown. To free is to let the process determine the end, without holding onto any limiting vision of what that end must look like.

Mountain stream,

rock in river,

roaring dust taken aflight,

the wind guides

like a flower opens

in sunrise

on tips of grass

a sound,

the pillbug    unfolds

We allow for the non-inferno to emerge within the inferno and yet do not know what it will become. We spend our energy, attention, and care to empower. This is the process.

~

A deep feeling resides within many of us—particularly youth—that the world is doomed. Climate change, inequality, nukes, fraying fabric of civic community. We desire change, but don’t know how or what to do. We desire to do something. We must do something. At the same time, we must be careful. We must pay attention to how actions reverberate the balance of inferno and non-inferno. One cannot ‘fight inferno with inferno,’ so to speak, and seek solutions that externalize harm. Instead, we must seek clarity and orient toward that which increases freedom for all. Polo concludes when he tells the Khan that this is “risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension.” This is the path.

If there is one orientation for humankind to hold, particularly in an age of increasing globally catastrophic threats, it is this: Seek and learn to recognize the seeds, in the midst of the inferno, of the non-inferno; then make them endure, give them space… set them free.

_________________

Many thanks to the community of others whose edits, clarity, and insights made this piece what it is: Chris Eddy, Max Henning, Yudi Xia, Mikyö Clark, Elin Ahlstrand, Luca Rade, Alex Renaud, Susannah Poland, Miles Mikofsky, Wendi Yan, Jasmine Wang, Daniel Schmachtenberger, and Zak Stein. All mistakes/etc. are my own.

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If this piece resonated with you, or you have any comments, critiques, questions, ideas - I’d love to hear from you. My intention is to bring dialogue, and then figure out what we can do next :)

Twitter: @cameronnajafi

Email: cameroncnajafi [ a t ] gmail.com

1. The idea of a post-catastrophic-risk world arises from questioning underlying drivers of these risks. While much are technical (e.g. AGI risk), we can view many causes as problems of ontology (how one views oneself), metaphysics (how one views the nature of existence), and relation (how one views oneself and others). For example, climate change and environmental risks stem from a view of the natural world as separate from the human world, thus open to extraction and degradation without heavy consequence.

2. Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, First Anchor Books, 1999, p. 18.

3. Transcending, deepening, and understanding adapted from Zak Stein’s Metapsychology lectures’ Transcendent, Ensoulment, and Development domains.

4. Many spiritual traditions make the distinction between ‘heart’ and ‘mind,’ or ‘intuition’ and ‘reasoning.’ Briefly, the heart arises from sensation in the body, like feelings of “this feels right/wrong” or emotion more generally. Energetically, living from the heart is embodied, meaning attention centers on the throat, chest, and pelvis area and emanates outward. The heart grounds in the present. The mind, in contrast, grounds outside (or, above/beyond) the body, outside of the present. Energetically, it sits in the head area—for example in experiencing a racing mind, thought rumination. While the mind has tendencies to control and the heart to lovingly let be, both are necessary to live in balance. As the saying goes, a heartless mind is evil; but the mindless heart is futile. Our culture is very mind heavy, so I wish for this piece to offer us more heart grounding to rebalance.

5. Deliberative democracy is very interesting in this regard. See the America in One Room project as an example.