Musings Report #12 03-18-12 What is liberation?
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What is Liberation?
Since I am currently rewriting my next book, "Resistance, Revolution, Liberation: A Positive Model for Change," I have spent a lot of time pondering liberation. There are of course many flavors of liberation, but they tend to fall into two basic types: spiritual liberation, that is, liberation from worldly desires and burdens, and political liberation from oppression.
Liberation tends to be defined by negative space, i.e. by what chains are being cut, rather than by the attributes of that liberation. Is liberation only an end-state, a goal that is reached when shackles fall away, or is it something more?
Perhaps liberation is more of a process than a goal: we renew liberation on a daily basis by our actions and thoughts.
Though spiritual liberation is explicitly apolitical, i.e. the regime of the moment is not the concern of the seeker, it seems self-evident that political or financial tyranny does limit the human spirit in the sense that human potential and freedom are both constricted by tyranny.
Since we inhabit corporeal bodies in a corporeal world, there is a material and thus financial aspect to liberation, even of the spiritual sort. If we are enslaved via debt to a financial tyranny, how free are we, even if our civil liberties are intact? How much of our destiny do we control if our political chocies are false ones, i.e. being offered a choice of Bud and Bud Lite?
If liberation is a process rather than a destination, doesn't the process require some planning and sustained effort? Perhaps the state that is closest to material liberation for most people is retirement, i.e. liberation from want and work. The problem with retirement as liberation is that most people are relying on distant concentrations of capital and political power to insure their financial security. Since they have little to no control over the foundation of their liberation, then it is contingent and unstable.
If the global financial system is the ultimate guarantor of financial freedom and security, and that system is destabilizing, then perhaps the financial liberation people are expecting is illusory. Perhaps liberation is less about wealth entrusted to distant concentrations of capital and power and more about what we actually control in assets and choices.
In other words, freedom from direct political oppression is only the first step of liberation. If debt is heavy enough, it becomes another form of tyranny. And if the political system offers up only false chocies, then how free are we?
If liberation is more than just the absence of overt oppression, then resistance to destructive, failed systems is itself a form of liberation.
From Left Field
If you want to read one article that explains why the current global financial system is doomed, this is the one:
"Taking this discussion of derivatives an important step further, the most significant elements of concern in derivatives are the same as they are in all financial schemes: unsustainable leverage and the mispricing of risk."
The ten darkest Disney movies: death, betrayal, loss, struggle, learning, courage, cooperation, confrontation, victory: no wonder Disney films and characters are the "collective unconscious" modern American myths that virtually every American knows.
How I Stopped Drowning in Drink: one man's story of how he did it on his own without meetings or AA. This could be read as a primer on self-knowledge and transformation that can be applied to issues far removed from alcoholism.
How does social media make money? Mostly from ads. Makes you wonder how valuable any company based on adverts can be, as adverts are only a thin slice of the economy.
In the "all is well, the recovery is coming along nicely" file: Deficits Push N.Y. Cities and Counties to Desperation: Local governments in New York are finding themselves in the middle of a financial crisis, with problems spreading as they face a toxic mix of soaring pension and retiree health costs. (via Joel M.)
Thanks for reading--
charles
