ON COMPLEXITY

In spiritual abolitionism, samsara is the perpetual carceral state in which delusion feeds the trauma that drives the experience of captivity. Captivity is thus rendered and lives as “normal” or “how things are.” Trauma is the cycle of choosing the delusion and confusing it for freedom. Or in other words, the carceral state is one reaction after another based on the belief that there is no choice to make.

Complexity experienced as contradiction is an expression of the carceral state We spend a lot of time struggling to understand what’s happening and how it’s impacting us and others. We believe that to know is to be free. However, freedom is more than knowledge. It is also understanding complexity and learning how to respond to it in a way that helps us get free. We won’t figure out everything because not everything will make sense. Part of navigating the state is learning how to hold space for contradictions without being distracted by them while directing our work toward getting clear about our own experiences and who we are.

Lama Rod Owens, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors