The Liberation Issue

The waiting itself is suffocating, unbearable. If
the answer is undesirable, it would be a rather
gruesome sight to behold. A person holding
their bleeding heart, when the other gives a cold
shoulder.

What can we do, in the face of the other? A step
forward risks encroachment, a step back makes
you remain in isolation, to submit risks rejection.
The capriciousness of the other seems malicious,
presenting no further ground for us to take,
freezing our feet in place.

This reminds me of Dazai’s No Longer Human.
Yozo, the main character, is extremely afraid of
the others. Being born to an aristocratic family,
he was expected to inherit his father’s career. As
a sensitive, artistic, timid person that he was, he
learnt to act. To appease those around. To put
on shows one after another, being a clown. It
was those women who caught him when he was
the most frail. He ended up studying arts in the
middle of nowhere, drawing suggestive paintings
for a living, whoring and becoming a shame to
his family. However shameful, that was the most
authentic period of time of his life.

Life is not that dramatic, most of us do not have
that big of a self-destructive tendency. However,
I think the nonchalant attitude might be of value.
To put one’s fright, in the face of the other, in
suspense. To take a leap of faith, fall into the
unknown.

Sure, the fall is long. Indeed, there might be no
bottom to the fall. It is no longer our issue. Fall,
in faith.

‘’To have faith is precisely to lose one’s mind so
as to win god.’’ ― Søren Kierkegaard, 1849

Coles our eyes, handover our body to the wind.
Drop, like rain. Drape, like the weightless silk
one put on an infant. Drail, for a second, from
ourselves. Be empty, as a vassal, allow others to
fill. Lose our intentions as intended, allow them to
become foreign.

As long as we live authentically, perhaps it is
not too bad to no longer be human. If intentions
weren't conceived in the way that we wished,
perhaps it is the way the other intended. Allow it.
There can be no pain to a ball of cotton when one
flicks it. As distasteful as it might be, there can
always be some space for imperfection. Poignant,
a sense of wabi-sabi.

49



Nip It, Instagram!

by Tabby Boyton

There have been numerous calls for Instagram, This being said, Instagram has released a
the American photo-sharing social media statement explaining that they are “deeply
network, to “#FreeTheNipple”. This issue has, invested” in their commitment to facilitate the
however, sparked controversy due to the general creation of a platform where individuals can
understanding that people of all ages use the “express themselves”, aware of the “different
platform. Often, those who oppose the presentation ages, backgrounds and beliefs” of their users,
of female nipples on platforms such as Instagram with policies designed to maintain a “comfortable
claim that content with sexual connotations such experience for our global and culturally diverse
as pornography should be reserved for sites with community”. However, in placing this emphasis
an exclusively adult audience. on maintaining the ‘comfort’ of its viewers, rather
than committing to policies which may aid in
Perhaps we should be asking the question: the dismantling of patriarchal influence which
If the female nipple is deemed taboo and too promotes the censorship of female bodies, they
inappropriate for Instagram’s audience, then become complicit in perpetuating established
surely we should have banned the nip across the patriarchal values.
board. It’s the blatant double standards that shock
me. I cannot begin to tell you how many times Over the years, creators of several accounts,
I have seen posts of beer-bellied-James-Bond- including @genderless_nipples, have sought to
wannabes running on the beach with their tops challenge both Instagram’s algorithm and strict
off (exposing their somewhat hairy nipples). In community guidelines. You do, however, have to
many cases, it is these very individuals who “slut- give Instagram some acknowledgement for being
shame” the women in their lives. This includes but honest and forthcoming about the inconsistent
is not limited to condemning, or even stigmatising application of their policies, which they
women for expressing their sexuality. themselves profess; “don’t always get it right”.

“What Instagram is doing by playing it safe, [they Irrespective of whether or not you identify as a
are] being complicit to a society that says that we feminist, this brand of censorship has the potential
should be ashamed of the fact that we are born to affect everyone. One thing is clear - unlike the
into a body that we did not choose, that we should divide between female and male nipples, the
be ashamed of our flesh.” - Rain Dove censorship policy has not gone rogue; it is, in fact,
a reflection of the wider society that birthed it.

Liberation as Self-Release

by Dylan Ngan

Liberation is often associated with freedom The possibility and path to the cessation of
from being bound, whether in the physical suffering, therefore, is to release ourselves
(bound by chains), psychological (writer’s block) from clinging and craving: To see the truth that
or political (oppression) sense. In Buddhism, we have misidentified our ‘selves’ with that
however, to be liberated – that is, to achieve which is unstable, impermanent, and ultimately
nirvana – is a metaphysical state in which one is a misplacement of our expectations. In short,
no longer bound by the wheel of life and death liberation or nirvana is self-release, a literal
with its pleasures and pains. To be released is to release from our misidentified “self”. What
be free from suffering. binds us, and is ultimately free if not for our own
self-administered chains, is to be found in truly
Buddhism paints the following picture. One, identifying that which we are, from discounting
life is suffering. Two, the origin of suffering lies that which we are not. And to be mindful of what
in craving and clinging. Three, the cessation we can control, and accept that which we cannot.
of suffering is possible. Four, the path towards
suffering is the noble eightfold path. This is, of course, not attainable by claiming to
intellectually grasp this notion. Our clinging and
By suffering, the Buddha outlines eight general craving are ingrained in our being, habits, and
causes. There is the suffering of birth, in which we practices. The noble eightfold path is therefore an
come into the world with a sensory and stimulating instruction manual to which we may first eradicate
assault. In ageing, we come to lose our vitality as desire (craving), hatred (clinging), and delusion
a physical being. Through illness, we experience (misidentification) from our actions and then our
discomfort and loss of function. And facing death, consciousness. To aid us in this venture, we must
we fear all that we have accumulated, and regret avoid major negative karmic consequences of life
that which we have done or have not been able to by moral, virtuous, and wholesome living. This
do. We don’t get what we want, we lose the things allows the luxury and time for calm contemplation
we love, we are stuck with the things we hate, and of the world and ourselves. Liberation is only
we feel the mental burdens of sorrow and despair. attainable through genuine experience alone. Like
the taste of a dish, the diner must, for themselves,
In what way is all this suffering related to clinging discern its flavour. Wholesome living is to first
and craving? When we cling, we attach our cleanse your palate, allowing calm contemplation
identities and associate our ‘selves’ with that for careful discerning of that which one tastes.
which is impermanent and out of our immediate
control. We cling to our bodily form and suffer What can we learn from this unique take on
from craving it to be one way or another. We hope liberation? Whatever has taken hold of us, there are
to be better looking, or perhaps taller, and have things both within and beyond our control. What
difficulty in coming to terms with ageing and losing we can do is to try our best to take responsibility
our beauty. Identifying with our feelings, pleasure for giving ourselves the best fighting chance for
or pain, we surrender to our sensations that are release from suffering. It is not often within our
unstable and often beyond our control. Troubled agency to keep bad things from happening, but it is
by our thoughts and perceptions, we overthink, within our powers to cope and address it. We have
or we don’t think enough, or we suffer by the the agency to be kind, to others and ourselves,
very nature of the thoughts themselves, dwelling to think carefully and to act with awareness and
on negativity. Our mental formations and will consideration. Most importantly, we can take care
to action often result in negative consequences, to discern the part of our ‘being’ which we truly
such as when we lash out at a loved one or say identify with from that which, with training and
something unkind. Finally, through our conscious discipline, we can learn not to take as seriously.
awareness and looking upon the world, we derive If we are to live freely, then we should do so with
suffering from all the occurrences around us, as much intent and care for the things that matter
injustice, war, and poverty. From clinging and to us and leave the rest be. Perhaps we suffer
attachment, we can’t help but crave for all these to because we take seriously what the universe made
be in one preferable state over another; and from for fun, and don’t appreciate enough what we love
these expectations, we are inevitably disappointed and create for ourselves.
when confronted with reality.

The Liberation Issue | Φ 52

53 PHOTOGRAPHY by Jeanne Proust





PHIMAG.ORG

The Liberation Issue | Φ 56

EDITOR IN CHIEF
Chiara Zucchelli

SENIOR EDITORS
Ariel De La Garza Davidoff
Laura Empson

PROSE EDITORS
Ayna Li Taira
Maria Payro

Julie Uszpolewicz

POETRY EDITORS
Francesca Caselli
Antonia Kattos

VISUAL EDITOR
Gamel Oki

Φ

MAGAZINE