2025-08-25.2_16 principles of fragmentarity
try not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, including fragmentarity. systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
remember you are and will always be(come) a fragment. try not to think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. learn and practice fragmentarity in order to be open to receive others’ viewpoints and lived experiences. efficacy and intensity are found in practice and not just in theoretical knowledge. be ready to learn and to question your previous knowledge and experiences throughout your entire life.
try not to force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, or money. however, through caring dialogue and working towards systemic change, help others renounce their harmful attachments to hierarchies, power, privilege, violence and narrow-mindedness.
learn to identify hierarchies wherever and whenever they may arise and work to dismantle and end all illegitimate, unjust and harmful hierarchies.
disidentify and divest from positions of power you may hold in illegitimate, unjust and harmful hierarchies and align yourself with those communities most marginalized and disadvantaged under past, current and future states of the world. be wary of and renounce simplification and single-axis frameworks of oppression. try to always practice intersectionality when analyzing and working to change any social structure.
do away with the fear of being abnormal.
do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry and dying. work towards a world where this is no longer possible. do not take as the aim of your life power, fame, profit, wealth or the accumulation of capital. live and share time, energy, and material resources with the communities you are a fragment of and those within them who are in need.
do not maintain hatred towards others. learn to transform them into solidarity, care and love for the communities you are a fragment of.
try to be as aware as possible of your interconnections and interdependencies with all fragments of reality at all times, and act accordingly. do not think of yourself as an independent, individual, self-contained entity. remember you are and will always be a fragment. renounce all forms of essentialism and perfectionism. learn to experience the beauty and value of your fundamental interconnections, interdependencies and fragmentarity instead of seeing them as signs of weakness and things to be eliminated. you are (the) community, (the) community is you.
none of us are free until all of us are free.
try not to say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. try not to utter words that cause unneccesary division and hostility. try not to spread news that you do not know to be certain. try not to criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure. try to always speak effectively and constructively. try to have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.
do not use the communities you are a fragment of for personal gain or profit.
try not to live with a vocation that is harmful to nature. do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. select a vocation that helps realize your ideals of loving solidarity, care and freedom.
do not kill or commit violence. do not let others kill or commit violence. the only exceptions to this principle are cases of self- and community-defense. find and employ whatever means possible to protect existence and prevent war.
possess nothing that should belong to others. respect the personal property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering and destruction of other fragments of existence.
try not to mistreat your or anothers’ body. learn to handle bodies with respect, care and love. do not look on your or anothers’ body as only an instrument.
the ordering of these principles is largely arbitrary.
all values contained in any one of these principles are present in all the others.
these principles, as everything, are subject to change.
these 16 principles of fragmentarity were co-created with the 14 precepts of engaged buddhism as significant basis/inspiration.