The Incarnation of Ahimsa

Posted by davidlane on June 28th, 2007 filed in liberty

I have been depressed now for two days since learning of the horrible and violent death of Liberty Jaswal. I first met Liberty when he took my Introduction to Sociology class back in the late 1990s, along with his best friend, Jake Wilson.

Liberty and Jake were two of the brightest lights I have ever taught in my nearly 30 year career. They literally transformed the course into something magical and unexpected.

Liberty embodied the essence of ahimsa. He even pushed me to be a better vegetarian, since he was a very strong advocate of veganism (no animal products whatsoever), though I think he slightly mellowed his views as he got older. I used to joke with him that I couldn’t eat my cheerios without “cow’s” milk (since soy or almond milk didn’t do the job right). And Liberty would then explain very sweetly, but very solidly about the inherent abuses within the dairy industry.

He was a wonderful idealist, but one who had no patience with metaphysics. His idealism was grounded in the real terra firma of the here and now. He wasn’t a hippie, he wasn’t a guru follower, and he wasn’t a trendy.

Liberty was a genuine philosopher, a genuine thinker, and perhaps one of the great minds of his generation.

I remember talking with him on several occasions after he graduated from Berkeley. He would come visit me just after my night philosophy class ended at MSAC. We mostly talked about cognitive science (he had taken courses with John Searle), but occasionally we talked about what graduate school he should attend.

I kept pushing UCSD primarily because I have been so impressed by the work of Paul and Patricia Churchland. Eventually, Liberty got accepted to the Ph.D. program in philosophy at UCSD. He was entering, I believe, his fourth year of study there when the unimaginable transpired. Liberty was murdered.

The details of what happened can be found on http://www.helpliberty.com

All I know is that none of us are going to be the same.

Liberty had that rarest of gifts: a razor sharp intellect coupled with an infinitely compassionate heart.

Although it lists my name as one of Liberty’s professors, the truth is that I was his student.

Liberty taught me that to think deeply doesn’t mean one has to bury one’s emotions in the process.

Liberty also taught me that a philosopher who doesn’t LIVE what he understands isn’t a wise thinker at all.

I only wish I could be 1/10th the thinker that Liberty was in life.

I only wish I could be 1/10th as compassionate as he was to his fellow creatures.

Liberty was deeply loved by all who knew him. And I know why.

He deeply loved all those who came into his presence.

Liberty was a jewel of a human being.

I feel fortunate that I got to see a glimmer of that diamond, albeit all too briefly.

We will NEVER forget you Liberty.

Never.

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