We are here in the realm of effective altruism. Giving most of your money to the most efficient associations is considered one of the best form of ethical action.
On the other hand, good actions with little impact that bring fuzzy feelings are frown upon.
Oh, there is some comeback to that. Maybe we can make space for the fuzzy-feeling actions if they make it more likely to do more efficient actions later ? Though the data about that is mixed[1]. Or yeah, we should care about them as a protection against the epidemics of burnouts cursing effective altruists.
The goal remains to maximize impact, whatever the means.
Years ago, I was convinced by the premise of efficient altruism : what could be more important in helping others than to maximize impact ?
I'd argue now that there is something precious to be found in the fuzzy feelings. It is subtle, it requires attention and care, it's human, but it's pure gold.
It operates in another direction than just impact.
We don't have to pick a side
If you push efficient altruism to its evil extreme, you end up with burnout, a big impact, but a cold world inhabited by people who don't know how to live. You're bulldozing your way, destroying many lovely things on your path. If you push similarly the pursuit of fuzzy feelings, you end up with a whole lot of people who are unhappy because they live in hell. Countless lives end early for avoidable reasons, also. Neither scenario is appealing.
One's focus is on the outside, the other's is on the inside. The things versus the people. Helping humans all over the world versus being kind to people around you and creating a tight-knit community. We need both and while pushing either of these two concerns to its limit is useful as a word of caution, it yields an unfair assesment.
Sometimes, fuzzy feelings are hiding pride and ego, pretending to care about protecting something more noble. This is human but questionable. It can be tempting to interpret the situation as such whenever someone outwardly expresses their worries, but does nothing about it, at least nothing that accounts for anything. The map between intentions and actions is more complex than that. What I encourage you to explore is to care with more richness, wholesomely.
My motivation
Since the days when I looked down on feelings, I have learned to listen to my own, to be more in tuned with my body, less dissociated. It's been years now that I started practicing meditation and my own version of Internal Family Systems (IFS)[2]. This opened a new world of experiences for me, of a specific quality that cannot be accessed through words (at least not mine). You'd have to experience it for yourself, or hypothetically find a novel, a poem, a song that speaks to your heart. Practicing kindness (as a feeling, as a virtue) felt similar in quality, which makes me want to walk down that path more.
Right now, I am still at the discovery stage. I would not have foreseen the existence of this world of sensations if I did not experiment for fun. I have never read about this here yet, so I report my experience in hope it will inspire others to try it too. Hey, come on this path, it's warm and healing for the soul ! (hopefully for yours too?)
The practice
The practice I follow, akin to meditating every day, is inspired by an old Catholic friend of mine. I believe it a standard Catholic practice in France and at its core, it's very simple : try to do one good action a day. Well, one more than you would have done otherwise. The importance does not lay in the act itself but in the intention behind it.
I hoped it could bring more meaning, more fulfillment to my life. It's also clearly a good practice to have a practical impact around me. While pondering on the most efficient ways to help is interesting, it's better to act on it (even imperfectly). Last, I wanted to develop my altruism virtue. Those were my expectations, but what really happened ?
My experience
There are many intentions you could have when doing something altruistic. It could be compassion but also frustration at the world, impatience, a sense of duty. There is peace in extracting from your self and focus on having a good intention, to really try to do good, not as an action where you see yourself as a tool but as an intention you enact.
That is a very specific kind of felt sense. You have to adjust to your feelings and do a task where your intention guides you, which feels right.
It grounded me, calmed me. It had the taste of putting effort in a good direction. It was was flexible, kind. Well, more flexible and kinder than my baseline, less judging of myself and others, less harsh. And it brought me a sense of fulfillment where trying to have a big impact (and failing to make a dent, because big problems are hard) accumulated resentment or frustration.
The external impact is small. I started donating (very little) to an association I like which buys flats for homeless people to have a place to stay while trying to get back on their feets. I have been more patient, kinder to people around me (at most once a day - at least in the context of this practice). These are seeds I plant, not a house I build stacking up bricks. I am very careful to not be forceful with myself and have the utmost respect towards who I am right now, reducing the size of the action as needed for all parts of me to be fully on board (#IFS).
I am still at the start, but I expect that this habit can set my life in a direction I want, if only i keep on doing it. I feel it already made me evolve a tiny bit as an human. Who knows where it will lead me, but I will make sure I enjoy the travel !
Mini-guide for EA people
Why test it ?
- doesn't cost much to experiment
- no adverse effect
- balances EA
- it echoes what you care about
How to :
- pick one action a day
- it has to be guided by the intention to add good things to the world
- feeling to pursue = caring, not sense of duty
- it can have little direct impact, it can even have no direct impact
Examples (real, mines):
- focusing on developing goodwill and care towards someone I am fighting at the moment
- small donation I want to do
- offer food to people around me
- express that there is a problem when people are abusing the power given by a community
> don't copy, pick something that resonates with your soul today
P.S : I am not a native speaker, and if I am mostly confident in my use of english and I did try to avoid making mistakes, I expect there is room for improvement. (Gentle) feedback from native speakers on how to make my writing more natural would be welcomed.
We are here in the realm of effective altruism. Giving most of your money to the most efficient associations is considered one of the best form of ethical action.
On the other hand, good actions with little impact that bring fuzzy feelings are frown upon.
Oh, there is some comeback to that. Maybe we can make space for the fuzzy-feeling actions if they make it more likely to do more efficient actions later ? Though the data about that is mixed[1]. Or yeah, we should care about them as a protection against the epidemics of burnouts cursing effective altruists.
The goal remains to maximize impact, whatever the means.
Years ago, I was convinced by the premise of efficient altruism : what could be more important in helping others than to maximize impact ?
I'd argue now that there is something precious to be found in the fuzzy feelings. It is subtle, it requires attention and care, it's human, but it's pure gold.
It operates in another direction than just impact.
We don't have to pick a side
If you push efficient altruism to its evil extreme, you end up with burnout, a big impact, but a cold world inhabited by people who don't know how to live. You're bulldozing your way, destroying many lovely things on your path. If you push similarly the pursuit of fuzzy feelings, you end up with a whole lot of people who are unhappy because they live in hell. Countless lives end early for avoidable reasons, also. Neither scenario is appealing.
One's focus is on the outside, the other's is on the inside. The things versus the people. Helping humans all over the world versus being kind to people around you and creating a tight-knit community. We need both and while pushing either of these two concerns to its limit is useful as a word of caution, it yields an unfair assesment.
Sometimes, fuzzy feelings are hiding pride and ego, pretending to care about protecting something more noble. This is human but questionable. It can be tempting to interpret the situation as such whenever someone outwardly expresses their worries, but does nothing about it, at least nothing that accounts for anything. The map between intentions and actions is more complex than that. What I encourage you to explore is to care with more richness, wholesomely.
My motivation
Since the days when I looked down on feelings, I have learned to listen to my own, to be more in tuned with my body, less dissociated. It's been years now that I started practicing meditation and my own version of Internal Family Systems (IFS)[2]. This opened a new world of experiences for me, of a specific quality that cannot be accessed through words (at least not mine). You'd have to experience it for yourself, or hypothetically find a novel, a poem, a song that speaks to your heart. Practicing kindness (as a feeling, as a virtue) felt similar in quality, which makes me want to walk down that path more.
Right now, I am still at the discovery stage. I would not have foreseen the existence of this world of sensations if I did not experiment for fun. I have never read about this here yet, so I report my experience in hope it will inspire others to try it too. Hey, come on this path, it's warm and healing for the soul ! (hopefully for yours too?)
The practice
The practice I follow, akin to meditating every day, is inspired by an old Catholic friend of mine. I believe it a standard Catholic practice in France and at its core, it's very simple : try to do one good action a day. Well, one more than you would have done otherwise. The importance does not lay in the act itself but in the intention behind it.
I hoped it could bring more meaning, more fulfillment to my life. It's also clearly a good practice to have a practical impact around me. While pondering on the most efficient ways to help is interesting, it's better to act on it (even imperfectly). Last, I wanted to develop my altruism virtue. Those were my expectations, but what really happened ?
My experience
There are many intentions you could have when doing something altruistic. It could be compassion but also frustration at the world, impatience, a sense of duty. There is peace in extracting from your self and focus on having a good intention, to really try to do good, not as an action where you see yourself as a tool but as an intention you enact.
That is a very specific kind of felt sense. You have to adjust to your feelings and do a task where your intention guides you, which feels right.
It grounded me, calmed me. It had the taste of putting effort in a good direction. It was was flexible, kind. Well, more flexible and kinder than my baseline, less judging of myself and others, less harsh. And it brought me a sense of fulfillment where trying to have a big impact (and failing to make a dent, because big problems are hard) accumulated resentment or frustration.
The external impact is small. I started donating (very little) to an association I like which buys flats for homeless people to have a place to stay while trying to get back on their feets. I have been more patient, kinder to people around me (at most once a day - at least in the context of this practice). These are seeds I plant, not a house I build stacking up bricks. I am very careful to not be forceful with myself and have the utmost respect towards who I am right now, reducing the size of the action as needed for all parts of me to be fully on board (#IFS).
I am still at the start, but I expect that this habit can set my life in a direction I want, if only i keep on doing it. I feel it already made me evolve a tiny bit as an human. Who knows where it will lead me, but I will make sure I enjoy the travel !
Mini-guide for EA people
Why test it ?
- doesn't cost much to experiment
- no adverse effect
- balances EA
- it echoes what you care about
How to :
- pick one action a day
- it has to be guided by the intention to add good things to the world
- feeling to pursue = caring, not sense of duty
- it can have little direct impact, it can even have no direct impact
Examples (real, mines):
- focusing on developing goodwill and care towards someone I am fighting at the moment
- small donation I want to do
- offer food to people around me
- express that there is a problem when people are abusing the power given by a community
> don't copy, pick something that resonates with your soul today
P.S : I am not a native speaker, and if I am mostly confident in my use of english and I did try to avoid making mistakes, I expect there is room for improvement. (Gentle) feedback from native speakers on how to make my writing more natural would be welcomed.
cf for example https://fr.scribd.com/document/493789973/9B1FF0F5BC8075195ECF7298920FA6381CD2786 , you should do a proper review of the literature if your interested. Google scholar and connected papers are good places to start.
if you want to know more about IFS, you could read this Lesswrong blog post