"You're gonna want cause & effect"---GR

[Paul Mackin]

On 8/20/2011 12:59 PM, Jed Kelestron wrote:
> Westerners like Buddhism because they think it will make their egos happy.

Also it gets back at all the hopes their parents ever had for them.

P
>
>
>
> On Aug 20, 2011, at 8:44 AM, Ian Livingston<igrlivingston at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>>> Being in a room full of Buddhists is almost as noxious as being in a room full of Jungians.
>> Probly so. I've been in a few rooms full of (Western) Buddhists and
>> know how sickening that is. Haven't had the experience with a room
>> full of Jungians.
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Jed Kelestron<jedkelestron at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>> Being in a room full of Buddhists is almost as noxious as being in a room full of Jungians.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 19, 2011, at 3:25 PM, Ian Livingston<igrlivingston at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Yeah, I hear all that steadily from the Buddhists I work with.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 1:26 PM, Jed Kelestron<jedkelestron at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>>> It's about examining the examiner with intense focus and
>>>>> concentration. Applying the scientific method to the psyche or ego of
>>>>> the scientist so to speak. Western studies in cognitive science are
>>>>> now using mindfulness meditation as part of their research. It has
>>>>> zilch to do with superstition or metaphor. But putting it in words is
>>>>> always problematic and leads to such trivializations of what is
>>>>> actually a method of very deep inquiry into the nature of personal
>>>>> identity. And it's not 'Buddhism,' although Buddhism is one arena that
>>>>> utilizes such investigation. If you add two molecules of hydrogen and
>>>>> one molecule of oxygen you get water. If you look deeply into the
>>>>> nature of personal identity - you get nothing.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Ian Livingston
>>>>> <igrlivingston at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>>>> Ah, Buddhism. Yeah, it, too, is an interesting metaphor, though more
>>>>>> explicitly founded in superstitious projection than some others. Maybe
>>>>>> the explicit nature of the superstition makes it more palatable in
>>>>>> some ways.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Jed Kelestron<jedkelestron at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>>>>>> I tend to incline toward a limited determinism: history
>>>>>>>> compels us, but possibility opens infinitely.
>>>>>>> Both history and future possibility are fictions created by the illusory separate self which likes to believe it isn't determined but is a free and autonomous entity. Until that illusion is dispelled the big wheel just keeps on spinning.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
>>>>>> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
>>>>>> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
>>>>>> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
>>>>>> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
>>>> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
>>>> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
>>>> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
>>>> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
>> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
>> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
>> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
>> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant