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

[Jed Kelestron]

And Easterners are getting back at their parents by becoming brilliant scientists. 



On Aug 20, 2011, at 10:13 AM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:

> 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
>