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

[Paul Mackin]

On 8/20/2011 1:24 PM, Jed Kelestron wrote:
> And Easterners are getting back at their parents by becoming brilliant scientists.

this could turn into an Us/Them problem.

wait a minute, maybe it already has.

p
>
>
>
> 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