Observations
I am now two thirds of the way through Becoming Enlightened by the Dalai Lama.
In short, he has taken 2,600 years of documents, read most of them, meditated more than most people, is the Buddha incarnate and has condensed all of these teachings and experience into 250 pages.
My short interpretation is this:
The first step is making the choice ( Read more... )
In short, he has taken 2,600 years of documents, read most of them, meditated more than most people, is the Buddha incarnate and has condensed all of these teachings and experience into 250 pages.
My short interpretation is this:
The first step is making the choice ( Read more... )
>How can anyone really know what the bigger picture is?
No one can know the whole bigger picture but isn't there more to know than you know? There is no way to know all history but you keep studying to learn more. . .
>sometimes violence is justified and necessary and desirable.
Yes, but only under extreme circumstances and should be avoided. If everyone avoided violence, there would never be need of it. This is an ideal rather than a reality. It would be up to each person do do what they could do to solve things without violence. It is not a philosophical absolute. Of course, certain people believe in certain aspects that make the most sense to them. It is not written anywhere that one ought to set themselves on fire to protest war though the people that did it were Buddhists. All apples are fruit, all fruit are not apples.
>I send them away to be assraped in prison until the end of time?
Compassion does not always mean being kind and friendly. You don't invite pedophiles to elementary school sleep overs. All the same, if you understand what makes them tick, you can most effectively deal with them. You may not be drawn to managing a prison population but some people are. Those people would be better at it if they understood the population. You are a better historian if you understand the people and cultures you study. Think of the example of colonizations and taming the "savage" man vs. cultural study and respect. It would be inappropriate now to go to a foreign country, demand their valuables, and pour molten gold down the throats of the chiefs of the dissenters. That was cool in the 1500's. Empathy goes a long way in any profession.
>my choice would be to rally to change society. . .
Yes. As you poignantly wrote once, one person can make a difference. I don't think the Buddhists think that you can solve everything today. It is only a matter of doing your part.
Whether you, personally, want to help those who have already turned or want to make a difference to those who are still impressionable is a personal decision and entirely up to you and what you are drawn to. One is not better than the other. They both serve the human race.
>I'm not one to sit by passively. . .
The anger turned to energy may be age but the motivation to make change will not subside in you. Anger, emotionally speaking, tends to be a filter that prevents people from seeing all the options. The best debates are won with clear thinking and founded in logic. What is causing the anger in you now will refine and get polished over the years. You will be even more effective as the anger transforms simply to drive. Without the anger you will be free to act more effectively and efficiently and make a more profound difference.
The reform you speak of will come through your ability to apply your education and ability to collect and express your thoughts to others rather than your ability to throw a Molotov cocktail through a logger's window.
The ability to empathize with your enemies will make you 100 fold more effective against them. When you understand their motivations and obligations, you can address what compels them rather than fighting them on the front. The more you understand your enemy, the more you can cause change.
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I'm willing to go on the assumption that more will become clear to me as I get a little older and less polarized. I think I was an unusual child, as I spent most of my life trying to apply education, feel empathy, and use my skills to put together petitions or motions for the local community council. The molotov route didn't occur to me until I was an adult and currently, I'm about half and half. Because my anger and rage comes from failed attempts at logic and empathy (because I was 7...), it's taking longer and is more difficult to move back to that now. Also, for my undergrad dissertation, I spent a year living in a tree with radical environmentalists, and I go back every summer to touch base and reconnect with that part of myself because their story will be written once I finish up here.
I feel more useful there cooking up meals, digging through dumpsters, chopping up firewood, attending protests or doing nightwatch than I do here with some of the organized fluffy activism.
Anyways, thanks for the awesome conversation. Hopefully we'll have many more.
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I wish you the best of luck modernizing your past emotions and methods.
I think you may find that there is not the disconnect you perceive now between calm and effectiveness. Time will tell.
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Is the book you are thinking of my Alasdair Macintosh, Rod Coronado or Kate Evans? Or is it fiction? Either way, let me know.
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It has a group of people who survive a world-changing event because they are able to live in harmony with nature. They cultivate rooftop gardens and live free of what is left of the outside world. There are religious overtones to their group, it is Atwood's play on the idea of Dirt Worshipers. She does it respectfully and one of the themes to this book and others is doomsday warnings of the consequences of man's abuse of his own power.
It takes place simultaneously to another book she wrote called Oryx & Crake. That book is absolutely amazing but does not emphasize the same characters.
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