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Displaying all entries in the “Miscellaneous” category.

The Real Question

September 23, 2010

Imagine that instead of several billion people we have a small group of men, whose aim is to build a house to live in. Each of them has his own ideas about how the house should look like, his own plan. So they are arguing endlessly about the shape of the roof, the number of windows, and the size of the bathroom. They cannot agree on anything, they are totally disorganized. As a consequence, all these men have to live in a camp.

We are the builders of our world. The society, which is our common home, is being created by each one of us every single moment. If we see this, it becomes astonishingly clear that the real question is not what the plan is, but how can we work together.

~ Miscellaneous
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Questioning Tradition

July 6, 2010

If the world is still immersed in chaos, can it be stated that the teachers of the past have failed? Maybe, but their failure is not their fault. It was the people who were not ready.

There is always an abyss between those who understand life and those who do not. Regardless of how far social progress can go, the Buddha will stay light years ahead since his attainment has no measure. And yet, something vital changes with time—namely, our capacity for questioning tradition.

In the days of the Buddha the cultural state of the world was too primitive. People’s minds were enslaved by custom and superstition to the extent where it was impossible for them to examine their position. And it is very hard to be conscious with respect to your culture. The more one is able to look critically at the content of one’s own head, the more one is able to listen to the Buddha.

Time cannot make you understand, but it can prepare the ground. And the people who were on the Moon and looked into the eyes of nuclear war are not the same people who lived in India more than two thousand years ago.

~ Miscellaneous

Harmony Among Faiths

May 25, 2010

An opinion piece by the Dalai Lama with a title reminiscent of the motto of the Theosophical Society appears in today’s New York Times. His Holiness suggests:

Harmony among the major faiths has become an essential ingredient of peaceful coexistence in our world.

How can harmony possibly exist among the books? Books are not living things, they cannot have relationship with each other. And people, who put their faith in books, are maintaining psychological division, thus making peace unachievable.

~ Miscellaneous

Entering the Galactic Club

May 24, 2010

In an essay published today in Astrobiology Magazine, David Schwartzman writes:

I submit that if we want to enter the Galactic Club, the challenge lies in reconstructing our global political economy. A few minor side benefits should result, like no more war, no more poverty, a future for all of humanity’s children with a substantial proportion of biodiversity intact. We should not expect the Galactic Club to save us from ourselves.

So even if the Club does not exist, it is worth trying to qualify for membership.

~ Miscellaneous

Sobering Statements

May 23, 2010

Here are two sobering statements on education in poor countries that, I believe, cast light on the origin of human suffering all over the world. The first one comes from the IRIN article highlighting the recent report on violence in African schools:

[M]any parents support corporal punishment as an integral part of education; while some see sexual relations between students and teachers as a viable way for the child to get ahead.

The second is found in Nicholas Kristof’s latest column:

[I]f the poorest families spent as much money educating their children as they do on wine, cigarettes and prostitutes, their children’s prospects would be transformed.

These are extremes but they show how wrong, unhealthy relationship among human beings is creating the whole spectrum of problems that we desperately try to solve through mechanisms of ideology, politics, and money.

~ Miscellaneous

New in Seismology

May 6, 2010

Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes.

These are the words of an Iranian cleric, according to BBC. It is even more telling than Orthodox experts blaming Icelandic pagans and homosexuals for the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

What is the kind of world we are living in?

~ Miscellaneous

Hawking on Aliens

May 3, 2010

This topic has recently become widely discussed. Stephen Hawking in his new documentary series warns humanity that it is not safe to reveal our presence by broadcasting signals into space as there might be nomadic aliens who spend their life searching for the planets to conquer.

The most reasonable comment I have read so far was made by Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute. She pointed out that the civilization old enough to be able to send the spacecrafts to other stars was bound to overcome the predatory traits.

I guess the Hawking’s idea stems from his belief in the power of evolution to shape the behavior and his concerns about the “selfish and aggressive instincts,” as he once put it.

For me, it is absolutely obvious that the only thing that makes us human, the mind, is not written anywhere in the DNA, rather the DNA provides a possibility for the mind with its whole structure of language and knowledge to operate. And as long as we agree on that, there is no reason to doubt the potential of H. sapiens and any other species alike to be completely free from the instincts through culture and the significance of this in terms of survival.

~ Miscellaneous

Understanding Culture

April 16, 2010

Paul R. Ehrlich provides a long-awaited insightful view in his essay for Seed:

[S]ince everything from weapons of mass destruction to global heating is the result of changes in human culture over time, acquiring a fundamental understanding of cultural evolution just might be the key to saving civilization from itself.

It is impossible to deal with the present crisis by solely organizational means. The deepest attention to the culture, which is what we have become after million and half years of living on this planet, is required.

~ Miscellaneous

In 10 Years

April 13, 2010

I have read recently that some Chinese professor said that “in 10 years J[iddu] Krishnamurti would be as widely known in China as the Buddha.”

So what is the point to replace one name with another? If you go on with the same old way of life, it does not matter with what philosophy you fill your head. You cannot take someone’s words—however wise, however beautiful—and by merging them with your background, pretend that you have changed.

We really do not want big changes, we are frightened. We are comfortable with the idea of progressing in small steps: making our lives a bit more environmentally friendly, a bit more balanced. And the whole of our psychology is resisting the idea of radical change. But now, I think, it is the time to start getting used to it: we need the radical change, not only in order to attain the state of flourishing, but in order to survive. This should be settled, clear for everyone.

~ Miscellaneous

Expertise in Life

February 11, 2010

In our everyday affairs we often rely on experts’ opinions. That is, we tend to leave things we do not understand up to those studying and practicing them. But life is no one’s field of expertise. You yourself must become an expert on living.

~ Miscellaneous