I’m taking a university course on Asian Wisdom, which I’m really enjoying. My prof told a story about Buddha that concludes that we should only tell others of a better way to live if we’re asked for advice; otherwise, we should never impose our morals on others because our moral purpose
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Enlightenment: Raising Consciousness & The Cloud of Unknowing
Ideology is neither salvation nor liberation. As important as a paradigm shift, a shift in world view, or a shift in consciousness and perspective, clearly is, we must understand this. It is not ideas or ideology that will save
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: What is Enlightenment?
Further Notes On The Dualistic Illusion (This ought to raise the hackles of the fundamentalists – both secular and religious. But I don’t write for the narrow of mind anyway, so I am not concerned about that.) Now here is someone who knows what he is talking about: Rabbi David
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: What Is Buddhism, and What Is Non-Dualism?
And What Are They Not? Open letter to Russell Brand, regarding a video (linked below) titled, Dualism vs Monism EXPLAINED! Russell, who the hell are you interviewing?! The guy is clearly talking out of his ass. (Sorry for my directness and occasional bluntness. I was heavily influenced by Chomsky, Trungpa
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Taoist Political Philosophy – Or, How To Not Make The World Worse, By Good Intentions Gone terribly Wrong
The modern world, and particularly the modern Western world, which has now, as of these past few decades, successfully, and tragically, exported itself to become the basis and norm of the modern world globally, is clearly and indisputably in great and severe crisis, on multiple levels: sociologically, politically, economically, psychologically,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: If We Could Be as Smart as Frogs
I regularly tell students about our likely future. It’s often met with skepticism, so I provide lots of citations from the IPCC and NASA. Then I sometimes get a lecture on being so doom and gloom. Denial is our go-to defence against reality. But for whose benefit? It’s just for
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Social Control in Universities
Chris Hedges has concerns with Trump’s impact on intellectuals: Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. … The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Social Control in Universities
Chris Hedges has concerns with Trump’s impact on intellectuals: Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. … The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Pie and Goldblum on Trump’s Win
Two videos for a Saturday: Jonathan Pie argues that the left is responsible for this result because they’ve given up putting up any argument at all: “Clinton…a candidate who’s been dry-humping corporations for years….They didn’t vote for her because she offered no palpable change whatsoever….She represented very little.” But more
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Taoist Lessons for Politicians
Those who look down upon this world, will surely take hold and try to change things. So begins verse 29 of the 4th century BCE Chinese classic (Jonathan Star translation*), the Tao Te Ching. That verse suggests that those who feel themselves superior to the world and to others, who feel their actions, thoughts,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Tao of Environmentalism
At Politics Respun, Stephen Elliott-Buckley suggests we make decarbonizing our New Year’s resolution. In a fit of frustration, I commented thusly: What does it look like to join you? I mean I’m totally in, but what do I do to “seriously begin to decarbonize”? How to stop this? I already
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Humans: Too Invasive or Too Compassionate to Survive
In my last post, and elsewhere over the years, I went all Agent Smith and suggested that humans are a virus that can’t be contained. All other animals work within their environment to regulate their population. As long as people don’t mess things up by moving animals around (like bringing rabbits
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Following Your Dreams or Living an Illusion?
Ken Robinson, Sir, you are killing me! I know you probably didn’t mean for people to interpret your words in a warped way. Nobody does. But that’s what happens when you use several rare examples as if they are the norm and send people off to change the world. Some of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Crisis of Environmentalist Faith
A couple of sentences from Matthew Altman (from “The Green Onion“) have been weighing on me for days: Ironically, environmentalism itself can become a means of advancing our own selfish interests, as when we barely adjust our lifestyles in order to feel a disproportionately strong sense of smugness….If a well-intentioned
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