Tag: theory

Lex Fridman and right speech

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Lex Fridman, whether he knows it or not, understands Buddhist right speech (17 minutes in). This conversation with Richard Haier about the book The Bell Curve is an example of how something can be misinterpreted.

But sometimes, no matter what you do, people can twist your words to fit their agenda. Nietzsche is one such philosopher who had been the victim of misappropriation.

Speech as an action can be used (another action) against you. In other words, truth is not about what is there, but what people think is true, or rather, how people make you think something is true when it is not.

If you don’t sin…

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Remember, if you don’t sin, Jesus died for nothing.

Richard Dawkins

Dawkins said this in a speech in which the audience laughed.

I half suspect that many of the heinous acts by Christians are really done with this warped thought in mind. How can you actually be Forgiven if you don’t Sin?

pick a landmark

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life is
so much easier
when you have
a landmark
to orientate you

it may not be
anybody else’s landmark
(and it shouldn’t be)
but at least
you will know
where everybody else
is in relation to you

that is
the whole point
of choosing
a landmark

Non-self, bundles, non-ownership, selflessness

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Buddhism rejects the self and accepts a notion of non-self. It preceded bundle theory and no-ownership theory, which is in some way a formulation of this.

Hume pushed the bundle theory but could not understand what is there if it were only experiences. What he seem to left out is memory.

The self is just a collection of this matter-related memories. In this way, it does not go against the principles of one being “created” by the environment. A person is not independent of the place and time he or she is at or in. She or he is a product of it.

Property is theft, said Proudhon. Self-property is to steal and rob from the world of what you could contribute to it. That could be rightly called selfishness. To act without being the owner of the spirit is selflessness.

Thoughts on Konmari and sustainability

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In a causal conversation that went to the topic of Kondo Mariko the famous cleaner upper guru it was said she quit her system because it cannot cope with the variable of children.

This to me is hilarious and a sad truth of systems we set up. As long as the parameters are within limits it works. Beyond the limits and the system fails.

This, I think, is a great analogy for sustainability. Every since I have had kids the idea of sustainability has been thrown out the window. I simply cannot cope. The effort to bring things within sustainable means will, I believe, end with divorce or in death. I am not saying this jokingly. Today’s reality is without exaggeration beyond sustainability.

Changing metaphors

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If you do change the metaphor half way through the poem the change should represent change itself. Starting with LOVE IS A JOURNEY e may change the metaphor to LOVE IS A LONG DISTANCE RACE with images of struggle, uphill battles, not lasting the distance, rivalry, etc.

Stay with one metaphor

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When writing, especially poetry, stay with one metaphor. It may not confuse you, the writer, but mixing metaphors often confuses the readers.

For example, if you start with LOVE IS A JOURNEY then continue with metaphors about roads, signs, bends, distance, loneliness, etc.

Love is not a thing

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Love isn’t a thing.
It’s not a
you-either-have-it-
or-you-don’t thing.
It is what you do.
And it is what
someone does to you.

Go do love. Go love.
Go get loved. Be loved.
Then you will understand
what love is. Love is
not a thing.
Just love.

via negativa, via positiva

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The obvious problem overlooked with describing God is that describing what He is not is to assume there is a god (or gods) in the first place.

The problem is really the same as describing unicorn with positives. That is, a horse with a straight horn on its head. The speakers assume there exists something horse-like with something horn-like on its head-like part.

The difference is that God has no attributes to describe (which is its description) and a unicorn had attributes to describe. Either way we have described an assumed something.

… faith or none

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I am rather curious of the grandnarrative that when people of faith (whatever that means) talk about having faith or none, it somehow assumes that faith is the default, and none is the choice one deliberately makes.

True, most people do not make a choice, that is, their religion is given to them by birth. Bit that is assuming religion is the default mode to start.

This narrative is kind of forcing to say that I believe there is no god or gods. Often one makes the mistake and says ‘I don’t believe in God’. The former rejects the concept of god or gods (hence there is no god or gods). The latter rejects existent god or gods.