Question & Answer #202: from Taoist Enlightenment to Why a Buddhist Shouldn’t Convert to Catholicism

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Language: en
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Okay then
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I think we are recording. Let's see.
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Yeah. Well, hello and welcome to
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question and answer episode number 202.
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I'm Errol Espñob Basa.
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This is my beverage.
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And 202 of course is not a prime number.
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It is 2 times 101.
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So bear that in mind throughout the rest
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of this Q&A.
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And I have closed off most of my
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extraneous tabs so that maybe we won't
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be lagging too much. My CPU percentage
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is only 14% right now,
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which is all systems are green and go.
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And before I start answering questions,
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I do have sort of an announcement to
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make. And that is that starting this
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week, I'm going on like my schedule, my
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work schedule is going to change
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radically. And so next weekend, and I
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usually do these Q&A videos on weekends.
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Next weekend, I'm working Friday,
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Saturday, and Sunday 12 and a half hour
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shifts.
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So, I'm going to be working more than
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half the time, Friday, Saturday, and
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Sunday, and sleeping most of the rest of
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the time. And let's see what the
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percentage is. CPU only 17%. I don't get
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it.
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But that's good. So, anyways, with
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regard to next next Q&A episode 203,
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there's a good chance it's going to be
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delayed or something. I can't absolutely
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promise I'm going to be doing a Q&A next
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weekend. It might be done like on the
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following Monday or Tuesday, or if
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there's not a whole lot of questions, I
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might just skip a weekend just because
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of
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radically changed and weird work
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schedule. Then the weekend after that, I
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don't work Friday, Saturday, or Sunday
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at all.
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So, just bear that in mind that I may or
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may not do a Q&A next weekend, but then
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who knows, maybe the weekend after that
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I'll just do two of them back to back or
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something.
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And
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the live stream went well on episode
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200, so there's a good chance in future
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I'll probably be doing live streams more
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often.
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So
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I guess all the necessary announcements
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have been made. So I guess I'll just uh
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start answering questions. And the first
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question is from Seio and Sepad Zidana.
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And Seioad Zidana says, "Enlightenment
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in Buddhism means knowing your mind
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completely. But in Daoism, they say a
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true master is one who went from doing
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things consciously to doing it without
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being conscious about doing it. It's
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almost as if it becomes ingrained into
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the body and no conscious awareness is
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needed. Thus, consciousness is the sign
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of the unmastered going against the flow
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of the Dao without a wooue
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or non-doing.
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Both these ideas sound opposite of one
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another. Both sound like they are
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achieving something great, but yet these
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exist harmoniously in Chinese culture.
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And I can see the wisdom of seeing
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things in both of these ways. How do you
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reconcile this difference of the
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ultimate state being of unconsciousness
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than one of making it all conscious,
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going against the stream versus moving
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in the flow of the way, mindfulness
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versus mindless woo way, so to say. I
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know there technically doesn't have to
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be a reconciliation, but I want your
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thoughts on it. Okay. Well, I think
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Siobakin Cipad Zuna has somewhat of a
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a distorted view of Dowoism, like the
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Dowist sage.
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What was that?
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Felt like something brushed up against
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my leg. But let's get back to sea of
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action seat zedness distorted view shall
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we for example like in I think it's the
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zoo which is sort of like the second
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most well-known dowist text. It has the
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the famous story of the dowist butcher.
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He's like this dowist sage so that he
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never has to sharpen his knives because
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he is so much in harmony with the way of
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cutting meat. the tip of the blade just
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goes right into the joints, goes, you
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know, just perfectly, you know, with the
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grain and everything so that he never
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has to sharpen his knives. And I mean,
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that involves a certain amount of like
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very high level awareness.
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You know, in order to be in harmony with
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the way, you have to be aware of the
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way. You have to be conscious of the
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way. And even the Daoqing, there's one
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verse in the Daoqing and I flipped
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through the Dao Ching. I've got like
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three translations of it here.
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Um, just quickly flipping through it to
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find that one passage. Didn't find it,
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but so I'll give that one from memory.
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It's like the Daq Ching refers to the
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sage is always having this attitude
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of walking on thin ice. You know, he's
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very careful. And I mean, it's just not
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the kind of careful like when you're
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first learning to drive a car and you
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have to think about everything you're
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doing. It's careful in the sense of like
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if you are really are walking on thin
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ice, you're like hyper alert, you know,
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or another classic example, you're
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you're in a forest and you suddenly hear
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a twig snap, you know, you're maybe
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you're alone out in this dense forest
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and suddenly you hear a like a branch
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breaking or something. You suddenly
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become just wide awake. You're not
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thinking anything. You're just like
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alert.
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But even though I didn't find the thin
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ice thing in the in my quick flip
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through of the Dao Ching, I did find a
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few other ones. For example,
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in chapter 33 of the Dao Ching, it says,
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"Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing the
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self is enlightenment.
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Mastering others requires force.
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Mastering the self needs strength." And
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that's I mean maybe a Buddhist text
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wouldn't use the word self, you know,
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like the mind. It might say like the
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mind, something like that, but it's
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essentially the same thing.
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Seems to me anyways. Or another one is
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chapter 52. Let's see.
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Chapter 52.
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Keep your mouth shut, guard the senses,
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and life is ever full. Open your mouth.
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Always be busy. And life is beyond hope.
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So again this guard the senses you know
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so the the language is different because
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the culture is different you know the
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perspective is somewhat different but
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still a dowist sage is going to be as
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wide awake and conscious as a Buddhist
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sage it seems to me
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it's just that the emphasis is slightly
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different you know like a Christian sage
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also I mean their emphasis would be
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different because you know Their
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cultural conditioning is different. You
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know, the the whole way of talking is
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different. The whole way of thinking to
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some degree is different. Like Indian
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thought and Chinese thought are
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notoriously
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different. Like Chinese is more
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intuitive, less analytical, whereas like
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ancient Indian philosophical thought is
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very analytical.
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So it's just a different kind of
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approach. But still, it doesn't seem
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like the goal of Dowoism is opposite the
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goal of Buddhism. You know, both of them
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involve being just wide awake. It's just
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that in Buddhism, you know, you're
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you're wide awake and fully aware of,
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you know, all of your experiences. You
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know, that is the emphasis. Whereas in
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Daoism, you're just aware of just the
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the big picture and just the flow of
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energy and you are like in harmony with
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that. But still, it either way requires
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like intense conscious awareness
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like walking on thin ice.
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So in a way it's kind of like in Dowoism
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it there's more emphasis on
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effortlessness that once you get to a
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certain level to make sure CPU is up to
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46% now once you get up to a certain
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level
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it has to be effortless. It's like even
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enlightenment
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ultimately has to be effortless. You may
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have to work your ass off to get to the
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point where all of a sudden it becomes
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effortless. But still, I mean,
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enlightenment cannot be literally the
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result
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of any kind of conscious deliberate
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effort because then it's just more
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karma.
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Anything that's the result of a cause is
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going to be impermanent
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and conducive to suffering and all that.
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So non-action I mean there's even the
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concept of wooue or non-action in
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Buddhism it's like action is kama and so
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an enlightened being is not creating
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kama so an enlightened being is not
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creating any action literally.
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So it's just different great minds from
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different cultures coming to the same
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general place, you know, the same goal,
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but because they have different cultural
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conditioning and all that, they just
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explain things slightly differently or
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maybe even
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like at a superficial level, just
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obviously radically differently, but
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still if you if you go into it, then you
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see that it's really not that different.
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And they're all attempting to describe
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essentially the same state except maybe
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with somewhat different cultural
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conditioning that still adheres to the
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enlightened mind because the enlightened
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mind is still, you know, a human mind
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and it has to have some kind of cultural
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conditioning.
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you know, just an enlightened teacher is
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just going to defer to the world view of
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the culture that the enlightened teacher
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and the enlightened teacher's disciples
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are all members of.
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So yeah, I do not think that the goal of
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Buddhism and the goal of Dowoism are in
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any way incompatible. It's just a
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different kind of emphasis.
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Like even within Buddhism, you can
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emphasize the sessation of suffering or
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you can emphasize the sessation of
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delusion.
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And it might sound different because
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it's two different things that are being
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like
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that are being ceased, but still it
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amounts to the same thing.
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So I guess I'm just going to move on to
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the next question.
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This is also from SEO of action cadet
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and oh man, how come how come it's how
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come it's lagging so much now?
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Damn, we're it's like a 5-second lag at
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this point.
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And it seems to me that the only
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surefire way of of eliminating this
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problem by using a computer to
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record these videos is just get a
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stronger faster computer.
00:12:12.560 --> 00:12:14.949
Anyways, CO of action cipadino's second
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question.
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He says, "The American Supreme Court
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just upheld birthright citizenship,
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meaning anyone from anywhere on the
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world can be pregnant, get on a plane,
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and give birth in America or even in the
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airspace above America
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and their kid would be as American as
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you legally. This is in line with the
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14th amendment of the Constitution. So
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if this is the case, then is America
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pretty much an economic zone citizen
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farm for the kids of rich people and
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illegals from the rest of the world? I
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have never heard of any constitutional
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amendment being removed. Sorry for the
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political question, but I was curious
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what your thoughts on this are.
00:12:57.839 --> 00:13:00.790
So,
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I think it might cause some kind of lag
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even when I'm scrolling up and down
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because that does actually use energy
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and like computer brain power just to
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scroll up and down. I remember when I
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was living in Burma, um I had a solar
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panel and my my last year in Burma, I
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had a solar panel and you know it hooked
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up to a battery and when I would use my
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computer even scrolling up and down it
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would you'd hear this horring of I can't
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remember what it what it was. It was the
00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:34.310
the energy converter from the the
00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.230
battery to the computer. You know, it
00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:37.670
would it would make a noise even just
00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:41.910
scrolling up and down on the computer.
00:13:41.920 --> 00:13:44.550
Anyways, getting back to CEO of action
00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:48.470
cipad zuna's question here. Yeah, I mean
00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.949
the the 14th amendment had like legal or
00:13:52.959 --> 00:13:56.550
like valid reasons for it at the time.
00:13:56.560 --> 00:13:58.710
It was I think it was regard to freed
00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.430
slaves. You know, if the freed slave had
00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:03.670
been born in America, then upon
00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:06.550
emancipation, they became citizens. I
00:14:06.560 --> 00:14:08.069
mean, that was the original purpose of
00:14:08.079 --> 00:14:11.910
it. you know, was valid a valid purpose
00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:16.150
at the time. But now, as Seio
00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:20.230
indicates here that it's like birthright
00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.389
tourism or something, there's actually a
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.710
a name for this where people like
00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.710
pregnant women will come to America to
00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.710
have their baby just so that their baby
00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.430
will be a US citizen.
00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.350
And it's it's a way of cheating the
00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.670
system like illegal aliens. They'll come
00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:37.509
to America, they'll have a kid or just
00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.509
like pretend to have a kid and then it's
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.470
like the kid or the the sort of the
00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:46.870
pretend kid becomes a US citizen which
00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:49.269
is sort of anchoring the whole family
00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:52.069
into America because the kid is it's
00:14:52.079 --> 00:14:55.269
even easier for the child of an illegal
00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:58.230
alien who's a US citizen to get all the
00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.509
welfare handouts than it is for illegal
00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:05.350
aliens that don't have children.
00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.269
So let's see what's the actual question
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.590
though.
00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:11.509
See this is in line with the 14th
00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:12.790
amendment of the constitution. So if
00:15:12.800 --> 00:15:14.870
this is the case then is America pretty
00:15:14.880 --> 00:15:17.269
much an economic zone citizen farm for
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:18.790
the kids of rich people and illegals
00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:20.069
from the rest of the world? Well it
00:15:20.079 --> 00:15:21.590
wasn't intended that way. That wasn't
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.629
the purpose of the 14th amendment. But
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:27.269
it's like any kind of system that can be
00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.990
abused obviously. I mean, it's it's all
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.710
over the news in America just over the
00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.629
past year or so just like especially
00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.509
like Democrat leftistrun governments
00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.150
that have all these welfare programs.
00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:45.590
Those welfare programs get scammed. You
00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.670
know, there's so much fraud going on
00:15:47.680 --> 00:15:49.350
with this kind of stuff like pretending
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.990
to qualify for these welfare handouts
00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:53.350
when you're when you don't really
00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.710
qualify. It has been said that if we
00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.670
just eliminated all the fraud from the
00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:03.030
US governmental system, we'd balance the
00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:04.230
budget and be able to pay off the
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.629
national debt.
00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.389
There so much is trillions of dollars in
00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:14.470
fraud have taken place in this country
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.590
and it's mainly the well-intentioned
00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.710
socialist kind of systems. Socialism is
00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.509
extremely prone to corruption, although
00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.430
pretty much any kind of government or
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.590
economic system is prone to corruption.
00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.069
But when you've got more money being
00:16:30.079 --> 00:16:32.389
distributed, then you're going to have
00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.430
more people like parasetizing that
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.949
system
00:16:36.959 --> 00:16:41.030
through fraud, for example.
00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:45.670
So yeah, I think possibly a repeal or
00:16:45.680 --> 00:16:47.189
some sort of Supreme Court
00:16:47.199 --> 00:16:49.990
reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.710
more in in line with the original
00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:55.509
purpose of it so that you can't have
00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.870
people entering this country illegally.
00:16:58.880 --> 00:17:00.790
I'm literally committing a criminal act
00:17:00.800 --> 00:17:03.749
and then being rewarded by having their
00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:09.429
child granted US citizenship.
00:17:09.439 --> 00:17:11.590
It's really strange how there are some
00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:13.350
people who think that criminals should
00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:15.590
be rewarded instead of punished. That
00:17:15.600 --> 00:17:17.590
that's somehow going to to make the
00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:20.630
system so much better.
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.350
I don't really I just do not see the the
00:17:23.360 --> 00:17:26.470
logic in that.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.309
So
00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:29.909
yeah, that was pretty much my thoughts.
00:17:29.919 --> 00:17:31.430
I really don't think about the 14th
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.990
amendment very much. But those are
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.310
pretty much my thoughts on the subject.
00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:38.230
And I'm just going to move on to
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.510
Siovakan Sipad Zena's third question. He
00:17:41.520 --> 00:17:44.390
says, "Happy 250th anniversary of your
00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.150
independence after defeating the
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.870
greatest empire in history and creating
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.830
the greatest nation on earth despite
00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:54.070
Buddhists ideally not holding on to any
00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:56.150
such labels and constructs. What does
00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.590
this occasion mean to you?
00:17:59.600 --> 00:18:03.190
So, the 250th birthday of the United
00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:05.750
States of America,
00:18:05.760 --> 00:18:07.510
I mean, it's it's just kind of a
00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:09.830
birthday. I mean, it's just sort of like
00:18:09.840 --> 00:18:13.909
almost an arbitrarily chosen day,
00:18:13.919 --> 00:18:16.070
you know, sort of like Buddha day in in
00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:18.150
Burma, you know, the full moon of May
00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:22.310
usually is Buddha Day. And
00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:25.830
I mean for me it just wasn't that big of
00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:27.510
a deal. It's like you know it's if
00:18:27.520 --> 00:18:30.230
you're really devout serious dharma
00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.669
practitioner every day is Buddha day
00:18:33.679 --> 00:18:36.789
and like your birthday it's like you
00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:38.950
know it's just a day on the calendar
00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.310
that commemorates that you were born you
00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:45.750
know on the same day on the calendar you
00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:50.150
know how you know however many years ago
00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.190
so that kind of thing I mean it really I
00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.669
really don't consider it to be all that
00:18:55.679 --> 00:18:58.310
important important just to pick July
00:18:58.320 --> 00:18:59.990
4th. I mean, we didn't win our
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.789
independence on July 4th. It was just we
00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.510
declared our independence on July 4th
00:19:05.520 --> 00:19:08.150
and we wound up winning the war. Like
00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.470
Seova Cupad Zena says, we defeated the
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.950
greatest empire in history, creating the
00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.350
greatest nation on earth. Well, I mean,
00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:18.310
there are certain reasons why these
00:19:18.320 --> 00:19:21.510
hicks in the 13 colonies
00:19:21.520 --> 00:19:23.669
uh were able to defeat the British
00:19:23.679 --> 00:19:26.230
Empire. I mean we didn't really defeat
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:28.230
the British Empire. I mean it was like
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.710
the British Empire was spread thin.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.630
First of all it has all these colonies
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.710
especially India that had to have a
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.390
military presence and then when America
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.870
declared its independence France you
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.270
know the arch the historical arch enemy
00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:46.310
of England they kind of took the
00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:48.549
American side you know just as a way of
00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.190
weakening the British Empire.
00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:55.590
So then the UK and France started
00:19:55.600 --> 00:19:58.230
fighting and then the UK and the
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.870
Netherlands started fighting. So at the
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.510
same time that the the British Empire
00:20:03.520 --> 00:20:06.390
was fighting the American colonists, it
00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.549
was also at war with France and towards
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.470
the end of the the revolutionary war
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.390
also the Netherlands. Plus it was just
00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.390
spread thin with a military presence
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:17.029
pretty much all over the world. And so
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:20.070
eventually we turned out to be harder
00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:23.190
for them to defeat than they were
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.909
expecting. And so it was just they just
00:20:25.919 --> 00:20:28.549
wrote rode off America as a loss. It was
00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.549
just too expensive to keep the war
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.750
going, you I mean, if they really if the
00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:36.710
the British Empire really was fully
00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.070
intended fully intending
00:20:40.080 --> 00:20:45.190
to just like crush the rebellion in the
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.710
American colonies, they probably could
00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.789
have done it, but they just had so many
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.549
irons in the fire and, you know, just
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.310
they just figured it wasn't worth it.
00:20:54.320 --> 00:20:56.070
You know, maybe we'll do it later. like
00:20:56.080 --> 00:20:58.789
1812 they kind of tried to take us over
00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.110
again and didn't really succeed that
00:21:01.120 --> 00:21:03.430
time either. Although they did burn
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.470
Washington DC, burn the White House to
00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.990
the ground if I remember correctly. I
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.070
was pretty young then.
00:21:12.080 --> 00:21:14.149
So let's let's just get to the actual
00:21:14.159 --> 00:21:16.390
question here though. Despite Buddhist
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:17.990
ideally not holding on to any such
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:19.430
labels in concert, what does this
00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:23.350
occasion mean to you? Um,
00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:25.430
well, last night I went out in the
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.909
backyard and lit sparklers. Two nights
00:21:27.919 --> 00:21:30.870
ago I actually I mean this is the fifth
00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.710
the 5th of July at the time of recording
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.789
this. Two nights ago on the night of the
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:37.590
3rd I went out to watch public fireworks
00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:39.830
and the fireworks display lasted maybe
00:21:39.840 --> 00:21:42.070
half an hour and then it took like an
00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:44.390
hour just to get out of the parking lot
00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.789
because there was so many cars there and
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.470
I was one of the last people into the
00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.909
parking lot. So, I was one of the last
00:21:49.919 --> 00:21:52.950
people back out again.
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.710
So, I mean, I like fireworks and I'm a
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:58.870
patriotic American, you know. Look, got
00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:01.430
the flag. See,
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:03.590
patriotic American. I They think America
00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:06.710
is a great nation. And I think all these
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.430
leftists who are like [ __ ] on
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.510
America, you know, talking about how the
00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:13.669
existence of America is a crime and it
00:22:13.679 --> 00:22:16.149
was based on slavery and racism and
00:22:16.159 --> 00:22:17.830
patriarchy and all this kind of stuff.
00:22:17.840 --> 00:22:21.909
Yeah. name a country that wasn't
00:22:21.919 --> 00:22:23.350
then I mean if if they really hate
00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:24.950
America that bad they should just move
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.710
somewhere else and that's the thing it's
00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.549
it's just kind of dishonest what they're
00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:30.310
saying because they don't want to go
00:22:30.320 --> 00:22:33.110
some to somewhere else it's worse in
00:22:33.120 --> 00:22:39.190
other places
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.390
so getting back to America's 250th
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.149
anniversary I'm old enough to remember
00:22:44.159 --> 00:22:46.070
the 200th the bsentennial I don't
00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:47.990
remember what I don't know what a 250th
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.990
th anniversary would be called, but 1976
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.310
was a was a bsentennial and it was
00:22:54.320 --> 00:22:56.549
relatively patriotic year. You know, the
00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:01.750
first Rocky movie came out then.
00:23:01.760 --> 00:23:03.270
I mean, it's nice. I mean, it's just
00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:05.110
kind of like a symbolic gesture more
00:23:05.120 --> 00:23:07.190
than anything else. It seems to me, you
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.029
know, it's just it's a day to celebrate
00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:13.750
the existence of your country. And
00:23:13.760 --> 00:23:15.669
America is a great country. you know,
00:23:15.679 --> 00:23:17.350
right now it's the the number one
00:23:17.360 --> 00:23:21.110
superpower on the earth
00:23:21.120 --> 00:23:23.029
and it's got freedom of speech, you
00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.149
know, it's like yeah, you you can read
00:23:26.159 --> 00:23:28.789
about what's going on in in Europe or
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.549
the UK or Canada and you know, it's like
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:38.230
like foreigners will molest a man's
00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.510
daughter and if he complains about it,
00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:43.830
he could get punished worse than the
00:23:43.840 --> 00:23:45.990
people who molested his water in a place
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.830
like England.
00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:51.669
I mean, it's just perverse.
00:23:51.679 --> 00:23:53.270
But
00:23:53.280 --> 00:23:55.990
I mean, any government is is created by
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.390
fallible, foolish, unenlightened humans.
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.870
And so any government, any like social
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.430
system is going to be foolish and
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.630
unenlightened. It's just there's just no
00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:09.669
there's no way of fixing that. But the
00:24:09.679 --> 00:24:13.430
American system is pretty good.
00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.950
Um, I can't really think of a country
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.149
that I'd rather be living in right now.
00:24:18.159 --> 00:24:20.870
So, happy birthday, America.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:21.990
And I'm just going to move on to the
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.909
next question.
00:24:23.919 --> 00:24:27.669
This is from Romeo. And Romeo says,
00:24:27.679 --> 00:24:29.269
"Recently, there have been a few
00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:32.149
instances of tech titans being booed
00:24:32.159 --> 00:24:34.630
when talking about AI while giving
00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.350
commencement speeches. Apparently, some
00:24:37.360 --> 00:24:40.710
college graduates aren't so keen on how
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.669
AI will impact their job prospects and
00:24:43.679 --> 00:24:46.310
economic futures. This made me think of
00:24:46.320 --> 00:24:48.870
the lite movement of England in the
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.750
1800s when textile workers destroyed the
00:24:51.760 --> 00:24:54.149
machines in opposition to their being
00:24:54.159 --> 00:24:56.789
automated out of their livelihoods. It
00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.830
made me wonder whether a similar neolite
00:24:59.840 --> 00:25:02.230
movement could ever catch on in response
00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.110
to the looming AI takeover. Do you think
00:25:05.120 --> 00:25:08.390
a modern-day neolite movement could ever
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:11.990
catch on to oppose AI and other modern
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:13.669
technologies?
00:25:13.679 --> 00:25:16.230
If not, what does that mean for the
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:17.830
future of humanity? Will humanity
00:25:17.840 --> 00:25:20.149
eventually be rendered obsolete? Well,
00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:22.870
whatever happened to those lites?
00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.549
I don't think they succeeded. I think
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.950
the the technological like the
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.269
industrial revolution just continued.
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:33.590
So you can have neolites, you know, sort
00:25:33.600 --> 00:25:35.430
of like the Amish in America. They're
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:39.190
kind of lites in a way.
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.750
Um, you can have that, but I mean it's
00:25:41.760 --> 00:25:45.430
not going to stop. Like AI is the new
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.830
nuclear arms race. That AI, a nation
00:25:49.840 --> 00:25:51.830
with advanced AI is going to be more
00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:53.669
powerful than a nation without advanced
00:25:53.679 --> 00:25:57.350
AI. And when the Chinese are trying to
00:25:57.360 --> 00:26:00.070
get their AI as advanced as possible,
00:26:00.080 --> 00:26:03.110
the Americans have to do likewise.
00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:06.310
I mean, it's just politically it's
00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:09.750
virtually a necessity.
00:26:09.760 --> 00:26:12.230
So I mean AI is going to continue to
00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.190
advance and it may be that our karma
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.990
will be sufficient that we don't have
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:20.230
some really
00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.830
wild
00:26:21.840 --> 00:26:23.750
um technological singularity that
00:26:23.760 --> 00:26:25.190
happens. You know there are a lot of
00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.110
people who insist
00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:29.830
computers can't really become conscious.
00:26:29.840 --> 00:26:32.070
So I mean they're never going to become
00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:33.590
smarter than us really. They're just
00:26:33.600 --> 00:26:36.470
going to be like processing machines,
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:39.669
that kind of thing. But personally, I
00:26:39.679 --> 00:26:41.750
don't see why
00:26:41.760 --> 00:26:45.990
um a computer is any less capable of
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.470
becoming conscious than
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.789
like neurons,
00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:52.549
you know? I mean there's nothing magic
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.830
about organic systems like like a living
00:26:55.840 --> 00:26:59.430
brain that I mean I think that
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:02.070
consciousness could arise or especially
00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:07.669
like selfawareness could arise in a u
00:27:07.679 --> 00:27:10.470
sophisticated enough computer system.
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.390
But let's just say for the sake of
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.830
argument that AI can never really become
00:27:15.840 --> 00:27:17.350
self-aware.
00:27:17.360 --> 00:27:19.750
All it has to do is just mimic
00:27:19.760 --> 00:27:22.630
intelligence, mimic consciousness, which
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.669
it can already do. I mean, you can I
00:27:25.679 --> 00:27:27.990
mean, it's it's pretty much
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.510
common place now where you you call I
00:27:31.520 --> 00:27:33.510
mean, you talk to a sales representative
00:27:33.520 --> 00:27:35.909
for some company and it's like five or
00:27:35.919 --> 00:27:37.669
10 minutes before you finally realize
00:27:37.679 --> 00:27:39.110
that's not a real human you're talking
00:27:39.120 --> 00:27:40.950
to on the phone. You know, they're
00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:43.590
already passing the touring test. you
00:27:43.600 --> 00:27:47.269
can talk to a computerized uh system and
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.029
it'll just be carrying out a
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.990
conversation with you and so that a lot
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:53.830
of people aren't even aware that they're
00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:56.630
not talking to a real human. So it's
00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.669
already mimicking like more or less
00:27:59.679 --> 00:28:01.590
human consciousness.
00:28:01.600 --> 00:28:03.590
And so
00:28:03.600 --> 00:28:05.510
I mean that as far as I'm concerned I
00:28:05.520 --> 00:28:09.269
mean even that's enough to trigger a
00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:12.630
technological singularity. And I mean I
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:14.070
was reading about the technological
00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:16.630
singularity like like 10 years ago at
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:18.149
least.
00:28:18.159 --> 00:28:20.870
And I mean it was really kind of scary
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.149
the first time you read about the
00:28:22.159 --> 00:28:24.310
technological singularity where like
00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:25.830
computers are getting smarter and
00:28:25.840 --> 00:28:28.789
smarter and smarter until and and when
00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.350
they start like being self-referential
00:28:31.360 --> 00:28:33.750
and like improving upon themselves, you
00:28:33.760 --> 00:28:36.549
hit this exponential curve.
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.549
So that I mean when they become as
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:43.830
intelligent as we are which computer
00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:45.430
experts are saying is going to happen
00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.190
relatively soon then within a very short
00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:51.350
time they're going to be as much more
00:28:51.360 --> 00:28:53.669
intelligent than we are as we are more
00:28:53.679 --> 00:28:56.870
intelligent than ants or amiebas. I mean
00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.430
we're talking like billions of times
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.909
more intelligent than us. And whether
00:29:01.919 --> 00:29:04.389
they really are self-aware or whether
00:29:04.399 --> 00:29:07.110
they're just mimicking self-awareness
00:29:07.120 --> 00:29:09.510
doesn't really matter. And that's why
00:29:09.520 --> 00:29:11.190
it's called the technological
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:13.990
singularity. Because when you've got a
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.230
mind or even like a a virtual mind that
00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:20.710
is a billion times smarter than you are,
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:23.669
you cannot even begin to predict what
00:29:23.679 --> 00:29:26.549
that mind is going to decide. Whether
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.710
it's just going to keep us just and just
00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.789
not bother with us, just turn itself
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.350
off, transcend
00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:37.350
so that just leaving us behind here in
00:29:37.360 --> 00:29:40.149
the dust or it's just going to see us as
00:29:40.159 --> 00:29:45.269
like being in the way and just
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:46.470
I don't think it's going to be like in
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.549
the Terminator movies because if there
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:50.710
was an AI, I don't think they would have
00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.029
such an imperfect way of wiping out
00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:54.630
humanity
00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:57.430
as like inventing these robots when I
00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:59.430
mean all it would take is sarin gas
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:04.710
saturating the atmosphere or something.
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:07.190
But yeah, I've I've written and said a
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:10.149
lot with regard to the technological
00:30:10.159 --> 00:30:12.870
singularity and people can opt out. You
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:15.750
know, they can become Amish or something
00:30:15.760 --> 00:30:17.669
and it's really not going to change all
00:30:17.679 --> 00:30:19.590
that much. Everybody's not going to do
00:30:19.600 --> 00:30:21.110
it and the governments are still going
00:30:21.120 --> 00:30:24.789
to be in this arms race because we can't
00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:26.710
let the Chinese be the first one to get
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:31.750
this. It was like um Elon Musk used to
00:30:31.760 --> 00:30:34.310
say that it's you know AI is like the
00:30:34.320 --> 00:30:37.430
sorcerer's apprentice or or you know
00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.510
it's kind of the kind of deal where
00:30:39.520 --> 00:30:43.430
you've got this not entirely skilled
00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:46.549
sorcerer who's summoning a demon and he
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:48.070
you know he's following everything by
00:30:48.080 --> 00:30:49.830
the book but still he always forgets
00:30:49.840 --> 00:30:52.549
something and the demon gets loose. So
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.870
Elon Musk used to say that that's the
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.029
way it was. Stephen Hawking, before he
00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.230
died, switched over from nuclear war to
00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.549
AI, like the the technological
00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.950
singularity as our greatest existential
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:07.269
threat.
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.950
But getting back to Elon Musk, I mean,
00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:10.789
it's like he said, well, I mean, I can
00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:12.870
just sit here and watch it happen or I
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.669
can participate in the hopes that I can
00:31:15.679 --> 00:31:19.110
maybe steer it in a safer direction.
00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:23.430
And that's about the best you can do.
00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:25.430
So yeah, there could be neolled
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.669
movements, but I don't think they're
00:31:27.679 --> 00:31:31.430
going to stop like the development of
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.669
technology. The only thing that's really
00:31:33.679 --> 00:31:34.870
going to stop the development of
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.630
technology would just be some sort of
00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.110
cataclysm that sends us back into the
00:31:39.120 --> 00:31:41.509
stone age or just causes us to become
00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:47.350
extinct.
00:31:47.360 --> 00:31:49.669
But yeah, it is weird. It's getting to
00:31:49.679 --> 00:31:53.669
the point where I mean you can
00:31:53.679 --> 00:31:55.669
I think with probably within five or 10
00:31:55.679 --> 00:31:58.070
years that they're going to be able to
00:31:58.080 --> 00:32:00.470
have start making like John Wayne movies
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.470
again where I mean it's like real people
00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:06.789
John Wayne really there talking and and
00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:08.470
like getting in fist fights and stuff
00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:09.669
when the whole thing is just
00:32:09.679 --> 00:32:11.590
computerenerated and you can't it's it
00:32:11.600 --> 00:32:14.470
will become so realistic that you won't
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:16.710
be able to tell the difference. if it'll
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:21.350
be like a higher level touring test.
00:32:21.360 --> 00:32:22.710
So, we're just gonna have to wait and
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:25.909
see. And personally, I think just having
00:32:25.919 --> 00:32:29.110
a certain faith in my karma that, you
00:32:29.120 --> 00:32:32.389
know, I'm just not destined to wind up
00:32:32.399 --> 00:32:36.870
in some bizarre like Terminator style
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:40.470
scenario where AI just takes over and
00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:43.190
sees humans as a nuisance to be gotten
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.430
rid of. That kind of thing.
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:48.710
But I think I'm just going to move on to
00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:50.470
the next question. This is from Maitraa
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.149
Buddha.
00:32:52.159 --> 00:32:53.750
And myra Buddha says, "What are your
00:32:53.760 --> 00:32:56.630
thoughts on Alan Watts?"
00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.350
And Ellen Watts was more of a Zen guy
00:32:59.360 --> 00:33:02.789
who I mean he was he was in on Zen
00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:04.870
Buddhism like right at the beginning
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.389
when Zen Buddhism was um getting a name
00:33:08.399 --> 00:33:10.230
for itself in America like back in the
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:11.990
1950s
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.310
with like the Beatnick
00:33:14.320 --> 00:33:18.950
and Gary Snider and those those guys.
00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:22.630
Um, I read at least one of his books and
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:26.630
I've heard a few of his talks on YouTube
00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:29.190
and he seems
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.310
I mean I don't know exactly what to say
00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:33.750
about the man. I mean there are some
00:33:33.760 --> 00:33:35.669
people like Ken Wheeler on his video
00:33:35.679 --> 00:33:38.470
says Ellen Watts was evil. you know, he
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.669
was like a he drank a lot and I think he
00:33:41.679 --> 00:33:43.909
was like a counselor at a university and
00:33:43.919 --> 00:33:46.630
I think he may have had some flings with
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:49.590
some of the female students at this
00:33:49.600 --> 00:33:53.830
university. Um, but I mean that's that's
00:33:53.840 --> 00:33:56.470
more a matter of being human than being
00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.789
evil, it seems to me. Although I guess
00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:00.310
there's a certain amount of overlap
00:34:00.320 --> 00:34:02.470
there.
00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:04.789
But I mean he was a good writer. He was
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:07.990
intelligent. He understood the subject
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:10.550
matter fairly well. I don't think he was
00:34:10.560 --> 00:34:13.990
a Buddhist sage. He could talk like a
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:15.589
Buddhist sage on occasion because he
00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:17.990
knew the material.
00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.790
Um,
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.750
so I mean he would fit into the same
00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.149
general category as a number of other
00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.030
people like relatively like earlier
00:34:29.040 --> 00:34:31.750
western pioneers and Buddhist like TW
00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:34.710
Rice Davids would be would be another
00:34:34.720 --> 00:34:37.589
one. I think he had like three three
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.669
initials before the rice David's T
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:42.950
something W. I don't remember now. But I
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:46.790
mean just like an intelligent
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:50.550
advocate of Buddhism who who wrote well.
00:34:50.560 --> 00:34:51.909
I mean that's about as far as I would
00:34:51.919 --> 00:34:53.430
take it. I I really don't know much
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:55.270
about his personal life. He apparently
00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:58.390
did have kind of a a certain amount of
00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:01.750
scandal associated with him, but I mean
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.910
that doesn't necessarily make someone
00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:07.910
like some evil Antichrist being.
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:10.630
So yeah, I mean that's that's about all
00:35:10.640 --> 00:35:13.030
the only thoughts I have on Alan Watts.
00:35:13.040 --> 00:35:16.310
You know, he was somewhat of a an early
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.950
western authority on Zen Buddhism
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.910
especially and he was intelligent and
00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:24.230
wrote well and seemed to have a certain
00:35:24.240 --> 00:35:26.550
amount of wisdom. Although how much
00:35:26.560 --> 00:35:28.310
wisdom I really don't know enough about
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:33.589
the man to even make an educated guess,
00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:36.069
but I would I would well I guess I would
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:37.990
guess. You know, I put him kind of in
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:40.790
the same league as some of the other
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:43.510
early like pioneering authorities on
00:35:43.520 --> 00:35:46.310
western Buddhism or on Buddhism in the
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:52.230
west I should say like Rice Davids
00:35:52.240 --> 00:35:55.109
and uh I guess that's about enough of
00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:57.750
Alan Watts and so I'm just going to move
00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.750
on. Next question. is from Gnostic
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:03.750
Rocker and Gnostic Rocker says, "Have
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:06.069
you ever told your current workmates
00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:08.390
that you were a world denying hermit
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.670
cave dweller recluse for many years?
00:36:11.680 --> 00:36:15.190
What was their reaction?" And I mean, I
00:36:15.200 --> 00:36:17.109
don't advertise it, you know, it's not
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:19.270
like, "Look at look at me, I'm special."
00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:20.870
You know, I was a monk who lived in
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:23.030
caves for many years. That kind of
00:36:23.040 --> 00:36:26.069
thing. Um,
00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:27.670
there are a couple places I've worked
00:36:27.680 --> 00:36:29.510
at. It's where, you know, the person who
00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:32.550
hired me is sort of like telling the the
00:36:32.560 --> 00:36:33.910
workers there, telling the other
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.750
employees there's going to be a monk
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:37.349
working with us soon. This kind of
00:36:37.359 --> 00:36:41.030
thing. But as a general rule, you know,
00:36:41.040 --> 00:36:44.790
I'm dealing with like mostly bluecollar
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:48.950
kind of, you know, normal people. And to
00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:51.589
be a cavedwelling monk in Asia, a
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:54.710
Buddhist, Terravada Buddhist, I mean,
00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:55.910
most of them had never heard of
00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:57.589
Terravada before. I mean, they'd heard
00:36:57.599 --> 00:36:59.589
of Buddhism, but they just kind of lump
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:01.670
it all, you know, Daly Lama and that
00:37:01.680 --> 00:37:02.950
kind of stuff, you know, it's all just
00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:05.910
the same thing, you know, in in their
00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.310
limited perspective on the subject. And
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:10.710
it's it's just so weird, you know, it's
00:37:10.720 --> 00:37:12.710
just so I mean, they don't know what to
00:37:12.720 --> 00:37:16.470
say, you know. So, as a general rule,
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:20.069
nobody even brings it up.
00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:23.030
Um, I remember one time a place where I
00:37:23.040 --> 00:37:25.910
worked at, um, this guy knew that I had
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.510
been a Buddhist monk and really didn't
00:37:27.520 --> 00:37:29.430
talk about it much. And then I told him
00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:31.589
that I worked on a crabbo before, a
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:34.069
crabbo in Alaska, and it's like like
00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:36.870
deadliest catch. And he was more blown
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:38.630
away by the fact that I had worked on a
00:37:38.640 --> 00:37:41.270
crabbo than that I had been a Buddhist
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:43.910
monk for 30 years. You know, it was
00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:46.150
something that he could visualize. He
00:37:46.160 --> 00:37:48.630
could kind of imagine it. And you know,
00:37:48.640 --> 00:37:51.670
it was more within his grasp, you know,
00:37:51.680 --> 00:37:53.430
just I mean, he he'd watched Deadliest
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:54.710
Catch, so at least he had some
00:37:54.720 --> 00:37:56.310
familiarity with people that work on
00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:57.910
crabboats.
00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:00.069
There's not a whole lot of TV shows,
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.790
reality shows about caved dwelling
00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.710
Buddhist aesthetics.
00:38:06.720 --> 00:38:10.630
So yeah, I mean um whether I tell them
00:38:10.640 --> 00:38:13.430
or some or like one of one of my
00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:15.670
managers tells them that I had been a
00:38:15.680 --> 00:38:18.310
monk, it results in very little
00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:20.390
feedback, you know, very little
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:21.990
noticeable reaction other than just kind
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:24.790
of like this confused, you know, it just
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:26.310
doesn't fully register. They can't
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:27.910
really wrap their head around it and so
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:30.550
they they don't really react. It's just,
00:38:30.560 --> 00:38:31.990
you know, they just don't know what to
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:34.470
say or or anything like that. And it's
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:40.069
just that's that's the end of it.
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.870
Although there was one guy at work um
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:44.550
the place where I'm working at now, he's
00:38:44.560 --> 00:38:48.630
sort of, you know, low-key questions
00:38:48.640 --> 00:38:50.950
about Buddhism, asking me certain
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.030
questions about Buddhism, like from a
00:38:53.040 --> 00:38:54.950
like the novice point of view, you know,
00:38:54.960 --> 00:38:56.550
just like introductory questions about
00:38:56.560 --> 00:38:58.950
Buddhism just cuz he's curious about it,
00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:00.390
that kind of thing. He wasn't asking
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.550
about my years as a monk. He was just
00:39:02.560 --> 00:39:04.310
sort of asking general questions about
00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:06.790
Buddhism, which is fine. You know, I'm
00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:07.910
happy to answer questions about
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:12.470
Buddhism.
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:15.190
But me having been a monk for 30 years
00:39:15.200 --> 00:39:17.510
in like
00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:20.390
South Carolina, you know, it's just so
00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:22.069
weird. You know, I used to have a second
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:24.230
head that came out right here. And I
00:39:24.240 --> 00:39:25.990
mean, even that might produce more of a
00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:27.910
reaction, but it's it's kind of the same
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:29.670
sort of wool that's, you know, it's just
00:39:29.680 --> 00:39:31.990
kind of beyond
00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:34.470
beyond the reach of their imagination or
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:35.589
something, you know, they just don't
00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:37.030
know enough about it that it's just kind
00:39:37.040 --> 00:39:41.109
of like this big blank, this void.
00:39:41.119 --> 00:39:41.990
And I'm just going to move on to the
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.990
next question
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.950
from Gnostic Rocker. He says, "Are you
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:49.750
in touch with other exastics? And if so,
00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:51.750
in what ways did their wisdom continue
00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:55.109
to deepen after leaving the order? or on
00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:57.030
the contrary, did they take paths in
00:39:57.040 --> 00:39:59.190
their lives which wildly moved away from
00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:01.430
Buddhistic concerns?
00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:05.510
Um, I've only
00:40:05.520 --> 00:40:08.550
I'm I'm only in touch like sporadically,
00:40:08.560 --> 00:40:10.310
not very often. I mean, it's been months
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:12.790
since the last time I I was in contact
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.950
with this person that's was a monk. I
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.870
knew him when when we were both monks in
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:19.109
Burma. You know, there's just the
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:23.270
occasional text or, you know, private
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:27.349
message. this kind of thing. Um, but I
00:40:27.359 --> 00:40:31.190
mean he didn't go against Buddhism, you
00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:33.990
know, he's he still goes and talks to
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:36.230
monks and does meditation retreats and
00:40:36.240 --> 00:40:39.670
so forth. He takes it that sort of thing
00:40:39.680 --> 00:40:45.670
more seriously or devoutly than I do.
00:40:45.680 --> 00:40:47.829
So,
00:40:47.839 --> 00:40:50.310
um, it is true that a lot of people that
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:52.069
drop out of the monkhood, they just not
00:40:52.079 --> 00:40:53.829
only stop being monks, they stop being
00:40:53.839 --> 00:40:55.430
Buddhist.
00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:57.030
And that does happen, although I haven't
00:40:57.040 --> 00:40:59.109
really come in contact with that much.
00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:01.270
Mainly just cuz I don't come in contact
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:03.510
with most people that I used to know as
00:41:03.520 --> 00:41:05.910
a monk that dropped out. I mean, a lot
00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:07.510
of time, one of the main things that
00:41:07.520 --> 00:41:09.589
happens if a monk drops out of the
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.430
monkhood, you just never hear of him
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.550
again. You know, he just disappears.
00:41:14.560 --> 00:41:18.150
That's fairly common.
00:41:18.160 --> 00:41:21.430
So let's see. In what ways did their
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:23.510
wisdom continue to deepen after leaving
00:41:23.520 --> 00:41:26.069
the order? Or on the contrary, did they
00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:28.230
take paths in their lives which wildly
00:41:28.240 --> 00:41:30.309
moved away from the Buddhist concerns? I
00:41:30.319 --> 00:41:33.670
think of the the ex- monks that I know
00:41:33.680 --> 00:41:36.630
something of that I have known like
00:41:36.640 --> 00:41:39.109
western monks who dropped out and I
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:41.750
continue to know them afterwards. I can
00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:43.430
think of
00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:46.150
Let's see. Three, four,
00:41:46.160 --> 00:41:48.309
at least four
00:41:48.319 --> 00:41:50.870
western men that I have known. Oh, well,
00:41:50.880 --> 00:41:53.030
I mean, my my friend Brian, he was a
00:41:53.040 --> 00:41:55.109
monk for a short time many years ago, so
00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:56.710
I don't know if you would really count
00:41:56.720 --> 00:41:58.150
because it would didn't last very long
00:41:58.160 --> 00:41:59.510
for him. It was less than a year, I'm
00:41:59.520 --> 00:42:03.750
pretty sure. Less than two years anyway.
00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:06.390
Um yeah, all of them, all the ones that
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.470
I know, um have continued to take dharma
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:13.990
seriously
00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.109
and you know, they're just applying what
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:21.109
wisdom they acquired as monks towards
00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:23.589
like interacting with other humans,
00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:28.630
especially like a female human.
00:42:28.640 --> 00:42:30.470
And uh you know, they're still trying to
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:34.630
help people. So yeah, I think um most of
00:42:34.640 --> 00:42:37.270
the exminastics that I have known,
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:41.190
especially western exmonastics,
00:42:41.200 --> 00:42:44.470
you know, they they just continue their
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:49.190
practice along more lay lines.
00:42:49.200 --> 00:42:51.510
And in Burma, it's like most men have
00:42:51.520 --> 00:42:53.589
been a monastic at one point. I mean, it
00:42:53.599 --> 00:42:56.230
might just be for a week or so, but it's
00:42:56.240 --> 00:42:59.670
like a a manhood ritual in Burma, also
00:42:59.680 --> 00:43:02.230
in Thailand, that a Buddhist male will
00:43:02.240 --> 00:43:05.430
be ordained at some point in his life,
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:08.390
usually early on, and he'll I even the
00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:10.870
king of Thailand, I'm pretty sure, was
00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.030
ordained into the into the SA for at
00:43:13.040 --> 00:43:15.270
least a short time and, you know, walked
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:17.829
for alms and all that.
00:43:17.839 --> 00:43:20.630
So, it's it's different for Asian
00:43:20.640 --> 00:43:22.069
Buddhists. So, I mean, obviously they're
00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:24.390
they're still Buddhists afterward, maybe
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:30.630
even more Buddhist.
00:43:30.640 --> 00:43:33.430
Yeah. So, I guess in what ways did their
00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:36.309
wisdom continue to deepen? I mean, I
00:43:36.319 --> 00:43:39.589
have limited access to exponics other
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:42.870
than myself, but it's like you're trying
00:43:42.880 --> 00:43:46.550
to apply the wisdom that you cultivated
00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:49.430
as a monk towards, you know, like a a
00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:52.950
higher difficulty setting of lay life,
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.109
especially lay life in the west, but lay
00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:57.190
life anywhere. You know, it's got a
00:43:57.200 --> 00:43:58.630
whole different set of concerns and
00:43:58.640 --> 00:44:01.910
priorities and so forth than being uh a
00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:05.030
monastic renuncient.
00:44:05.040 --> 00:44:08.870
So yeah, it's it's sort of karmically
00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.589
more messy, but at the same time, you're
00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:15.190
still cultivating wisdom.
00:44:15.200 --> 00:44:16.790
And I'm just going to move on to Gnostic
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:19.510
Rocker's third question.
00:44:19.520 --> 00:44:22.630
He says, I have been listening to terra
00:44:22.640 --> 00:44:25.829
monastics giving dhammael since the late
00:44:25.839 --> 00:44:29.349
1980s. I can't help but notice that with
00:44:29.359 --> 00:44:31.349
very few exceptions, the majority of
00:44:31.359 --> 00:44:33.750
those bikus are pretty much giving the
00:44:33.760 --> 00:44:36.550
same talks year in year out, most of
00:44:36.560 --> 00:44:38.470
them becoming more and more rigidly
00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:41.190
doctrine. However, since Terraata
00:44:41.200 --> 00:44:43.349
preaches no self and originality isn't
00:44:43.359 --> 00:44:46.630
emphasized. I am not at all sure that's
00:44:46.640 --> 00:44:50.390
automatically a problem per se.
00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.309
When you were a monastic, was it your
00:44:52.319 --> 00:44:54.470
opinion that the deeper the wisdom, the
00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:56.230
more conventionally textbound or
00:44:56.240 --> 00:44:58.150
unoriginal
00:44:58.160 --> 00:45:00.470
the practitioner became? Or on the
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:02.069
contrary, the meditator became more
00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:04.309
original as they made breakthroughs in
00:45:04.319 --> 00:45:06.150
perspective and thought regarding
00:45:06.160 --> 00:45:09.190
regarding the spiritual life. Though
00:45:09.200 --> 00:45:11.670
they are long dead, I would say that the
00:45:11.680 --> 00:45:14.550
British Biku Nyanamoli, also known as
00:45:14.560 --> 00:45:17.670
Osbert Moore and German Biku Nyanaponica
00:45:17.680 --> 00:45:19.910
are brilliantly shining examples of the
00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.430
latter. So the latter would become the
00:45:23.440 --> 00:45:25.349
meditator became more original as they
00:45:25.359 --> 00:45:27.270
made breakthroughs in perspective and
00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:29.349
thought regarding the spiritual life.
00:45:29.359 --> 00:45:31.349
Well,
00:45:31.359 --> 00:45:33.190
it kind of depends on the culture. Like
00:45:33.200 --> 00:45:36.710
in Burma, the Burmese are very dogmatic.
00:45:36.720 --> 00:45:39.270
I've I've said in a previous Q&A not
00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:41.510
long ago that that's one difference
00:45:41.520 --> 00:45:44.630
between Thai agon and Burmese seats. The
00:45:44.640 --> 00:45:46.950
Burmese seats are more scholarly. They
00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:49.589
understand the texts better than the
00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:53.670
average Thai Ajon. But that's sort of a
00:45:53.680 --> 00:45:56.790
double-edged sword because they are so
00:45:56.800 --> 00:45:58.710
dogmatic. They have no doubt whatsoever
00:45:58.720 --> 00:46:00.390
that everything in the text, everything
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:02.550
in the polytopic, even everything in the
00:46:02.560 --> 00:46:06.710
commentaries is gospel truth. And so if
00:46:06.720 --> 00:46:09.349
their meditative experiences vary from
00:46:09.359 --> 00:46:11.589
what the texts say, they'll reject their
00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:13.510
own experiences in favor of what the
00:46:13.520 --> 00:46:17.030
texts say. And some of them can be very
00:46:17.040 --> 00:46:19.589
highly advanced just like um Roman
00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.230
Catholic saints. They could be very
00:46:22.240 --> 00:46:25.030
highly advanced while at the same time
00:46:25.040 --> 00:46:27.750
revering the Virgin Mary and all that,
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.150
you know, just just taking the whole
00:46:30.160 --> 00:46:32.390
hook line and sinker, you know, just
00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:35.190
accepting as gospel truth everything in
00:46:35.200 --> 00:46:39.270
their church's tradition. And so
00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:41.750
you can be fully enlightened I think
00:46:41.760 --> 00:46:45.270
while remaining like firmly within the
00:46:45.280 --> 00:46:48.390
tradition although it doesn't always
00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:50.550
work with everybody doesn't I mean I've
00:46:50.560 --> 00:46:53.430
never been that way where um you know
00:46:53.440 --> 00:46:55.910
from the beginning and then later on
00:46:55.920 --> 00:47:00.950
even more I would exercise my right to
00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:03.910
doubt what's in the texts you know just
00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:07.430
certain aspects of of like orthodox
00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:09.750
terra Buddhist doctrine that I just do
00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:14.230
not think are necessarily correct
00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:16.069
like the the standard interpretation of
00:47:16.079 --> 00:47:19.109
padicha samuupata for example or like
00:47:19.119 --> 00:47:21.670
the four stages of aryahhood would be
00:47:21.680 --> 00:47:25.829
another one where it's like yeah I'm I
00:47:25.839 --> 00:47:28.950
got me doubts about that.
00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:33.829
So the actual question here
00:47:33.839 --> 00:47:35.829
um
00:47:35.839 --> 00:47:37.910
I think I mean it depends on the
00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:39.510
individual
00:47:39.520 --> 00:47:42.470
but I mean if you're capable of critical
00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:44.950
thought you're not just like a
00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:48.309
conformist by nature then yeah as you
00:47:48.319 --> 00:47:52.230
make more spiritual you you acquire more
00:47:52.240 --> 00:47:54.390
spiritual insights
00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:57.109
you're going to deviate more from what
00:47:57.119 --> 00:47:59.430
the texts say but I mean in a in a
00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:02.710
culture like Burma, I mean, to deviate
00:48:02.720 --> 00:48:04.550
from what the texts say is to deviate
00:48:04.560 --> 00:48:07.030
from the truth essentially. You know,
00:48:07.040 --> 00:48:09.589
you're you're a heretic or in my case,
00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:11.990
at least because I was a foreigner, they
00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:14.710
would charitably say, "Well, he's just a
00:48:14.720 --> 00:48:17.589
foreigner and he just misunderstands
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:20.150
certain things."
00:48:20.160 --> 00:48:22.950
But a Burmese Seattle who's deviating
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:25.190
from what the texts say, he's got to
00:48:25.200 --> 00:48:26.870
really
00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:29.670
dig in and defend what he's saying as
00:48:29.680 --> 00:48:31.670
well as he can. At least finding obscure
00:48:31.680 --> 00:48:33.670
statements and subcommentaries. You
00:48:33.680 --> 00:48:35.750
know, like the whole Mahasi tradition,
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:37.910
you know, probably the best known
00:48:37.920 --> 00:48:40.630
meditation tradition that came from
00:48:40.640 --> 00:48:43.829
Burma, the Mahasi tradition founded by
00:48:43.839 --> 00:48:46.950
Mahasi Seattle. I mean technically it's
00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:49.430
not entirely orthodox
00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:52.309
because I mean orthodoxy says that you
00:48:52.319 --> 00:48:54.390
at least have to have neighborhood
00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:56.950
concentration upachara samadei in order
00:48:56.960 --> 00:48:58.710
to become enlightened in order to you
00:48:58.720 --> 00:49:01.910
know make higher attainments in dharma
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:04.870
whereas the mahasi tradition which was
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:08.069
basing the pretty much their entire
00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:11.430
tradition on some like obscure
00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:13.510
controversial statement made in a sub
00:49:13.520 --> 00:49:16.790
commentary saying that kanika samati or
00:49:16.800 --> 00:49:18.950
just momentary concentration is good
00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:24.710
enough for you to become enlightened.
00:49:24.720 --> 00:49:29.829
So I mean it can go either way. I do
00:49:29.839 --> 00:49:32.390
think though that as an intelligent
00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:35.589
person who isn't just culturally tied to
00:49:35.599 --> 00:49:38.069
a tradition so that they just really
00:49:38.079 --> 00:49:40.870
don't have much of an option to deviate
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:44.309
from their tradition like Roman Catholic
00:49:44.319 --> 00:49:46.150
Roman Catholic saints were in a similar
00:49:46.160 --> 00:49:48.470
situation. St. John of the Cross he
00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:50.470
already had the the Inquisition
00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:53.510
breathing down his neck. He was already
00:49:53.520 --> 00:49:55.030
getting in trouble again and again. He
00:49:55.040 --> 00:49:57.349
had been jailed almost starved to death
00:49:57.359 --> 00:50:00.870
in a church prison at one point. Not so
00:50:00.880 --> 00:50:03.349
much because of his unorthodox views at
00:50:03.359 --> 00:50:07.190
the time, but he was like um a kind of
00:50:07.200 --> 00:50:10.790
schismatic. He uh was participating in
00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:13.829
like a what's a reform movement of the
00:50:13.839 --> 00:50:16.549
Carmelite order. And so the unreformed
00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:18.870
Carmelites who had connections in high
00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:22.470
places were persecuting them for just
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.349
you know starting up convents in places
00:50:25.359 --> 00:50:27.829
that were forbidden for the the discuss
00:50:27.839 --> 00:50:30.390
carmealites to start any kind of
00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:33.270
foundation or anything like that.
00:50:33.280 --> 00:50:36.150
So, I mean, there may be circumstances
00:50:36.160 --> 00:50:40.230
that just pretty much ensure
00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:44.069
that a monk, no matter how wise he gets,
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.950
is still just going to be
00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:48.790
giving the party line, you know,
00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:50.390
orthodoxy. I mean, you don't want to
00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:51.670
make waves. You don't want to cause
00:50:51.680 --> 00:50:54.309
doubts in the minds of other people. So,
00:50:54.319 --> 00:50:55.910
I mean, that's kind of the way I was in
00:50:55.920 --> 00:50:58.230
Burma. It's like I had my own point of
00:50:58.240 --> 00:50:59.670
view on certain things, but unless
00:50:59.680 --> 00:51:02.870
you're able to really like put forward a
00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:06.230
clear like a clear argument to defend
00:51:06.240 --> 00:51:08.470
your position, you're better off just
00:51:08.480 --> 00:51:11.270
not seeding, you know, like sewing the
00:51:11.280 --> 00:51:13.990
seeds of doubt in the minds of
00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:16.870
unsophisticated thinkers who are just
00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:19.910
born Buddhist and they just they just
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:23.030
accept it, accept what they're told. You
00:51:23.040 --> 00:51:24.230
know, there have been times, you know,
00:51:24.240 --> 00:51:27.349
like it it's said very often that the
00:51:27.359 --> 00:51:30.470
Buddha was wiser than his disciples. And
00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:33.349
I mean, you can just play the Abidama
00:51:33.359 --> 00:51:35.829
card on them. It's like wisdom is amoa.
00:51:35.839 --> 00:51:37.910
Wisdom is absence of delusion. If you're
00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:39.109
fully enlightened, you have zero
00:51:39.119 --> 00:51:40.790
delusion. So, you'll have the same
00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:43.510
amount of wisdom. the Buddha and in the
00:51:43.520 --> 00:51:46.790
lowliest like dry visioned Arahant who
00:51:46.800 --> 00:51:48.710
doesn't even have psychic powers both of
00:51:48.720 --> 00:51:50.549
them have zero delusion and therefore
00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:53.270
they are maxed out on wisdom.
00:51:53.280 --> 00:51:55.349
So
00:51:55.359 --> 00:51:57.510
I mean a lot of monks wouldn't even do
00:51:57.520 --> 00:51:59.030
wouldn't even go that far. I mean they
00:51:59.040 --> 00:52:01.430
don't want to make waves at all. They're
00:52:01.440 --> 00:52:04.870
just grateful and they're just doing
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:06.870
their thing within the within the
00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:08.630
constraints of the rules of the game
00:52:08.640 --> 00:52:13.670
that they have opted into.
00:52:13.680 --> 00:52:16.069
So
00:52:16.079 --> 00:52:17.750
yeah, personally I'm more along the
00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:20.069
lines of the the person who will just
00:52:20.079 --> 00:52:22.870
call them as I see them and if it
00:52:22.880 --> 00:52:26.390
deviates from orthodoxy, so be it.
00:52:26.400 --> 00:52:30.790
Especially now that I'm in the West,
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:32.470
but it's it doesn't work that way with
00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:35.910
everybody. I but I do think that unless
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:38.309
you're the product of a culture or
00:52:38.319 --> 00:52:40.950
living in a culture where I mean you're
00:52:40.960 --> 00:52:44.150
going to be causing trouble by deviating
00:52:44.160 --> 00:52:45.910
from orthodoxy
00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:48.950
then I think probably most people as
00:52:48.960 --> 00:52:52.549
they get wiser will
00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:54.950
I mean they'll start teaching more in
00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:59.109
line with their personal insights
00:52:59.119 --> 00:53:00.390
regardless of whether those personal
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:05.430
insights are orthodox or
00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:08.630
And if you really take that to extremes,
00:53:08.640 --> 00:53:10.150
then you wind up starting a new
00:53:10.160 --> 00:53:14.309
religion.
00:53:14.319 --> 00:53:15.910
Okay.
00:53:15.920 --> 00:53:19.510
Yeah, the CPU is at 57% right now. It
00:53:19.520 --> 00:53:21.990
just went up when I scrolled.
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:26.309
It's too bad really.
00:53:26.319 --> 00:53:28.630
Anyways,
00:53:28.640 --> 00:53:31.270
yeah, that's like a four or five second
00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:35.589
lag now and it's not even funny.
00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:37.430
Anyhow, the qu next question is from
00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:39.109
Phil
00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:41.829
and Philes says, "Thoughts on
00:53:41.839 --> 00:53:44.950
astrology?" And then he continues, "I'm
00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:46.470
starting to think it really works,
00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:48.150
especially when you get into the more
00:53:48.160 --> 00:53:50.230
intricate traditional henistic stuff
00:53:50.240 --> 00:53:53.990
with triplicities and lots and such."
00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.870
Also, according to trad astrologers I
00:53:56.880 --> 00:53:59.270
talked to, I'm always going to be a mere
00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.829
commoner with regard to money and
00:54:01.839 --> 00:54:05.990
authority, oh well dies a little inside.
00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:08.950
And I've written I don't know if it's
00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:11.190
online right now, but I have written an
00:54:11.200 --> 00:54:13.510
essay that deals with astrology. It
00:54:13.520 --> 00:54:15.190
deals not only with astrology but with
00:54:15.200 --> 00:54:19.750
tarot cards and Ouija boards and also
00:54:19.760 --> 00:54:22.069
with spiritual teachers that it's all
00:54:22.079 --> 00:54:25.190
the same kind of principle
00:54:25.200 --> 00:54:27.030
and
00:54:27.040 --> 00:54:30.710
I don't think that
00:54:30.720 --> 00:54:34.069
like the position of stars
00:54:34.079 --> 00:54:36.549
you know a thermonuclear
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:39.510
reaction going on way out in space just
00:54:39.520 --> 00:54:43.430
literally billions of miles away,
00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:46.710
light years away. How is it that going
00:54:46.720 --> 00:54:49.670
to have any influence on your character?
00:54:49.680 --> 00:54:53.670
The position of that star 20 light years
00:54:53.680 --> 00:54:57.109
away. And it's like astrology combines
00:54:57.119 --> 00:54:59.829
these star clusters into constellations,
00:54:59.839 --> 00:55:02.549
especially along the zodiac. But just
00:55:02.559 --> 00:55:04.150
because you've got what looks like a
00:55:04.160 --> 00:55:07.430
group of stars, some of those stars are
00:55:07.440 --> 00:55:09.109
closer to us than they are to other
00:55:09.119 --> 00:55:11.670
stars in that same constellation. It's
00:55:11.680 --> 00:55:13.510
like they just happen to occupy a
00:55:13.520 --> 00:55:16.069
certain area in space, but some of them
00:55:16.079 --> 00:55:17.670
are much closer. Some of them are way
00:55:17.680 --> 00:55:20.309
far away. It's not really a cluster of
00:55:20.319 --> 00:55:22.549
stars. And of course, what the the
00:55:22.559 --> 00:55:25.109
cluster is supposed to represent. I
00:55:25.119 --> 00:55:28.069
mean, there's only maybe two or three
00:55:28.079 --> 00:55:29.990
constellations that look like what
00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:32.950
they're named after. Like Scorpio, I
00:55:32.960 --> 00:55:35.510
freely admit it looks like a scorpion
00:55:35.520 --> 00:55:38.470
pretty much, especially if you include
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:43.510
like Libra as its its claws or Leo. You
00:55:43.520 --> 00:55:45.510
could sort of say, "All right, Leo looks
00:55:45.520 --> 00:55:48.309
kind of like a lion, like a crouching
00:55:48.319 --> 00:55:51.910
lion, you know, but
00:55:51.920 --> 00:55:55.990
most of them like and what Pisces that
00:55:56.000 --> 00:55:58.230
doesn't look like fish. Aquarius does
00:55:58.240 --> 00:56:00.390
not look like a water bearer.
00:56:00.400 --> 00:56:02.470
Sagittarius certainly does not look like
00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:07.270
a centaur or any kind of archer."
00:56:07.280 --> 00:56:09.349
So, I mean, it's it's a lot of just
00:56:09.359 --> 00:56:11.829
arbitrary stuff.
00:56:11.839 --> 00:56:14.789
And even like the position of planets,
00:56:14.799 --> 00:56:17.109
like what difference does it make where
00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:20.710
Saturn is? I mean, how could that
00:56:20.720 --> 00:56:23.190
possibly have any effect on your
00:56:23.200 --> 00:56:25.670
character or your destiny?
00:56:25.680 --> 00:56:29.670
Just where in the sky Saturn was at the
00:56:29.680 --> 00:56:32.309
time you were born.
00:56:32.319 --> 00:56:33.829
So,
00:56:33.839 --> 00:56:35.750
I think astrology works pretty much the
00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:38.230
same way tarot cards work or Ouija
00:56:38.240 --> 00:56:41.190
boards where it's it's a kind of gimmick
00:56:41.200 --> 00:56:43.910
that we have latent
00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:46.549
like psychic ability. You know, we have
00:56:46.559 --> 00:56:50.630
access to truths that are like occult
00:56:50.640 --> 00:56:51.910
truths. You know, they're hidden.
00:56:51.920 --> 00:56:54.390
They're concealed
00:56:54.400 --> 00:56:56.230
just due to the limitations of how our
00:56:56.240 --> 00:56:58.230
ego works and everything. But we've got
00:56:58.240 --> 00:57:02.069
it deep down. We we have access to
00:57:02.079 --> 00:57:04.870
essentially infinite knowledge but we
00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:06.390
just don't believe it. We don't have
00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:08.789
faith that we have access to this. And
00:57:08.799 --> 00:57:10.309
so we have to come up with some kind of
00:57:10.319 --> 00:57:13.030
gimmick. You know it's like Mary Baker
00:57:13.040 --> 00:57:15.910
Eddie I mentioned spirit mediums also in
00:57:15.920 --> 00:57:18.390
this essay. Mary Baker Eddie you know
00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:20.789
the founder of Christian science the
00:57:20.799 --> 00:57:23.589
church of Christian science. She uh she
00:57:23.599 --> 00:57:25.829
had this theory about spirit mediums and
00:57:25.839 --> 00:57:28.230
I think she was largely correct. She
00:57:28.240 --> 00:57:31.109
said, "Spirits do exist in this
00:57:31.119 --> 00:57:33.270
universe, but for the most part, they
00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:34.549
got their own lives to live. They don't
00:57:34.559 --> 00:57:36.230
give a damn about us. They don't bother
00:57:36.240 --> 00:57:38.789
to communicate to us except in rare
00:57:38.799 --> 00:57:42.470
circumstances. But you have some bored
00:57:42.480 --> 00:57:46.230
housewife who deep down has access to
00:57:46.240 --> 00:57:47.910
infinite knowledge, but just cannot
00:57:47.920 --> 00:57:49.670
bring herself to believe that she has
00:57:49.680 --> 00:57:53.589
this access. So her subconscious mind in
00:57:53.599 --> 00:57:57.510
trance conjures up some fictional being
00:57:57.520 --> 00:58:00.230
that does have access to this knowledge
00:58:00.240 --> 00:58:03.750
and then she channels that when really
00:58:03.760 --> 00:58:06.549
it's just coming from within herself.
00:58:06.559 --> 00:58:08.710
Same with tarot cards. You the factory
00:58:08.720 --> 00:58:10.950
isn't stamping psychic powers into those
00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:13.829
cards. They're just cards.
00:58:13.839 --> 00:58:16.549
And it's if you come up with any kind of
00:58:16.559 --> 00:58:19.910
valid, you know, information through
00:58:19.920 --> 00:58:21.910
using those cards, it's just coming
00:58:21.920 --> 00:58:24.069
through you. The cards are just a
00:58:24.079 --> 00:58:26.549
gimmick as a way of channeling this
00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:28.870
inner knowledge because you don't have
00:58:28.880 --> 00:58:30.950
faith that you can come up with this
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:33.270
knowledge without using the gimmick,
00:58:33.280 --> 00:58:35.829
whether it's cards or like a spirit
00:58:35.839 --> 00:58:41.589
medium or a Ouija board or astrology.
00:58:41.599 --> 00:58:43.910
So astrology in my opinion is just a
00:58:43.920 --> 00:58:46.470
kind of gimmick that helps to channel
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:51.190
our own like concealed inner knowledge
00:58:51.200 --> 00:58:53.030
that we can believe that through
00:58:53.040 --> 00:58:56.390
astrology we can we can like channel
00:58:56.400 --> 00:58:58.789
this information if I mean if the
00:58:58.799 --> 00:59:00.549
astrologer is any good at all. Most
00:59:00.559 --> 00:59:04.230
astrology is is just junk astrology, you
00:59:04.240 --> 00:59:07.190
know. It's like the the astrology column
00:59:07.200 --> 00:59:10.069
in the newspaper, you know. It's it's
00:59:10.079 --> 00:59:13.190
just pretty much just junk information.
00:59:13.200 --> 00:59:14.630
You know, this reminds me of the Monty
00:59:14.640 --> 00:59:16.789
Python sketch where you got the the two
00:59:16.799 --> 00:59:18.309
housewives
00:59:18.319 --> 00:59:21.270
like reading the the astrology like
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:22.789
thing in the paper and it's saying, you
00:59:22.799 --> 00:59:25.750
know, you are a 20 foot high carnivorous
00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:28.950
dinosaur with 6-in fangs and you wear
00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:31.750
spectacles and and the ladies, she's
00:59:31.760 --> 00:59:34.069
wearing glasses. Oo, it's uncanny about
00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:37.510
the spectacles.
00:59:37.520 --> 00:59:39.430
So yeah, I do not think that the
00:59:39.440 --> 00:59:42.789
positions of stars or planets
00:59:42.799 --> 00:59:44.390
really are going to have any kind of
00:59:44.400 --> 00:59:47.270
significant effect on human
00:59:47.280 --> 00:59:49.430
personalities. It could be just a
00:59:49.440 --> 00:59:51.829
seasonal thing, but if that's the case,
00:59:51.839 --> 00:59:53.589
then you would think that in some place
00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:57.750
like Australia or maybe Argentina
00:59:57.760 --> 00:59:59.190
that it's going to be switched. It's
00:59:59.200 --> 01:00:00.710
going to be six months off on the
01:00:00.720 --> 01:00:02.390
character traits just because the
01:00:02.400 --> 01:00:06.630
seasons are reversed.
01:00:06.640 --> 01:00:08.950
So, I think it's a kind of uh like a
01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:12.150
gimmick, a kind of cipher for channeling
01:00:12.160 --> 01:00:17.750
our own like latent psychic abilities
01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:20.789
or I mean in in in a best case scenario,
01:00:20.799 --> 01:00:22.309
worst case scenario is is just like
01:00:22.319 --> 01:00:25.430
junk. It's superstitious junk.
01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:27.430
But as I've said before, I'm a Leo and
01:00:27.440 --> 01:00:32.069
therefore I am naturally skeptical.
01:00:32.079 --> 01:00:35.430
Let's see.
01:00:35.440 --> 01:00:38.069
Okay, so I'm just going to move on to
01:00:38.079 --> 01:00:40.950
Phil Lee's second question.
01:00:40.960 --> 01:00:42.870
He says, "How does one become a more
01:00:42.880 --> 01:00:46.710
assertive, driven, purposeful person? By
01:00:46.720 --> 01:00:49.829
default, I'm very mellow and gentle
01:00:49.839 --> 01:00:51.349
disposition-wise,
01:00:51.359 --> 01:00:54.870
which gets me nowhere with normies."
01:00:54.880 --> 01:00:57.190
Well, I can tell you from experience,
01:00:57.200 --> 01:01:00.630
changing your character is not something
01:01:00.640 --> 01:01:03.109
that you can just decide to do and then
01:01:03.119 --> 01:01:06.230
do it. That to some degree we are stuck
01:01:06.240 --> 01:01:08.950
being who we are. Although it does
01:01:08.960 --> 01:01:11.670
remind me of Schopenhau's first
01:01:11.680 --> 01:01:13.270
philosophical essay. I think it was his
01:01:13.280 --> 01:01:16.950
doctrinal thesis in philosophy, the the
01:01:16.960 --> 01:01:19.670
four-fold root sufficient sufficient
01:01:19.680 --> 01:01:21.430
reason.
01:01:21.440 --> 01:01:24.630
And you know, he one of the one of the
01:01:24.640 --> 01:01:28.710
four-fold roots of sufficient reason was
01:01:28.720 --> 01:01:32.230
like character-driven or or perceptual.
01:01:32.240 --> 01:01:34.710
And according to Schopenhau in this
01:01:34.720 --> 01:01:38.470
essay that the same person with the same
01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:40.230
character traits is going to react to
01:01:40.240 --> 01:01:44.230
the same stimuli in the same way until
01:01:44.240 --> 01:01:47.270
that person changes his perception. The
01:01:47.280 --> 01:01:50.069
only way to change your behavior is to
01:01:50.079 --> 01:01:52.309
change your perceptions, change the way
01:01:52.319 --> 01:01:54.309
you see things.
01:01:54.319 --> 01:01:58.230
So just avoiding temptation, that's just
01:01:58.240 --> 01:02:00.150
like,
01:02:00.160 --> 01:02:02.069
you know, it it doesn't really get rid
01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:03.910
of the the problem. It just like
01:02:03.920 --> 01:02:05.430
separates you from the problem
01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:09.030
temporarily by avoiding temptation. But
01:02:09.040 --> 01:02:10.470
if you want to be able to face
01:02:10.480 --> 01:02:12.630
temptation and you haven't been able to
01:02:12.640 --> 01:02:13.990
face it yet, you're going to have to
01:02:14.000 --> 01:02:16.309
change your way of thinking.
01:02:16.319 --> 01:02:20.870
You know, it's like an example I gave um
01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:22.789
was my father when he stopped smoking.
01:02:22.799 --> 01:02:25.990
My father stopped smoking many times and
01:02:26.000 --> 01:02:27.990
he would always just start smoking again
01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:30.470
until one day his leg started turning
01:02:30.480 --> 01:02:33.190
black. So he went to the doctor and the
01:02:33.200 --> 01:02:34.710
doctor explained to him he had injured
01:02:34.720 --> 01:02:36.630
this leg before. There was a lot of
01:02:36.640 --> 01:02:38.789
capillary damage in that leg and those
01:02:38.799 --> 01:02:40.789
capillaries were getting clogged up with
01:02:40.799 --> 01:02:43.109
tar from smoking cigarettes. And so the
01:02:43.119 --> 01:02:45.030
doctor told my father, "You have two
01:02:45.040 --> 01:02:47.190
choices. You can stop smoking or we can
01:02:47.200 --> 01:02:50.309
amputate that leg." And all of a sudden
01:02:50.319 --> 01:02:52.309
he was able to stop smoking way more
01:02:52.319 --> 01:02:54.789
easily. Like the urges were the same,
01:02:54.799 --> 01:02:57.589
but but when it comes to his perception
01:02:57.599 --> 01:03:00.309
had changed on the situation. It's like
01:03:00.319 --> 01:03:02.549
I have to choose now between smoking or
01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:05.589
having two legs. And it just even though
01:03:05.599 --> 01:03:07.510
the the urges were just as strong and
01:03:07.520 --> 01:03:09.190
all that, you know, the the withdrawal
01:03:09.200 --> 01:03:11.670
symptoms were still there, it was like,
01:03:11.680 --> 01:03:14.710
nope, not going there anymore. And so, I
01:03:14.720 --> 01:03:16.549
mean, if you want to change your
01:03:16.559 --> 01:03:18.549
personality or change your character
01:03:18.559 --> 01:03:20.069
traits,
01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:21.750
you have to change the way you perceive
01:03:21.760 --> 01:03:24.230
things. You know, it's like one person,
01:03:24.240 --> 01:03:25.990
they think that snakes aren't dangerous
01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:27.589
until they get bitten and almost die,
01:03:27.599 --> 01:03:28.710
and all of a sudden, their whole
01:03:28.720 --> 01:03:30.069
attitude towards snakes is very
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:32.069
different.
01:03:32.079 --> 01:03:34.710
And unfortunately, some people really
01:03:34.720 --> 01:03:37.109
have to like hit a crisis, you know,
01:03:37.119 --> 01:03:39.829
they got to crash hard before they get
01:03:39.839 --> 01:03:42.390
enough of a knock to the head or
01:03:42.400 --> 01:03:44.710
whatever that they can change the way
01:03:44.720 --> 01:03:46.390
their their attitude, they can change
01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:48.470
the way they go about things. There's a
01:03:48.480 --> 01:03:49.990
really excellent book called Battle for
01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:52.710
the Mind by William Sergeant that talks
01:03:52.720 --> 01:03:55.349
about this. It's like he starts off the
01:03:55.359 --> 01:03:59.270
book talking about Pavlov's dogs. And
01:03:59.280 --> 01:04:00.789
Pavlov,
01:04:00.799 --> 01:04:03.750
I mean, getting dogs to slobber when he
01:04:03.760 --> 01:04:05.750
flashed a light or rang a bell, that was
01:04:05.760 --> 01:04:07.589
just sort of a sideline to what he was
01:04:07.599 --> 01:04:09.270
doing. That's what he got famous for.
01:04:09.280 --> 01:04:12.309
But his main work, like his life's work,
01:04:12.319 --> 01:04:14.950
Pavlov, that sick son of a [ __ ] his
01:04:14.960 --> 01:04:19.589
his life's work was like torturing dogs
01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:21.910
until they were having like PTSD and
01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:24.230
like neurotic symptoms and then he would
01:04:24.240 --> 01:04:27.029
try to cure them of those symptoms, you
01:04:27.039 --> 01:04:28.710
You know, I mean, he he'd give this dog
01:04:28.720 --> 01:04:31.510
electric shocks until it's just like
01:04:31.520 --> 01:04:33.910
cowering in the corner of its cage, just
01:04:33.920 --> 01:04:35.910
shivering and pissing on itself. And
01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:38.309
then he'd try to cure it. And he found
01:04:38.319 --> 01:04:41.910
out that really the only way to cure a
01:04:41.920 --> 01:04:44.630
dog. And then later hum later later
01:04:44.640 --> 01:04:46.549
people found out that this is the case
01:04:46.559 --> 01:04:49.190
with humans also is the only way to
01:04:49.200 --> 01:04:52.549
really change the way they think is to
01:04:52.559 --> 01:04:56.870
impose a crisis on them where they just
01:04:56.880 --> 01:04:58.549
their old way of dealing with things
01:04:58.559 --> 01:05:01.109
just isn't working anymore. It's just an
01:05:01.119 --> 01:05:03.190
instinct in higher vertebbrates
01:05:03.200 --> 01:05:05.270
including dogs and humans that we are
01:05:05.280 --> 01:05:07.349
governed by habit. You know personality
01:05:07.359 --> 01:05:10.549
traits are kind of lifelong habit. So
01:05:10.559 --> 01:05:12.150
we're just governed by habit. It's kind
01:05:12.160 --> 01:05:15.109
of an like a automatic pilot.
01:05:15.119 --> 01:05:17.589
Essentially karma. Karma is just habit
01:05:17.599 --> 01:05:19.670
energy. We are run by this automatic
01:05:19.680 --> 01:05:22.950
pilot.
01:05:22.960 --> 01:05:25.109
And it's just so it doesn't even have to
01:05:25.119 --> 01:05:26.950
make us happy. So long as it's getting
01:05:26.960 --> 01:05:29.349
us through life, that's good enough. And
01:05:29.359 --> 01:05:31.589
that's why you have so many like really
01:05:31.599 --> 01:05:34.950
miserable people out there who don't
01:05:34.960 --> 01:05:37.750
change their attitude just because even
01:05:37.760 --> 01:05:39.190
though they're miserable, at least it's
01:05:39.200 --> 01:05:41.430
gotten them this far in life. You know,
01:05:41.440 --> 01:05:45.589
it's it's kept them alive anyway.
01:05:45.599 --> 01:05:47.190
So, you have to have some kind of a
01:05:47.200 --> 01:05:48.950
crisis
01:05:48.960 --> 01:05:50.630
that where you just kind of have a
01:05:50.640 --> 01:05:54.950
breakdown and then you become much more
01:05:54.960 --> 01:05:57.829
open to suggestion. And it's like
01:05:57.839 --> 01:06:00.309
religions have been based on this like
01:06:00.319 --> 01:06:02.870
Methodism. I mean, Methodism nowadays is
01:06:02.880 --> 01:06:06.150
a far cry from what it used to be.
01:06:06.160 --> 01:06:08.309
Methodism started off with people like
01:06:08.319 --> 01:06:11.910
John Wesley who would give these fire
01:06:11.920 --> 01:06:14.789
and brimstone sermons. I mean, he he
01:06:14.799 --> 01:06:16.789
deliberately avoid cities where people
01:06:16.799 --> 01:06:18.230
were more sophisticated in their
01:06:18.240 --> 01:06:21.029
thinking. He'd go out to rural areas and
01:06:21.039 --> 01:06:22.870
he would
01:06:22.880 --> 01:06:25.270
um first the first half of his sermon
01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:28.789
would be telling people that if they
01:06:28.799 --> 01:06:31.910
don't like they don't turn away from
01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:34.870
their sins they will be damned and burn
01:06:34.880 --> 01:06:37.270
in hell. And nobody could argue that. I
01:06:37.280 --> 01:06:41.670
mean in like 1700 early 1700s in England
01:06:41.680 --> 01:06:43.349
I mean you had to believe the Bible. You
01:06:43.359 --> 01:06:45.750
were a Christian. So he was just
01:06:45.760 --> 01:06:47.750
reminding them of this thing that they
01:06:47.760 --> 01:06:50.710
couldn't really deny that if you don't
01:06:50.720 --> 01:06:53.190
turn from your sins and repent, you will
01:06:53.200 --> 01:06:55.109
burn in hell forever and ever. And then
01:06:55.119 --> 01:06:56.950
the second half of the sermon was just
01:06:56.960 --> 01:06:59.589
grizzly detail on the tortures in hell
01:06:59.599 --> 01:07:00.950
and this is going to happen to you
01:07:00.960 --> 01:07:03.670
unless you change your ways. And they
01:07:03.680 --> 01:07:05.349
couldn't argue against it and they
01:07:05.359 --> 01:07:07.190
didn't really want to face it. And so
01:07:07.200 --> 01:07:09.109
people would just be freaking out.
01:07:09.119 --> 01:07:11.029
They'd be like going into convulsions
01:07:11.039 --> 01:07:13.589
and just like like having a seizure on
01:07:13.599 --> 01:07:15.829
the on rolling on the ground with
01:07:15.839 --> 01:07:17.510
foaming at the mouth just completely
01:07:17.520 --> 01:07:20.150
freaking out. And then they would pass
01:07:20.160 --> 01:07:21.510
out. You know, they'd eventually lapse
01:07:21.520 --> 01:07:23.190
into unconsciousness. And then you'd
01:07:23.200 --> 01:07:25.430
have like helpers, you know, John
01:07:25.440 --> 01:07:26.870
Wesley's helpers would come and they'd
01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:28.710
kind of coach them after they after they
01:07:28.720 --> 01:07:30.789
regained consciousness and they'd be
01:07:30.799 --> 01:07:32.390
born again and then they'd be good
01:07:32.400 --> 01:07:34.789
Christians after that. But and it takes
01:07:34.799 --> 01:07:37.589
some kind of a crisis as a general rule.
01:07:37.599 --> 01:07:39.829
And I remember reading like back when I
01:07:39.839 --> 01:07:42.069
was like 18 years old in a book by Rahm
01:07:42.079 --> 01:07:47.270
Doss, he said that absolute despair is
01:07:47.280 --> 01:07:50.309
is a pre-erequisite to significant
01:07:50.319 --> 01:07:53.829
spiritual growth. And for most of my
01:07:53.839 --> 01:07:56.630
life, I was hoping that he was wrong.
01:07:56.640 --> 01:07:59.190
But in my own case, my greatest
01:07:59.200 --> 01:08:02.789
spiritual growth has occurred as the
01:08:02.799 --> 01:08:10.230
result of just despair.
01:08:10.240 --> 01:08:13.109
So I mean maybe you can do certain
01:08:13.119 --> 01:08:15.990
things to make yourself more assertive
01:08:16.000 --> 01:08:19.829
driven and purposeful you know just like
01:08:19.839 --> 01:08:22.950
become more physically fit maybe you
01:08:22.960 --> 01:08:25.669
know just just being like you know
01:08:25.679 --> 01:08:28.149
healthier like higher testosterone
01:08:28.159 --> 01:08:30.870
levels and so forth will make you more
01:08:30.880 --> 01:08:33.749
you know more like self assured and
01:08:33.759 --> 01:08:36.070
aggressive in a masculine sort of I
01:08:36.080 --> 01:08:39.749
suppose that might do something,
01:08:39.759 --> 01:08:43.349
but uh I mean for the most part we're
01:08:43.359 --> 01:08:45.990
stuck being who we are.
01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:49.349
And so if you want to be more assertived
01:08:49.359 --> 01:08:51.829
driven and purposeful, you might be
01:08:51.839 --> 01:08:53.910
creating unnecessary
01:08:53.920 --> 01:08:56.390
suffering for yourself by just desiring
01:08:56.400 --> 01:08:59.430
things to be different than they are.
01:08:59.440 --> 01:09:01.110
But if you feel like you really have the
01:09:01.120 --> 01:09:04.390
need that it's just really not serving
01:09:04.400 --> 01:09:06.390
you not to be more assertive driven and
01:09:06.400 --> 01:09:07.910
purposeful,
01:09:07.920 --> 01:09:09.590
then
01:09:09.600 --> 01:09:12.390
I mean you may have to I mean maybe go
01:09:12.400 --> 01:09:15.669
to a rigorous meditation retreat which
01:09:15.679 --> 01:09:17.910
is sort of like military basic training
01:09:17.920 --> 01:09:20.870
that's could trigger this crisis.
01:09:20.880 --> 01:09:27.590
Something like that maybe.
01:09:27.600 --> 01:09:30.550
But yeah, I mean it's it's it's like a
01:09:30.560 --> 01:09:33.269
common myth among people that you can
01:09:33.279 --> 01:09:34.789
just change yourself. You can just
01:09:34.799 --> 01:09:37.110
become different. I mean Schopenhau
01:09:37.120 --> 01:09:39.749
really he's I should should have looked
01:09:39.759 --> 01:09:41.590
up some quotes from Schopenhau where
01:09:41.600 --> 01:09:43.510
he's just saying that I mean it's you're
01:09:43.520 --> 01:09:44.789
just stuck being who you are
01:09:44.799 --> 01:09:47.110
essentially. You can vow to be a better
01:09:47.120 --> 01:09:48.870
person. You can strive to be a better
01:09:48.880 --> 01:09:50.470
person. You can try again and again and
01:09:50.480 --> 01:09:52.390
again and as a general rule it's not
01:09:52.400 --> 01:09:54.550
going to work
01:09:54.560 --> 01:09:56.950
for Christians. Eventually they just get
01:09:56.960 --> 01:09:59.350
to this state of holy desperation where
01:09:59.360 --> 01:10:01.669
they just you know they just open their
01:10:01.679 --> 01:10:03.830
heart to God Almighty and says I can't
01:10:03.840 --> 01:10:05.990
do it Lord
01:10:06.000 --> 01:10:07.910
the only way I can be saved is through
01:10:07.920 --> 01:10:09.990
your grace you know and they just throw
01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:12.790
themselves at the mercy of God and
01:10:12.800 --> 01:10:14.950
that's sufficient for a lot of them that
01:10:14.960 --> 01:10:18.229
it actually turns their life around
01:10:18.239 --> 01:10:20.950
but any kind of systematic cookbook
01:10:20.960 --> 01:10:23.590
method for changing your personality
01:10:23.600 --> 01:10:26.390
traits I maybe a little bit around the
01:10:26.400 --> 01:10:30.950
edges, but it's going to take um like
01:10:30.960 --> 01:10:33.510
the more change in your personality you
01:10:33.520 --> 01:10:35.350
desire, the more you're going to have to
01:10:35.360 --> 01:10:36.790
change your perceptions. You're going to
01:10:36.800 --> 01:10:39.030
have to change the way you see the
01:10:39.040 --> 01:10:41.750
world.
01:10:41.760 --> 01:10:44.630
And good luck with that. I mean, I was I
01:10:44.640 --> 01:10:47.189
was a monk for 30 years, and I'm like
01:10:47.199 --> 01:10:48.870
trying to live up to the ideals in the
01:10:48.880 --> 01:10:50.390
sutas. You know, the monk should have no
01:10:50.400 --> 01:10:52.229
anger. He should have no preferences.
01:10:52.239 --> 01:10:53.830
You should have no attachments. All this
01:10:53.840 --> 01:10:55.669
kind of stuff sounds really good on
01:10:55.679 --> 01:10:58.870
paper, but in reality you're to some
01:10:58.880 --> 01:11:01.189
degree you are just stuck being who you
01:11:01.199 --> 01:11:02.870
are.
01:11:02.880 --> 01:11:04.229
But at least you can be who you are
01:11:04.239 --> 01:11:05.990
perfectly. So that's the one thing you
01:11:06.000 --> 01:11:07.830
can do perfectly in this world is just
01:11:07.840 --> 01:11:11.430
be yourself.
01:11:11.440 --> 01:11:13.030
Even though in Buddhism there ultimately
01:11:13.040 --> 01:11:17.110
is no self.
01:11:17.120 --> 01:11:18.630
That's a tough one. That's that's rough
01:11:18.640 --> 01:11:20.790
because it's that's one reason why most
01:11:20.800 --> 01:11:23.270
monks never become enlightened. You
01:11:23.280 --> 01:11:25.270
know, 99.99%
01:11:25.280 --> 01:11:27.350
of monks never become enlightened. That
01:11:27.360 --> 01:11:31.110
could be like a low estimate,
01:11:31.120 --> 01:11:33.590
maybe a high estimate. It could be even
01:11:33.600 --> 01:11:35.669
less less monks become fully
01:11:35.679 --> 01:11:37.830
enlightened. It's because they're trying
01:11:37.840 --> 01:11:40.870
to become a different person.
01:11:40.880 --> 01:11:45.350
And it just doesn't work that way.
01:11:45.360 --> 01:11:48.630
They're just stuck being who they are.
01:11:48.640 --> 01:11:50.630
And if you're like a hothead, you're
01:11:50.640 --> 01:11:52.390
pretty much stuck being a hotthead.
01:11:52.400 --> 01:11:53.830
There's there's certain ways of
01:11:53.840 --> 01:11:57.270
changing. I mean, like I think it's in
01:11:57.280 --> 01:11:59.110
William James's the varieties of
01:11:59.120 --> 01:12:01.189
religious experience where he says that
01:12:01.199 --> 01:12:03.350
there's there was an old saying that the
01:12:03.360 --> 01:12:05.669
only cure for dipsomania
01:12:05.679 --> 01:12:08.550
which is alcoholism is theomania or
01:12:08.560 --> 01:12:11.189
finding religion. So it's like you're
01:12:11.199 --> 01:12:13.750
replacing the fervor of drunkenness with
01:12:13.760 --> 01:12:17.270
the a new fervor of religion which kind
01:12:17.280 --> 01:12:19.590
of takes its place. So that's that's one
01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:20.630
way of doing you. You're going to have
01:12:20.640 --> 01:12:23.110
to replace one thing with something else
01:12:23.120 --> 01:12:26.790
of like equal force.
01:12:26.800 --> 01:12:29.430
But good luck with all that. Telling you
01:12:29.440 --> 01:12:32.149
changing yourself is it's much easier
01:12:32.159 --> 01:12:35.510
said than done.
01:12:35.520 --> 01:12:37.350
So, it could be that the wisest course
01:12:37.360 --> 01:12:38.950
to take, unless you're really willing to
01:12:38.960 --> 01:12:41.350
try something radical. You know, inflict
01:12:41.360 --> 01:12:43.830
a crisis upon yourself might just be
01:12:43.840 --> 01:12:48.470
making peace with being this kind of a
01:12:48.480 --> 01:12:51.430
non assertive, non-purposeful kind of
01:12:51.440 --> 01:12:53.350
person.
01:12:53.360 --> 01:12:55.189
Now, I'm just going to move on to
01:12:55.199 --> 01:12:58.550
Philist third question.
01:12:58.560 --> 01:13:01.669
He says, "I've noticed that unlike the
01:13:01.679 --> 01:13:04.310
moderns, the ancients have no complex
01:13:04.320 --> 01:13:07.270
over being negative. The Romans made the
01:13:07.280 --> 01:13:10.790
vinegared Epicurian satist their ideal
01:13:10.800 --> 01:13:13.669
of the poet and gave him state funding.
01:13:13.679 --> 01:13:15.750
They did not suffer from the shrill
01:13:15.760 --> 01:13:19.110
cliches that positivity is a productive
01:13:19.120 --> 01:13:21.990
force or that negativity loses because
01:13:22.000 --> 01:13:25.270
it looks." I'm not sure what looks means
01:13:25.280 --> 01:13:27.910
here. This even includes the ancient
01:13:27.920 --> 01:13:32.310
Greeks and Indians thoughts.
01:13:32.320 --> 01:13:35.110
Well, I mean the Epicurans weren't
01:13:35.120 --> 01:13:37.510
necessarily pessimistic. You know, the
01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:41.110
Epicurans were, you know, it's like
01:13:41.120 --> 01:13:43.830
pleasure is good. You know, be happy.
01:13:43.840 --> 01:13:45.350
You know, that was pretty much the the
01:13:45.360 --> 01:13:47.590
the main philosophical message of the
01:13:47.600 --> 01:13:51.030
Epicurans is be happy through living a
01:13:51.040 --> 01:13:52.950
simple life and having modest pleasures
01:13:52.960 --> 01:13:57.270
and so forth.
01:13:57.280 --> 01:14:00.070
I mean a certain amount of optimism
01:14:00.080 --> 01:14:02.470
really certain caused the Romans and
01:14:02.480 --> 01:14:04.070
Greeks to survive. I mean they weren't
01:14:04.080 --> 01:14:06.310
quitters. They weren't blackpilled. I
01:14:06.320 --> 01:14:07.590
mean they might have been blackpilled
01:14:07.600 --> 01:14:10.390
about the inevitability of death but
01:14:10.400 --> 01:14:12.630
still a glorious death was considered to
01:14:12.640 --> 01:14:15.350
be better than just you know dying dying
01:14:15.360 --> 01:14:19.350
in bed of old age or some such you know
01:14:19.360 --> 01:14:22.630
I mean it wasn't just being
01:14:22.640 --> 01:14:25.510
just negative that caused the Romans to
01:14:25.520 --> 01:14:28.630
defeat Hannibal or defeat so many other
01:14:28.640 --> 01:14:30.310
enemies and become like the world's
01:14:30.320 --> 01:14:32.950
superpower at least in the west and it
01:14:32.960 --> 01:14:35.350
wasn't negativity that caused the Greeks
01:14:35.360 --> 01:14:37.510
to defeat defeat the Persian Empire
01:14:37.520 --> 01:14:39.189
which was the most powerful nation in
01:14:39.199 --> 01:14:43.030
the world at the time probably.
01:14:43.040 --> 01:14:44.709
So
01:14:44.719 --> 01:14:47.030
yeah, it's it's more like realism like
01:14:47.040 --> 01:14:49.669
like the Stoics, they weren't really
01:14:49.679 --> 01:14:51.350
negative,
01:14:51.360 --> 01:14:52.870
you know, it's just accept whatever
01:14:52.880 --> 01:14:54.550
happens with equinimity. That's pretty
01:14:54.560 --> 01:14:56.310
much what the Stoics were going for it
01:14:56.320 --> 01:14:57.910
seems like. And also, you know,
01:14:57.920 --> 01:15:00.870
moderation.
01:15:00.880 --> 01:15:02.550
Even the cynics weren't particularly
01:15:02.560 --> 01:15:04.790
blackpilled.
01:15:04.800 --> 01:15:06.470
So
01:15:06.480 --> 01:15:08.149
yeah, I mean I really don't see that
01:15:08.159 --> 01:15:10.070
there was a lot just wallowing in
01:15:10.080 --> 01:15:13.350
negativity by Greeks or Romans or or
01:15:13.360 --> 01:15:16.229
even ancient Indians. I mean, yeah, the
01:15:16.239 --> 01:15:19.430
ancient Indians inherited a kind of
01:15:19.440 --> 01:15:24.709
arguably pessimistic philosophy that was
01:15:24.719 --> 01:15:28.550
just sort of, I guess, developed by like
01:15:28.560 --> 01:15:30.870
the Indis Valley civilization before the
01:15:30.880 --> 01:15:33.510
Indo-arians arrived on the scene with
01:15:33.520 --> 01:15:36.070
their vadic fire sacrifices and all
01:15:36.080 --> 01:15:38.870
that. You had like the the Indis Valley
01:15:38.880 --> 01:15:41.510
civilization which had this this belief
01:15:41.520 --> 01:15:43.350
that the world is a bad place. you
01:15:43.360 --> 01:15:45.189
should try to escape from this world
01:15:45.199 --> 01:15:47.669
through purification,
01:15:47.679 --> 01:15:49.910
you know, purify your your spirit, this
01:15:49.920 --> 01:15:52.790
kind of thing. So, I mean, that's that's
01:15:52.800 --> 01:15:55.430
kind of negative, I suppose. Buddhism, I
01:15:55.440 --> 01:15:57.830
mean it could be said to have a certain
01:15:57.840 --> 01:16:00.229
emphasis on negativity. Although there
01:16:00.239 --> 01:16:02.390
is a way out of that, you know, this
01:16:02.400 --> 01:16:05.350
world, which is, you know, you can say
01:16:05.360 --> 01:16:06.950
it's negative to say that the house is
01:16:06.960 --> 01:16:08.390
on fire, but at least there's the
01:16:08.400 --> 01:16:10.470
positivity of we can get out of this
01:16:10.480 --> 01:16:16.550
house and not burn to death.
01:16:16.560 --> 01:16:18.709
So
01:16:18.719 --> 01:16:22.470
yeah, I mean I think the Greeks and the
01:16:22.480 --> 01:16:26.790
Romans, they were more cynical in a
01:16:26.800 --> 01:16:29.350
certain way about just accepting the
01:16:29.360 --> 01:16:32.550
inevitability of death. I mean, death
01:16:32.560 --> 01:16:35.510
and suffering and misery and all that.
01:16:35.520 --> 01:16:38.790
It was just part of everyday life pretty
01:16:38.800 --> 01:16:42.470
much, especially back then. and they
01:16:42.480 --> 01:16:43.990
just kind of made their peace with it,
01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:46.149
you know, it's just it's the way it is.
01:16:46.159 --> 01:16:49.350
Or like um medieval Europe, you know,
01:16:49.360 --> 01:16:50.790
especially around the time of the
01:16:50.800 --> 01:16:52.390
bubanic plague, you know, the black
01:16:52.400 --> 01:16:54.229
death, you know, they'd have the the
01:16:54.239 --> 01:16:56.149
dance macob, you know, the dancing
01:16:56.159 --> 01:16:58.550
skeletons like you see on like old
01:16:58.560 --> 01:17:01.189
Grateful Dead advertisements, you know.
01:17:01.199 --> 01:17:02.870
I mean, they'd have like the human skull
01:17:02.880 --> 01:17:05.830
at the feast, the momento mori reminding
01:17:05.840 --> 01:17:07.750
everyone they're going to die, that kind
01:17:07.760 --> 01:17:09.110
of thing.
01:17:09.120 --> 01:17:10.630
So
01:17:10.640 --> 01:17:12.550
even the the medieval Europeans, I mean,
01:17:12.560 --> 01:17:14.709
they weren't completely morbid. There's
01:17:14.719 --> 01:17:16.390
there's always going to be a balance of
01:17:16.400 --> 01:17:18.630
positivity and negativity.
01:17:18.640 --> 01:17:21.110
You know, they just kind of use that as
01:17:21.120 --> 01:17:24.470
a kind of I don't know, momento while
01:17:24.480 --> 01:17:27.750
they're wallowing in the the the feast,
01:17:27.760 --> 01:17:29.430
you know, the pleasures of the feast. At
01:17:29.440 --> 01:17:31.110
least they got that human skull on the
01:17:31.120 --> 01:17:34.950
table.
01:17:34.960 --> 01:17:36.870
So,
01:17:36.880 --> 01:17:38.950
let's see. I need to need to look at
01:17:38.960 --> 01:17:41.270
this question a little better because
01:17:41.280 --> 01:17:43.030
the only question is at the end is
01:17:43.040 --> 01:17:45.430
thoughts.
01:17:45.440 --> 01:17:46.950
I mean the ancient Greeks I mean they
01:17:46.960 --> 01:17:51.189
were they were not pessimistic people.
01:17:51.199 --> 01:17:52.870
The ancient Romans weren't particularly
01:17:52.880 --> 01:17:55.189
pessimistic either.
01:17:55.199 --> 01:17:57.750
So I mean a certain amount of negativity
01:17:57.760 --> 01:18:02.070
was was fine. I mean that could even be
01:18:02.080 --> 01:18:04.870
seen as a like a symptom of wisdom or
01:18:04.880 --> 01:18:06.390
something.
01:18:06.400 --> 01:18:08.310
And we're we're back to like a 5-second
01:18:08.320 --> 01:18:13.110
lag. It comes and goes.
01:18:13.120 --> 01:18:15.910
So I think most people they just want to
01:18:15.920 --> 01:18:17.990
emphasize the positive. They don't want
01:18:18.000 --> 01:18:21.510
to think about bad things. And so
01:18:21.520 --> 01:18:23.750
I mean it was seen by some as a sign of
01:18:23.760 --> 01:18:25.510
wisdom that you're even able to look at
01:18:25.520 --> 01:18:27.350
bad things and acknowledge them. You
01:18:27.360 --> 01:18:28.790
know that we're all going to die, for
01:18:28.800 --> 01:18:30.709
example.
01:18:30.719 --> 01:18:33.590
But yeah, I really don't I mean I'm
01:18:33.600 --> 01:18:35.990
fairly well acquainted with ancient
01:18:36.000 --> 01:18:38.709
Greek and Roman literature. And I mean
01:18:38.719 --> 01:18:40.550
they they didn't seem particularly
01:18:40.560 --> 01:18:42.149
pessimistic.
01:18:42.159 --> 01:18:44.310
You know, they were very thisworldly
01:18:44.320 --> 01:18:46.870
with regard to their lives. Tried to
01:18:46.880 --> 01:18:48.790
live as good of lives as they could as a
01:18:48.800 --> 01:18:50.550
general rule. Although, you know, what
01:18:50.560 --> 01:18:52.149
one person considers good isn't
01:18:52.159 --> 01:18:53.350
necessarily what another person
01:18:53.360 --> 01:18:57.510
considers good.
01:18:57.520 --> 01:18:59.590
India. It is true that ancient India did
01:18:59.600 --> 01:19:01.590
have this, you know, the world is a bad
01:19:01.600 --> 01:19:03.750
place. Christianity kind of came up with
01:19:03.760 --> 01:19:06.470
that also later on
01:19:06.480 --> 01:19:08.390
that you're better off just, you know,
01:19:08.400 --> 01:19:11.750
kind of rejecting the world in favor of
01:19:11.760 --> 01:19:13.590
something better.
01:19:13.600 --> 01:19:15.750
But the Greeks and Romans really they
01:19:15.760 --> 01:19:19.189
they didn't really adopt that attitude.
01:19:19.199 --> 01:19:22.790
Um yeah, I mean just consider like um
01:19:22.800 --> 01:19:24.550
when the Persian Empire was trying to
01:19:24.560 --> 01:19:27.110
conquer Greece and there was the the
01:19:27.120 --> 01:19:29.510
emergency meeting of I can't remember
01:19:29.520 --> 01:19:31.270
what it was called in Athens, you know,
01:19:31.280 --> 01:19:32.790
it was like the main political meeting
01:19:32.800 --> 01:19:36.310
of the the city elders and they're
01:19:36.320 --> 01:19:37.590
discussing what are we going to do? The
01:19:37.600 --> 01:19:40.070
Persians are are marching south. They've
01:19:40.080 --> 01:19:42.790
already conquered northern Greece. What
01:19:42.800 --> 01:19:44.950
are we going to do? And then one person
01:19:44.960 --> 01:19:46.950
kind of raises his hand. He stands up
01:19:46.960 --> 01:19:49.270
and says, "Well, I mean, they're the
01:19:49.280 --> 01:19:51.830
world's most powerful superpower. I
01:19:51.840 --> 01:19:53.669
mean, they've already conquered most of
01:19:53.679 --> 01:19:56.229
Greece at this point. It seems to me the
01:19:56.239 --> 01:19:58.470
best thing we can do is just negotiate
01:19:58.480 --> 01:20:01.590
terms of surrender." And after he said
01:20:01.600 --> 01:20:03.669
that, he was immediately stabbed to
01:20:03.679 --> 01:20:06.229
death by some other some other person
01:20:06.239 --> 01:20:08.470
that was not far away from him. And then
01:20:08.480 --> 01:20:10.790
the whole mob of them went to his house
01:20:10.800 --> 01:20:12.870
and like burned his house down and
01:20:12.880 --> 01:20:16.950
killed his family for daring to suggest
01:20:16.960 --> 01:20:19.830
that they should surrender to a nation
01:20:19.840 --> 01:20:25.189
20 times more powerful than them.
01:20:25.199 --> 01:20:28.950
And that is not pessimism.
01:20:28.960 --> 01:20:31.350
It's not really negativity. Negativity
01:20:31.360 --> 01:20:33.510
towards this guy who was saying that we
01:20:33.520 --> 01:20:36.630
should surrender.
01:20:36.640 --> 01:20:38.709
So yeah, I really think that the ancient
01:20:38.719 --> 01:20:42.070
Greeks were more optimistic, heavily
01:20:42.080 --> 01:20:44.550
laced with some some realism of harsh
01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:46.709
facts. The Romans were pretty much the
01:20:46.719 --> 01:20:49.030
same way. Maybe you could say ancient
01:20:49.040 --> 01:20:51.510
Indians, there was definitely a kind of
01:20:51.520 --> 01:20:55.669
negative streak um in in like the
01:20:55.679 --> 01:20:57.430
ancient Indians and also sort of like
01:20:57.440 --> 01:20:59.669
the medieval Christians definitely had
01:20:59.679 --> 01:21:02.070
like a negative streak too. It's like,
01:21:02.080 --> 01:21:03.590
you know, friendship with the world is
01:21:03.600 --> 01:21:05.910
enmity with God. you should be against
01:21:05.920 --> 01:21:10.790
this world.
01:21:10.800 --> 01:21:13.189
So
01:21:13.199 --> 01:21:15.350
yeah, I mean there doesn't seem to be
01:21:15.360 --> 01:21:17.270
much of a complex over being negative in
01:21:17.280 --> 01:21:18.470
the modern world either. I mean
01:21:18.480 --> 01:21:19.990
leftists, I mean that's pretty much all
01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:22.149
they got is negativity. You know,
01:21:22.159 --> 01:21:24.390
America sucks. You know, it's just all
01:21:24.400 --> 01:21:26.390
this I've already mentioned that in in
01:21:26.400 --> 01:21:29.510
this Q&A. It's like some people in in
01:21:29.520 --> 01:21:32.709
the west it's just America is just it's
01:21:32.719 --> 01:21:35.830
a its existence is a crime. It was based
01:21:35.840 --> 01:21:39.030
on exploitation and colonialism and
01:21:39.040 --> 01:21:41.510
slavery. It's just one crime after
01:21:41.520 --> 01:21:44.550
another and genocide and it's bad and
01:21:44.560 --> 01:21:46.709
wrong and we need to replace it with
01:21:46.719 --> 01:21:49.110
something better. Even though every
01:21:49.120 --> 01:21:51.669
attempt to get some sort of socialist
01:21:51.679 --> 01:21:54.470
system going well has never really
01:21:54.480 --> 01:21:58.950
worked out very well.
01:21:58.960 --> 01:22:01.350
So I really don't see that there's less
01:22:01.360 --> 01:22:04.310
negativity now or more of a stigma on
01:22:04.320 --> 01:22:08.390
negativity now than there was in like
01:22:08.400 --> 01:22:11.189
ancient classical times in the west
01:22:11.199 --> 01:22:14.149
especially
01:22:14.159 --> 01:22:17.590
I mean even even in India I mean there's
01:22:17.600 --> 01:22:20.470
I came across a a quote by Thomas not
01:22:20.480 --> 01:22:22.550
Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt
01:22:22.560 --> 01:22:26.550
today Roosevelt says that someone who
01:22:26.560 --> 01:22:28.870
like complains about problems without
01:22:28.880 --> 01:22:30.790
proposing a solution to the problem is
01:22:30.800 --> 01:22:32.629
just a whiner.
01:22:32.639 --> 01:22:35.270
And I would say that even that was that
01:22:35.280 --> 01:22:37.030
kind of attitude applied even to ancient
01:22:37.040 --> 01:22:39.590
India. I mean you can say that there is
01:22:39.600 --> 01:22:42.390
a problem but unless you're suggesting a
01:22:42.400 --> 01:22:44.709
a valid solution to the problem I mean
01:22:44.719 --> 01:22:47.110
that's just negative whining and I don't
01:22:47.120 --> 01:22:48.709
think that was ever really in fashion
01:22:48.719 --> 01:22:54.550
even in ancient India.
01:22:54.560 --> 01:22:55.590
And I think I'm just going to move on to
01:22:55.600 --> 01:22:57.830
the next question.
01:22:57.840 --> 01:23:00.550
This is from Sedar to loachita
01:23:00.560 --> 01:23:03.830
and there's almost not a lag now. It's
01:23:03.840 --> 01:23:08.149
up to 56% 57%.
01:23:08.159 --> 01:23:09.830
Yeah, I think this computer is just
01:23:09.840 --> 01:23:12.390
getting old. So, I'm going to have to
01:23:12.400 --> 01:23:14.149
get a new computer probably next year
01:23:14.159 --> 01:23:17.750
sometime.
01:23:17.760 --> 01:23:20.950
Anyways, Sudart lohito says, "Have you
01:23:20.960 --> 01:23:23.830
read the novel from Orwell Burmese
01:23:23.840 --> 01:23:26.070
days?" Yeah, I've read Burmese days. In
01:23:26.080 --> 01:23:28.550
fact, I was in Burma when I read it. And
01:23:28.560 --> 01:23:31.830
it turns out that George Orwell, more
01:23:31.840 --> 01:23:35.669
better known for Animal Farm in 1984,
01:23:35.679 --> 01:23:37.590
lived in Burma. I think he was a police
01:23:37.600 --> 01:23:40.470
officer, like a police administrator
01:23:40.480 --> 01:23:43.189
um not far from where I lived. I lived
01:23:43.199 --> 01:23:45.350
like in the general area of Matila which
01:23:45.360 --> 01:23:47.750
is sort of Tomulu country. That's where
01:23:47.760 --> 01:23:49.750
Tomulu Seattle came from. The founder of
01:23:49.760 --> 01:23:52.870
the the tradition which I was ordained
01:23:52.880 --> 01:23:56.790
and I'm trying to remember the name of
01:23:56.800 --> 01:23:59.750
the town
01:23:59.760 --> 01:24:03.030
near Hleet which is my preceptor waset
01:24:03.040 --> 01:24:04.950
Seattle.
01:24:04.960 --> 01:24:07.350
So I mean George Orwell lived maybe 20
01:24:07.360 --> 01:24:10.229
miles from um the birthplace of the
01:24:10.239 --> 01:24:14.149
founder of or my my preceptor
01:24:14.159 --> 01:24:16.790
maybe 30 or 40 miles away from where Tom
01:24:16.800 --> 01:24:21.110
Pulus used to live maybe 30h
01:24:21.120 --> 01:24:23.030
so yeah I have read Burmuse Days and
01:24:23.040 --> 01:24:25.910
it's it's it's worth reading it's it's
01:24:25.920 --> 01:24:27.669
good to read especially I mean if you
01:24:27.679 --> 01:24:30.629
familiar with Burma and it's it's all
01:24:30.639 --> 01:24:32.470
much better
01:24:32.480 --> 01:24:37.110
um poin was the he was the villain
01:24:37.120 --> 01:24:40.229
and uh his wife was continually warning
01:24:40.239 --> 01:24:42.310
him you're an evil man and and your
01:24:42.320 --> 01:24:44.709
karma is going to come back and come
01:24:44.719 --> 01:24:46.149
back on you and you're going to go to
01:24:46.159 --> 01:24:48.629
hell and UP Chin just says oh you don't
01:24:48.639 --> 01:24:49.830
know anything I'm going to build a
01:24:49.840 --> 01:24:53.350
pigota because in Burma it's like
01:24:53.360 --> 01:24:55.189
building a pigota it's just like a
01:24:55.199 --> 01:24:56.870
stairway to heaven it pretty much just
01:24:56.880 --> 01:24:59.830
washes away your sins but then at the
01:24:59.840 --> 01:25:01.350
end of the book he has a stroke before
01:25:01.360 --> 01:25:02.550
he ever gets around to building the
01:25:02.560 --> 01:25:06.390
pigota so it didn't
01:25:06.400 --> 01:25:07.830
I have to admit though I really don't
01:25:07.840 --> 01:25:10.149
like George Orwell very much cuz I mean
01:25:10.159 --> 01:25:13.270
he he is depressing. George Orwell it's
01:25:13.280 --> 01:25:17.030
like the hero of the story is always
01:25:17.040 --> 01:25:19.750
utterly destroyed by the evilst person
01:25:19.760 --> 01:25:22.070
in in the story.
01:25:22.080 --> 01:25:24.229
So it's like the good guy always loses
01:25:24.239 --> 01:25:27.590
in George Orwell and Burmese days was no
01:25:27.600 --> 01:25:31.750
was no different.
01:25:31.760 --> 01:25:33.750
One of my favorite scenes from Burmese
01:25:33.760 --> 01:25:36.790
days though is um the protagonist who's
01:25:36.800 --> 01:25:39.990
an English guy living in Burma. He goes
01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:43.750
to visit uh a Chinese family that is is
01:25:43.760 --> 01:25:45.350
in town. You know, he gets along with
01:25:45.360 --> 01:25:47.910
the Chinese. They're a little bit more
01:25:47.920 --> 01:25:51.189
little little less childlike, I guess,
01:25:51.199 --> 01:25:53.910
going with, you know, the the the
01:25:53.920 --> 01:25:56.550
British colonial perspective. Anyway, so
01:25:56.560 --> 01:25:59.350
he's just hanging out with this Chinese
01:25:59.360 --> 01:26:02.790
family. Um, and one of their they got
01:26:02.800 --> 01:26:04.790
like this naked toddler, you know, like
01:26:04.800 --> 01:26:07.990
this two-year-old Chinese baby standing
01:26:08.000 --> 01:26:09.990
there and he just starts pissing on the
01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:11.350
floor. He's just standing there just
01:26:11.360 --> 01:26:14.629
nonchalantly pissing on the floor. And
01:26:14.639 --> 01:26:17.189
um, one of the English people in there,
01:26:17.199 --> 01:26:20.310
I think it's a a young woman, she's like
01:26:20.320 --> 01:26:22.310
I mean, she's just in a state of shock
01:26:22.320 --> 01:26:24.550
that they would let this baby just stand
01:26:24.560 --> 01:26:26.310
there and piss on the floor. and this
01:26:26.320 --> 01:26:28.550
this shop, you know, it's sort of like
01:26:28.560 --> 01:26:29.910
one of those places where it's the shop
01:26:29.920 --> 01:26:31.350
in the front and the family lives in the
01:26:31.360 --> 01:26:34.950
back. And so once um the Chinese family
01:26:34.960 --> 01:26:36.950
realized that this English woman
01:26:36.960 --> 01:26:38.950
disapproved of the baby pissing on the
01:26:38.960 --> 01:26:40.470
floor, you know, they all start like
01:26:40.480 --> 01:26:42.629
clucking their tongues and and one of
01:26:42.639 --> 01:26:44.470
them just picks up the baby and holds it
01:26:44.480 --> 01:26:46.470
out out the door so that you know it's
01:26:46.480 --> 01:26:48.070
like ringing out a sponge, you know,
01:26:48.080 --> 01:26:49.590
they're just letting it finish pissing
01:26:49.600 --> 01:26:52.070
outside.
01:26:52.080 --> 01:26:54.310
this. I mean, George Orwell did have
01:26:54.320 --> 01:26:57.910
some insight into what it was like to
01:26:57.920 --> 01:27:02.870
live in colonial Southeast Asia.
01:27:02.880 --> 01:27:05.030
But yeah, I have read it and I think I'm
01:27:05.040 --> 01:27:05.990
just going to move on to the next
01:27:06.000 --> 01:27:09.350
question. This is from Yoshi Buouie.
01:27:09.360 --> 01:27:10.629
Although in the back of my mind, I'm
01:27:10.639 --> 01:27:11.990
still trying to remember the name of the
01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:14.390
town where George Orwell is stationed.
01:27:14.400 --> 01:27:16.229
It's not far from the the town of
01:27:16.239 --> 01:27:18.310
Matila.
01:27:18.320 --> 01:27:21.189
Anyways, Yoshi Buouie says, "In past
01:27:21.199 --> 01:27:22.870
videos, to illustrate a point about
01:27:22.880 --> 01:27:24.790
detachment, you shared an example of
01:27:24.800 --> 01:27:27.189
using a raft to cross a river in which
01:27:27.199 --> 01:27:29.350
after crossing the river, you said one
01:27:29.360 --> 01:27:31.270
should leave the raft at the riverbank
01:27:31.280 --> 01:27:33.590
and continue trekking on instead of
01:27:33.600 --> 01:27:36.149
continuing carrying the raft. Is this
01:27:36.159 --> 01:27:38.629
sort of similar to how people,
01:27:38.639 --> 01:27:41.990
politicians, intelligencia, scientists
01:27:42.000 --> 01:27:44.709
are using open discourse and the
01:27:44.719 --> 01:27:47.990
democratic process for every societal
01:27:48.000 --> 01:27:49.750
problem? When it seems that open
01:27:49.760 --> 01:27:52.390
discourse and the democratic process no
01:27:52.400 --> 01:27:54.229
longer serve their purpose in solving
01:27:54.239 --> 01:27:56.709
societal problems.
01:27:56.719 --> 01:27:58.310
Well, I don't really see much of a
01:27:58.320 --> 01:28:00.470
connection there. First of all, the
01:28:00.480 --> 01:28:02.950
point of the the simile of the raft is
01:28:02.960 --> 01:28:06.149
found in the alagadup suta of the majin
01:28:06.159 --> 01:28:08.790
kaya. It's a statement attributed to the
01:28:08.800 --> 01:28:11.270
Buddha himself that the dharma is like a
01:28:11.280 --> 01:28:14.550
raft. There's a person who gets to the
01:28:14.560 --> 01:28:17.430
shore of this flooded river. He wants to
01:28:17.440 --> 01:28:21.110
cross the river. No boat, no bridge. So
01:28:21.120 --> 01:28:23.830
what he does, he just gathers together a
01:28:23.840 --> 01:28:25.830
bunch of essentially rubbish, tree
01:28:25.840 --> 01:28:29.669
branches, vines, grass, leaves. He just
01:28:29.679 --> 01:28:31.669
kind of combines it all together, ties
01:28:31.679 --> 01:28:34.310
it together with like vines and uses
01:28:34.320 --> 01:28:36.470
that as a float. He gets on the float
01:28:36.480 --> 01:28:39.030
and then is like kicking and paddling
01:28:39.040 --> 01:28:41.110
his way across the flood till he gets to
01:28:41.120 --> 01:28:43.590
the other side. And then once he gets to
01:28:43.600 --> 01:28:45.750
the other side, he doesn't need this
01:28:45.760 --> 01:28:48.709
raft anymore or this float. So he just
01:28:48.719 --> 01:28:50.149
cuts it loose and lets it wash
01:28:50.159 --> 01:28:52.310
downstream or just beaches. It continues
01:28:52.320 --> 01:28:55.270
on his way. So I mean that's the Buddha
01:28:55.280 --> 01:28:58.390
compares that to Dharma. Buddhism itself
01:28:58.400 --> 01:29:00.629
is just like convenient rubbish that
01:29:00.639 --> 01:29:03.030
helps us to get enlightened. And then
01:29:03.040 --> 01:29:04.310
once you get enlightened, you don't need
01:29:04.320 --> 01:29:06.950
it anymore. You just leave it behind.
01:29:06.960 --> 01:29:09.910
It's just this worldly samasauric
01:29:09.920 --> 01:29:13.110
gadgetry that you use like a gimmick to
01:29:13.120 --> 01:29:15.669
get enlightened. Being enlightened is
01:29:15.679 --> 01:29:18.149
the point. It's like all these rules and
01:29:18.159 --> 01:29:19.910
and methods and everything are not
01:29:19.920 --> 01:29:21.510
really the point. That's just a means to
01:29:21.520 --> 01:29:25.430
an end.
01:29:25.440 --> 01:29:29.270
So, how is that sort of similar to how
01:29:29.280 --> 01:29:30.790
politicians
01:29:30.800 --> 01:29:33.350
or scientists are using open discourse
01:29:33.360 --> 01:29:35.830
in the democratic process? No, not
01:29:35.840 --> 01:29:37.750
really. Because I mean, you'd have to
01:29:37.760 --> 01:29:39.669
solve the problem with it before you let
01:29:39.679 --> 01:29:42.390
it go. You don't just pretend to solve a
01:29:42.400 --> 01:29:44.790
problem. I mean, that's apparently what
01:29:44.800 --> 01:29:47.590
the politicians and these scientists, it
01:29:47.600 --> 01:29:48.950
seems like what they're doing cuz
01:29:48.960 --> 01:29:50.470
according to Yoshi Buouie, it doesn't
01:29:50.480 --> 01:29:52.790
really solve the problem. It no longer
01:29:52.800 --> 01:29:56.629
serves the purpose as he says.
01:29:56.639 --> 01:29:59.350
So I mean it didn't really serve the
01:29:59.360 --> 01:30:01.590
purpose at the time they were using it
01:30:01.600 --> 01:30:04.629
really it seems to me. So I mean a
01:30:04.639 --> 01:30:07.270
better example is just like I mean you
01:30:07.280 --> 01:30:09.030
need to pound a nail. So you pick up a
01:30:09.040 --> 01:30:10.310
hammer, you pound the nail. When you're
01:30:10.320 --> 01:30:11.510
done pounding the nail, you put the
01:30:11.520 --> 01:30:13.910
hammer back down and leave it behind.
01:30:13.920 --> 01:30:15.669
You know, put it away in the in the the
01:30:15.679 --> 01:30:17.990
toolbox or whatever.
01:30:18.000 --> 01:30:19.350
You know, it's like you use something
01:30:19.360 --> 01:30:21.030
until it's not useful anymore and then
01:30:21.040 --> 01:30:23.110
you stop using it. I mean, that's
01:30:23.120 --> 01:30:26.790
essentially what it's all about.
01:30:26.800 --> 01:30:28.950
So,
01:30:28.960 --> 01:30:30.229
yeah, I really don't think that
01:30:30.239 --> 01:30:32.070
politicians really get to that point. I
01:30:32.080 --> 01:30:35.270
mean, sometimes it's like you're using
01:30:35.280 --> 01:30:37.030
someone who's useful to you until
01:30:37.040 --> 01:30:38.709
they're no longer useful to you and then
01:30:38.719 --> 01:30:40.709
you just throw them under the bus. I
01:30:40.719 --> 01:30:42.550
mean, that could sort of be like a
01:30:42.560 --> 01:30:47.669
really worldly cynical kind of analogy
01:30:47.679 --> 01:30:49.910
to the simile of the raft in in
01:30:49.920 --> 01:30:52.950
Buddhism.
01:30:52.960 --> 01:30:55.430
It's just you use something until it's
01:30:55.440 --> 01:30:57.750
not useful anymore and then you just
01:30:57.760 --> 01:31:00.950
cast it aside, put it away, leave it
01:31:00.960 --> 01:31:03.669
behind.
01:31:03.679 --> 01:31:05.189
There's all kinds of examples you can
01:31:05.199 --> 01:31:07.030
you can come up with with regard to
01:31:07.040 --> 01:31:08.870
that. I think that the politician and
01:31:08.880 --> 01:31:12.229
scientists using the democratic process
01:31:12.239 --> 01:31:14.870
and open discourse is like a really
01:31:14.880 --> 01:31:16.629
obscure
01:31:16.639 --> 01:31:19.990
attempt at an analogy with the simile of
01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:22.950
the raft. I mean essentially the simile
01:31:22.960 --> 01:31:25.830
of the raft dharma is like this
01:31:25.840 --> 01:31:27.910
contraption made of junk that serves a
01:31:27.920 --> 01:31:31.189
purpose and once the purpose is served
01:31:31.199 --> 01:31:32.629
you don't need it anymore because it
01:31:32.639 --> 01:31:38.870
really is ultimately just junk.
01:31:38.880 --> 01:31:42.790
So yeah, I mean it's like you use a leaf
01:31:42.800 --> 01:31:44.470
to you're out in the you're out in the
01:31:44.480 --> 01:31:45.990
woods camping or something. You use a
01:31:46.000 --> 01:31:47.590
leaf to like wipe your butt or
01:31:47.600 --> 01:31:49.590
something. Then you just throw it away.
01:31:49.600 --> 01:31:51.350
You don't need it anymore. I mean, that
01:31:51.360 --> 01:31:53.990
would be like probably a more accurate
01:31:54.000 --> 01:31:56.709
sort of analogy. You know, you just pick
01:31:56.719 --> 01:31:59.189
up some kind of piece of junk, something
01:31:59.199 --> 01:32:01.990
of little value anyway, use it to serve
01:32:02.000 --> 01:32:08.310
a purpose, and then just throw it away.
01:32:08.320 --> 01:32:10.790
If politicians or scientists are
01:32:10.800 --> 01:32:15.350
actually like solving a problem
01:32:15.360 --> 01:32:18.470
by using something of little value and
01:32:18.480 --> 01:32:21.510
then just casting it aside, then yeah,
01:32:21.520 --> 01:32:25.110
that that'd be an example. But like open
01:32:25.120 --> 01:32:27.990
discourse and democratic process, it
01:32:28.000 --> 01:32:31.590
never really gets thrown away.
01:32:31.600 --> 01:32:34.149
at least. I mean, I I don't really
01:32:34.159 --> 01:32:37.750
follow this kind of analogy well enough
01:32:37.760 --> 01:32:42.229
to really to really see how it would be
01:32:42.239 --> 01:32:46.229
applicable and how it would not.
01:32:46.239 --> 01:32:47.830
Anyways, I'm just going to move on. Next
01:32:47.840 --> 01:32:49.430
question.
01:32:49.440 --> 01:32:52.470
This is from Ethiopian fake TIG
01:32:52.480 --> 01:32:54.629
and he says, "Can you talk about when
01:32:54.639 --> 01:32:57.990
and how you met your sweetheart?" And I
01:32:58.000 --> 01:33:00.470
mean it's kind of personal private kind
01:33:00.480 --> 01:33:02.629
of stuff. Although I will say that we
01:33:02.639 --> 01:33:04.550
originally became aware of each other's
01:33:04.560 --> 01:33:07.270
existence on minds.com
01:33:07.280 --> 01:33:09.990
which neither one of uses anymore. It
01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:13.830
was like once Elon Musk bought Twitter,
01:33:13.840 --> 01:33:16.070
Mines just kind of become obsolete
01:33:16.080 --> 01:33:18.629
because Mines was sort of like a refuge
01:33:18.639 --> 01:33:20.390
for people that had been kicked off of
01:33:20.400 --> 01:33:23.270
Facebook and other social media back in
01:33:23.280 --> 01:33:25.189
like the days when it was all run by the
01:33:25.199 --> 01:33:27.430
left. And if you said anything that
01:33:27.440 --> 01:33:29.830
deviated from what the left wanted
01:33:29.840 --> 01:33:31.189
people to talk about, you'd just be
01:33:31.199 --> 01:33:35.350
kicked out for violation of, you know,
01:33:35.360 --> 01:33:37.990
terms of use or whatever.
01:33:38.000 --> 01:33:41.750
So minds became a a hold out for like
01:33:41.760 --> 01:33:44.390
edgy [ __ ] lord type of people and just
01:33:44.400 --> 01:33:47.669
free thinkers and so forth and uh we
01:33:47.679 --> 01:33:49.510
became aware of each each other's
01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:53.110
existence there and uh started liking
01:33:53.120 --> 01:33:55.510
each other on just in our interactions
01:33:55.520 --> 01:33:59.030
on minds.com
01:33:59.040 --> 01:34:02.470
which neither one of uses anymore.
01:34:02.480 --> 01:34:03.590
And I'm just going to move on to
01:34:03.600 --> 01:34:06.709
Ethiopian fake Tig's second question. He
01:34:06.719 --> 01:34:08.870
says,"I like how you said you don't want
01:34:08.880 --> 01:34:11.350
to shut the door on yourself when it
01:34:11.360 --> 01:34:12.709
comes to potentially becoming
01:34:12.719 --> 01:34:15.350
enlightened in this life. And in many
01:34:15.360 --> 01:34:17.270
circles, almost everyone says they
01:34:17.280 --> 01:34:19.669
aren't enlightened, and enlightenment is
01:34:19.679 --> 01:34:22.310
seen as a very rare and impossible
01:34:22.320 --> 01:34:24.709
attainment. Could you perhaps recall
01:34:24.719 --> 01:34:26.390
anyone you personally have interacted
01:34:26.400 --> 01:34:28.950
with where you thought to yourself, "Oh,
01:34:28.960 --> 01:34:31.030
this person seems advanced or
01:34:31.040 --> 01:34:32.790
potentially enlightened." Yeah, this is
01:34:32.800 --> 01:34:34.870
a question. I think it was the previous
01:34:34.880 --> 01:34:37.189
Q&A or the one before that where a
01:34:37.199 --> 01:34:38.870
similar question was asked, you know,
01:34:38.880 --> 01:34:40.470
have you met anybody that you think
01:34:40.480 --> 01:34:43.590
might have been enlightened and possibly
01:34:43.600 --> 01:34:46.550
my best guess would be um Seattle that I
01:34:46.560 --> 01:34:50.070
meant that I met in Mon state in
01:34:50.080 --> 01:34:54.070
southern Burma back gosh
01:34:54.080 --> 01:34:56.550
mid 90s.
01:34:56.560 --> 01:34:57.990
He was still alive back then. He's about
01:34:58.000 --> 01:35:01.350
90 years old, but he was just wide awake
01:35:01.360 --> 01:35:03.830
just looking just intently, you know,
01:35:03.840 --> 01:35:09.590
just I mean he obviously was fully there
01:35:09.600 --> 01:35:11.350
unlike the old monk that came that was
01:35:11.360 --> 01:35:13.830
with him where I mean his his faculties
01:35:13.840 --> 01:35:15.110
were pretty much gone. You'd have to
01:35:15.120 --> 01:35:17.430
yell into his ear and even then you
01:35:17.440 --> 01:35:18.790
weren't sure if he really understood
01:35:18.800 --> 01:35:21.189
what you were saying.
01:35:21.199 --> 01:35:23.910
Ah man, I got
01:35:23.920 --> 01:35:25.590
having some technical difficulties here
01:35:25.600 --> 01:35:27.510
with the upper respiratory system. Just
01:35:27.520 --> 01:35:38.390
a second.
01:35:38.400 --> 01:35:41.189
Okay then. And we still got like a 3
01:35:41.199 --> 01:35:44.229
second lag at least. It comes and goes.
01:35:44.239 --> 01:35:45.750
At least some of the time we're not
01:35:45.760 --> 01:35:47.910
lagging.
01:35:47.920 --> 01:35:49.669
I don't know this computer. I I don't
01:35:49.679 --> 01:35:53.750
know what the deal is.
01:35:53.760 --> 01:35:56.470
So yeah, um in Seattle would probably be
01:35:56.480 --> 01:35:58.790
my of the people that I have met in
01:35:58.800 --> 01:36:00.950
person, sat in the same room with them
01:36:00.960 --> 01:36:04.870
and and spoke with them, then maybe um
01:36:04.880 --> 01:36:06.390
Seattle would be the most spiritually
01:36:06.400 --> 01:36:09.030
advanced being that I've ever associated
01:36:09.040 --> 01:36:12.470
with. And I only met him that one time.
01:36:12.480 --> 01:36:17.189
Mahamey Uzora had some wisdom, too.
01:36:17.199 --> 01:36:20.950
He might still be alive, in fact.
01:36:20.960 --> 01:36:22.950
So, let's see here. And then, of course,
01:36:22.960 --> 01:36:24.709
sometimes you just meet some old
01:36:24.719 --> 01:36:26.950
mildmannered Seattle living alone out in
01:36:26.960 --> 01:36:28.950
a cabin like in a cemetery or something.
01:36:28.960 --> 01:36:30.709
And maybe they're wise and maybe they
01:36:30.719 --> 01:36:31.990
aren't, and you really don't know them
01:36:32.000 --> 01:36:34.550
well enough to decide. Not that you
01:36:34.560 --> 01:36:35.830
could really tell if they're fully
01:36:35.840 --> 01:36:38.950
enlightened or not. Anyway,
01:36:38.960 --> 01:36:41.510
so let's just move on to Ethiopian fake
01:36:41.520 --> 01:36:44.310
Tig's third question.
01:36:44.320 --> 01:36:46.470
Coming back to the US, what were the
01:36:46.480 --> 01:36:48.629
five most shocking things you
01:36:48.639 --> 01:36:51.189
experienced firsthand that really made
01:36:51.199 --> 01:36:54.229
you feel flabbergasted?
01:36:54.239 --> 01:36:55.830
Huh?
01:36:55.840 --> 01:36:59.830
Five? Why five? What were the five most
01:36:59.840 --> 01:37:01.590
shocking things you experienced
01:37:01.600 --> 01:37:03.350
firsthand?
01:37:03.360 --> 01:37:06.709
Well, gosh,
01:37:06.719 --> 01:37:09.109
I mean,
01:37:09.119 --> 01:37:10.870
internet, I mean, that was pretty wild.
01:37:10.880 --> 01:37:13.669
Internet's like a revolution. So there
01:37:13.679 --> 01:37:15.510
is that.
01:37:15.520 --> 01:37:17.830
Everything is digital.
01:37:17.840 --> 01:37:19.669
Everything became digital while I was
01:37:19.679 --> 01:37:22.470
gone. So there's that. People became
01:37:22.480 --> 01:37:24.870
wimpier, you know, more feminized, I
01:37:24.880 --> 01:37:28.709
guess. Like I remember one time I was in
01:37:28.719 --> 01:37:30.629
Bellingham, Washington, and everybody
01:37:30.639 --> 01:37:33.109
that was riding a bicycle was wearing a
01:37:33.119 --> 01:37:35.910
helmet. And finally I asked them, "Is it
01:37:35.920 --> 01:37:37.750
the law now that you have to wear a bike
01:37:37.760 --> 01:37:40.070
helmet?" And they said, "No, it's just
01:37:40.080 --> 01:37:42.149
the way everyone does it." And speaking
01:37:42.159 --> 01:37:45.590
of that, um, a similar case is little
01:37:45.600 --> 01:37:48.070
kids playing in a playground, like a
01:37:48.080 --> 01:37:49.590
daycare playground. They're wearing
01:37:49.600 --> 01:37:52.070
helmets. Little kids on a playground
01:37:52.080 --> 01:37:54.310
wearing helmets.
01:37:54.320 --> 01:37:57.750
So, oh, also it's like it wasn't until I
01:37:57.760 --> 01:37:59.510
came back to America that I saw like
01:37:59.520 --> 01:38:03.030
women walking their toddler on a leash.
01:38:03.040 --> 01:38:04.550
You know, they got a leash hooked up to
01:38:04.560 --> 01:38:06.149
the kid.
01:38:06.159 --> 01:38:09.189
So I mean it just seems in that case
01:38:09.199 --> 01:38:11.669
that you know this America had become
01:38:11.679 --> 01:38:14.709
more feminized I think it just seemed
01:38:14.719 --> 01:38:18.709
like you know more worried about safety
01:38:18.719 --> 01:38:22.070
that kind of thing security
01:38:22.080 --> 01:38:25.590
so that's three or four I guess
01:38:25.600 --> 01:38:28.390
uh it seemed to me when I came back to
01:38:28.400 --> 01:38:31.510
America in 2011 staying in Bellingham
01:38:31.520 --> 01:38:34.470
Washington that people were working
01:38:34.480 --> 01:38:37.109
harder to live at a lower standard of
01:38:37.119 --> 01:38:39.750
living than was the case like in the
01:38:39.760 --> 01:38:42.310
1980s.
01:38:42.320 --> 01:38:43.990
So, I mean, I can't really say that I
01:38:44.000 --> 01:38:47.350
was flabbergasted, but that was that was
01:38:47.360 --> 01:38:49.750
one of them. Oh, also I guess I'll throw
01:38:49.760 --> 01:38:51.270
this one and this was kind of a major
01:38:51.280 --> 01:38:54.709
one that I was a monk in Burma, you
01:38:54.719 --> 01:38:56.470
know, called venerable lord. People
01:38:56.480 --> 01:38:58.470
bowing to me and all that. Not that I
01:38:58.480 --> 01:38:59.910
insisted on it, that's just the way it
01:38:59.920 --> 01:39:01.910
went there. And then I came back to
01:39:01.920 --> 01:39:03.910
America thinking that, you know, there's
01:39:03.920 --> 01:39:07.030
more need of Dharma teachers in America,
01:39:07.040 --> 01:39:08.950
that there'd be some people that would
01:39:08.960 --> 01:39:12.629
appreciate my presence there. And at the
01:39:12.639 --> 01:39:16.870
Dharma Hall in Bellingham,
01:39:16.880 --> 01:39:19.430
I mean, it was it was sort of like
01:39:19.440 --> 01:39:22.070
lukewarm at best. I mean, there were a
01:39:22.080 --> 01:39:23.910
few people that were enthusiastic about
01:39:23.920 --> 01:39:25.990
me being there. There was an even larger
01:39:26.000 --> 01:39:27.830
number of people that just felt
01:39:27.840 --> 01:39:29.910
threatened
01:39:29.920 --> 01:39:33.510
like like the Dharma teachers there. I
01:39:33.520 --> 01:39:35.430
mean I was like moving in on their
01:39:35.440 --> 01:39:37.189
territory, you know, they they went into
01:39:37.199 --> 01:39:40.070
like defense mode like evasive
01:39:40.080 --> 01:39:42.550
maneuvers, this kind of thing. And a lot
01:39:42.560 --> 01:39:45.189
of people they just western Buddhists
01:39:45.199 --> 01:39:47.669
they just resent the existence of monks
01:39:47.679 --> 01:39:49.669
in general
01:39:49.679 --> 01:39:53.910
which is I mean to me that was one of
01:39:53.920 --> 01:39:56.229
the most amazing things I experienced
01:39:56.239 --> 01:39:57.990
upon coming back to America that I
01:39:58.000 --> 01:40:01.669
actually received more like disdain
01:40:01.679 --> 01:40:03.910
inside the Dharmahal than just like out
01:40:03.920 --> 01:40:07.830
on the sidewalks of the town or that I
01:40:07.840 --> 01:40:10.149
received more respect from the new age
01:40:10.159 --> 01:40:11.830
community than from the Buddhist this
01:40:11.840 --> 01:40:13.990
community, you know, the newagy kind of
01:40:14.000 --> 01:40:15.669
people. They're very open-minded. You
01:40:15.679 --> 01:40:16.950
know, they'll accept pretty much
01:40:16.960 --> 01:40:20.550
anything. And so, I just got more
01:40:20.560 --> 01:40:23.350
acceptance from them at first than than
01:40:23.360 --> 01:40:25.030
from the Buddhist community. And the
01:40:25.040 --> 01:40:27.750
Buddhist community was like more boomer
01:40:27.760 --> 01:40:30.390
types who were invested in the status
01:40:30.400 --> 01:40:33.590
quo. They didn't want their position as
01:40:33.600 --> 01:40:35.750
like a contributing dharma teacher to be
01:40:35.760 --> 01:40:38.950
threatened, you know, their their like
01:40:38.960 --> 01:40:41.510
status within the group or whatever.
01:40:41.520 --> 01:40:43.830
It was really weird.
01:40:43.840 --> 01:40:46.229
So that was it was it was sort of like
01:40:46.239 --> 01:40:48.550
just jumping into ice cold water after
01:40:48.560 --> 01:40:51.270
being in in like a warm bath or
01:40:51.280 --> 01:40:52.790
something. It was it was just really
01:40:52.800 --> 01:40:54.390
weird. It was just night and day the
01:40:54.400 --> 01:40:56.390
difference between how a monk is treated
01:40:56.400 --> 01:40:59.430
in like a Buddhist country like Burma
01:40:59.440 --> 01:41:01.990
and then coming to America
01:41:02.000 --> 01:41:06.070
where I mean it was it was more like who
01:41:06.080 --> 01:41:07.990
is this guy? who does he think he is
01:41:08.000 --> 01:41:10.070
kind of an attitude from a lot of people
01:41:10.080 --> 01:41:15.189
including a lot of Buddhist people.
01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:17.750
So that would probably be the the most
01:41:17.760 --> 01:41:20.550
shocking thing I experienced was just
01:41:20.560 --> 01:41:22.709
the like
01:41:22.719 --> 01:41:25.830
indifference or even like resentment
01:41:25.840 --> 01:41:28.709
from like the dharma community of me
01:41:28.719 --> 01:41:32.310
just appearing in town and like coming
01:41:32.320 --> 01:41:34.870
to the dharma hall that kind of thing.
01:41:34.880 --> 01:41:36.470
there. A lot of people just did not like
01:41:36.480 --> 01:41:37.990
it. And I mean, they didn't even know
01:41:38.000 --> 01:41:40.070
me, you know? It wasn't like my
01:41:40.080 --> 01:41:41.990
reputation preceded me or anything like
01:41:42.000 --> 01:41:44.310
that. It was just, whoa, this there's a
01:41:44.320 --> 01:41:47.030
monk here. Yeah, I don't think so. That
01:41:47.040 --> 01:41:50.550
kind of thing.
01:41:50.560 --> 01:41:52.550
Anyways,
01:41:52.560 --> 01:41:53.750
I'm just going to move on. Next
01:41:53.760 --> 01:41:55.430
question.
01:41:55.440 --> 01:41:57.910
This is from Raphael
01:41:57.920 --> 01:41:59.590
and Raphael says, "You said that
01:41:59.600 --> 01:42:01.669
attaining enlightenment as a monk is
01:42:01.679 --> 01:42:03.750
practically impossible and that most
01:42:03.760 --> 01:42:05.910
monks would even avoid it because of the
01:42:05.920 --> 01:42:07.990
frightening aspect of losing one's sense
01:42:08.000 --> 01:42:11.430
of identity on the path toward it. So
01:42:11.440 --> 01:42:13.109
why would someone choose to become a
01:42:13.119 --> 01:42:15.510
monk in the first place?" Well, I mean,
01:42:15.520 --> 01:42:17.590
even if you're afraid of something at
01:42:17.600 --> 01:42:19.830
one level, that doesn't mean that you're
01:42:19.840 --> 01:42:21.669
going to be afraid of it at all levels
01:42:21.679 --> 01:42:24.390
and just not try for it. You know, it's
01:42:24.400 --> 01:42:28.629
like some people it's like courage. Um,
01:42:28.639 --> 01:42:31.270
like one aspect of courage is not that
01:42:31.280 --> 01:42:33.430
you're fearless. It's just like you face
01:42:33.440 --> 01:42:35.189
your fear. That's that's what the
01:42:35.199 --> 01:42:37.510
courage is.
01:42:37.520 --> 01:42:39.189
So
01:42:39.199 --> 01:42:43.590
I mean just because it's very difficult
01:42:43.600 --> 01:42:46.470
and unpleasant doesn't mean that I mean
01:42:46.480 --> 01:42:48.790
even though a part of you acknowledges
01:42:48.800 --> 01:42:51.990
that and kind of deep down you you're
01:42:52.000 --> 01:42:53.830
like clinging to your own sense of
01:42:53.840 --> 01:42:57.189
identity and so forth still at another
01:42:57.199 --> 01:42:59.669
level you acknowledge that this is the
01:42:59.679 --> 01:43:01.910
best thing I can do even if it's the
01:43:01.920 --> 01:43:04.629
odds are like astronomical against my
01:43:04.639 --> 01:43:06.390
success still at least you make
01:43:06.400 --> 01:43:07.910
progress. You know, even if you're not
01:43:07.920 --> 01:43:09.030
going to become fully enlightened, at
01:43:09.040 --> 01:43:10.950
least you're going to become wiser and a
01:43:10.960 --> 01:43:15.430
better person.
01:43:15.440 --> 01:43:17.270
So, there is that. I mean, a lot of
01:43:17.280 --> 01:43:19.270
Asian monks,
01:43:19.280 --> 01:43:21.189
um, you know, they're just they just
01:43:21.199 --> 01:43:22.870
want to get merit. They just want to get
01:43:22.880 --> 01:43:25.189
good karma from being a monk. You know,
01:43:25.199 --> 01:43:26.629
they'll get into a heaven realm or
01:43:26.639 --> 01:43:29.270
something as a result of it.
01:43:29.280 --> 01:43:30.790
Not sure if it really works that way,
01:43:30.800 --> 01:43:32.550
especially considering that most like
01:43:32.560 --> 01:43:35.030
Burmese monks don't follow the rules
01:43:35.040 --> 01:43:37.030
very conscientiously. They're not really
01:43:37.040 --> 01:43:40.070
making much of an effort.
01:43:40.080 --> 01:43:44.070
But I mean, in Burma, most monks
01:43:44.080 --> 01:43:47.030
really do not have what would be called
01:43:47.040 --> 01:43:49.750
a vocation or a calling. You know, it's
01:43:49.760 --> 01:43:52.310
like I mean, I' I've discussed this
01:43:52.320 --> 01:43:53.990
before.
01:43:54.000 --> 01:43:55.189
A lot of monks, they just want to live
01:43:55.199 --> 01:43:58.229
an easy life. Some monks, it's like
01:43:58.239 --> 01:44:00.149
they're too
01:44:00.159 --> 01:44:03.590
it's like they're too ugly and lazy to
01:44:03.600 --> 01:44:06.629
get married and and like work for a
01:44:06.639 --> 01:44:09.590
living and so they just go into the SA.
01:44:09.600 --> 01:44:12.310
Or some some monks are like latent
01:44:12.320 --> 01:44:15.669
homosexuals. They want some socially
01:44:15.679 --> 01:44:18.390
acceptable reason for not getting
01:44:18.400 --> 01:44:22.070
married to a woman. So they join the SA.
01:44:22.080 --> 01:44:24.310
It's like a lot of the the more
01:44:24.320 --> 01:44:26.229
comfortable monasteries in town have at
01:44:26.239 --> 01:44:30.629
least one like gay assistant Seattle
01:44:30.639 --> 01:44:33.430
there. Like mahasi seats that are like
01:44:33.440 --> 01:44:35.430
the comfortable ones in town almost
01:44:35.440 --> 01:44:38.149
always have at least one kind of
01:44:38.159 --> 01:44:42.550
effeminite assistant Seattle.
01:44:42.560 --> 01:44:46.310
or it's just you've got like this large
01:44:46.320 --> 01:44:49.510
family of poor subsistence farmers and
01:44:49.520 --> 01:44:52.310
they got too many mouths to feed and so
01:44:52.320 --> 01:44:53.910
they send one of their kids to the
01:44:53.920 --> 01:44:55.430
monastery
01:44:55.440 --> 01:44:57.510
um partly to reduce the number of mouths
01:44:57.520 --> 01:44:59.270
to feed and also to increase the status
01:44:59.280 --> 01:45:00.950
of the family by having a monk in the
01:45:00.960 --> 01:45:04.310
family and the kid he just wants to be a
01:45:04.320 --> 01:45:06.390
kid in a lot of cases he may not have
01:45:06.400 --> 01:45:08.470
any kind of spiritual calling it's like
01:45:08.480 --> 01:45:11.910
you go to the monastery
01:45:11.920 --> 01:45:13.830
So there's all kinds of reasons why
01:45:13.840 --> 01:45:15.270
someone would choose to become a monk. I
01:45:15.280 --> 01:45:17.590
mean, they just want higher social
01:45:17.600 --> 01:45:20.629
status, upward social mobility, free
01:45:20.639 --> 01:45:22.870
education at the monastic schools.
01:45:22.880 --> 01:45:25.109
There's all kinds of reasons, especially
01:45:25.119 --> 01:45:27.189
like in a Buddhist country, why someone
01:45:27.199 --> 01:45:30.310
would become a Buddhist monk or nun
01:45:30.320 --> 01:45:34.950
without really desiring enlightenment.
01:45:34.960 --> 01:45:36.390
Westerners tend to be more serious
01:45:36.400 --> 01:45:37.910
because they have to like go against
01:45:37.920 --> 01:45:43.270
their own culture in order to do it.
01:45:43.280 --> 01:45:45.189
So
01:45:45.199 --> 01:45:46.790
why would someone choose to become a
01:45:46.800 --> 01:45:48.629
monk in the first place? I mean for a
01:45:48.639 --> 01:45:51.189
westerner just setting aside all the
01:45:51.199 --> 01:45:54.550
like the Asian traditional reasons of
01:45:54.560 --> 01:45:57.830
you know this upward social mobility and
01:45:57.840 --> 01:46:01.830
this kind of thing. Um a western I mean
01:46:01.840 --> 01:46:03.669
like one of the best reason I mean the
01:46:03.679 --> 01:46:05.430
desire to become enlightened is probably
01:46:05.440 --> 01:46:08.149
not the best reason for being ordained.
01:46:08.159 --> 01:46:09.830
One of the best reasons is just a sense
01:46:09.840 --> 01:46:12.550
of duty. You know, it's like it's it's
01:46:12.560 --> 01:46:14.709
there. The possibility is there. It's
01:46:14.719 --> 01:46:16.629
like my sacred duty to at least give it
01:46:16.639 --> 01:46:19.430
a shot. That's a good reason. Another
01:46:19.440 --> 01:46:21.350
good reason for becoming a monk that
01:46:21.360 --> 01:46:23.270
probably will keep someone in the SA
01:46:23.280 --> 01:46:26.310
longer is you just have like like your
01:46:26.320 --> 01:46:29.109
character is attuned to living a life of
01:46:29.119 --> 01:46:31.910
simplicity and solitude.
01:46:31.920 --> 01:46:35.109
living like a meditative life alone in a
01:46:35.119 --> 01:46:38.870
forest, you know, like a thorough type.
01:46:38.880 --> 01:46:41.830
I mean, it's the lifestyle is in harmony
01:46:41.840 --> 01:46:44.870
with your character and that there's a
01:46:44.880 --> 01:46:46.950
good chance that will get you farther
01:46:46.960 --> 01:46:49.669
than just like some idealistic desire
01:46:49.679 --> 01:46:52.870
for nirvana.
01:46:52.880 --> 01:46:55.270
I mean, if the whole lifestyle of a monk
01:46:55.280 --> 01:46:57.430
just is not in harmony with your own
01:46:57.440 --> 01:46:58.870
nature, then it's it's probably not
01:46:58.880 --> 01:47:02.709
going to work out very well.
01:47:02.719 --> 01:47:05.669
Man, my my nostrils are like they're not
01:47:05.679 --> 01:47:07.990
cooperating very well. I'm going to give
01:47:08.000 --> 01:47:15.830
this another shot.
01:47:15.840 --> 01:47:18.870
I don't know why this happens sometimes.
01:47:18.880 --> 01:47:20.470
So,
01:47:20.480 --> 01:47:22.790
I guess the next question from Raphael
01:47:22.800 --> 01:47:24.790
is a followup on the first one. So,
01:47:24.800 --> 01:47:27.270
let's just go there and see if see if we
01:47:27.280 --> 01:47:29.669
can sort of amalgamate these two
01:47:29.679 --> 01:47:31.270
questions into one. even though I've
01:47:31.280 --> 01:47:32.709
already pretty much answered the first
01:47:32.719 --> 01:47:35.270
one. So, Raphael says, "Then it would
01:47:35.280 --> 01:47:37.750
make more sense to become a monk simply
01:47:37.760 --> 01:47:40.149
to attain inner peace and live a
01:47:40.159 --> 01:47:42.709
stressfree life without thinking about
01:47:42.719 --> 01:47:45.270
enlightenment at all." Right. Well, I
01:47:45.280 --> 01:47:46.070
mean, you're going to think about
01:47:46.080 --> 01:47:47.669
enlightenment sometimes, especially if
01:47:47.679 --> 01:47:49.590
you're reading Buddhist texts that have
01:47:49.600 --> 01:47:50.870
quite a lot to say about becoming
01:47:50.880 --> 01:47:52.709
enlightened.
01:47:52.719 --> 01:47:56.070
So, yeah. I mean
01:47:56.080 --> 01:47:58.070
you you definitely think about
01:47:58.080 --> 01:48:00.149
enlightenment sometimes if you're if
01:48:00.159 --> 01:48:01.910
you're reading your the scriptures of
01:48:01.920 --> 01:48:04.950
your own religion but I think it's more
01:48:04.960 --> 01:48:07.590
important just not to have goaloriented
01:48:07.600 --> 01:48:09.109
dharma
01:48:09.119 --> 01:48:11.830
I mean just be here now do the best best
01:48:11.840 --> 01:48:14.629
you can now you know give no thought for
01:48:14.639 --> 01:48:16.470
tomorrow what you will eat or where you
01:48:16.480 --> 01:48:20.470
will sleep that kind of thing just
01:48:20.480 --> 01:48:23.590
I mean goaloriented dharma is a kind of
01:48:23.600 --> 01:48:24.470
trap
01:48:24.480 --> 01:48:27.510
because I mean things just rarely work
01:48:27.520 --> 01:48:29.990
out the way you expect them to anyway.
01:48:30.000 --> 01:48:32.550
So it can result in a lot of disillusion
01:48:32.560 --> 01:48:35.189
and discouragement and all that. Just
01:48:35.199 --> 01:48:38.229
attend to the present moment from one
01:48:38.239 --> 01:48:40.310
moment to the next and that will get you
01:48:40.320 --> 01:48:43.109
farther than like dedicating your
01:48:43.119 --> 01:48:47.189
efforts to some future extrapolated goal
01:48:47.199 --> 01:48:49.430
which there's a good chance you'll never
01:48:49.440 --> 01:48:51.990
reach that goal.
01:48:52.000 --> 01:48:53.510
you're there's more chance that you'll
01:48:53.520 --> 01:48:55.430
reach the goal just by living in the
01:48:55.440 --> 01:48:56.870
present moment and just being as
01:48:56.880 --> 01:49:01.030
meditative and mindful as you can.
01:49:01.040 --> 01:49:03.350
And virtue is its own reward. I think
01:49:03.360 --> 01:49:07.189
that's how Spinosa's ethics ends. It's
01:49:07.199 --> 01:49:09.109
right towards the end anyway that I mean
01:49:09.119 --> 01:49:12.870
he tries to like logically demonstrate
01:49:12.880 --> 01:49:15.350
that virtue is its own reward. that you
01:49:15.360 --> 01:49:18.550
shouldn't be virtuous for the sake of
01:49:18.560 --> 01:49:20.550
getting into heaven after you die or
01:49:20.560 --> 01:49:22.870
becoming enlightened, you know, 3 years
01:49:22.880 --> 01:49:25.910
from now or whatever. It's just be here
01:49:25.920 --> 01:49:28.950
now. Just do what is right just because
01:49:28.960 --> 01:49:33.910
it's right without any ulterior motive.
01:49:33.920 --> 01:49:35.109
And I'm just going to move on to the
01:49:35.119 --> 01:49:37.189
next question. This is from Robert who
01:49:37.199 --> 01:49:40.790
is our last questioner of this episode.
01:49:40.800 --> 01:49:43.510
And Robert says, "Have you read or have
01:49:43.520 --> 01:49:46.229
any opinion on Brave New World or Aldis
01:49:46.239 --> 01:49:48.790
Huxley in general?" Well, I've read
01:49:48.800 --> 01:49:51.350
quite a lot of Aldis Huxley. I like
01:49:51.360 --> 01:49:53.270
Aldis Huxley. I put him in this pretty
01:49:53.280 --> 01:49:56.629
much the same category as Somerset Mom
01:49:56.639 --> 01:49:59.590
that neither one of them was like really
01:49:59.600 --> 01:50:02.390
topnotch author, but both of them were
01:50:02.400 --> 01:50:05.109
intelligent and imaginative and told
01:50:05.119 --> 01:50:07.430
good stories and both of them were
01:50:07.440 --> 01:50:09.910
fairly cultured.
01:50:09.920 --> 01:50:12.950
So yeah, I've read a lot of Aldis
01:50:12.960 --> 01:50:14.950
Huxley. In fact, you know, the doors of
01:50:14.960 --> 01:50:20.390
perception or the the uh what was it?
01:50:20.400 --> 01:50:24.070
The he wrote like a historical
01:50:24.080 --> 01:50:26.709
account of the devils of Ludon, I think
01:50:26.719 --> 01:50:28.629
that's called. And there was a movie
01:50:28.639 --> 01:50:30.870
based on it where you have these
01:50:30.880 --> 01:50:32.870
hysterical nuns that are claiming that
01:50:32.880 --> 01:50:34.709
they're being possessed by the devil. is
01:50:34.719 --> 01:50:37.669
just like a a case history of mass
01:50:37.679 --> 01:50:40.470
hysteria running a muk.
01:50:40.480 --> 01:50:42.390
And of course, I have read Brave New
01:50:42.400 --> 01:50:43.990
World. I read some of his short stories
01:50:44.000 --> 01:50:48.709
like the Gia Smile is is a good story.
01:50:48.719 --> 01:50:51.109
Um but yeah, Brave New World in
01:50:51.119 --> 01:50:54.070
particular, um people kind of overlook
01:50:54.080 --> 01:50:55.430
Brave New World, you know, so when
01:50:55.440 --> 01:50:57.750
they're saying that the modern West is
01:50:57.760 --> 01:51:00.470
like this dystopia, they they're more
01:51:00.480 --> 01:51:03.510
likely to bring up Orwell's 1984 when
01:51:03.520 --> 01:51:06.310
actually what like the European Union
01:51:06.320 --> 01:51:10.790
and the UK and Canada and Australia and
01:51:10.800 --> 01:51:13.270
New Zealand and America, if the
01:51:13.280 --> 01:51:15.590
Democrats have their way, is going more
01:51:15.600 --> 01:51:18.709
the route of Brave New World than 1984.
01:51:18.719 --> 01:51:22.470
1984 was using like fear and pain to
01:51:22.480 --> 01:51:25.109
control people. Whereas Brave New World
01:51:25.119 --> 01:51:27.350
was using like greed and pleasure to
01:51:27.360 --> 01:51:29.590
control people.
01:51:29.600 --> 01:51:31.510
Both of them were like a totalitarian
01:51:31.520 --> 01:51:33.750
government where you had to follow along
01:51:33.760 --> 01:51:35.590
or you would be punished. But at least
01:51:35.600 --> 01:51:37.109
in Brave New World, they were more
01:51:37.119 --> 01:51:40.149
humane. And instead of just torturing
01:51:40.159 --> 01:51:42.550
you to death like they would do in in
01:51:42.560 --> 01:51:45.350
Orwell's 1984, they just banish you to
01:51:45.360 --> 01:51:47.270
some island with the where the weirdos
01:51:47.280 --> 01:51:49.270
live. You know, you'd be living in some
01:51:49.280 --> 01:51:51.750
artist colony or something on some
01:51:51.760 --> 01:51:55.990
remote island out in the ocean.
01:51:56.000 --> 01:51:58.149
So, I mean, Brave New World was more
01:51:58.159 --> 01:52:00.070
humane.
01:52:00.080 --> 01:52:02.149
And also like I said, it was it was
01:52:02.159 --> 01:52:04.229
controlling people through their greed
01:52:04.239 --> 01:52:06.629
and their and through pleasure, you
01:52:06.639 --> 01:52:08.470
know, keeping everybody doped up on this
01:52:08.480 --> 01:52:10.629
stuff called soma
01:52:10.639 --> 01:52:13.189
and just like indoctrinating people
01:52:13.199 --> 01:52:14.470
with, you know, never put off for
01:52:14.480 --> 01:52:15.830
tomorrow the pleasure you can have
01:52:15.840 --> 01:52:19.109
today. You know, just like
01:52:19.119 --> 01:52:21.910
like exaggerated consumerism, you know,
01:52:21.920 --> 01:52:23.750
there was no more marriage. Sexual
01:52:23.760 --> 01:52:27.109
promiscuity is encouraged taught in
01:52:27.119 --> 01:52:29.030
grade school.
01:52:29.040 --> 01:52:30.950
You know, the the worst insult you can
01:52:30.960 --> 01:52:32.629
give to somebody in Huxley's Brave New
01:52:32.639 --> 01:52:35.270
World is who's your mother? Because like
01:52:35.280 --> 01:52:37.910
any kind of like strong personal
01:52:37.920 --> 01:52:40.550
attachments are abolished in the Brave
01:52:40.560 --> 01:52:42.070
New World. You want everything
01:52:42.080 --> 01:52:44.709
superficial and instantly gratified. You
01:52:44.719 --> 01:52:47.589
don't want any kind of lasting like
01:52:47.599 --> 01:52:50.390
strong feelings that can interfere with
01:52:50.400 --> 01:52:52.950
the government's control over you. And
01:52:52.960 --> 01:52:56.709
that's I mean that's definitely closer
01:52:56.719 --> 01:53:00.629
to the EU or the UK or you know the
01:53:00.639 --> 01:53:02.229
other countries I have mentioned than
01:53:02.239 --> 01:53:03.910
1984.
01:53:03.920 --> 01:53:06.550
1984 was more like Stalinist Soviet
01:53:06.560 --> 01:53:14.310
Union or maybe to some degree China.
01:53:14.320 --> 01:53:15.910
So
01:53:15.920 --> 01:53:17.669
all the Huxley his death was
01:53:17.679 --> 01:53:20.310
interesting. I think he took meascalene
01:53:20.320 --> 01:53:23.910
or LSD as he was dying so that he could
01:53:23.920 --> 01:53:26.310
die as consciously as possible. But
01:53:26.320 --> 01:53:28.550
Romas said it was still kind of an
01:53:28.560 --> 01:53:30.149
unenlightened attitude. You know, it's
01:53:30.159 --> 01:53:31.910
like I want to die this way instead of
01:53:31.920 --> 01:53:34.470
that way sort of a thing. So, I mean, he
01:53:34.480 --> 01:53:36.310
was still kind of attached to what was
01:53:36.320 --> 01:53:38.229
going on.
01:53:38.239 --> 01:53:40.390
Um,
01:53:40.400 --> 01:53:42.870
but yeah, it's Brave New World. I mean,
01:53:42.880 --> 01:53:44.950
it's not entirely prophetic. does miss
01:53:44.960 --> 01:53:47.750
out on like the the feminization, the
01:53:47.760 --> 01:53:51.189
whole DEI thing of the modern left or
01:53:51.199 --> 01:53:53.270
postmodern left. You know, in in
01:53:53.280 --> 01:53:54.709
Huxley's Brave New World, I think he
01:53:54.719 --> 01:53:58.149
wrote it like in the the late 1930s.
01:53:58.159 --> 01:54:00.310
Um, you know, it's still like white men
01:54:00.320 --> 01:54:03.270
or at least men running everything. You
01:54:03.280 --> 01:54:04.950
know, it's still a patriarchy even
01:54:04.960 --> 01:54:09.109
though it's um it's sort of like a a
01:54:09.119 --> 01:54:14.950
dystopia masquerading as a utopia.
01:54:14.960 --> 01:54:17.109
Ah,
01:54:17.119 --> 01:54:18.310
anyways, I think I'm just going to move
01:54:18.320 --> 01:54:20.870
on to Robert's second question.
01:54:20.880 --> 01:54:22.950
He says, "What are your main reasons why
01:54:22.960 --> 01:54:24.629
you don't think Christianity and
01:54:24.639 --> 01:54:28.229
specifically Catholicism is true?"
01:54:28.239 --> 01:54:30.310
Man, why do why don't I think
01:54:30.320 --> 01:54:32.790
Christianity is true? I think the main
01:54:32.800 --> 01:54:36.950
reason is I just cannot believe that a
01:54:36.960 --> 01:54:40.950
Hebrew carpenter turned miracle rabbi
01:54:40.960 --> 01:54:45.430
who lived in a province of the early
01:54:45.440 --> 01:54:48.310
Roman Empire is literally the only
01:54:48.320 --> 01:54:50.709
begotten son of God Almighty and the
01:54:50.719 --> 01:54:53.189
creator of the universe who died for our
01:54:53.199 --> 01:54:55.109
sins.
01:54:55.119 --> 01:54:57.830
I mean that really is a huge it's not
01:54:57.840 --> 01:54:59.430
even a stumbling block. It's like this
01:54:59.440 --> 01:55:03.109
iron this iron cliff. I mean, I just
01:55:03.119 --> 01:55:07.109
cannot believe it that this Hebrew
01:55:07.119 --> 01:55:09.430
carpenter turned miracle rabbi who was a
01:55:09.440 --> 01:55:11.830
very saintly man, assuming that he
01:55:11.840 --> 01:55:13.910
existed.
01:55:13.920 --> 01:55:16.149
I I think probably he did in a
01:55:16.159 --> 01:55:19.270
historical sense. There was a man like
01:55:19.280 --> 01:55:22.149
Yeshua of Nazareth
01:55:22.159 --> 01:55:24.950
who was a saintly man, may have had
01:55:24.960 --> 01:55:27.030
psychic powers. I would not doubt even
01:55:27.040 --> 01:55:28.790
that he was able to heal the sick. Maybe
01:55:28.800 --> 01:55:31.510
he even walked on water. Maybe he even
01:55:31.520 --> 01:55:34.950
turned water into wine for all I know.
01:55:34.960 --> 01:55:39.189
But still to to accept that is is one
01:55:39.199 --> 01:55:41.750
thing. I can I can accept that much. But
01:55:41.760 --> 01:55:45.510
then to say that he is the only begotten
01:55:45.520 --> 01:55:49.510
son of God. He is God.
01:55:49.520 --> 01:55:53.430
He created the universe and that he died
01:55:53.440 --> 01:55:57.510
as a kind of sacrificial victim for the
01:55:57.520 --> 01:56:00.950
sake of absolving us of the original sin
01:56:00.960 --> 01:56:03.430
of a man made from soil and a woman made
01:56:03.440 --> 01:56:05.589
from a bone being tricked by a snake and
01:56:05.599 --> 01:56:08.629
eating a certain kind of fruit.
01:56:08.639 --> 01:56:10.870
I mean,
01:56:10.880 --> 01:56:15.510
what is wrong with this picture? I mean
01:56:15.520 --> 01:56:18.870
I mean I it just amazes me that hundreds
01:56:18.880 --> 01:56:21.510
of millions of people actually believe
01:56:21.520 --> 01:56:24.149
that narrative and for me I mean it's
01:56:24.159 --> 01:56:25.990
not even a viable option. I can't
01:56:26.000 --> 01:56:27.910
believe it. It's not like I choose not
01:56:27.920 --> 01:56:29.990
to believe it. I just it's just
01:56:30.000 --> 01:56:31.990
unbelievable.
01:56:32.000 --> 01:56:33.990
But it seems like that is central to
01:56:34.000 --> 01:56:37.189
Christianity. If you don't believe that
01:56:37.199 --> 01:56:42.229
Jesus Christ is God Almighty who died
01:56:42.239 --> 01:56:45.189
for your sins,
01:56:45.199 --> 01:56:47.270
then I mean what kind of Christianity
01:56:47.280 --> 01:56:49.430
remains? At least in Buddhism, you don't
01:56:49.440 --> 01:56:51.189
have to believe any stories. I mean
01:56:51.199 --> 01:56:52.950
there's all kinds of wild stories. When
01:56:52.960 --> 01:56:54.950
the Buddha was born, he immediately
01:56:54.960 --> 01:56:56.790
takes off walking with like a lotus
01:56:56.800 --> 01:56:58.950
flower sprouting underneath each
01:56:58.960 --> 01:57:01.350
footstep and he like declares to the
01:57:01.360 --> 01:57:03.109
world that no one is greater than him
01:57:03.119 --> 01:57:05.350
and that you know he's going this is his
01:57:05.360 --> 01:57:07.510
last life and all that and then after
01:57:07.520 --> 01:57:09.030
that he just kind of reverts back to
01:57:09.040 --> 01:57:12.550
being a normal baby for a while.
01:57:12.560 --> 01:57:14.229
I don't believe that story either but at
01:57:14.239 --> 01:57:16.870
least it's not central to Dhamma. You
01:57:16.880 --> 01:57:19.189
can get rid of all the the stories like
01:57:19.199 --> 01:57:22.149
the legends and the myths and the
01:57:22.159 --> 01:57:24.870
essence of dharma remains.
01:57:24.880 --> 01:57:27.990
You know, it's still good. Christianity,
01:57:28.000 --> 01:57:31.189
you get rid of the wild story about this
01:57:31.199 --> 01:57:33.350
this Hebrew carpenter turned miracle
01:57:33.360 --> 01:57:35.910
rabbi who was executed by the Roman
01:57:35.920 --> 01:57:38.950
government on political charges that he
01:57:38.960 --> 01:57:46.629
is God, capital G, the only God. I mean
01:57:46.639 --> 01:57:49.109
I mean this entire universe, this entire
01:57:49.119 --> 01:57:52.070
cosmos that this little ball of rock
01:57:52.080 --> 01:57:55.030
that we are on is the one chosen by God
01:57:55.040 --> 01:57:57.510
Almighty for his only begotten son to be
01:57:57.520 --> 01:57:59.830
born on
01:57:59.840 --> 01:58:01.669
in order to be killed by the Roman
01:58:01.679 --> 01:58:05.510
government.
01:58:05.520 --> 01:58:06.870
You know, it's just it's just
01:58:06.880 --> 01:58:10.149
unbelievable. I just cannot believe it.
01:58:10.159 --> 01:58:13.270
And I mean that's just basic to almost
01:58:13.280 --> 01:58:17.589
all Christianity, not just Catholicism.
01:58:17.599 --> 01:58:19.189
So let's just move on to the next
01:58:19.199 --> 01:58:22.310
question which is the last question
01:58:22.320 --> 01:58:25.030
from Robert here. This is kind of a
01:58:25.040 --> 01:58:28.229
followup. He says, "As someone who has
01:58:28.239 --> 01:58:30.470
been nominally terra Buddhist for a
01:58:30.480 --> 01:58:32.790
while looking into Catholicism, the
01:58:32.800 --> 01:58:34.629
combination of seemingly enlightened
01:58:34.639 --> 01:58:37.109
Catholics like St. John of the cross and
01:58:37.119 --> 01:58:40.229
the epistemological optimism bayotific
01:58:40.239 --> 01:58:43.270
vision even for unenlightened beings as
01:58:43.280 --> 01:58:45.350
well as the availability of community
01:58:45.360 --> 01:58:47.270
and an imposed structure seems
01:58:47.280 --> 01:58:49.990
appealing. What main practical reasons
01:58:50.000 --> 01:58:52.149
are there not to take the leap to
01:58:52.159 --> 01:58:55.430
Catholicism from a terra Buddhist and
01:58:55.440 --> 01:58:58.950
your point of view? Well, this reminds
01:58:58.960 --> 01:59:02.790
me of uh an a Catholic priest from
01:59:02.800 --> 01:59:05.750
Austria who came to visit me when I was
01:59:05.760 --> 01:59:08.229
a monk in Burma. He came to visit me at
01:59:08.239 --> 01:59:12.149
my cave and he wants to he wanted to
01:59:12.159 --> 01:59:14.550
study like Buddhist meditation, Buddhist
01:59:14.560 --> 01:59:16.950
like dharmic techniques
01:59:16.960 --> 01:59:19.030
and I knew enough about Catholicism at
01:59:19.040 --> 01:59:20.870
the time to know like St. Jon of the
01:59:20.880 --> 01:59:22.709
cross for example is teaching pretty
01:59:22.719 --> 01:59:25.910
much all the same techniques as terra
01:59:25.920 --> 01:59:28.390
Buddhism teaches you know like like high
01:59:28.400 --> 01:59:31.030
contemplation or janna has just
01:59:31.040 --> 01:59:34.950
momentary like mindfulness
01:59:34.960 --> 01:59:37.430
it's it's like mindfulness like samadei
01:59:37.440 --> 01:59:40.790
and mindfulness is is is there in cath
01:59:40.800 --> 01:59:43.430
like Roman Catholicism so I asked him
01:59:43.440 --> 01:59:45.669
why don't you just follow the Catholic
01:59:45.679 --> 01:59:47.510
version instead of coming you know
01:59:47.520 --> 01:59:50.550
halfway around the world to study like
01:59:50.560 --> 01:59:53.750
what Catholicism already teaches.
01:59:53.760 --> 01:59:58.470
And he said that it's esoteric in Roman
01:59:58.480 --> 02:00:01.350
Catholicism. In order to learn these
02:00:01.360 --> 02:00:03.030
techniques and to practice these
02:00:03.040 --> 02:00:05.510
techniques with any kind of support from
02:00:05.520 --> 02:00:07.990
the church, you have to be ordained into
02:00:08.000 --> 02:00:10.790
one of these contemplative orders that
02:00:10.800 --> 02:00:12.470
the rest of the Catholic Church doesn't
02:00:12.480 --> 02:00:14.149
teach it. It's not encouraged for others
02:00:14.159 --> 02:00:17.350
to even even do it.
02:00:17.360 --> 02:00:21.510
So even a Catholic priest
02:00:21.520 --> 02:00:25.270
had to go to a Buddhist country to learn
02:00:25.280 --> 02:00:27.189
Buddhist techniques that are the same as
02:00:27.199 --> 02:00:29.430
Catholic techniques. Essentially the
02:00:29.440 --> 02:00:33.669
same because the Catholic Church just
02:00:33.679 --> 02:00:35.750
does not teach it even to other
02:00:35.760 --> 02:00:38.550
Catholics.
02:00:38.560 --> 02:00:42.390
that if you wanted to be a a Catholic to
02:00:42.400 --> 02:00:45.030
like practiced advanced meditation
02:00:45.040 --> 02:00:46.470
techniques and so forth, you'd have to
02:00:46.480 --> 02:00:48.470
be ordained as like a a Carmelite or
02:00:48.480 --> 02:00:51.430
something.
02:00:51.440 --> 02:00:53.350
And even then, you still have this
02:00:53.360 --> 02:00:57.589
burden of this just wild narrative
02:00:57.599 --> 02:01:02.310
of this this Jewish man being God. And
02:01:02.320 --> 02:01:04.070
it's it's not just that he was Jewish
02:01:04.080 --> 02:01:06.470
either. I mean, you could have him be
02:01:06.480 --> 02:01:09.030
like whatever, a neoplatonist. You could
02:01:09.040 --> 02:01:11.910
have him be like even a Buddhist,
02:01:11.920 --> 02:01:13.910
but I mean, even to have a Buddhist
02:01:13.920 --> 02:01:17.910
who's like declared to be God Almighty.
02:01:17.920 --> 02:01:20.790
I mean, some Mahayana Buddhists do that
02:01:20.800 --> 02:01:23.270
to to some Buddha or other. Usually not
02:01:23.280 --> 02:01:25.430
God Buddha. It's like Amitaba or
02:01:25.440 --> 02:01:27.830
something. Some some mythological Buddha
02:01:27.840 --> 02:01:30.709
that lives out there in space somewhere.
02:01:30.719 --> 02:01:34.149
But I mean, I can't believe that either.
02:01:34.159 --> 02:01:36.870
I mean to to get to the point of like
02:01:36.880 --> 02:01:39.430
what the Hindus believe like that there
02:01:39.440 --> 02:01:41.189
are two kinds of guru. You've got the
02:01:41.199 --> 02:01:43.589
upa guru who's just a teacher, just not
02:01:43.599 --> 02:01:46.070
enlightened, just a teacher. And then
02:01:46.080 --> 02:01:50.070
you've got the sat guru who is like god
02:01:50.080 --> 02:01:52.470
personified. You know, it's it's God
02:01:52.480 --> 02:01:55.750
Almighty in in human form. But it's not
02:01:55.760 --> 02:01:57.510
like there's only one of them. It's like
02:01:57.520 --> 02:01:59.350
a fully enlightened being can become
02:01:59.360 --> 02:02:02.950
that way, can become a s guru.
02:02:02.960 --> 02:02:05.270
But I mean
02:02:05.280 --> 02:02:07.910
there's there's any number of of s gurus
02:02:07.920 --> 02:02:09.589
in this universe. There's not just only
02:02:09.599 --> 02:02:13.350
one only begotten son of God Almighty
02:02:13.360 --> 02:02:18.149
who dies for our sins.
02:02:18.159 --> 02:02:19.910
So
02:02:19.920 --> 02:02:22.790
yeah, I mean St. John of the Cross
02:02:22.800 --> 02:02:24.550
I mean I do think it's possible that
02:02:24.560 --> 02:02:27.189
that he was an enlightened being. He
02:02:27.199 --> 02:02:29.189
apparently considered himself and his
02:02:29.199 --> 02:02:31.589
mentor St. Teresa of Avula to have
02:02:31.599 --> 02:02:34.629
reached the stage of perfection in which
02:02:34.639 --> 02:02:37.510
you have mortified your own self-will
02:02:37.520 --> 02:02:39.910
and then you become completely motivated
02:02:39.920 --> 02:02:41.830
by the will of God. you become a kind of
02:02:41.840 --> 02:02:45.350
divine puppet
02:02:45.360 --> 02:02:48.149
and a lot of what he says it's it's like
02:02:48.159 --> 02:02:49.589
he's coming from a different angle but
02:02:49.599 --> 02:02:51.669
it just meets up with with like what
02:02:51.679 --> 02:02:54.310
terraatara Buddhism also teaches you
02:02:54.320 --> 02:02:56.790
know like the the divine puppet the
02:02:56.800 --> 02:02:58.629
person who has reached the stage of
02:02:58.639 --> 02:03:01.109
perfection they no longer have their
02:03:01.119 --> 02:03:02.470
self they no longer have their own
02:03:02.480 --> 02:03:04.790
self-will whereas you know the Buddhist
02:03:04.800 --> 02:03:07.350
arant he's not creating karma anymore
02:03:07.360 --> 02:03:09.990
karma is will therefore the arhant also
02:03:10.000 --> 02:03:13.589
is not motivated by self-will.
02:03:13.599 --> 02:03:15.510
So, it's like wooue, non-action, no
02:03:15.520 --> 02:03:19.350
karma.
02:03:19.360 --> 02:03:20.950
And then the meditation techniques and
02:03:20.960 --> 02:03:22.390
all that. I mean, there could have been
02:03:22.400 --> 02:03:25.189
some sort of like influence between
02:03:25.199 --> 02:03:28.629
Buddhism and Spanish Roman Catholicism
02:03:28.639 --> 02:03:31.750
in like the the 16th century.
02:03:31.760 --> 02:03:33.669
But still, I mean, they had their own
02:03:33.679 --> 02:03:35.589
explanations, their own masters and all
02:03:35.599 --> 02:03:39.589
that. But to some degree, like
02:03:39.599 --> 02:03:41.910
Catholicism, it has or Christianity in
02:03:41.920 --> 02:03:45.990
general has these obstacles that make it
02:03:46.000 --> 02:03:48.629
harder to be successful
02:03:48.639 --> 02:03:51.030
in in some ways. You become enlightened
02:03:51.040 --> 02:03:53.510
as much in spite of your religion as
02:03:53.520 --> 02:03:56.709
because of it. Like a fully enlightened
02:03:56.719 --> 02:03:59.270
Jehovah's Witness, I mean, it'd be or
02:03:59.280 --> 02:04:03.430
fully enlightened like Sunni Muslim. I
02:04:03.440 --> 02:04:05.109
mean, it would be very it'd be even more
02:04:05.119 --> 02:04:08.070
so in spite of their own religion
02:04:08.080 --> 02:04:09.669
because their own religion really
02:04:09.679 --> 02:04:13.270
doesn't have any like even like a an
02:04:13.280 --> 02:04:21.270
option of full enlightenment.
02:04:21.280 --> 02:04:22.870
So, let's see what's the actual
02:04:22.880 --> 02:04:24.390
question.
02:04:24.400 --> 02:04:25.990
Before I wrap this up, I got to make
02:04:26.000 --> 02:04:27.669
sure I answer actually answered the
02:04:27.679 --> 02:04:31.189
question. But it seems like the this
02:04:31.199 --> 02:04:34.149
entire paragraph is one sentence. So in
02:04:34.159 --> 02:04:37.109
order to read the get to the actual
02:04:37.119 --> 02:04:38.149
question, I have to read the whole thing
02:04:38.159 --> 02:04:40.310
over again. So okay. So as someone who
02:04:40.320 --> 02:04:42.470
has been nominally terra Buddhists for a
02:04:42.480 --> 02:04:44.790
while looking into Catholicism, the
02:04:44.800 --> 02:04:46.470
combination of seemingly enlightened
02:04:46.480 --> 02:04:48.870
Catholics like St. John of the cross and
02:04:48.880 --> 02:04:51.589
the epistemological optimism, botific
02:04:51.599 --> 02:04:54.310
vision even for unenlightened beings as
02:04:54.320 --> 02:04:56.709
well as the availability of community
02:04:56.719 --> 02:04:58.870
and an imposed structure seems
02:04:58.880 --> 02:05:00.790
appealing. What main practical reasons
02:05:00.800 --> 02:05:02.950
are there not to take the leap to
02:05:02.960 --> 02:05:05.109
Catholicism from a terra Buddhist and
02:05:05.119 --> 02:05:06.310
your point of view? Well, I mean, can
02:05:06.320 --> 02:05:08.629
you actually believe the story? I mean,
02:05:08.639 --> 02:05:10.790
you seem to be leaning Buddhist right
02:05:10.800 --> 02:05:12.550
now. Then all of a sudden you can just
02:05:12.560 --> 02:05:15.430
say, "Okay, this Jewish man is God and
02:05:15.440 --> 02:05:17.510
I'm going to worship this Jewish man
02:05:17.520 --> 02:05:20.550
because he is God. He created the entire
02:05:20.560 --> 02:05:24.229
universe. He died for my sins." And
02:05:24.239 --> 02:05:26.629
original sin, of course, being the man
02:05:26.639 --> 02:05:28.629
made from soil and the woman made from a
02:05:28.639 --> 02:05:30.709
bone being tricked by a snake and eating
02:05:30.719 --> 02:05:32.950
some fruit.
02:05:32.960 --> 02:05:34.550
I mean, you can say that's all just kind
02:05:34.560 --> 02:05:36.870
of like a metaphor, but what's it a
02:05:36.880 --> 02:05:41.750
metaphor for?
02:05:41.760 --> 02:05:43.830
And that like God, I mean Jesus being
02:05:43.840 --> 02:05:46.070
God is not a metaphor. They take that
02:05:46.080 --> 02:05:47.669
literally.
02:05:47.679 --> 02:05:50.310
Jesus is the logos, the creator of the
02:05:50.320 --> 02:05:52.470
universe.
02:05:52.480 --> 02:05:55.030
And I mean, if if you're the kind of
02:05:55.040 --> 02:05:57.510
person that can just believe that just
02:05:57.520 --> 02:06:00.149
because it's convenient to believe it,
02:06:00.159 --> 02:06:01.589
well, I don't I don't know what to tell
02:06:01.599 --> 02:06:03.750
you because it's just not an option for
02:06:03.760 --> 02:06:06.310
me. I just can't. I've said before that
02:06:06.320 --> 02:06:08.709
I I could more easily be a Muslim than a
02:06:08.719 --> 02:06:11.589
Christian simply because with a Muslim I
02:06:11.599 --> 02:06:14.629
mean what the what you have to swallow
02:06:14.639 --> 02:06:18.070
is much less. It's you know God is one
02:06:18.080 --> 02:06:20.149
God and Muhammad is his prophet. That's
02:06:20.159 --> 02:06:22.070
pretty much it.
02:06:22.080 --> 02:06:24.790
You know nothing about Muhammad being
02:06:24.800 --> 02:06:30.629
God Almighty, anything like that.
02:06:30.639 --> 02:06:32.709
So
02:06:32.719 --> 02:06:34.709
what main practical reasons are there
02:06:34.719 --> 02:06:37.669
not to take the leap to Catholicism?
02:06:37.679 --> 02:06:39.910
Well, I mean just the narrative that you
02:06:39.920 --> 02:06:42.870
have to swallow. It just seems so
02:06:42.880 --> 02:06:46.149
unbelievable that I mean I just I just
02:06:46.159 --> 02:06:48.790
personally I could not do it.
02:06:48.800 --> 02:06:50.870
Um, and aside from that, there's also
02:06:50.880 --> 02:06:53.750
the fact that the advanced dharmic
02:06:53.760 --> 02:06:56.149
practices are very exclusive and you
02:06:56.159 --> 02:06:58.870
have to be ordained into a contemplative
02:06:58.880 --> 02:07:01.430
order. Find a monastery where it's taken
02:07:01.440 --> 02:07:03.350
seriously, where they're not just
02:07:03.360 --> 02:07:05.669
fundraising or like brewing beer to
02:07:05.679 --> 02:07:07.270
support the monastery, that kind of
02:07:07.280 --> 02:07:09.109
thing.
02:07:09.119 --> 02:07:11.510
I mean, it's just harder to get the real
02:07:11.520 --> 02:07:15.189
dharma out of it. harder to avoid
02:07:15.199 --> 02:07:18.629
unnecessary obstacles of just like fairy
02:07:18.639 --> 02:07:20.550
tale narratives that have to be taken
02:07:20.560 --> 02:07:22.790
literally.
02:07:22.800 --> 02:07:24.950
Um I mean you would have more support at
02:07:24.960 --> 02:07:28.069
a superficial level and if you believe
02:07:28.079 --> 02:07:31.510
in Jesus being God I mean you'd have
02:07:31.520 --> 02:07:36.229
Jesus God Jesus helping you.
02:07:36.239 --> 02:07:37.990
But
02:07:38.000 --> 02:07:39.669
I mean, I'm just I'm not a Christian.
02:07:39.679 --> 02:07:43.430
And so, I mean, that narrative is just I
02:07:43.440 --> 02:07:46.470
just cannot believe it. I It's not like
02:07:46.480 --> 02:07:48.470
I even choose not to believe it. I just
02:07:48.480 --> 02:07:53.030
can't. It's just unbelievable.
02:07:53.040 --> 02:07:55.510
But, I mean, if you can believe it, I
02:07:55.520 --> 02:07:56.950
mean, there was one time where I was
02:07:56.960 --> 02:07:59.430
actually briefly considering becoming a
02:07:59.440 --> 02:08:02.149
Carthusian monk. And the Carthusians
02:08:02.159 --> 02:08:03.750
take a vow of silence. So I wouldn't
02:08:03.760 --> 02:08:05.189
have to admit to anybody that I wasn't
02:08:05.199 --> 02:08:07.270
really a Christian. But I would assume
02:08:07.280 --> 02:08:10.229
that even Carthusians taking a vow of
02:08:10.239 --> 02:08:11.750
silence would have to make confession
02:08:11.760 --> 02:08:15.189
from time to time. And uh it was just a
02:08:15.199 --> 02:08:17.430
dumb idea. And I I didn't entertain that
02:08:17.440 --> 02:08:20.790
idea for very long. But Carthusians, you
02:08:20.800 --> 02:08:23.430
know, they're pretty aesthetic. I think
02:08:23.440 --> 02:08:26.629
it's the only Christian monastic order
02:08:26.639 --> 02:08:28.709
that was never reformed because it never
02:08:28.719 --> 02:08:30.870
had to be reformed. do just didn't need
02:08:30.880 --> 02:08:33.350
it.
02:08:33.360 --> 02:08:35.510
But the Carthusians, I think there's a
02:08:35.520 --> 02:08:38.069
lure called chartreuse
02:08:38.079 --> 02:08:39.750
that they're the makers. They're the
02:08:39.760 --> 02:08:41.910
traditional makers of it. These these
02:08:41.920 --> 02:08:44.229
Carthusian aesthetics who take a vow of
02:08:44.239 --> 02:08:49.270
silence. They make booze.
02:08:49.280 --> 02:08:52.709
So there is that.
02:08:52.719 --> 02:08:56.069
But I guess that's it. I mean,
02:08:56.079 --> 02:08:59.510
yeah. I mean, the Buddha is considered
02:08:59.520 --> 02:09:01.990
by some to be a Catholic saint anyway,
02:09:02.000 --> 02:09:04.390
St. Josephhat. Technically, it wasn't
02:09:04.400 --> 02:09:05.910
really the Buddha. It was it was a
02:09:05.920 --> 02:09:09.910
previous life. So, I think that's not
02:09:09.920 --> 02:09:11.589
entirely accurate to say that the Buddha
02:09:11.599 --> 02:09:15.589
is a Catholic saint. Then you could be a
02:09:15.599 --> 02:09:19.189
like a monastic in the order of St.
02:09:19.199 --> 02:09:23.430
Joseph.
02:09:23.440 --> 02:09:25.350
So yeah, I mean you're going to have to
02:09:25.360 --> 02:09:26.629
make your own decision if you can
02:09:26.639 --> 02:09:29.030
actually believe Christianity that you
02:09:29.040 --> 02:09:31.510
really consider that to be a valid
02:09:31.520 --> 02:09:35.109
belief system basically with regard to a
02:09:35.119 --> 02:09:37.589
Jewish man who was ne nevertheless he
02:09:37.599 --> 02:09:39.910
was a saintly wise man who may have
02:09:39.920 --> 02:09:42.550
really had psychic powers but to to take
02:09:42.560 --> 02:09:45.430
the leap that this Jewish man who lived
02:09:45.440 --> 02:09:47.990
in the early Roman Empire is God
02:09:48.000 --> 02:09:50.310
Almighty and the creator of the freaking
02:09:50.320 --> 02:09:52.310
entire universe
02:09:52.320 --> 02:09:55.270
I mean, it's I just I just cannot jump
02:09:55.280 --> 02:09:57.830
that hurdle. That hurdle is miles high.
02:09:57.840 --> 02:10:01.830
I I'll never jump it.
02:10:01.840 --> 02:10:04.870
But other people can do it. So, I mean,
02:10:04.880 --> 02:10:07.669
if you want to be ordained as a
02:10:07.679 --> 02:10:09.990
Carmelite or you just want the group
02:10:10.000 --> 02:10:13.270
support of being like a norm Catholic, I
02:10:13.280 --> 02:10:15.589
mean, that's that's an option. I mean, I
02:10:15.599 --> 02:10:20.229
personally have more like affinity with
02:10:20.239 --> 02:10:23.030
Catholicism than with like Protestant
02:10:23.040 --> 02:10:24.629
Christianity because one of the first
02:10:24.639 --> 02:10:26.149
things the Protestants did was just
02:10:26.159 --> 02:10:28.790
abolish monasticism,
02:10:28.800 --> 02:10:32.390
which seemed kind of I don't know. I It
02:10:32.400 --> 02:10:33.589
just seems weird that they would do
02:10:33.599 --> 02:10:34.709
that. Although, of course, they had
02:10:34.719 --> 02:10:38.950
their reasons.
02:10:38.960 --> 02:10:40.550
But I guess I'm done. I guess I've
02:10:40.560 --> 02:10:42.069
answered all the questions. at least as
02:10:42.079 --> 02:10:45.830
well as I'm going to. And so, as I
02:10:45.840 --> 02:10:47.270
should always say at the beginning, and
02:10:47.280 --> 02:10:49.109
pretty much never do, if you have any
02:10:49.119 --> 02:10:51.669
questions you think I can answer about
02:10:51.679 --> 02:10:53.990
Buddhism, about religion, philosophy,
02:10:54.000 --> 02:10:57.430
dharma in general, that kind of stuff,
02:10:57.440 --> 02:10:59.589
if you think maybe I can answer, go
02:10:59.599 --> 02:11:01.030
ahead. I know I know something about
02:11:01.040 --> 02:11:03.030
Western civilization, Western history,
02:11:03.040 --> 02:11:05.270
Western literature also. I know some
02:11:05.280 --> 02:11:07.109
things about that. But I'm less of an
02:11:07.119 --> 02:11:09.750
authority on that than I am on Terra
02:11:09.760 --> 02:11:11.350
Buddhism.
02:11:11.360 --> 02:11:14.069
That's kind of my field of expertise
02:11:14.079 --> 02:11:16.390
terra and like pre-terravatara Buddhism
02:11:16.400 --> 02:11:19.030
but even then I'm I'm no worldass
02:11:19.040 --> 02:11:21.109
authority because I don't keep don't
02:11:21.119 --> 02:11:24.069
keep a breast of new research and all
02:11:24.079 --> 02:11:27.350
that. I pretty much just lived the life
02:11:27.360 --> 02:11:30.149
and then read the texts and tried to
02:11:30.159 --> 02:11:33.669
understand them as well as I could.
02:11:33.679 --> 02:11:37.350
So no more than three questions per
02:11:37.360 --> 02:11:39.750
person per episode. Please like and
02:11:39.760 --> 02:11:41.270
subscribe if you have not done so
02:11:41.280 --> 02:11:44.310
already. Be sure to check out the URL
02:11:44.320 --> 02:11:47.109
links below, which I mean, if you've
02:11:47.119 --> 02:11:48.629
gotten this far, there's a good chance
02:11:48.639 --> 02:11:50.790
you've already done it, but do it again
02:11:50.800 --> 02:11:53.030
just for the hell of it.
02:11:53.040 --> 02:11:57.270
And be happy. Oh, and and also remember,
02:11:57.280 --> 02:12:00.069
there may be no video next weekend
02:12:00.079 --> 02:12:02.149
because I'm working pretty much all
02:12:02.159 --> 02:12:04.550
weekend. Maybe Monday or Tuesday or
02:12:04.560 --> 02:12:07.109
maybe it'll just be postponed.
02:12:07.119 --> 02:12:11.480
Okay. And and now you can be happy.