synthesis

It always comes down to the individual v. the community. I believe you will find that the most "together" individuals make for the best communities. W...

How much socialism would you like? Isn't paying over 50% of your income in taxes enough? How poor would you like to be? Plus, socialism comes with an ...

Like I always say, get more than two people together and all Hell breaks loose. Actually (and although capitalism has its issues), it's an amazing pro...

Sorry, but I cannot be responsible for your feelings. I choose to think of religion as the intellectualization of spirituality, so Buddhism is certain...

I am certain no Buddhist scholar (as a matter of fact, being a Zen student, I have attempted to avoid the intellectualism as much as possible) but I b...

The interesting thing about you is that you really believe that you'll be able to change somebody else's mind. This is why I called you a true believe...

I am assuming that is a rhetorical question? :) You need to take a step back and see this in its entirety. You seem overly preoccupied with saving eve...

Interesting theory but nothing could be further from the truth. Everybody is on their own path.

Buddhism is difficult to talk about for many different reasons. If you had room full of Buddhists, you might never hear a conversation where they agre...

I understand. I am just saying that Buddhism is not about anything in particular, instead, it's about seeing all things as clearly as possible. What y...

All kinds of things create desire. The material aspects are perhaps the smallest part.

It is what it is.

Buddhism doesn't point out anything. It's purpose is to allow it's practitioners to transcend suffering through the cultivation of awareness...leading...

Capitalism has also moved an incredible percentage of the global population out of poverty (plus, it's a lot better than feudalism or slavery). It's s...

I guess society decides.

Like most things, it's a matter of degree, but once you go over the invisible line, ugliness is never far behind.

Perhaps you might understand society better if first you understood yourself, no?

Maybe to you, but what exactly do you mean by that?

Really. How do you figure?

The purpose of sitting (or any formal) meditation practice is so you can do exactly what you suggest, put it into practice in your every day life, tha...

Try to think of a Buddhist like you would think of any of person. Why would you believe that a Buddhist would have to be an activist?

Lying (which is pervasive and almost universally accepted in Western society) is interesting for all kinds of reasons, but none more interesting than ...

Having been a serious Zen student for over thirty years and having studied classical and radical economics (at some depth) over the past 40 years, per...

Although Science does move, I believe a more accurate GPS might demonstrate that the movement is lateral. It (Science) simply goes from one absurd pos...

The most interesting things are the ones that people could care less about...such as their own complicity in the overall corruption scheme. As always,...

The fatal flaw in all prognostication is the assumption you know what the critical issues (to be confronted) will be. If you look back into history, y...

cp, I do realize your methodology involves some serious projection, but consider the following... If you are indeed science-oriented, then you underst...

Exactly! The human intellect is a paradox without equal.

I don't believe we can know anything (literally).

Perhaps you should consider the notion that you have been EVERYTHING else.

I believe affliction is an appropriate characterization of human intelligence. People think they know what they cannot know, so they go about things a...

Most people have. It's sort of like we are made in God's image. Talk about self-flattery. Again, I get it that perhaps we are the "most intelligent sp...

Stupid? Compared to what? :) Perhaps if you could gather up the most intelligent species out there, you might find that we don't stack up too high. No...

You should make a copy of this and read it when your eight year old tells you to go f*** yourself because they only got their way 99.9% of the time.

Compared to what? Of all the intelligent beings that may occupy The Universe, let's just say that we're probably not near the top of the class. Our in...

The English NHS is already a mess. Maybe you would be a lot better off.

I wouldn't characterize people as being stupid, just ignorant (with a plethora of psychological issues ). Considering our potential, we appear to be s...

Correct. Yes, I am a Zen student.

Part of buying into the system is feeling as you do, like the system is mostly correct (with a little fine-tuning needed going forward). Otherwise, pe...

Although it is not nothing, you are correct that it cannot be known.

Absolute Simplicity is Absolute Truth.

I think "completely lost" is not a bad descriptor for the state of our species. Our understanding is no better than it has ever been. It's just more c...

The complexity of understanding is so vast that to be able to understand one thing, you would be able to understand all things. For example... The sim...

Everything is beyond human understanding because if you understood one thing, you would would understand everything, and if you understood everything,...

I take the position that it is impossible to know these things but based on our limited knowledge and spartan mental capacity, I'd go short homo sapie...

Unfortunately, the elite have always known how to deal with the rest of us...fear, lying, coercion, extortion, murder, fraud, theft, counterfeiting, a...

I am a philosophical anarchist (when I must think :)) because I believe that if you get any more than a few people together, all hell breaks loose. Th...

Energy is not the problem. Humanity is the problem. No matter what issues science solves going forward, man's core issues remain. Until man learns how...

I did not mean to imply that you were religious, just that you believe in "something," which is becoming rarer these days. It's the reason I enjoy cha...

You are a true true-believer, no doubt about that! We've had a couple of discussions about science and I like I've conveyed previously, I see it for w...