sjefMon, Mar 17, 2008 Spaceweaver - I have to say my knowledge of Buddhism is severely limited, but from what I know I guess I would consider it what I termed: "The exploration of self for the betterment of self".
The danger I see is that the search for inner peace can lead to a state of complacent acceptance, and that the goals of improvement and changing of thought are lost.
What needs to be avoided is that we become satisfied with a peace that is stagnant, because in our ever advancing world stagnation amounts only to decline.
Your point that thousands of pointless paths may be taken before an insight is found is certainly valid, I would argue that once the insight has been found, the other paths are no longer pointless, but have served a purpose. I realize this can be interpreted as contradictory to statements made in the original post, so I'll have to better explain myself.
It comes down to what we mean by 'exploration of inner space', my rant was directed in particular at the crowd whose definition mostly includes staring at fluorescent objects, and have lost focus of, or never understood the point that the goal is ultimately advancement.
(I also laid it on a bit thick to get discussion going.)
I'm not convinced that almost everything we do is pointless either (but yeah, it definitely seems that way at times), that attitude just seems somewhat defeatist. Every action we take effects our local universe, so if there's a goal to work towards nothing is pointless.
megan - You're right about the crap cutting. As for the question of where we begin,
I guess here. I know all I'm really doing is flailing around in this corner of the internet trying to get a large collection of ideas off my mind that have accumulated over time but never really had a place to be put down and solidified.
Great things have already been started here, as Renes post highlights. Maybe the question is more how to keep the ball rolling, and in which direction?
Spaceweaver - I have to say my knowledge of Buddhism is severely limited, but from what I know I guess I would consider it what I termed: "The exploration of self for the betterment of self".
The danger I see is that the search for inner peace can lead to a state of complacent acceptance, and that the goals of improvement and changing of thought are lost.
What needs to be avoided is that we become satisfied with a peace that is stagnant, because in our ever advancing world stagnation amounts only to decline.
Your point that thousands of pointless paths may be taken before an insight is found is certainly valid, I would argue that once the insight has been found, the other paths are no longer pointless, but have served a purpose. I realize this can be interpreted as contradictory to statements made in the original post, so I'll have to better explain myself.
It comes down to what we mean by 'exploration of inner space', my rant was directed in particular at the crowd whose definition mostly includes staring at fluorescent objects, and have lost focus of, or never understood the point that the goal is ultimately advancement.
(I also laid it on a bit thick to get discussion going.)
I'm not convinced that almost everything we do is pointless either (but yeah, it definitely seems that way at times), that attitude just seems somewhat defeatist. Every action we take effects our local universe, so if there's a goal to work towards nothing is pointless.
megan - You're right about the crap cutting. As for the question of where we begin,
I guess here. I know all I'm really doing is flailing around in this corner of the internet trying to get a large collection of ideas off my mind that have accumulated over time but never really had a place to be put down and solidified.
Great things have already been started here, as Renes post highlights. Maybe the question is more how to keep the ball rolling, and in which direction?