Comments on Spirituality, Science and Technology: The Art of Making Our Lives Difficult

Strange, isn't it? In my opinion, religions which ...

2008-01-30T04:57:00.000-08:00

Strange, isn't it? In my opinion, religions which deal with metaphysics and the supernatural, including all the Semitic religions will sooner or later clash with science. Religions which are willing to jettison their doctrines and beliefs at any time, if found unscientific, and instead only concentrates on developing insight and loving kindness by direct experience have a better promise.
Thinking is a very important part of our mental muscles, but the mind as understood in Buddhism is not just thought, it includes bodily sensations, feeling, intuition, perceptions, and thought formations. Many traditions like Zen and Taoism discourage thinking when it comes to the fundamental problems of life, as thought gets us trapped in dualities.

The Chinese and Japanese have an advantage with th...

2008-01-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

The Chinese and Japanese have an advantage with their multiple religions. None of them is strong enough to strangle thought, which is what is being done by fundamentalism in the US and Islam in large parts of the world, including Western Europe and the US.

Compare Greece with Palestine 2400 years ago. Those Greeks left us a precious legacy in art and science. They had dozens of gods, too many to take seriously. The Romans inherited this advantage, and added to the legacy. Judaism, through its mutant, Christianity, pretty well strangled this for 1500 years until enough heretics appeared to rediscover the legacy of heathen antiquity.

It's only the unbelievers in the West, with the Chinese and Japanese, who are in a position to do the kind of thinking that the world needs to survive.

Donna, thanks for the comment. Of course chaos is ...

2008-01-15T03:14:00.000-08:00

Donna, thanks for the comment. Of course chaos is part of nature, but I am saying that one cannot find chaotic characteristics in the teachings of Tao. Except perhaps, in the sense that Tao is the ultimate mysterious that includes everything. Please tell me if I am mistaken.

I wouldn't say the Tao doesn't include the idea of...

2008-01-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't say the Tao doesn't include the idea of chaos, merely that chaos is part of nature.

Not all of nature is orderly, after all.