Comments on Spirituality, Science and Technology: Dalai Lama on Secular Ethics

you said: "for every one thing that is (R)ight the...

2007-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

you said: "for every one thing that is (R)ight there is an infinite number of (NOT R) things that are (W)rong. "

What about for every one thing that is (W)rong there is an infinite number of (NOT W) things that are (R)ight?

But I guess, since you believe in Ethics (right action), it does not matter if your logic is flawed or not.

In Buddhism, right action and right view/understanding are necessary as parts of the 8 Noble Path. You can't take just one of them.

Humanity is driven by the need for predictability....

2007-12-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

Humanity is driven by the need for predictability. Morality is a belief system that attempst to classify the present, in order to predict the future. Regardless of faith, morality is the belief in right and wrong. So, follow this logic...

if morality IS Right + Wrong
and if for every one thing that is (R)ight there is an infinite number of (NOT R) things that are (W)rong.

So, morality is 1R + infinite W

(Infinity + 1) is still Infinity, and thus...

Morality is infinitely Wrong.

Said another way...
Morality is the sum of 1R + an infinite number of (NOT R)... and, thus Morality is infinitely NOT R.

My point is Morality is a bankrupt belief system that does not ensure a predictable future... in only ensures unstability.

Ethics - the belief that what you do and say matters... is far more stable. People who believe that they truly matter always serve others... people who don't think they matter, often don't think others matter, or what they do or say matters... for me, I'll take significance over righteous any day.

No, I have not read the book, but from the reviews...

2007-12-07T05:47:00.000-08:00

No, I have not read the book, but from the reviews at Amazon, it definitely is a must-read book. The author SHARON BEGLEY has written about neuroplasticity in the Proceed Nat Acad Sci http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma8/monksmed.html

Nice interview! On the subtopic of neuroscience an...

2007-12-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

Nice interview! On the subtopic of neuroscience and the Dalai Lama, I recently read a decent book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain about meetings between the Dalai Lama & co. and neuroscientists. Have you read it? It makes a bit too much out of the religion vs. science culture wars for my tastes but describes a lot of neuroscience studies of great interest to a meditator.

actually, the Dalai Lama pointed to some very impo...

2007-12-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

actually, the Dalai Lama pointed to some very important differences: distancing from faith and prayer based religions, religious rituals, and theistic religions. Nevertheless, he is very tolerant, even to the "bad guys", and always stressing non-violence.

I applaud the Dalai Lama's efforts to build bridge...

2007-12-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

I applaud the Dalai Lama's efforts to build bridges between faith groups and the secular world. At times, though, it seems we gloss over important differences in doing so. Respecting each other with our differences carries more weight than trying to be more alike.