A Change of Styles?
November 12, 2009
“Single Ladies ( put a ring on it)” — a very popular video by Beyoncé. There’s a lot that can be said about the video. But one thing that strikes me is the bodies of the dancers — including Beyoncé. They are not anorexic. And who could suppose that women who were not anorexic would sell a video to 77 million viewers?
The Song in Their Heart
November 2, 2009
“To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.”
– Anonymous
The Sky is Grey
October 28, 2009
The sky is grey. The snow’s come. Flakes of it falling on yellow leaves. The first real snow of the season.
Funny how you might want some comfort food at a time like this.
Krishnamurti and the Sensitive Mind
October 27, 2009
“Do not think about doing it, but actually do it now. That is, be aware of the trees, the palm tree, the sky; hear the crows cawing; see the light on the leaf, the colour of the sari, the face; then move inwardly. You can observe, you can be aware choicelessly of outward things. It is very easy. But to move inwardly and to be aware without condemnation, without justification, without comparison is more difficult. Just be aware of what is taking place inside you—your beliefs, your fears, your dogmas, your hopes, your frustrations, your ambitions, and all the rest of the things. Then the unfolding of the conscious and the unconscious begins. You have not to do a thing.”
If you were to spend some time — say a month — away from the city, up among the Colorado mountains, in the high forests there, then you might eventually notice that your senses had become sharper, more sensitive. That they were now acutely alert to subtleties in your environment which you had entirely failed to notice before you came to the mountains. But much more likely, you would not really notice how sharp your senses had become until you came back down from the mountains and returned to the city.
It’s a story I’ve heard on several occasions from people here in Colorado. Someone goes off to live in the wilderness for a few weeks or a month. Afterwards, they return to the city only to find the city changed when they were gone. Now, the city lights are much too bright; the city noises are too loud; the rhythm of events is senseless and abrupt; the smells are poignant and ugly. Of course, what’s really happened here is not that their city has changed — instead, their senses have become sharper, more sensitive.
I was thinking about that earlier this morning in connection with understanding the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti.
In my experience, it seems much easier to understand Krishnamurti — to the extent he can be understood — when something has made us more sensitive, sharpened us. Not primarily sharpened our senses, but rather sharpened our mind. I suspect this is true not just of Krishnamurti’s writings, but also of much other wisdom literature.
Perhaps it sounds strange at first, but Krishnamurti should be read when one is in love. I think love makes us more sensitive to what he is saying. Love tunes both our inner and outer awareness more or less like a month in the wilderness tunes our senses. Suddenly, one not only sees something of what Krishnamurti is talking about, but his message might even become urgent.
If you really want to understand certain aspects of the city, you would do well to experience the city with sharpened senses — with senses that have not been dulled down by too recent an overexposure to the brash, melodramatic sights, sounds, and smells of the city. And if you really want to understand certain aspects of Krishnamurti’s writings, then you will do well to experience his writings with a mind that is as sensitive as possible — that has, perhaps, been made as sensitive as love can make a mind. Otherwise, it seems very difficult to understand Krishnamurti.
What Determines Church Attendance?
October 23, 2009
Why are some societies more religious than other societies?
The traditional explanation has been that the less educated people in the society are, the more likely they are to be religious. But now there’s a new theory — one based on a study of 60 nations — that says education is not the most powerful predictor of religiosity. Instead, economic security is.
According to this new study, the more economically secure people in a society are, the less likely they are to be religious. And the less economically secure people in a society are, the more likely they are to be religious.
It will be interesting if it holds up to scrutiny. Check the theory out here.
The Dalai Lama on Science
October 17, 2009
“If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview.”
Krishnamurti on Belief in God
October 14, 2009
“Your belief in God is merely an escape from your monotonous, stupid and cruel life.”
The full quote and context can be found by clicking on the above link.
“Capitalism: A Love Story”
October 11, 2009
Early last week, I saw Michael Moore’s new film, Capitalism: A Love Story. There’s an excellent review of the movie at the blog, Naked Capitalism.
I would add that neither the film nor the review explicitly states this: We Americans seem possessed by the notion that rich folks know better than poor folks how to run the country — or at least the economy. The theory is rich folks have more experience running things. On the other hand, rich folks seem pretty challenged just to make their own millions, let alone look out for the other guy. But someone objects, “It’s no one’s job to look out for the other guy”? Then that person knows less of politics than an elected dog catcher. Political power largely proceeds from convincing people that you will work on behalf of their interests.
Krishnamurti on Holy Men and Love
October 8, 2009
“Throughout the world, so-called holy men have maintained that to look at a woman is something totally wrong: they say you cannot come near to God if you indulge in sex, therefore they push it aside although they are eaten up with it. But by denying sexuality they put out their eyes and cut out their tongues for they deny the whole beauty of the earth. They have starved their hearts and minds; they are dehydrated human beings; they have banished beauty because beauty is associated with woman.”
“There is no such thing as society”
October 6, 2009
“There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.”
The odd thing about people who think “there is no such thing as society” is that in order to think that, they must ignore a reality as omnipresent in their lives as the sky above and the earth below: Namely that our species lives in groups.
Or put more precisely, they must ignore the utterly obvious fact that we are a social animal. Perhaps only someone who, like Thatcher, had a political and ideological motive great enough could deny a reality so obvious.
Don’t believe anyone who says, “There is no such thing as society” who is not a hermit.
The Tyranny of Dumb Luck
October 4, 2009
A friend of mine — someone I’ve known since we were children together — is a self-made millionaire. Like some self-made millionaires, he grew up in a poor family, nevertheless managed to get a good degree, and then he worked very hard to earn his first million, which he had accumulated by the age of 28. He is among the hardest working people I know.
Back when I owned and operated a small business, I worked some long hours, but nothing like he has was capable of working during the years when he was going for his first million. I remember he took a half-day off for Christmas one year — and it was the first time in two years he’d taken any time off. A hundred hours a week was a specialty of his.
It might surprise some people, but my friend attributes only half his success — only half of the millions he’s made in his life — to hard work. The other half of it, he says, he owes to luck.
I think he’s right about that. Chance plays a larger role in our lives than many of us wish to know.
A psychologist who knew I had spent a few years as a young man fighting fires once told me of a theory that people who engage in especially risky behavior tend to be in sharp denial of how great a role chance plays in their survival. Naturally, my immediate response to her theory was to deny that I had ever been in denial.
That’s actually what happened. When she told me the theory, I immediately felt a surprisingly great emotional need to deny that I had spent some years of my youth dangerously tempting fate to fight fires. I even went on at some length to her about how safe fire fighting is if you know what you’re doing.
She just grinned at me.
After that I thought about it, though, and I realized she was — at least to some extent — right. You simply don’t walk towards a twelve foot high wall of white flame thinking, “Half of whether I survive this or not is dumb luck”. That sort of thought — if you allowed yourself to have it — would get you moving away from that twelve foot wall. I cannot ever recall thinking I was plumb lucky in the few years I fought fires. Instead, I simply denied luck had anything to do with my successes.
These days, though, it strikes me how easy it is to delude ourselves about the role luck plays in our lives. My friend who’s made his millions seems to me somewhat rare in that he recognizes the role luck has played in his successes. Most of the few very well to do people I know seem to think their success was all their own.
It might be easier to believe our success is all our own than to justly ascribe some of it to luck. I will wager it takes far more courage to walk towards a wall of fire believing that luck has something to do with the outcome than it takes to walk towards the same wall believing your fate is entirely in your own hands. I know I can do the latter. I’m not sure I can do the former.
And I will wager that it is much easier to work 100 hour weeks if you believe they are sure and certain to pay off than to admit there’s a substantial chance that even 100 hour weeks will not get you what you want.
Thus, there seem to be some strong incentives to denying the role chance plays in our lives. The tyranny of dumb luck is one tyranny few of want to recognize.
A Thought or Two on Capitalism
October 3, 2009
Capitalism is a beneficial system in several respects, but it comes with a huge flaw. It is obsessed with profit.
Now, there is nothing wrong with profit in and of itself. But there is certainly something wrong with an obsession with profit. Anytime you maximize one and only one value, you create a system that denies other values. And capitalism, by maximizing profits, creates a system that denies other values — in fact, it denies all values that are in any way at odds with maximizing profit.
So, for example, capitalism becomes the enemy of sane ecological policies in so far as those policies interfere with maximizing profit. Or the enemy of living wages in so far as living wages interfere with maximizing profit. Or the enemy of anything — any other value — that interferes with maximizing profit.
At least that’s how I see it. How do you see it?




















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