4 ms·

As it has been well-known in the east for thousands of years and well preserved by the Tibetan people, the us vs them mentality arises naturally through the nat

As it has been well-known in the east for thousands of years and well preserved by the Tibetan people, the us vs them mentality arises naturally through the nature of consciousness which grasps at the notion of a non-existent self. Through ignorance we fail to see reality for what it truly is, ultimately empty, but conventionally existent. Thus, we reify our perceptions as real, instead of recognizing that all objects are simply names and labels imputed over aggregates and the introduction of the mental afflictions that cause protectionist and selfish thought arise. First comes the individual, then the small group, then the group of groups, then the nation and so on - all grasping at a sense of self that isn't truly there when thoroughly analyzed. Every human being on this planet is the same. We all would like to avoid suffering and would like the causes of happiness. Ridding yourself of the us vs them mentality involves waking up and developing unwavering compassion for other sentient beings. This requires the realization that all sentient beings want to avoid the causes of suffering. Does this lengthy article mention this ancient and well-developed philosophy? Not a single word on it. I recommend listening to just some of the conversations the Dalai Lama has conducted with western scientists and researchers: Mind & Life Session 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcgcFbPTwys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcgcFbPTwys Mind & Life Session 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoAEEAq8idU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoAEEAq8idU I highly recommend you read Pumla's book (who appears in the second conversation): "A Human Being Died that Night" which is highly illustrative of the power of compassion for others even in the midst of human rights violations.

zzzeek 6y ago
hi - I practice mindfulness. Your post is both entirely true and also total BS. Because this: we live in our physical bodies , we are deciding to live in that world. Of course Donald Trump is, like all of us, another infinitesmally small point of energy that is consciousness like all the rest of us. However, within the physical realm that pure dot unfortunately happens to be manifested inside of an orange bucket of authoritarian narcisssm, which is a threat to all the other physical entities. When we practice mindfulness we still live in the physical world. I can feel sorrow and love for the innocent dot that is inside of DT but the physical manifestation should be rotting in jail. put another way, if you truly accept everything about manifested reality without condition, why does it matter that there is conflict? the decision to no longer suffer is to accept whatever one's fate is, not to circumvent that fate.
- bingobongo1 6y ago
  It's okay to admit that it's difficult to display unwavering compassion with respect to the conventional truth (there are two truths). Instead of insulting you back, have an upvote!
  - zzzeek 6y ago
    i display unwavering compassion within the unconventional truth. within the conventional truth, compassion is not unwavering when someone is a threat to my family. why should it be? none of it matters?
    - bingobongo1 6y ago
      It's clear you don't quite get it and I can't force you to understand. I wish you well.
Tade0 6y ago
Thus, we reify our perceptions as real, instead of recognizing that all objects are simply names and labels imputed over aggregates and the introduction of the mental afflictions that cause protectionist and selfish thought arise. You're falling for something which I call the falling physicist problem. A physicist was thrown out of a plane. He is aware of the forces that currently affect him and can even estimate his terminal velocity. Hell, he even knows that the atoms he's made of will be fine, since it would take energies orders of magnitude higher than his kinetic energy to affect them. Nevertheless he'll go splat just like anyone else put in such a position. This is why this philosophy isn't really that successful - it doesn't create any incentive to survive and perpetuate it. Sure, you may have achieved ultimate compassion for your fellow man. Where's the benefit in that?
- bingobongo1 6y ago
  I respect your assessment. You may think I'm falling into an idealist's dilemma, however, that single statement is speaking on the nature of emptiness of phenomena and how certain thoughts and emotions arise. Objects do not exist inherently and independently. Everything arises from an interdependent network of causality. The scientist will go splat, but why does he fear death? I have to lightly refute your point about it not being a successful philosophy, it was very successful for thousands of years in India where it originated and very successful in Tibet and other eastern societies. Western materialism tends to be in direct conflict with Buddhist wisdom. All beings suffer, compassion is the way out of suffering for the individual and for others. Ask the Tibetan Yogis who were imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese who harbor no resentment toward their captors after release and who say that the greatest danger they felt during their imprisonment was losing compassion toward their captors. No one ever said it was easy to develop, as can clearly be seen by such stringent resistance to the notion of having compassion for others, even enemies.
  - babesh 6y ago
    Buddhism is a religion (along with many other religions) that allows a minority to brainwash a majority in order to exploit them. Those Buddhist temples don’t build themselves. You offer them afterlife or an end of suffering and in return they offer their independence of thought and action. The concept of self is evolutionarily effective. For better or worse, so is the concept of us and them.

zzzeek 6y ago

hi - I practice mindfulness. Your post is both entirely true and also total BS. Because this: we live in our physical bodies , we are deciding to live in that world. Of course Donald Trump is, like all of us, another infinitesmally small point of energy that is consciousness like all the rest of us. However, within the physical realm that pure dot unfortunately happens to be manifested inside of an orange bucket of authoritarian narcisssm, which is a threat to all the other physical entities. When we practice mindfulness we still live in the physical world. I can feel sorrow and love for the innocent dot that is inside of DT but the physical manifestation should be rotting in jail. put another way, if you truly accept everything about manifested reality without condition, why does it matter that there is conflict? the decision to no longer suffer is to accept whatever one's fate is, not to circumvent that fate.

bingobongo1 6y ago
It's okay to admit that it's difficult to display unwavering compassion with respect to the conventional truth (there are two truths). Instead of insulting you back, have an upvote!
- zzzeek 6y ago
  i display unwavering compassion within the unconventional truth. within the conventional truth, compassion is not unwavering when someone is a threat to my family. why should it be? none of it matters?
  - bingobongo1 6y ago
    It's clear you don't quite get it and I can't force you to understand. I wish you well.

Tade0 6y ago

Thus, we reify our perceptions as real, instead of recognizing that all objects are simply names and labels imputed over aggregates and the introduction of the mental afflictions that cause protectionist and selfish thought arise. You're falling for something which I call the falling physicist problem. A physicist was thrown out of a plane. He is aware of the forces that currently affect him and can even estimate his terminal velocity. Hell, he even knows that the atoms he's made of will be fine, since it would take energies orders of magnitude higher than his kinetic energy to affect them. Nevertheless he'll go splat just like anyone else put in such a position. This is why this philosophy isn't really that successful - it doesn't create any incentive to survive and perpetuate it. Sure, you may have achieved ultimate compassion for your fellow man. Where's the benefit in that?

bingobongo1 6y ago
I respect your assessment. You may think I'm falling into an idealist's dilemma, however, that single statement is speaking on the nature of emptiness of phenomena and how certain thoughts and emotions arise. Objects do not exist inherently and independently. Everything arises from an interdependent network of causality. The scientist will go splat, but why does he fear death? I have to lightly refute your point about it not being a successful philosophy, it was very successful for thousands of years in India where it originated and very successful in Tibet and other eastern societies. Western materialism tends to be in direct conflict with Buddhist wisdom. All beings suffer, compassion is the way out of suffering for the individual and for others. Ask the Tibetan Yogis who were imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese who harbor no resentment toward their captors after release and who say that the greatest danger they felt during their imprisonment was losing compassion toward their captors. No one ever said it was easy to develop, as can clearly be seen by such stringent resistance to the notion of having compassion for others, even enemies.
- babesh 6y ago
  Buddhism is a religion (along with many other religions) that allows a minority to brainwash a majority in order to exploit them. Those Buddhist temples don’t build themselves. You offer them afterlife or an end of suffering and in return they offer their independence of thought and action. The concept of self is evolutionarily effective. For better or worse, so is the concept of us and them.