[Buddha-l] Persecution in modern Colorado?

[Mike Austin]

In message <200610031209.46568.rhayes at unm.edu>, Richard Hayes 
<rhayes at unm.edu> writes
>For some reason, I have never been able to get interested in psychoactive
>drugs, and therefore I can't get interested in the issue of their relevance
>to Buddhism.

Same here - never touched them and never smoked either.


>Has anyone else been disappointed with the lack of social and political
>engagement in their Buddhist communities? If so, what do you do about it? Try
>to become more complacent? Try to get Buddhists off their butts? Divide your
>time between Buddhists and Quakers? Watch TV? Take psychoactive drugs?

I am equally disappointed with a lack of social and political engagement 
as an excess of it. Our community (a charitable trust) is supported by a 
Health Centre that rents space to therapists.  This is a service for the 
wider community and we are engaged in running it. I think most people in 
our community find an engagement in social and political matters outside 
the community. However, I think there could be something to gain by some 
joint activity. I am keeping my eyes open for a suitable opportunity. It 
will be more social than political. I feel that it is the general public 
that needs to inspire politicians, although politicians tend to think it 
is the other way round. One persuades most effectively by example. Their 
examples do not persuade me much, so we have to reverse the process.

-- 
Metta
Mike Austin