[Buddha-l] Re: **REALLY** Western Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 31 October 2006 07:25, Curt Steinmetz wrote:

> Sam Harris doesn't understand the inherent benefits of "making believe".
> This could be a sign of serious psychological problems - but,
> unfortunately, these kinds of problems are far from rare these days, so
> they have the appearance of normalcy.

Just out of curiosity, why is it not sufficient for you to say that you like 
make-believe for various reasons? Why do you feel a need to make unwarranted 
claims about what another person does not understand (especially when you 
show no signs of ever having read the person in question), and then adding 
the rckless insinuation that those who do not share your tastes may be 
mentally ill? 

Are we seeing the benefits of your decades of Buddhist meditation? Do all 
those hours you have logged on Zen cushions enable you to do nothing more 
than badmouth people who do not share your aesthetic enthusiasms? In just 
what ways are you a walking advertisement for the benefits of Buddhist 
practice and other forms of make-believe?

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes