[Buddha-l] Re: Filtered Buddhism

[Richard Hayes]

On Wednesday 27 June 2007 13:57, curt wrote:

> And few
> cultures, if any, have more reason for insecurity than that of the west.

I am beginning to see a pattern here. Everything you say is silly, stupid or 
dumb. But this is probably the dumbest statement of yours I've ever read. 

What would be more accurate, I think, is a statement once made to my wife by a 
Vedantin swami. She admitted to him many years ago that she was feeling 
insecure about something or other. He said "Everyone is insecure until they 
attain liberation. Insecurity is the last thing to go." The more I have seen 
of the world, the more I think that swami nailed the human condition 
perfectly. He was not the first to do so, of course. Our friend the Buddha 
made some similar observations.

In any case, I am inclined to think that every culture in the world has 
excellent reasons for feeling insecure, and the culture of the west is, in 
this respect, just paddling along with all the other ducks in the pond. When 
you get right down to it, we all quack pretty much the same way.

> It is a big mistake to assume that only dimwits like George Bush and
> reptilian shape-shifters like Dick Cheney - and the people who
> enthusiastically support them - are guilty of assuming cultural
> superiority.

Yes, that would be a big mistake if one were to make it.

>  Anyone who believes that oh-so-very-much has changed in
> the few decades that separate us from Huxley, and that well-educated
> "liberal" minded, right-thinking folks no longer hold such outrageously
> wrong-headed ideas, is, well, deluded.

Yes, that would be a delusion to believe such a thing. Is that delusion 
another one of the many foolish beliefs your pet straw man has?

-- 
Richard