[Buddha-l] Moment of individuation

[jkirk]

Yes indeed----well put. 
It might be added about unwanted events, for which one might not have any personal responsibility, that sometimes mere bad luck is a cause of misfortune, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and so on. But the Buddhist viewpoint enables anyone so struck to make something positive or remedial of the unsatisfactoriness, however difficult it might be, of such happenings, thus again leaving aside the motive to attribute blame to unverifiable causes (the stars e.g.).
Joanna
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bob Smith 

   These activities are initiated and largely maintained at the discretion of we humans. From a subjective perspective, just stop eating or having sex for a month and see how many of these "interior dynamisms" still function in any manner that we humans would consider positive. >From a more objective position, just start polluting the oceans or over-harvesting the oceans assets, or start over-harvesting the world's forests, etc., etc. (You get my point.) and see how long these "interior dynamisms" continue to function in any way that one would consider helpful. It is we humans who work to orchestrate and dictate this flow of energy - for whatever reason.

  Of relevance here is the observation that all religions and philosophies are artifacts; they are all created by humankind. Like all human creations, they are designed to meet a need (or needs!). One of the utilities of the creation of religion is that it gives us something else to blame when our human activities run afoul of their intended outcomes (It was my karma; my past life! The devil made me do it! The stars were not aligned right!). Blaming someone or something else for our own failings has long been a favorite pastime of we humans. What the Buddhist position does, in my mind at least, is to throw the responsibility for our unsatisfactoriness back on us. This is done largely without the need for souls, spirits, saints, devils or other spooks.

  There is no reason to make life any more complicated than it already is.


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