[Buddha-l] Withdrawal of the senses

[Joy Vriens]

Dera friends,

>I tried to watch The Matrix but was so put off by the violence that I never  
>got to the pills. Could you explain, for those of us who walked out of Bambi  
>because we couldn't stand to watch the forest fire scene, what the issue in  
>the Matrix is? 

I have tried to catch up with all the messages and noticed that your question about the plot has been answered.

As for the violence, violence is everywhere, sometimes visible, mostly not. The visible one looks worse, but I am not sure it really is. At least it's not dissimulating its violence. Systems (especially ours which is based on material growth and competition) can't seem to exist without violence. These days as a parent I am witnessing what education does to my children and other children I don't like what I see. The objective of the French system, the one I know best, seems to focus more on selection than on education. Call me a whimp and a hippy, but a system in which the (few) winner(s) take it all, and the others have to build their lives with some sense of failure is extremely violent and breeding violence, both invisible and visible. It even scars the "winners".

Science 17 November 2006: 
Vol. 314. no. 5802, pp. 1154 - 1156 
DOI: 10.1126/science.1132491 

The Psychological Consequences of Money 
Kathleen D. Vohs,1* Nicole L. Mead,2 Miranda R. Goode3 

Money has been said to change people's motivation (mainly for the better) and their behavior toward others (mainly for the worse). The results of nine experiments suggest that money brings about a self-sufficient orientation in which people prefer to be free of dependency and dependents. Reminders of money, relative to nonmoney reminders, led to reduced requests for help and reduced helpfulness toward others. Relative to participants primed with neutral concepts, participants primed with money preferred to play alone, work alone, and put more physical distance between themselves and a new acquaintance. 

1 Department of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 3-150 321 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. 
2 Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahasse, FL 32306–4301, USA. 
3 Marketing Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada.