[Buddha-l] neuroscience: neural plasticity

[Michael Paris]

Below...

--- jkirk <jkirk at spro.net> wrote:

> As luck would have it, Hadot has out a new book, _The Veil of Isis :
An
essay on the history of the idea of Nature._ Michael Chase, trans.
Harvard,
2006. Just reviewed in LRB of 10 May 07 by Ian Hacking:  "...Hadot, who
is
now 85, is a great scholar of Neoplatonism. He is working on a
definitive edition of Marcus Aurelius [can't wait for that!JK]....You
will find yourself in the company of a wise Greek, a pagan, a
philosopher who believes that the
role of philosophy is to teach us how to live [as did Socrates, et
alii? +
the Buddha JK]. 
>

Not to mention the Stoics, Cynics, and Epicureans. Those were the good
old days, at least in some ways.

I really like Hadot. He was my introduction to Neo-Platonism.

For me, contrasting Buddhism and ancient Greek philosophy is, well,
most enlightening. One better appreciates and constructively engages
(not to mention criticizes) Buddhism in active comparison with other
serious and systematic  philosophies of life. 

Same for Christianity. The more I read of the history and philosophical
background of early Christianity, the more I came to grips with what we
have today. You never hear anything like that in sermons, though. Come
to think of it, sermons remind me of commercials but are not nearly as
entertaining.

For that matter, the same applies to a lot of dharma talks. Sometimes
there's a lot to say for watching paint dry...

[snip]


Michael



       
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