[Buddha-l] Voegelin and Nansen's cat

[Dan Lusthaus]

Curt wrote:

>Instead of facing
> up to just how un-anomalous Nazism is in the history of "the west" over
> the last 1500 years, an attempt is made to single out individuals and/or
> "movements" ...

Why is this an either/or? Why would viewing something like this as if it
were a disembodied generic condition, more grounded in reality than paying
attention to the actual individuals and movements that enact it? The
Buddhist perspective (at least for Sautrantikas, Yogacaras, and many others)
is that reality concerns distinct individuals; the generic version is mere
conceptualization (praj~napti-maatra). In general terms, that means there
are no groups, only collectives of individuals (perhaps unified by shared
characteristics). Even less are there actual disembodied generic realities.

If certain individuals are pivot points, i.e., places or loci where the
convergence of the pertinent conditions and their effects are more clearly
in evidence, wouldn't they be the ideal subjects for study, especially if
some version of that convergent conglomeration is still at play today?

Just asking?

Dan