Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 15:13:59 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: Re: Star Wars and Archetypes



--- Ilan Shalif <gshalif-AT-netvision.net.il> wrote:

> The Vipassena watching of sensational phenomena -
> i.e. bodily sensations is far from being passive.
> 
I think you misunderstand.  Having done Vipassana
meditation (and not JUST being an observer) I am well
aware that this form of meditation requires very
ACTIVE forms of attention on the part of the
practitioner.
However, there is quite a difference between the
ACTIVE attention in the course of meditation and Doing
in the world.  Of course the one does not preclude the
other.

However I am just wondering if this emphasis on
"being", on observation of phenomenal states, might
not de-emphasize the importance of action...of
changing the world.  


> Like the Chinese acupuncture and herbal medicines
> (and
> other pieces of practical wisdom) drawn from long
> observations
> and experimentation, are valid... Though the
> explanations given
> to the facts are usually erroneous.

Well, just out of curiosity, I am wondering what you
see as a correct explanation of something like
acupuncture.  Dont get me wrong, I find acupuncture
to be a valid form of treatment of many ailments, but
the acupuncture/Chinese model of the human body is
different from that of allopathic medicine...in fact,
it defies it.  

>hnique)
> You will find that the "passive" treatment given to
> the bodily
> sensations, result in lot of energy available for
> other activities.

Agreed.

> 
> Just look at the seemingly personal desertion of the
> life of affluence
> many Bundists turning from common life to the
> poverty from choice.
> It is in a way one of the strongest demonstration
> against the rule and ideology
> of the rich.

Well, our goal is not to lead lives of deprivation or
poverty, is it?  I would like to discuss this because
I notice that somehow Christian attitudes towards life
seem to have somehow permeated the Left (at least here
in US) in some cases (or so it seems to me).  Dont get
me wrong, I am not for a consumeristic society, but I
am for a society in which all individuals have access
to the means to make their lives richer (and I dont
mean in a vulgar consumeristic way) but more beauty,
more creativity,more chances to realize themselves). 
However, what I have seen among a lot of Leftists is a
sort of anti-life mentality...they try to make a
fashion statement by being drab in many aspects of
their lives(and I am not referring to those who for
financial reasons can do no better).  I mean, I am not
for a life of "renunciation" and I dont think that
should be a goal of the Left, yet I notice this
tendancy among certain members of the Left.


> For a person to be engaged in political activity 24
> by 7
>  is not a bad thing... if one enjoy it, and if one
> do not abuse
> hir bodily resources.... (and of course if the
> political activity
> does not stink.)
> 

I dont know Ilan.  Politics like jogging can become an
addiction.

Thomas

===="The tradition of all the dead generations
 weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living"

-Karl Marx

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