One useful device is the idealist’s fantasy of a better human world that is quite different from the one we are used to. For example George W. Bush, as president of the US, bristles with innate tendencies and no understanding of human nature. He insisted that a good way to introduce democracy to Iraq was to destroy the infrastructure of the country, impose military rule, imprison and torture any one who objected. In an idealist’s counterfactual world, G.W. Bush would not become the President of the US and no-one would believe that military invasion was a tool of democratic reform.
Any man or woman qualified to be the President of the USA would be nice and smart with a deep understanding of human nature and an aversion for killing. The President would obey Christian ethics, love his or her enemies, turn the other cheek, and love neighbors, even people who were very different.
He would know that two wrongs do not make a right.
In my counterfactual world, in fact, there are only defensive military organizations and no adventitious killing. Nations are respectful, generous and tolerant of each others’ differences. Disputes are resolved by negotiation, grooming, gift-giving, sports and shared celebrations. There are no “terrorists” since all humans would have constructive ways of expressing and remedying their grievances. The United Nations would be reorganized and would flourish as a forum of cooperation.
Belligerent politicians would be given the opportunity to duel with each other in public displays of their skill and courage as warriors. They would not be seen as heroes but as irrational pugilists, atavistic misfits that need to do battle in ceremonial combat without harming others. If Bush disliked Hussein, he would challenge him to a duel. Let the best man win. You would save a hundred thousand lives and a billions of US dollars spend on destroying Iraq’s infrastructure. The domestic economy of the US would flourish with constructive, humanitarian enterprises and would not miss the vanishing munitions industry.
We can thank G.W. Bush for demonstrating how reptilian belligerence is no longer an acceptable expression of world leaders.
Dalai Lama and the Good Person
Speculation about how the mind works in terms of who thinks what and who disagrees is the exoteric version popular in philosophy. There is a need for insightful, esoteric studies and reports on the inner human experience. Buddhist philosophy is esoteric. Buddhism developed in India, Tibet, Nepal, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Indonesia and Buddhist practitioners and scholars worked out observations and techniques of the human mind studying itself.
The mind-study traditions of, for example, Zen and Vajrayana Buddhism provide concepts and tools for working with our own experience and exploring our own minds - strategies that can alleviate suffering and promote the expansion of each persons' consciousness toward a more universal common-mind, the goal of enlightenment practice.
These are strategies that also guide research in cognitive neuroscience and are essential to ask meaningful questions about consciousness, thoughts, feelings, memory, goals and beliefs. Thus, the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist Scholar, and some neuroscientists are interested in each other and have had fruitful discussions about the nature of mind and its inner workings. The Dalai Lama has become a spokesperson for sanity and human goodness. He holds each person responsible for what humans do or do not do. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and his life-story has become familiar to millions people through the movies Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun.
The Dalai Lama states that the pursuit of spiritual goals and ultimate liberation from suffering and evil requires the intention to be of service to others. Selfish goals and methods alone are not sufficient and inevitably lead to unhappiness.
He teaches that each person can work with his or her own mind to develop a higher consciousness, characterized by compassion and ethical conduct.
From the Book of Existence and the Human Mind by Stephen Gislason
Any man or woman qualified to be the President of the USA would be nice and smart with a deep understanding of human nature and an aversion for killing. The President would obey Christian ethics, love his or her enemies, turn the other cheek, and love neighbors, even people who were very different.
He would know that two wrongs do not make a right.
In my counterfactual world, in fact, there are only defensive military organizations and no adventitious killing. Nations are respectful, generous and tolerant of each others’ differences. Disputes are resolved by negotiation, grooming, gift-giving, sports and shared celebrations. There are no “terrorists” since all humans would have constructive ways of expressing and remedying their grievances. The United Nations would be reorganized and would flourish as a forum of cooperation.
Belligerent politicians would be given the opportunity to duel with each other in public displays of their skill and courage as warriors. They would not be seen as heroes but as irrational pugilists, atavistic misfits that need to do battle in ceremonial combat without harming others. If Bush disliked Hussein, he would challenge him to a duel. Let the best man win. You would save a hundred thousand lives and a billions of US dollars spend on destroying Iraq’s infrastructure. The domestic economy of the US would flourish with constructive, humanitarian enterprises and would not miss the vanishing munitions industry.
We can thank G.W. Bush for demonstrating how reptilian belligerence is no longer an acceptable expression of world leaders.
Dalai Lama and the Good Person
Speculation about how the mind works in terms of who thinks what and who disagrees is the exoteric version popular in philosophy. There is a need for insightful, esoteric studies and reports on the inner human experience. Buddhist philosophy is esoteric. Buddhism developed in India, Tibet, Nepal, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Indonesia and Buddhist practitioners and scholars worked out observations and techniques of the human mind studying itself.
The mind-study traditions of, for example, Zen and Vajrayana Buddhism provide concepts and tools for working with our own experience and exploring our own minds - strategies that can alleviate suffering and promote the expansion of each persons' consciousness toward a more universal common-mind, the goal of enlightenment practice.
These are strategies that also guide research in cognitive neuroscience and are essential to ask meaningful questions about consciousness, thoughts, feelings, memory, goals and beliefs. Thus, the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist Scholar, and some neuroscientists are interested in each other and have had fruitful discussions about the nature of mind and its inner workings. The Dalai Lama has become a spokesperson for sanity and human goodness. He holds each person responsible for what humans do or do not do. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and his life-story has become familiar to millions people through the movies Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun.
The Dalai Lama states that the pursuit of spiritual goals and ultimate liberation from suffering and evil requires the intention to be of service to others. Selfish goals and methods alone are not sufficient and inevitably lead to unhappiness.
He teaches that each person can work with his or her own mind to develop a higher consciousness, characterized by compassion and ethical conduct.
From the Book of Existence and the Human Mind by Stephen Gislason