The Negativity and Untruthfulness of Buddhist Philosophy

Several of the central claims of Buddhism:

1. Desire is bad.
2. There are no selves.
3. Extinction is the goal.

HOWEVER,
1. “desire” isn’t bad. On the contrary, desire is good—is the basis of survival, life, hope, creativity, and achievement. What is wrong is inordinate desire, desire that is selfish and destructive.

2. There are, indeed, selves—billions of them, dolphins, whales, bears, cats, dogs, pigs, and human primates. The more complex ‘selves’ such as humans not only are really alive, but consciously aware of themselves, and a sense of moral ought, and transcendent reality—the Good, the True, the Just, the Beautiful.

If there are no ‘selves,’ then, of course, there would be no Good, no moral truths. Nothing would be wrong. But real human selves exist that can be harmed by immoral actions.

What Buddhism gets wrong is to assume that a ‘self’ must be eternally permanent to be real.
But on the contrary, temporary, finite selves are VERY REAL!
They just aren’t endless.

Instead, temporary humans are finite conscious processes that come to life, exist, become self-aware, learn to think, create, read, write, make
inventions, study atoms, DNA of life, the geological history of the earth, and some of the billions of stars in the cosmos, etc.
And finally die.

3. Extinction isn’t a worthy, good goal for humans. The opposite is true.
What is the worthy, good goal is to experience transcendence beyond matter and energy in our finite time of living.

Some Buddhists recognize that their philosophy needed correction such as Thich Nhat Hanh who helped bring about Engaged Buddhism, where each individual is of real inherent value, where life is Good.


In the LIGHT,
Dan Wilcox

In this time of Simplistic Extremisms, Consider, instead, the PARADOX OF TRUTH

Religous thought often seems dysfunctionally extreme, so very false. On one side are the exclusivists, the theological determinists (who I have already dealt with in past blogs), ones who claim God only wills to save a limited number of humans, and the rest of us are preordained to Hell for his pleasure and glory. Pray tell me where the Good News is in that hopeless despair.

On the other side, are the inclusivists, the universalists who emphasize that all humans will be saved, that Hell will eventually be emptied. This sounds so good and has found strong support among great moral leaders of the past from Origen in the 4th century to the 20th century Greek scholar William Barclay. The position has recently been championed by Quaker writers Phillip Gulley and James Mulholland. But there is a huge problem here as well. See below.

In the New Testament, Jesus, instead, speaks in paradoxes. Consider this statement: Matthew 7:14 NASB "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Why does Jesus talk so exclusively at this point when elsewhere in the biblical text, he is the ultimate inclusivist/universalist? He emphasizes how God is not willing for anyone to perish in his or her wrong ways, that God is like a father who longs for the return of his wayward sons and daughters, like a woman who rejoices when her precious possession that was lost is found.

Here’s the key: As appealing as the universalism of the Good News is of what use is it to tell everyone that all people are loved, are of inherent worth, if we don’t help each individual change, overcoming his wrong actions?

For in fact, at this very moment multi-millions of particular individual humans are living in minor or major hells on earth or ‘living like hell’ hurting others.

Of what use are liberal religious platitudes, no matter how wonderful they sound theoretically, if in fact we aren’t seeking to help ourselves and others to change toward the Good, the Just and the Compassionate right now?

Of what use is theology claiming truth when at present Christians and Muslims are killing each other allegedly for God? Of what use is universalism when at present multi-millions of individuals are suffering loss, being selfish, living immorally, being discriminated against, drinking to excess, abusing others or being abused, making war, living in pride, greed, lust, envy...?

The Truth, the Good News, is only universal in the here and now when it is accepted, when we turn from our wrong thoughts, deceitful choices, egocentric ways, bad actions.

The True, Good, and Compassionate is constantly real, but when we as humans refuse to respond to the Truth, the Good, and the Loving in actual living situations, those moral truths are again crucified within us, and others suffer because of our wrong choices.

This is Jesus’ point! For example, Jesus loves the rich young man, but he can’t help him when the young man refuses to give up his hoarding, his greed and personally accept the truth and change, becoming generous and sharing.

The way to Truth is narrow though the Truth of the way is as wide as infinity:-)

In the Light of Truth, Justice, Equality, and Compassion,

Dan Wilcox

Hymn for the 81% who voted for Trump

--

"In 2016, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump after (among other things) hearing an audio recording of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.

Maya Angelou famously said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

In the years since, even after enacting deliberately cruel policies to rip families apart and put children in cages at the southern border, evangelical support is as fervent as ever.

I was raised in the Evangelical world. It shaped me. I learned to take the words of Jesus seriously - love God, love your neighbor, feed the hungry, fight for justice for the oppressed. I thought that things like love, kindness, gentleness, and self-control MATTERED. I have been so confused and deeply saddened by the unflinching loyalty to a man who so clearly embodies the opposite of these values.

This song is a lament. It's a loving rebuke. It's a plea for the 81%, to come home to the way of Jesus."

Songwriter Daniel Deitrich

"Talk Is Cheap"

A Cosmic View

Don't miss this mind-expanding science documentary,
Journey to the Edge of the Universe.

Journey is a powerful documentary on the nature of the cosmos,
vividly rendered and narrated.

Despite having read a fair number of science, astronomy, and cosmology books in my brief time, including one I am still reading, The Elegant Universe by astronomer Brian Greene, I was still wowed by this excellent documentary.

The film is user-friendly, but not basic. It stretches the mind. And one feels awe and admiration, and a sense of infinity.

Thanks to National Geographic for creating the film, and for ever-rewarding Netflix making it available.

And the movie was a welcome vacation from the daily news. In the midst of so much wrong, sorrow, angst, despair, and human debacle, it was a very good time to step back and take a cosmic view through a science video.

Viewing and hearing about the limitless, intellectually beautiful structure of the universe, and it's cosmic journey creating time and space as it advances into an ever expanding reality, was exhilarating and helped me keep the current bad religious and political scene in perspective.


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

PLEASE SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Please support Human Rights.

Write for prisoners of conscience.

Give to Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International.

Vote for helping the millions of refugees suffering in the world today.

Oppose blasphemy penalties, Sharia Law, anti-freedom rules, and other oppressive Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and Hindu laws.


FROM Martin Luther King Jr.:
"...the first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this:...this is a moral universe, and...there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws.

...we have adopted in the modern world a sort of a relativistic ethic...have accepted the attitude that right and wrong are merely relative...

But I'm here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. (Yes) Eternally so, absolutely so. It's wrong to hate.

(Yes, That's right) It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong. (Amen) It's wrong in America, it's wrong in Germany, it's wrong in Russia, it's wrong in China...

It was wrong in 2000 B.C., and it's wrong [now]...It always has been wrong, (That's right) and it always will be wrong."
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_rediscovering_lost_values.1.html
From A Knock on Midnight, speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.

"I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.
I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally
incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
--Martin Luther King Jr.


In the Light of Human Rights,

Daniel Wilcox

Doss: Conscientious Objector, Medic, Medal of Honor Winner

from the TIME Review by Eliza Berman:

"Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist who refused to bear arms but enlisted as a medic in the U.S. army, is on the battlefield on Okinawa in the spring of 1945."

"Armed with nothing but a bible, he’s carrying his wounded comrades to safety, one by one, through enemy fire,
repeatedly beseeching God to “help me get one more.”

http://time.com/4539373/hacksaw-ridge-movie-true-story/


'He would spend more than five years after the war being treated for his wounds, losing a lung to tuberculosis. Because of his injuries, he was never able to work full-time, and he devoted the rest of his life to working with his church."

--

Thanks to ALL the veterans who sought to protect and save
those who were oppressed,
and especially the young men who wouldn't kill,
but who rescued
and saved as many of the suffering that they could.

The conscientious objector and medic Desmond Doss was one of these protectors.

He refused to kill, became a medic and rescued many wounded Americans, including 50-100 off a tall cliff.

And our hearts go out to the millions of young men who have been sent off
to wrong wars,
to unjust wars,
caught between bad politics
and moral questions.



In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

a short true story for when one is overwhelmed by the world's troubles

a true account for when you are overwhelmed, when events are going wrong,
from Swanee Hunt:

"Sophia...an old woman...lived in a little town in Croatia.

Every day she had one job, to go at noon to the church, to take the ropes
that were tied up on the wall, untie them, pull on the ropes,
and ring the bells in the tower.

During the war [Serbia-Kosovo-Croatian War] in village after village, when the Serb forces came in tanks, they would shoot up all the houses of the Catholics, the Croats, and then they would end up at the church.

They would go to the church and shoot up the church. At the very end they would shoot the tower.

Then they would roll out, and it would now be a Serb town.

This old woman whose church had been shot up, every day you would find her in the churchyard at noon.

There was wood splintered everywhere, but in the middle of the debris, the big bell
that had been in the bell tower
was lying on its side on the ground.

Sophia, this eighty-year-old woman,
was bent over with her old gnarled hands
grasping the clapper
and swinging her arms,
ringing
the bell.

I carry Sophia inside of me,
and I hope you will.


No matter what the circumstances
in which you are working,
in which you are living,
your job is to keep
your hands on that clapper,
ringing the bell."

by Swanee Hunt, diplomat, ambassador, founder of Hunt Alternative Fund,
for advancing innovative and inclusive approaches to social change
at local, national, and global levels, and professor at Harvard
from Global Values 101: A Short Course Edited by Kate Holbrook,
Ann S. Kim, Brian Palmer, Anna Portnoy
--

Remember the classic words:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
--
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

by John Dunne
--

And here's a little throw-away punning for those who need a laugh,
as well as a wing and a prayer:

To misquote the old Zen question--
What is the sound of one hand clappering?

In the light of hope and truth,

Daniel Wilcox

Presuppositions: The Beginning and the End

After many years of trying to reason with those thinkers who claim that ethics are "subjective," that good and bad are relative, that there are no rights, no equality,
it has become clear that one can't reason to what ought to be, to what is true, to justice, and so forth.

This is because from the get-go, those who reject moral realism and claim "it is impossible to figure out ethical truth," that all ethics are "subjective," "nothing but your personal preference," that the Enlightenment is "subjective in the same way,"
do so as presuppositions, not as a conclusion.

When they state, "there is no basis for objective morality," no basis for the abolition of slavery, that slavery is "only wrong if we say its wrong," that opposition to some actions and many behaviors is only an "opinion"--
they are stating all of those points as presuppositions,
not as a conclusion!




Furthermore, many Enlightenment leaders and abolitionists and human rights leaders have the totally contrary presuppositions, from the get-go:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..."

Even if all conscious life disappeared,
justice, truth, goodness would still exist in the same way that
mathematics would still exist even if there was no one to compute.

Steven Pinker, though, not taking a strong stance on this whole topic in his book, Better Angels of Our Nature, does show how the Enlightenment Declaration of Natural Rights has transformed our world in the last several hundred years.

"I think that the humanitarian movements that have gathered momentum since the Enlightenment will continue to make progress. The burning of heretics, gruesome executions, blood sports, slavery, debtors’ prisons, foot-binding, eunuchism, and wars between developed states won’t make a comeback any time soon."

"Most likely capital punishment, violence against women, human trafficking, the beating and bullying of children, and the persecution of homosexuals will continue to decline, albeit bumpily and unevenly, over a span of decades."
http://stevenpinker.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions-about-better-angels-our-nature-why-violence-has-declined

"...complex, instinctive and worldwide moral intuitions — led Hauser and John Mikhail (a legal scholar) to revive an analogy from the philosopher John Rawls between the moral sense and language."

"According to Noam Chomsky, we are born with a “universal grammar” that forces us to analyze speech in terms of its grammatical structure, with no conscious awareness of the rules in play."

"By analogy, we are born with a universal moral grammar that forces us to analyze human action in terms of its moral structure, with just as little awareness."

"The idea that the moral sense is an innate part of human nature is not far-fetched. A list of human universals collected by the anthropologist Donald E. Brown includes many moral concepts and emotions, including a distinction between
right and wrong; empathy; fairness; admiration of generosity; rights and obligations; proscription of murder, rape and other forms of violence; redress of wrongs; sanctions for wrongs against the community; shame; and taboos."

"The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress."

"And according to the psychologists Elliot Turiel and Judith Smetana, preschoolers have an inkling of the difference between societal conventions and moral principles. Four-year-olds say that it is not O.K. to wear pajamas to school (a convention) and also not O.K. to hit a little girl for no reason (a moral principle)."

"But when asked whether these actions would be O.K. if the teacher allowed them, most of the children said that wearing pajamas would now be fine but that hitting a little girl would still not be."

"The only other option is that moral truths exist in some abstract Platonic realm, there for us to discover, perhaps in the same way that mathematical truths (according to most mathematicians) are there for us to discover."



"On this analogy, we are born with a rudimentary concept of number, but as soon as we build on it with formal mathematical reasoning, the nature of mathematical reality forces us to discover some truths and not others."

"(No one who understands the concept of two, the concept of four and the concept of addition can come to any conclusion but that 2 + 2 = 4.)"

"Perhaps we are born with a rudimentary moral sense, and as soon as we build on it with moral reasoning, the nature of moral reality forces us to some conclusions but not others."

"Moral realism, as this idea is called, is too rich for many philosophers’ blood. Yet a diluted version of the idea...is not crazy."

"Two features of reality point any rational, self-preserving social agent in a moral direction. And they could provide a benchmark for determining when the judgments of our moral sense are aligned with morality itself."
"The Moral Instinct" by Steven Pinker
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?_r=2&oref=login&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

"Though I have always had a vague sense that a scientific understanding of human nature was compatible with a robust secular morality, it was only through the intellectual influence of my wife, the philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, that I understood the logic connecting them."

"She explained to me how morality can be grounded in rationality, and how secular humanism is just a modern term for the world view that grew out of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment..."

"...it’s this set of ideas, which I call Enlightenment humanism (pp. 180–183), which has driven it, and it offers the closest thing we have to a unified theory of the decline of violence (pp. 694–696).
http://stevenpinker.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions-about-better-angels-our-nature-why-violence-has-declined
--

But, relavitists immediately reject Pinker's evidence in Better Angels, pointing out that some minority figures of the Enlightenment, such as Jeremy Benthan, rejected the "Declaration of Human Rights."

Benthan called such rights "nonsense on stilts."

In a short essay, Benthan attacked the philosophy of the "Declaration of Independence."

His view was utilitarianism: "It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."

Tragically, this view has been used to justify the bombing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, the use of torture, capital punishment, first-strike war, slavery, and many other forms of injustice.

"We must rid ourselves once and for all of the Quaker...babble about the sanctity of human life."
Leon Trotsky

And I suppose Benthan's utilitarianism could be used for almost any action, if the greatest number of humans would be happier and only a lesser number of losers.

In contrast, the presupposition of innate rights,
holds the view that even if the entire human population
of the globe would be happier by the death of one child

or the torture of one human, such immoral actions wouldn't be justified,
but on the contrary would be inherently unjust, indeed, evil.




Secondly, Benthan wrote in The Principles of Morals and Legislation:

"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do."

"On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do..."

But "Nature" hasn't placed humankind..." That is personification.

According to nearly all biologists, evolution has no purpose, no direction, no meaning. It is an unthinking process that can't "place mankind under the governeance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure."

Again, we see that what rules is one's presuppositions.



And I point out the danger when they say, "If a group of people come together and find that they all agree to a common set of moral beliefs, that's a good foundation for building a society" and "The problem is that there's no evidence for objective morality.”

On the contrary, the whole basis of human rights is that equality, justice, etc. aren't based in what any society decides, but on what is true for everyone, universally.

Rights and ethics are, as many Enlightenment leaders stated, "unalienable."

For instance, over 80% of Egyptian parents have agreed that female mutilation of little girls is good and right, but that doesn't make it so.

For hundreds of years Christian and Islamic societies legalized slavery. Mauritania didn't outlaw slavery until 1981. But all of them were founding their actions on views contrary to human rights. Heck, we just sent a letter to Mauritania because it has arrested anti-slavery protesters (allegedly, slavery still is going on there).

That's not a good foundation for any society!

If every human in every society declared, that slavery, rape, mutilation of little girls, inequality, mass slaughter, etc. were right, that wouldn't make it so.

I do admit, however, that equality, justice, rights, and so forth are my presuppositions.

We humans can't get "oughts" from what "is."

Ought by definition is transcendent.

And that is a presupposition.

The Beginning and the End.


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

How to Fall Into Blessing

On the mountainous Big Sur coastline 3 months ago, I ran up a steep blacktopped incline from the State campground.

In a huge hurry, I rushed to cross over California Highway 1, between speeding vehicles, to our parked Toyota Sienna on the other side.

Preoccupied, I didn't spot loose gravel, failed to remember the number one rule of hiking, keep an eye on the ground.

Suddenly, my feet flew out from under me, my knees bashed into the hardened blacktop, then the camera (around my neck) and my chest hit.

Lastly my rigid arms and hands smashed into the highway and my neck was jerked forward wrenching it, giving me a headache.

But instinctive action and my camera had stopped me from getting a concussion.

Today, I still have wide scars on my knees and vivid bruising. My knees look like Rudolph's nose.

But thankfully the pain and ache are gone.

And the broken Cannon camera.

Yes, a dangerous, though not serious, accident
because of haste (makes waste!) and lack of attention.

A bad fall.

So?

What's intriguing is this morning we were listening to a speaker talk of their efforts to help malnourished children in Nicaragua, and how they were going to conduct a silent auction of donated items.

Suddenly, I remembered my expensive telephoto lens back in my van.

What a blessing that would be for someone who could use it. Then the funds would go to the orphans in Nicaragua.

What a way to turn my bad accident, a negative experience into a blessing for those impoverished children.


I hurried out to my van and got the large lens and caps.
(Oops, hurrying again).

A blessed morning; not only did I hear great encouraging talks
and rousing folk music about how to turn negatives into positives,
I learned specifically how to turn a fall into a rise.

Yes, How to fall into blessing.

Of course, this was a minor accident, and my giving a lens an easy action.

But it's a new start for me.

Don't waste your accidents, disappointments, and heartaches.

Look and reflect what you might do to turn your negatives around
for even a little good for others.

In more severe, more tragic events,
it would be much harder to
fall into blessing.

Yet even in the worst of tragedies, there are victims who have turned
their horrific experiences into blessings for others.

Even in great loss,

Even in concentration camps,

Even when stricken with cancer.

How about us?

Especially when dealing with daily irritations, minor problems--
the things that are so easy to complain about and to worry over.

Are we going to focus on regret, worry,
and loss or turn
bad events into blessings for others?



In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

SAVE THE CHILDREN!

SAVE THE CHILDREN!

"...we must begin again by trying to imagine our enemies' children who, like our children, are in mortal danger because of enmity that they did not cause.

It is useless to try to adjudicate a long-standing animosity by asking who started it or who is the most wrong. The only sufficient answer is to give up the animosity and try forgiveness, to try to love our enemies and to talk to them and (if we pray) to pray for them."
Wendell Berry