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 zzripz
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Registered: 12/23/08
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Loc: Manchester, UK
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Quote:
UnenlightenedOne said:
Why does there seem to be such an obsession here with eastern philosophies?
Seek out your ancestors instead of another person's ancestors.
Your own heritage will be much more relevantto your culture/way of life than another heritage which was developed under another culture and way of life.In "translation" much meaning is lost.
One should not really intrude upon another's heritage.It is akin to stealing and many people feel that way.Often times it is also not respected properly and taken lightly.
Does anyone elsehave an opinion about this?
Yes it seems that many prominent hippies and musicians etc of the 50s and 60s looked to the East for answers, and away from the dreary West. Even I joined a Hare Krishna cult when I was 17, having dropped acid when 15, and was searching searching in post-LSD years
But in the cult I found that they were world-denying and had contempt for the physical body, hence when I joined their temple in freezing Edinburgh in January we all had to have cold showers at 3.am in the morning! And they didn't do cushions believing it was indulging the flesh. AND they were not into any mushrooms believing they were connected with graveyards and corruption
In fact in the literature psychedelics are dismissed in favour of meditation and mantras. that famous tale from 'Ram Dass' about his guru eating a mega dose of LSD and it having no effect implying that meditation is more powerful and 'you TOO can achieve it' if you get a guru
Even gurus who claimed they weren't gurus like J Krishnamurti made sure to use negative propaganda against psychedelics claiming they destroyed the brain---ect the gurus showing the same anti-psychedelic propaganda of mainstream media. This to me says that they like the Western power structure are all about social control
usually these gurus are men who have had positions in the culture and then decide to leave and go to the forest and meditate. There is no political activism. it is all about focussing on the self with the promise of all-the-time-bliss, and that somehow this action will affect a change. You hear the same thing with new agers 'you create your own reality'. IF you speak of injustice, and conspiracy, your accused of being too negative, and paranoid, and told to practice 'mindfullness'. This is all phony to me
Edited by zzripz (02/28/16 02:48 PM)
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MarkostheGnostic
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 Re: Eastern philosophies...  [Re: zzripz]
#22955172 - 02/28/16 01:35 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Most of us made parallel discoveries. I dropped out of teacher-training in Transcendental Meditation® just weeks before having to fly to Switzerland to be initiated as a teacher by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I was called up and threatened about not ever being allowed to continue once I'd quit, which was fine with me. I had been reading the New Testament and came across other new Christians who had been deceived by the TM® movement (including metaphysical sneakiness in the Sanskrit mantra which asked these lesser deities to enter one's Heart). There were those with libertine tendencies - life was a Lila Rasa - a dance and a game and we should play (particularly one chick who seemed to like me, and an older woman who tried to seduce me, but I belonged to the chaste and more ascetical side, which was unnatural for a 23 year old).
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γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Eastern philosophies... [Re: Akeldama]
#22955183 - 02/28/16 01:40 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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It's an academic question as to what extent Plato, and before him Pythagoras, may have been influenced by Brahmanical and/or Buddhist teachers. Alexander [the Great] got his ass kicked in his attempted conquest of India, and he brought back some knowledge. Take your time with The Masks of God, lest you choke. It's a big bite. I managed to read all four a couple of years ago right after I was forced into early retirement and needed to bury my head in something deep to avoid terrible anxiety.
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γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Akeldama
Registered: 07/31/14
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It is quite apparent that people have always been finding answers and worth from diving into other cultures and religious ideas.
You chose a good series to delve into then! It's a job in itself, reading them. The Masks of God are intense, but I have had a worthwhile experience with them thus far. The amount of information can feel overwhelming but reading them slowly, with notes, helps a lot.
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Eastern philosophies... [Re: Akeldama]
#22957074 - 02/28/16 10:28 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Maybe it's time to re-read The Hero With a Thousand Faces. It's been about 30 years.
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γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Akeldama
Registered: 07/31/14
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Last seen: 6 years, 6 months
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Campbell's the perfect example as to why we should investigate and have a vigorous interest in philosophies other than our own. What enthusiasm the guy had!
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Eastern philosophies... [Re: Icelander]
#22959616 - 02/29/16 07:09 PM (7 years, 30 days ago) |
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Who cares about one's heritage? It's better to follow your instincts imo. It's hard to compare Taoism and Christianity.
Unless you realize that Christianity was originally referred to as The Way and its followers, were 'Followers of the Way,' and that Tao means 'Way,' or 'The Way.' I once upset a few seminarians with this equation and the professor simply told the programmed students "Don't worry, everyone doesn't have to be a high-flier." I posited a simple fact and I get relegated to someone with a particularly exalted intelligence so that the 'ordinary' Christians and 'ministers in training' don't have to pay the fact any mind. I can't say that I was particularly well-liked either.  A Taoist interpretation of Christianity and BAM! you get something like The Gospel of Thomas, with no gory-ass flogging-impalement death, no beleaguering with sin, just stuff like : "I am the light which is on them all. I am the All, and the All has gone out from me and the All has come back to me. Cleave the wood: I am there; lift the stone and thou shalt find me there!" - Saying 77.
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γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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