Oh-Em-Jee, what to write about first... I've been gone for so long it seems as if the world has completely changed since the last time I wrote, so there's just so many things I could tackle:
1. America chose as President a black man with the middle name Hussein over a white war veteran (honestly ridiculous, at least at face value).
2. The stock market has tanked to levels not seen since 2003 (and shortly approaching levels not seen since the start of Bill Clinton's second term in office)
3. A TV show (based on my favorite fantasy series of ever-time) began airing in syndication.
4. My #1 and #2 animes currently being released decided to stop sucking!
5. An awesome new season of black guys bouncing a rubber ball around a hardwood floor started.
6. I started research with one of my professors in a project to help poor kids understand math.
7. I got fired from my job at a high-profile asset management firm.
8. And last, but certainly not least, one woman managed to set Women's Rights back 50 years.
Needless to say, I'm prickling with excitement for the future...
Anywho, I could write about any one of these, and God knows its so cold that I could spend hours doing it tonight. But, I'm feeling a little deep tonight, so at least until the Laker game starts, I'll delve into a little my dealings with the passage of time.
It's weird how one moment you can think something will never end, only to realize all too quickly that it will soon end. I remember when I first met my BFF Bailey (Bailey is a dude's name, btb) here at Cornell, and I said something to him along the lines of:
"Man, I don't think I can handle 7 more of these things."
I, of course, was referring to the seven semesters we would have left at Cornell (wtf were you thinking). Now that I look back, that comment was foolish for so many reasons. I hate to admit it, but my time here at Cornell has flown by. I look back with a bit of regret, as I realized all too late that I haven't made the most of my time here. A victim of my own inaction, I failed to heed Ferris Bueller's advice and college has just slipped by somewhat. There are so many things I wish I could change, so many things I wish I could have done (or done earlier). All these regrets really make me wish school wasn't almost over (and make me really want to go to graduate school).
I originally had about 3 paragraphs of philosophical bullshit below this, but I decided that should be spared for another time. In the end, college has made me realize one thing:
Too often, people only care about what you've done. They want to know what you've accomplished, and how you can show that accomplishment to other people. I, on the other hand, believe it is much more important to enjoy yourself while acting, as opposed to just acting for the sake of accomplishing. In this way, one takes great joy in the most pointless of actions. I believe this is the best way to lead one's life.
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Last Two Months In Review...
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7 comments:
You sound like a Buddhist, which is pretty cool until you get to the reincarnation part.
I don't get what you're saying. What I'm claiming is almost the exact opposite of Buddhism. Buddhism tells you to take no joy nor suffering from any of your actions, because they're all impermanent and thus lead to suffering. I believe that the only way to live is to enjoy everything you do. The whole point of Buddhism is to break free from impermanence by achieving Nirvana. What I'm saying pretty much guarantees you're going to be stuck in this plane of existence forever.
Zen Buddhism teaches to truly enjoy every action no matter how inane. It's not stoicism .
I think you're confusing enjoying your actions and being mindful of them. Buddhism goes beyond stoicism, claiming that being mindful of one's actions and thoughts is the highest prerogative, not just being mindful of one's emotions. I don't know how much Buddhism you've studied, but I think your view on Zen Buddhism is a little naive.
And reincarnation makes just as much sense as there being nothing after death.
"And reincarnation makes just as much sense as there being nothing after death."
http://departments.bloomu.edu/philosophy/pages/content/hales/articlepdf/afterlife.pdf
Rather than try to hash out the argument myself, I'll refer you to one argument that leads me to the negation of your assertion.
It is followed up here:
http://departments.bloomu.edu/philosophy/pages/content/hales/articlepdf/redux.pdf
I've only read the first few pages of the first document, but I already know what my counter is going to be. You're analyzing Buddhist beliefs from an atheist rationalist point of view. Imagine analyzing atheism from a Buddhist cosmological worldview. It would be just as ridiculous. The article implicitly assumes that rationalism is the best (if not the only) way to analyze the world around us, which is blatantly unsupported.
It doesn't matter if some person has some rationalist evidence for reincarnation that is easily disputed. What matters is the a priori structure of each worldview and consistencies of one's actions drawn from that view. If one is Buddhist and acts atheist, that's just as inconsistent as someone being atheist and acting Buddhist.
But, the overall consistency of Buddhists acting according to their doctrines is just as relevant as atheists acting according to atheist doctrines. In this way, they are incomparable and thus, equally unstable.
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