Year: 2010

Realism as an argument against war

Let’s be real about Realism.

Usually when I talk with supporters of America’s current wars in the Middle East, those who discover that I am vehemently opposed to an American presence in the region find me to be naïve.  In their minds, I just do not understand realism or how power politics actually functions.  My anti-war sentiments are the idealistic notions of an inexperienced youth who thinks that everyone should just get along.

The great irony here is that when followed to its logical end, the realist school of internationalist relations which so

The 'fog' of war.

many use to justify the American presence all over the world is in fact one of the greatest arguments against our current foreign policy.  I do not argue against America’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan because I think that we would all just get along if these wars ceased to happen.  I argue against these wars because I come from a perspective that sees the people we are fighting as human beings with the same base motivations as myself, and when these people see their livelihood threatened, they take the best course of action that they can find, which unfortunately often involves siding with whatever group holds the most regional power.

The great mistake in logic made by many advocates of an interventionist foreign policy is to merely think of the world in terms of the international stage.  Such people look at the world in terms of what Iran, Al Qaeda, Russia, China, OPEC, or other entities have done or might do, rather than considering actions based on their effects on individuals, and what these individuals are likely to do in response.

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10 Questions Dalai Lama video extract 2

The film was mentioned in a Post here.

Parts 1 and 2 were included in a Post yesterday.

Enjoy!

The World Food Shortage

“Would you please give your honest opinion about financially-sensible solutions to the food shortages in your country and the rest of the world?”

The headline above was the only question asked in a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN last month.

The survey was a huge failure because of the following:

  • In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.
  • In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.
  • In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.
  • In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.
  • In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.
  • In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.
  • In the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.
  • In Britain they hung up as soon as they heard the Indian accent.
  • In Brussels (and in most other European capitals, come to that) they had no idea what “financially-sensible” was.
  • North Korea reported merely that by definition there could be no food shortage in their Communist paradise and that supplies of caviar, truffles and champagne were plentiful. They added that in any case “the rest of the world” could shove their food ….. (They called back later to ask that food aid conveys should nevertheless be continued ….)
  • The Cubans refused to answer, alleging it was “a capitalist plot”, and anyway under Castroan Communism there never had been, wasn’t and never could be any shortage of food – everything else, perhaps, but not food, as the people could always eat fish or grubs ……
  • The Scots replied that as long as they could get their Mars-bars dipped in batter there’d never be a food shortage.

PS For a serious comment on the world food situation check this out …. two pieces in the UK Guardian Newspaper here and here.

Sometimes I am deeply ashamed to be part of the so-called “developed” world. Is it beyond the wit of governments to put a stop to this?

By Chris Snuggs

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

If you only had one hour what would you ask?

10 Questions for HH

This is how an excellent film by Rick Ray on the Dalai Lama is introduced.  We watched the DVD a few evenings ago and it was heart-stirring and full of the extraordinary wisdom from one of the leading spiritual leaders alive today.

Do watch it if you can.  Here’s the official trailer from YouTube:

As so often seems to be the case these days, there is a website for the movie here.  And the Dalai Lama’s website is here.

Finally, I see that part of the film, where Rick Ray is having an audience with His Holiness, is available on YouTube.  I’ll post links to the four videos over the next two days.

By Paul Handover

Night shining clouds

Better known as Noctilucent Clouds

(Hoping this link is still available on the BBC web site)

Just watch this and be inspired!

From that BBC link:

Each summer, high in the night skies of the far northern and southern hemispheres a unique phenonmenon occurs – noctilucent clouds. Little is known about them, but now an amateur astronomer from north Wales is trying to predict when they are likely to appear.

Here, John Rowlands, one of four finalists in the BBC’s search for the Amateur Scientist of the Year So You Want To Be A Scientist? – and his mentor, Professor Nick Mitchell from the University of Bath – take a closer look at these mysterious silver and blue waves at the edge of space.

John has his own Facebook page here with plenty more information.

And a quick Google images search found this:

Noctilucent clouds

And there’s still more. This delightful video on YouTube, courtesy of NASA.

Described thus:

The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission will provide the first detailed exploration of Earth’s unique and elusive noctilucent or night shining clouds that are found literally on the “edge of space.” Located near the top of the Earth’s mesosphere (the region just above the stratosphere), very little is known about how these polar mesospheric clouds form or why they vary. They are being seen at lower latitudes than ever before and have been growing brighter and more frequent, leading some scientists to suggest that this recent increase may be the direct result of human-induced climate change. The mission is led by Dr. James Russell of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Hampton University.

By Paul Handover

(with thanks to the UK Flyer List for bringing this to my attention.)

Follow up to The Four Divine States

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

A few days ago, I published an article setting out the place of the Four Divine States in our daily lives.

A regular follower of Learning from Dogs, Patrice Ayme, posted a comment on the article.  This is what Patrice wrote.

No empathy survives contact with the enemy. This is the problem with the business of goodness, and how it ties up with evil.

The problem with goodness, or lack thereof, is that it is not how hatred and war are generated. More goodness does not a peace make. All it can very well do is reinforce the tribal instinct.

Understanding may start with the heart, but it survives only through the facts. Most humans have known and experienced love. To teach them love is to teach them water: the height of emotional arrogance. The truly good, instead, will teach the facts.

This is my attempt to shed more light on my approach, for followers of truth on the same path.

With great respect to Patrice, who is clearly a great thinker, I shall avoid justifying what I wrote previously or engaging in debate as the truth is non negotiable.

Take a look at the following chart. (Note: We inadvertently published the chart without the written permission of Veritas Publishing and upon being advised, immediately removed it.  The map of consciousness may be viewed on the Veritas Publishing web site and purchased for the small sum of $6.00.)

 

 

This ‘Map’ was developed by Dr David R Hawkins to show the logarithmic levels of human consciousness.  Here is how it is described on David Hawkins’ web site:

Over 250,000 kinesiological calibrations spanning 30 years of multiple research studies conducted by The Institute for Spiritual Research, Inc., have defined a range of values corresponding to well-recognized attitudes and emotions.

Important areas to look at occur at level 200, the doorway at which integrity is possible, and 500, where information is processed differently and we move out of a factual world, controlled by the intellect. The 400s is the world of science and the intellect, the 500’s, the beginning of the world of the non linear.

Patrice’s, or anybody else’s, great level of intellect is being used to explain something on a higher level – it just can’t be done! The Buddha, Christ and Krishna were all what the world calls avatars, i.e. on levels of 1000 or greater.

The Brahma Viharas where developed by the Buddha, a divine being at level 1000 or over.

By Jon Lavin

Fear and the alternative

“Fear paralyzes; curiosity empowers. Be more interested than afraid.” — Patricia Alexander, American educational psychologist.

This dropped into my email in-box the other day so I grabbed it to set this Post off on the right theme.

There is much around that can generate fear, touched on in my Post a couple of days ago where I quoted Richard Branson.

Prof. Lovelock

For an example of fear, many will have listened to the recent interview of Professor James Lovelock on the BBC Today programme and wondered just where we are all heading.  ( The interview may be listened to here.  – it’s 7 minutes long but listen to it!)

Here’s a YouTube video of Lovelock being interviewed in 2009. (Also worthy of watching for the full 13 minutes and note the connection between Lovelock and Branson.)

So if you listened and watched these two interviews then one could argue that there is more than enough to be fearful of our future.

Now go back to the opening quotation: “Fear paralyzes; curiosity empowers. Be more interested than afraid.”

Being fearful is not the answer – even if no alternative appears to be a rational way of mentally processing something.

Here’s a piece from Wayne Dyer’s book, There’s a Spiritual Solution to every Problem.

We are subjected to many illusions in our daily life.  The greatest one is the one that keeps us trapped in giving our energy to what always has been.

The past is behind us.  Predicting the future accurately, even by eminent scientists such as James Lovelock, is very, very unreliable.  Thus all we have is today.  So do not be afraid, be curious.

By Paul Handover

The Four Divine States

A route to be free of hate and ill-will and a guarantee of happiness – read on:

The Brahma Viharas are also known as the Four Divine Emotions or The Four Divine Abodes. They are the meditative states, thoughts, and actions to be cultivated in Buddhist meditation. They are the positive emotions and states that are productive and helpful to anyone of any religion or even to the one with no religion.

The result will be a good person, free from hate and ill-will. Those who cultivate the brahma viharas are guaranteed to happiness. Those who further cultivate equanimity, may reach insightful states and wisdom of enlightenment experiences.

The Four Divine Emotions

1. Loving-kindness (Pali: Metta)
2. Compassion (Pali:Karuna)
3. Joy with others (Pali: Mudita)
4. Equanimity (Pali: Upekkha)

The Four Divine Emotions are known in Pali (Pali is a literary and liturgical language only) as the Brahma-viharas and are also known as the divine abidings or the divine abodes. They are emotional states to be strived for.  By practising and developing the divine emotions, we will have a peaceful and patient daily life practice.

Joy

Loving-kindness is a soft, affection and care for others and yourself.It is not a hard, romantic type of love and not a love that includes extreme attachment or controlling feelings.

Compassion is like an open heart that cares for everyone. It includes empathy, being able to see the other person’s position and caring for and about them.

Joy with others, sometimes is called sympathetic joy or appreciative joy. It is the ability to be happy when you see others happy. Their joy becomes your joy as you welcome less suffering and happiness of others.

Equanimity is the balanced state of mind. It is the middle way state of mind that is neither clinging nor pushing away.

The above was an excerpt from the best selling book The Complete Book of Buddha’s Lists — Explained, by David N. Snyder, Ph.D., with a Foreword by the Venerable Madewela Punnaji. The full version can be downloaded for free from here.

By Jon Lavin