Political Question

This isn't a political blog, but I've got a question on which I'm looking to get some opinions to help me understand something I cannot currently comprehend.

I’ve got a serious question that I want to ask, really because I just can’t wrap my mind around the opposite viewpoint to the one I’ve come to -- something I am usually good at -- and I’m curious as to all of your thoughts to help me understand this other side.

I watched the Presidential debate last night (October 15, 2008). Let me preface my question with the fact that I will not be voting for either party candidate, but rather for the Green Party, whose platform is one that I agree with wholeheartedly. Here’s my question:

How can anybody actually think that voting for McCain is a good idea?

After watching Obama and McCain go at it last night, I just cannot fathom anybody coming to a conscious decision to vote for McCain. Here are my reasons. First off, watching them last night, I don’t trust McCain’s judgment under pressure -- and as President he’d be under a lot of pressure! He just seems angry and snippy, two traits that make for poor decision-making. He interrupted Obama regularly during the debate, which says to me that he’s impatient and isn’t giving due consideration to others. If you watched Obama in the split-screen, he looked directly at McCain as he answered, actually paying attention. McCain generally stared off into space, making mocking faces and fidgeting because he was so impatient to retort. And while both candidates distort the other’s platform -- that's a common tactic -- McCain seemed to take it to an unreal level, particularly with Obama’s tax plan which McCain just doesn’t seem to be able to get right.

Getting off the candidates’ personalities and mindsets, let’s look at issues.

McCain's focus on deregulation is disturbing. I’ve been a regulator for the last 6 years (not a Federal regulator, but my job is to regulate financial markets), and deregulation simply doesn’t work. The whole culture of the financial world is money-based, and the markets just do NOT regulate themselves. Strong regulation is required; I’ve seen first-hand what happens when there is insufficient regulation.

In terms of energy policy, McCain is just wrong. I am personally opposed to any additional offshore drilling. However, as a national policy, I can understand performing due diligence in studying the potential for future energy to be gained by such drilling, and if that is necessary because other means of energy production will be insufficient, then we’ll have to pursue it, in tandem with reigning in our consumption. However, McCain keeps saying that we need to drill offshore NOW, and that such is necessary to bring down gas prices today. Well, additional offshore drilling simply will not have any effect for approximately 10 years. So again, I think it’s something that needs to be explored, but McCain seems to really think it’s a solution, and I think it is patently obvious that it is not. Palin’s response in the VP debate when Biden said that McCain’s focus is, “Drill, drill, drill,” that “The chant is actually, ‘Drill, baby, drill!’” shows their misplaced focus. I think both candidates are right, though, that we need to pursue further nuclear options to wean us off oil.

One further thing I don’t understand is that McCain was very hypocritical in his statements on electing judges. He said at one point (in another segment of the debate) that he’s a Federalist -- someone who favors greater regional autonomy for the States, rather than a strong centralized government (a very Republican view). But then in the section on judges, he said he wanted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which is the first step toward a federal law outlawing all abortions (possibly with danger-to-the-mother exceptions), which is the goal he has favored in the past. So how is that possibly a Federalist viewpoint? Though I do give McCain credit for voting NO on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage, which is consistent with a Federalist viewpoint (leave that up to the individual states to tackle).

After the debate, channel 5 interviewed Mitt Romney, who said that he felt McCain did a great job and had Obama speechless at times. I could only sit there dumbfounded, wondering if he and I watched the same debate. I saw Obama easily handling himself under McCain’s assault, and I saw McCain appearing frustrated and impatient trying to counter Obama. I saw Obama answering the questions much more directly than McCain, though he too definitely skirted some issues like we see with every candidate. I saw Obama acting like a leader, someone I might actually trust being the face of our country, someone with the mental facility to consider the complexity of all the issues when advised by his advisors; whereas McCain was tense and impatient and disagreeable, and he appeared to struggle when forced to consider the mutual impact of complex topics like the economy and energy and military policies -- definitely not somebody I would ever follow as a leader.

So I’m curious -- for those of you who plan on voting for McCain, how do you come to that decision?

June 4, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we much criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life."
-Dalai Lama

Begin 2-minute meditation now

May 27, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend -- or a meaningful day."
- Dalai Lama

Begin 2-minute meditation now

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May 9, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

People should remain in society and carry out their usual profession. While contributing to society, they should internally carry on analysis and practice. In daily life, one should go to the office, work, and return home. It would be worthwhile to sacrifice some late evening entertainment, go to sleep early, and get up early the next morning to perform analytical meditation."
-- Dalai Lama

Begin 2-minute meditation now

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March 26, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

If in this present moment you aren't able to meet the Buddha in person, then for countless lives to come you will have to be reborn in the three realms of samsara, always searching for something to grasp hold of that will make you feel comfortable, continually being born in the womb of an ox or ass.
--The Record of Master Linji

Begin 2-minute meditation now

March 25, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

"Before, when I was a householder, maintaining the bliss of kingship, I had guards posted within and without the royal apartments, within and without the city, within and without the countryside. But even though I was thus guarded, thus protected, I dwelled in fear — agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, on going alone to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, I dwell without fear, unagitated, confident, and unafraid — unconcerned, unruffled, my wants satisfied, with my mind like a wild deer. This is the meaning I have in mind that I repeatedly exclaim, 'What bliss! What bliss!'"

His deer is obviously not the deer in the headlights. It's a deer safe in the wilderness, at its ease wherever it goes. What makes it more than a deer is that, free from attachment, it's called a "consciousness without surface." Light goes right through it. The hunter can't shoot it, for it can't be seen.

-- From Freedom from Fear by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Begin 2-minute meditation now

March 20, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

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Contemplation

In response to Huike, a future Zen Patriarch, looking around everywhere for the truth, Master Linju asked him, "How come you keep looking for a head when you have a head already?"
-- Master Linji, The Record of Master Linji, #21

Begin 2-minute meditation now

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March 19, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"

---

Contemplation

Master Linji: If you still love the holy and hate the profane, then you will continue to drift and sink in the ocean of birth and death.

Begin 2-minute meditation now

New to Buddhism?

[Photo by Lokiv7]

If you are interested in learning about Buddhism, how do you begin? Most people begin by reading, and there's nothing wrong with this, especially if you know nothing about Buddhism. There is great benefit to learning the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold path, the Way of the Bodhisattva. One problem commonly arises with this method, however. Buddhism is not a noun; it's a verb.

I learning the following training from my teacher, Samu Sunim: Meditation is concentration; concentration is oneness; oneness is no self, no other; no self, no other is no birth, no death; no birth, no death is True Suchness. Our logical minds can only make sense of the first two of these trainings. But the last three transcend logic. The only way to understand these trainings is through practice. To be frank, the only way to truly grasp the first two is via practice as well -- while logic can give you a superficial understanding, Realization comes only from practice.

Treating the Buddhist teachings as philosophy, as a description of the way the world works, is a trap that many people fall into, and understandably so -- it's fun to philosophize and debate. But actual Buddhism is not like this. The Four Noble Truths are not to be taken as a description of the world. They are guides to practice. The Buddha once said that we should never accept a teaching based on the trust we hold in our teacher, or tradition, or mere logic. Rather, we should examine the teaching, practice it, and discover its truth for ourselves. Only then should we accept that teaching. Such is the only way to gain insight and wisdom. Remember: Buddhism is a verb!

So if you're new to Buddhism, what do you do? My recommendation is to go ahead and read a book or two -- you know you will anyway even if I were to tell you not to! :) And while you're reading, research the Buddhist temples in your area. Pay several of them a visit. There are many different types of Buddhism, with different emphases, and only by exploring different traditions can you find the one that best fits you as you are right now. Once you find a temple you like, begin to practice according to that tradition. Attend their services. Take their meditation classes. Go to their functions. Let this practice show you directly the value Buddhism holds for you.

Begin a daily meditation practice. Contemplate Buddhist ideas while on the train or bus. Train your mindfulness while you eat, cook, clean, shower, and garden. And see for yourself the truth of the trainings. Read more, if you like.

I suggest that of the time you spend on Buddhism, devote 80% to practice and 20% to study. Buddhism is a verb -- always ask yourself, "How can I put what I just read into practice?" "How can I realize the truth of this teaching for myself?"

Now, go meditate.

Existence of a Personal God

[Photo by LokiV7]

What would it take for you to be convinced
of the existence of a personal God?"

A good friend of mine -- who happens to be a Christian pastor -- asked me this the other day. After giving it some deep thought, I decided to put my conclusions in writing.

While he was raising this question, my friend stated that it was easy for him to believe in a personal God because how can he not believe in someone he has personally met? This experience of "direct knowing" is the evidence to which I attribute the greatest strength -- if someone has personally experienced the effects of gravity, how can one convince him that gravity does not exist?

However, this form of evidence presents a very interesting paradox. How do we explain contradictory "direct knowledge"? In particular, I am thinking of people I have known in the past who had a direct experience of their patron god and matron goddess from their primary pantheon. I am thinking of my friend's experience of directly knowing a single personal God. I am thinking of my own direct experience of the interbeing of us all, how we are each empty of independent existence. I am thinking of Charles Darwin who, in his notebooks, noted that through his studies in the Galapagos, he directly realized that the Christian religion in which he was raised -- indeed, he had been pursuing studies to become a clergyman at the time -- was false; he knew that the existence of such a God was a delusion.

It's my feeling that this paradox itself lies at the core of our absolute nature. Our physical minds are finite. So while we can enhance our five physical senses and our sixth intuitive sense, our human minds simply cannot grasp the totality of all that is. Hence, we're all experiencing some aspect of absolute truth. But it is egotistical and delusional to believe that you can encompass the entirety of the absolute; it is similarly egotistical and delusional to believe that your "direct experience" is completely true and all other contradictory "direct experiences" are false. You cannot be inside another person's mind; hence, it is simply impossible to directly compare your internal experience to another's.

Returning to the original question of what would convince me of the existence of a personal God, my answer is: Nothing. My personal religious experiences of emptiness and interbeing lie in opposition to the existence of a personal God as defined by the Christian faiths. Furthermore, were I to have an experience such as my friend's of a personal god, that would simply be an experience of another aspect of truth, one that I feel lies on a lower organizational level than emptiness and interbeing.

Many people see our world and cannot fathom how such a place could have arisen without the influence of a Guiding Hand. I side with Richard Dawkins and Charles Darwin when they share their utter awe at how nature has evolved through natural selection through the eons. A personal God is not necessary for this process to occur as we've observed, so I see no need to superimpose one over life's systems.

Many people think about the beginning of the universe and cannot fathom how it could have begun without God. The problem here is one of perspective. Our experience of time is linear -- beginning, middle, end -- and we naturally think that such a linear system must apply to the universe too. But given the span of billions of years lying between us and the big bang -- not to mention the nature of singularities in general -- we cannot know for certain what preceded the generation of our universe. One could propose the idea of a God. One could also say that there never was a beginning; generation and destruction may be cycling continuously without beginning or end.

I can hear the arguments already: "But that doesn't make any sense! How could time possibly cycle continuously without a beginning or end? Everything has a beginning. Infinite time is illogical!"

My answer to that is to ask a few counter-questions: how logical is it that time has "shape"? How logical is it that time is inextricably woven into space to form a continuum? How logical is it that an electron can never possibly be said to be at any particular location around a nucleus, but can only be said to be probabilistically located at any one point at any one time around a nucleus? How logical is it that time actually slows down as one's speed approaches that of light? My point is that many of our quantum and relativistic findings defy the limited logic of our minds. I once explained the idea of Schrodinger's Cat to my dad, who simply refused to believe it because it didn't make any sense. That doesn't make the quantum laws it illustrates any less true, though.

The fact is that we cannot know the beginning of nature. We cannot know if it has a beginning at all, regardless of what seems logical. We can conjecture all we want, but such musings are ultimately fruitless and of little use. It is infinitely more important that we accept the truth we have been lucky enough to "directly know," and accept the truth that others have been lucky enough to "directly know." It is infinitely more important to engage in whatever spiritual practice applies to your "direct knowledge," and to dedicate that practice to the benefit of all others and the world around you.

Nothing can convince me that a personal God exists. In the same way, I know nothing can convince my friend that his personal God does not exist. I'd never even dream of trying.