“Being a thousand shards of desire isn’t always fun, but at least it’s not boring.”
I like that. I have a feeling Lord Gautama would have liked it too.
I alway thought the exact opposite, that Lord Gautama had a profound experience that made him relatively indifferent to the thousand shards. Specifically, a full-blown ecstatic or mystical experience is a million of times more pleasurable than any other experience the mystic has had or will have, which I always thought would make one less attached to ordinary pleasures and ordinary reinforcers. Once a religion becomes a popular movement or part of the ruling class’s justification, its leaders are tempted to modify it to broaden its appeal, which is how I always thought Buddhism acquired the habit of promising an end to suffering. One of my friends had a profound mystical experience, personally attests to the “a million of times more pleasurable”, is very scrupulous and truthful and derives no reputational benefit from having had the experience. (He says that I am practically the only one with whom he has ever discussed his experience in any detail.)
Moreover, it is my hypothesis that being indifferent to the thousand shards is a powerful enhancer of mental and moral clarity in the right conditions. One of these conditions is that the indifference be not so total or so early in onset that it extinguishes curiosity during the person’s youth, which of course is just totally pernicious in an environment as rich in true scientific information as our environment is. Another adherent of this hypothesis is academician John Stewart. Mystical experience is quite risky and dangerous; competent supervision is recommended and I would suppose is available at low or no cost to students who show high potential. Another common adverse outcome of mystical experience seem to be to make the person more confident in his beliefs, especially about the moral and political environment, and of course people tend to be too confident about their beliefs already.
“Being a thousand shards of desire isn’t always fun, but at least it’s not boring.”
I like that. I have a feeling Lord Gautama would have liked it too.
I alway thought the exact opposite, that Lord Gautama had a profound experience that made him relatively indifferent to the thousand shards. Specifically, a full-blown ecstatic or mystical experience is a million of times more pleasurable than any other experience the mystic has had or will have, which I always thought would make one less attached to ordinary pleasures and ordinary reinforcers. Once a religion becomes a popular movement or part of the ruling class’s justification, its leaders are tempted to modify it to broaden its appeal, which is how I always thought Buddhism acquired the habit of promising an end to suffering. One of my friends had a profound mystical experience, personally attests to the “a million of times more pleasurable”, is very scrupulous and truthful and derives no reputational benefit from having had the experience. (He says that I am practically the only one with whom he has ever discussed his experience in any detail.)
Moreover, it is my hypothesis that being indifferent to the thousand shards is a powerful enhancer of mental and moral clarity in the right conditions. One of these conditions is that the indifference be not so total or so early in onset that it extinguishes curiosity during the person’s youth, which of course is just totally pernicious in an environment as rich in true scientific information as our environment is. Another adherent of this hypothesis is academician John Stewart. Mystical experience is quite risky and dangerous; competent supervision is recommended and I would suppose is available at low or no cost to students who show high potential. Another common adverse outcome of mystical experience seem to be to make the person more confident in his beliefs, especially about the moral and political environment, and of course people tend to be too confident about their beliefs already.