Surf the Bail-Out Blues Away

Cult

Wow. The bail-out bill went down in flames. Are we headed for a New Great Depression? Too much for me to process right now. So let's go surfing....
Jim Kunstler always has something interesting to say about the state of U.S. culture and finance:

What we're seeing in this fiasco, among other things, is a lesson in the diminishing returns of technology. This is a train wreck of investment vehicles so complex that they could only be created with the aid of computers. The result is that hardly anyone -- perhaps even nobody in or out of Wall Street -- really understands what they represent. In fact, this alphabet soup of engineered securities -- CDOs, CDSs, MBSs, SIVs, etc -- was cooked up from a recipe of Ponzi algorithms. They were designed to be mathematically indecipherable, except by computers, in an alternative universe of model-making that bore only a superficial relation to the real world. That was their dirty secret. And the dirty secret of the Great Bail-out is that, in the real world, we will never be able to discover the actual trading value of these things at any number above zero. This is why they are called "toxic."

Diary of a Bad Buddhist features a great piece on breakups, which includes a feminist takedown of the tv show Mad Men:

Well, but what does this have to do with breakups or bad Buddhism? Just this: a breakup is a kind of bomb that you lob not only into someone's life, but also into a crowd.

Another of my favorite online destinations of late is Hulu. You can watch full-length feature movies with very limited commercial breaks. I suggest Close Encounters of the Third Kind (an exploration of the power of faith) or Jerry Maguire (about being true to yourself) or even the fantastic Gregory Peck version of Moby Dick, which is a study of obsession and cult-like pursuit of a mythic goal.

What are some of your recent favorite links?

4 comments

deardenver

Oct 2, 2008 at 1:52 AM

I, too, have watched a lot of Hulu. I've been reading Hardcore Zenhttp://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/and Shambhala Sunhttp://www.shambhalasun.com/lately.

brooke

Oct 2, 2008 at 2:38 AM

Shambhala Sun offers several great articles about relationships. One by Thich Nhat Hanh:

To commit to another person is to embark on a very adventurous journey. You must be very wise and very patient to keep your love alive so it will last for a long time. The first year of a committed relationship can already reveal how difficult it is. When you first commit to someone, you have a beautiful image of them, and you marry that image rather than the person. When you live with each other twenty-four hours a day, you begin to discover the reality of the other person, which doesn't quite correspond with the image you have of him or of her. Sometimes we're disappointed.

Also, this:

Until we're able to embrace ourselves with love and care, our capacity to offer true love to others remains very limited. One day the Buddha gave a teaching about the Earth's capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. He said we should learn to be like the Earth, because no matter what people pour on the Earth, whether milk, perfume, flowers, jewels, urine, excrement, or mucus, the Earth receives them all without discrimination. This is because the Earth is immense, so it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. If you cultivate your heart so that it is open, you become immense like the earth and can embrace anyone or anything without suffering.If you put a handful of salt in a bowl of water and stir it, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you put that salt in a river, it's not affected because the river is so great. If your heart is large like the river, you won't suffer because of small problems. Our practice is to cultivate the four aspects of true love-loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity-that have the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform everything.

brooke

Oct 2, 2008 at 2:48 AM

I forgot to mention this link...four Buddhist teachers offer different takes on relationships. My favorite is the last one by, Polly Young-Eisendrath:

If you're willing to break your heart, you're willing to take the training of love. It is a training of the highest level, requiring an enormous amount of development, because it's not something immediately present at birth. The potential for love is present, but the requirements are actually quite demanding.

But each essay has a valuable point. The link again: here.

Armchair

Oct 7, 2008 at 11:49 AM

Brooke,Thank you for the Shambala link. I am still reading it. Some thoughts came to mind. The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche says there:

That's the basic principle in a relationship-we share. We share our wisdom, our knowledge, we allow ourselves to be a mirror, but it's up to the individual to make the choice. We must respect that. We must know that the other acts out of habit pattern, just as we do. Just as we cannot be forcibly changed from the outside, so too with them...If we try to overlap these two rings [people in relationship] totally, we lose balance. There is a common bond, but there are also two individual mind streams. We must respect that and allow the other independence. The common space respects the individual space. We cannot overpower the other or make them just like us. The other not only has needs but also individual, habitual karmic habits that you cannot change. They need to initiate change themselves; you cannot forcibly change them. Buddhism teaches us that you cannot change someone's karma; not even Buddha can do that. He said, "I can only show you the path; to do it is totally up to you."

I think about this quite a lot, as in my local/national org there is the question/statement by some people, not others, of "You cannot change another person's karma." Also, I question this as I wonder why I change and what to do about people who are causing others, and sometimes me, suffering. And, why are we chanting for people if we don't think we will have some effect on bucking up their Buddha nature, helping to clarify their relationship to their problems ("When the sky is clear, the ground is visible." ...ND) and strengthen their determination to address their/our hardships?There is the "bucket of water" idea. If I change my drop of water, the whole bucket will get that much cleaner. This is one of the things that confused me about the Rinpoche's essay. He says at first we are all connected, then he says you cannot make your partner change as you would want them to. True, of course. But then, the inter-connectedness piece. And the "my life and the environment are one, not two "esho funi" concept from the stream of Buddhism that most of us practice.I look at why I have changed in my life: 1.) I had to. I was bouncing checks in my teens. I had to learn to balance my checkbook. I hated it. I learned to do it anyway. Also, to take baths and become civilized. ND's Buddhism helped immensely, with what?2.) Inspiration: I want to become like him/her. What do I have to do? Change my karma (see "esho funi").3.) Love, not quite the same: "I don't kiss smokers" my potential partner told me. I was serious about her, really serious. One week later this smoker fiend was completely and permanently smoke-free.4.) General unhappiness. This goes with the Rinpoche's mention of mindfulness, mentioned later. This has to do with a "seeking mind". Where does THAT come from? Wish I knew? I try to cultivate it.5.) Desire to be a bodhisattva/become (eventually) a Buddha. Abstract? Kinda? Nichiren sez so and he did it. Do I believe him and his methods? You betcha.6.) Also the abstract notion that if I get cleaner, my prayers will become more effective, more altruistic, and I can help my Buddha's Land and my planet faster and more effectively.Now, can we change the people with whom we are associated that are suffering and even cause pain? How did Shakyamuni do it, Lord Jesu, Nichiren, FDR? Are they really separated from us or is that an illusion? Do I want people to do what I want them to do or do I want them to find their own Way and "Do no harm"?The Rinpoche continued with a lovely piece:

Practicing mindfulness and awareness can help us see in the mirror more clearly. Mindfulness can tame the mental wildness that causes us to go so off balance. Mindfulness puts that wild mind in a corral. Once the wild horse of our mind is a little settled, we can train it by tying it to the post of awareness. Then we can train the horse to do all sorts of things, including to exert itself on the path of relationship and take joy and delight in loving.

I have one further question, should any of you think to address it: I do fervently believe in this model/mindset of universal love, but if some are dedicated to causing one suffering, say, like the Nazis did, what happens then? Does this mindset then just not reinforce their insanity?Best regards,Armchair (Kathy)

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Surf the Bail-Out Blues Away

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