Re: No speeding trucksalooskis (was Re: Dramatrollery)

On Fri, 9 May 2008 17:01:43 -0700 (PDT), DharmaTroll
<dharmatroll@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>On May 9, 11:43 am, "Evelyn Ruut" <evelyn.r...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "^@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>---*=#" <yom...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>
>> news:0OSdnb6Ns-kRRL7VnZ2dnUVZ_q6mnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
>>
>> > everyone is nuts. physical reality
>> > is nothing but an enormous nuthouse.
>> > those who are able to admit they are
>> > nuts, at least to themselves, are miles
>> > ahead of the 'game'. those who can even
>> > admit it to others are leading the pack.
>> > the biggest scam anyone can play
>> > with themselves is to have themselves
>> > convinced that they are some unrealistic
>> > ideal that is called 'sane'.
>>
>> True, but also true if turned upside down.
>> We are all enlightened.  All the nuttiness is an overlay.
>>
>> --
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Evelyn

Actually....that's false.

>Actually, if I may add to this nonsense, a more interesting idea is
>that only you are deluded and everyone else is fully enlightened, but
>playing a game, a kind of role-play, to help you wake up and join
>them.
>
>I got the idea when I was in high school, watching classic Star Trek,
>the ep "Errand of Mercy". I mentioned this a while ago, so let me
>paste in what I said before, which I believe was in a conversation
>with you where I railed against the kind of Kansas-like Buddhism where
>you take reincarnation as literally taking place across bodies.  I've
>always thought it was a wonderful episode and a really cool idea:
>
>DT> Two thoughts.  First, Evelyn, one of my very favorite Star Trek
>(the original canon, not the later ones) episodes was "Errand of
>Mercy" (Stardate 3198.4).  Kirk offers protection from the invading
>Klingons to the residents of the planet Organia.  However, Organia is
>run by a bunch of peacenik pansies, and the leader, much like
>Hollywood, tells Kirk that his people have no need of defenses and are
>in no danger. This cowardly attitude seems consistent with a re****t
>from Spock that the society of Organia has been completely stagnant
>for tens of thousands of years.  In the meantime, the Klingon fleet
>arrives and Sulu is forced to warp the Enterprise out of the vicinity,
>stranding Kirk and Spock.
>
>The Organian leader pacifistically bids welcome to the Klingon Kor,
>who declares himself military governor of Organia.  Kirk and Spock
>kill two Klingon guards, then waylay and pump another Klingon for
>information.  This appalls the wimpy Organian leader, who pleads that
>Kirk not commit any more violence on the pacifistic Organian soil.  In
>a famous quote, Spock tells Kirk that their chances of surviving the
>mission and returning alive are 7824.7:1.  Kirk and Spock manage to
>take Kor prisoner just as the Federation and Klingon fleets are
>massing for and all-out kickass bloodbath in Organian system.
>
>The Organians suddenly reveal their true nature as super enlightened
>beings who only appear in human form as illusion, and they explain
>that millions of years ago, they were humanoid, but have evolved
>beyond the need for physical bodies, and that everything -- their
>bodies, the buildings, all of it were constructed to provide points of
>reference for visitors.  The Organians freeze all the weapons and
>controls on both fleets, and force them to sign a treaty if they want
>back control of their star****ps; both Kirk and Kor whine that they
>have no right to interfere.
>
>The Organian leader embarr***** Kirk by pointing out that he is
>complaining because the Organians have stopped a war that Kirk claimed
>he didn't want to fight: as Kirk demands, "We have the right--", the
>Organian cuts him off and adds, "--To wage war?  To kill millions of
>innocent people?  To destroy life on a planetary scale?  Is that what
>you're defending?"  Disgusted by the hatred and egoism exhibited by
>both the humans and the Klingons, the enlightened Organian leader
>explains, "We do not wish to seem inhospitable but, gentlemen, you
>must leave.  The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely
>painful to us."
>
>Anyway, I always thought as a kid, inspired by this ep, that it was an
>interesting fantasy that I was the only unenlightened being on the
>entire planet, and that everyone else's appearance and actions was an
>illusion created just for me.  Here the as-if would be interesting,
>for one would be very mindful, kind, and compassionate if one thought
>that everyone was an awakened being in disguise, right?  To this day,
>I still find the fantasy an intriguing spiritual exercise.
>
>So I do like the acting as-if possibilities, Evelyn.  However, I think
>it would be deluded to actually believe that everyone else was
>actually literally an Organian, or that we factually survive bodily
>death and so forth.  As long as it's acknowledged as a powerful
>metaphor, and not claimed to be a scientific fact, then that's great.
>But when someone claims that without taking such fantasies as real
>scientific facts, that their practice and religion would turn into a
>suicide cult, then I think there is something really wrong and that
>the clinging to a fantasy as a literal superstition is potentially
>pathological and harmful, even if it's something as innocuous as
>astrology or past lives.
>
>--DharmaTroll

Life and science are the powerful metaphoric fantasies. Don't confuse
them with reality.