I'll let Shaun speak for himself. My own feeling is that Buddhism is a path of liberation and that necessarily aligns it with a certain rebelliousness and anti-authoritarian outlook. That it isn't usually practiced that way is something I have trouble reconciling.
this arguing from polarized positions is a mistake. what is the teaching anyway? I feel alright calling my politics "soft-anarchism" but not my spirituality. It's meaningless to classify it on that rubric at all.
-
-
Who says it's a mistake? Are you really asking me to accept your perspective on polarization and "the teaching" as the basis from which to determine how I should conduct myself on twitter?
See, this is precisely what I mean by self-contradictory! -
It's not contradictory at all. I can present my opinion. You can evaluate it for yourself. I claim no authority. There are no consequences to you disagreeing with me. If I express myself clearly I might persuade you. Or, alternatively, I might change my mind if you persuade me.
-
Maybe it's revealing of your attitude that you implicitly perceived my presentation of my opinion as an argument from authority. I haven't claimed any authority but you interpreted my remarks as attempting to do that.
-
But if I tell you that my understanding of the dharma is that it values rejecting extremes, integrating opposites, and transcending oppositional dualisms, do you think I'm on the mark or am I missing something?
-
I think you’re on the mark, but you’re trying to rush the process. Probably out of discomfort.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I haven't found a sangha because all the ones I have found are doing an awful lot of politics and not very much spirituality.
-
Sounds like soft anarchism to me.
It could be a preference thing...? I prefer to seek out teachers who stand in their own authority, and though I disagree with all of them, I've been lucky enough to find the ones that are cool with that.
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.