Fear and Illusion August 10, 2006
Posted by bodhidude in : Psychology, Spirituality, blog , add a commentI’ve stopped paying much attention to the mainstream media because I’ve slowly come to realize it is nothing but a propaganda machine. Real journalism and reporting is a thing of the past in this country as evidenced by the PROVEN criminal activity of our current administration going almost unreported and uninvestigated by the media. Instead of reporting the news the media today is delivering propaganda and fear. The propaganda takes the form of disseminating the “official” stories that the government wants us to hear while adding a paltry amount of argument to give the illusion of balance. This is followed by a systematic effort to squelch any stories that are really challenging to the powers that be either by avoiding them totally or covering them and discrediting the story. There are exceptions to this as we have seen when an issue gets too big to control such as Abu Graib or the Abramoff scandal but there really are few exceptions.
Right alongside the propaganda is the other primary aim of the media which is distributing fear. Fear is the mechanism through which the current administration is able to maintain power and to maintain its criminal activity and the central theme by which they create fear is terrorism. Today we see a new “plot” supposedly foiled. We’re told that this is a reminder that we are still at “war” and we see a new set of “alerts” and “warnings”. However if one researches what underlies this war on terror we quickly see that it is an illusion weaved by people who seek to dominate through fear. When their power is threatened they dish out more fear so today’s so called terror plot is right on cue as the November elections are coming up and the dominating party realizes that it is in trouble. Well it would be if we were actually having free elections. Expect more fear and chaos to be created in the coming weeks. It’s ironic that the president’s statement today was that “we are fighting Islamic Fascists”. This is the ultimate in projecting the shadow externally as they displace what they truly are onto others. In reality Bush is the fascist yet he projects that onto the “terrorists” to create fear and deception.
The path I have taken in light of this is to disconnect myself from the mainstream media in order to stop the flow of fear and disinformation. I think we need to acknowledge what the media has become and actively get our information elsewhere and with a high degree of discrimination followed by critical analysis. If we do that then we free ourselves from the matrix-like trance that the media is helping to create and we begin to hamper its ability to maintain that. If enough of us can pull out of this delusional world that has been created to keep us ignorant we can open up real possibilities for change. I have felt much more healthy since disconnecting from the fear machine and much more able to see how I can make a positive difference for change. Lets all wake up from this nightmare together and create a more healthy world……………
Superstition and Science August 3, 2006
Posted by bodhidude in : Spirituality, blog , add a commentLately I’ve become aware that I have a foot in two different worlds. One of my passions is Tibetan Buddhism and another is science (various forms of it). In the Tibetan tradition there are many things that smack of superstition and seem to be outdated ways of looking at the world. Some of these things include; a belief in non-physical beings such as ghosts, demons, gods and nature spirits; a belief in blessings; a belief in the power of holy objects such as stupas and Buddha figures; a belief in astrology; and non-scientific spiritually based explanations for phenomena such as storms, earthquakes and floods.
From a scientific point of view such things are not seen as valid because they cannot be tested using scientific methods nor do they fit into any accepted scientific theory or paradigm. Such so called superstitions from this point of view are considered ignorant ways of explaining and looking at phenomena. They are considered obsolete because we have more precise ways of seeing the world and so these superstitious explanations are not needed any longer. I used to take this point of view myself but not so much anymore because I’ve come to realize that science has some serious limitations which need to be considered.
Science has three major limitations which you have to accept to adopt scientific explanations as valid. First science assumes that the physical world is all that exists, that phenomena should be able to be measured physically and have a basis in a physical universe in order to be considered real. The problem is that this is an assumption and science cannot prove that a material universe is all that exists, a material universe is simply all that can be measured with technology. Following this, science requires that we have the ability to measure phenomena in order to study them. This ability to measure is based on our technology and so is only as capable as our current level of technology. The fact that we do not possess the technology to measure a phenomena has nothing at all to do with whether or not it exists yet we commonly reject things that we can’t measure as unreal. A third factor is that even within the realm of science we generally have an accepted paradigm under which theories and investigations are conducted. Theories and results that do not fit this paradigm even if they are measurable and highly valid from a research point of view are commonly rejected because they fly against the established paradigm. What I’m getting at here is not that science has no use but that it has its limitations and its a human invention for trying to make sense of the universe and as such cannot possibly be the sole basis for accepting what is real and what is not.
When we look at the limitations of science we can develop more of an appreciation for the traditional and ancient ways of looking at the world. Because we have a scientific explanation for something does not invalidate other ways of looking at it. For example, we have a fairly good understanding scientifically of thunderstorms. But because we know many of the physical mechanisms underlying a thunderstorm does not mean there aren’t other levels of meaning and significance to such phenomena. The physical scientific explanation is of great use but spiritual nonphysical explanations can have just as much meaning especially with regard to our relation to these phenomena and their meanings to us personally. Another example is hurricane Katrina. We could explain this tragedy scientifically using meteorological and climate change theories which are of course valid but seeing such an event from a spiritual point of view in terms of karma and of the earth as an entity reacting to man’s exploitation of her can have great significance and validity for us as well because it can allow us to integrate such events and see ourselves as co-creators of our world rather than powerless bystanders.
I believe that science presents a piece of the puzzle of this universe in which we live, but only a piece of the puzzle not the whole puzzle. Spiritual, intuitive and contemplative methods have their role to play as well and have been used by human beings far longer than scientific methods. If we take this kind of holistic open minded approach we greatly expand our possibilities and the universe opens itself to us in all its infinite glory.