Woo from the Dali Lama 01/06/2014

[Katashi_itto]

There needs to be understanding that anger never helps to solve a problem. It destroys our peace of mind and blinds our ability to think clearly. Anger and attachment are emotions that distort our view of reality.
-Dalai Lama

[Javaman]

1. I like his Nike hat. nt

[Katashi_itto]

2. Me too!

[snooper2]

23. This message is sponsered by Nike

LOL

[al bupp]

3. Hardly woo, more like common sense /nt

[progressoid]

56. Yup. n/t

[Stryder]

68. Sometimes common sense is Woo, no?

That is a sincere question. I've been off DU pretty much over the Holidays. So I've
been on a crash coarse to grok "Woo." Picked it up by context but had to go offsite
for the etymology."Believed to have come from the onomatopoeia "woooooo!" as a reaction to dimmed lights or magic tricks." is what I came up with, for those still wondering.
It sounds good but I haven't applied the scientific method to it yet. So I guess that could be woo too.
As for common sense, it tells me wet air is heavier than dry air. Or for that matter the Earth is flat. Just look around.
In the broadest sense (reasonably supported) a great many things that are taken for granted could be woo. Thinks I.

[al bupp]

69. I think you make a good point about how common sense often misleads...

Perhaps I chose the wrong phrase, though I'm not sure what the right one would be. In any case, I suppose the point I meant to make was that his advise seems sound to me from the perspective of my own personal experience. I further concede that there's nothing scientific to my acceptance of this philosophy. To the degree this becomes woo, whatever the amorphous definition (and I appreciate your take) I honestly don't know.

However, I'm also not sure that all statements need to be measured by the same yardstick of scientific justification, which strikes me as ironic, now that I think about it, since I consider myself to be big proponent said justifications in most areas of assertion, especially of matters of fact. To the degree that a philosophical statement can be considered a statement of fact, and either supported or denied using the scientific method, or is otherwise largely based on hand-waving and other tricks, I have to admit that it could be (and often has been) taken for a form woo by many.

[bemildred]

4. Totally.

When you are upset, that is the first problem you need to deal with. There is nothing like being in a high-dudgeon of self-pity and anger for getting someone killed or injured, or doing something you regret the rest of your life.

[Katashi_itto]

7. As a learning Buddhist, I would agree

[bemildred]

10. Thank you.

I'm still learning too.

I've known that for a long time, but I forget, and I'm getting old now ...

[Katashi_itto]

13. :)

[BlueToTheBone]

16. We can only aspire to

a more auspicious rebirth to continue the learning until we are all bodhisattva.

[Katashi_itto]

20. :)

[pangaia]

28. We all forget.

Even H H The Dalai Lama forgets. Even he has to work on it, as he has said.

[bemildred]

32. We are not very good at it yet, has been my conclusion.

But we do have possibilities.

[pangaia]

33. Agreed.

Just knowing that is the first step.

[planetc]

34. Allow me to enthusiastically second that.

It is still a part of my personal philosophy of life: Never do physical work when angry, resentful, or enraged. That's the short route to cutting your toe off with the lawnmower. Never get angry with a machine you are attempting to fix. The person you're angry with, the designer of the machine, isn't there. Calm down and try to think like the machine, if not the designer. This works a whole lot better than hitting it with your shoe.

[bemildred]

38. Yes. And euphoria, while more fun, can get you in just as much trouble.

What you need is to shut the little monkey inside up, so you can think and look at what is in front of you.

I used to wonder what meditation was for, but eventually I realized it's to get your brain to shutup so you can see what's in front of you. And that's a good thing.

I used to work with computers, and I do a lot of handyman stuff, and there are lot of similarities in the required mental attitudes.

[Javaman]

5. How is this woo? nt

[Katashi_itto]

6. Is not the Dali Lama reincarnated? Isnt that woo?

[Javaman]

8. ?

then perhaps that should have been your point, instead of what he said.

[Katashi_itto]

12. Not at all, anti woo would rather throw the baby out with the bathwater

[Javaman]

17. you know what?

I'm not getting involved in this bizarre meme.

I have just caught on to this new weird wave of group think here on DU, this one regarding the latest craze/poutrage regarding woo/anti-woo.

This is only monday, I can't wait to see how this all shakes out by the end of the week, NOT.

I will now commence with the hiding of the threads. this one included.

don't we have more important crap to worry about than this grudge match of inanity?

apparently not.

[Katashi_itto]

19. This happens to be my 1st Woo related thread, simply because I got sick of the nonsense

Thank you for hiding this thread

[Bradical79]

53. Youre sick of the nonsense so you decide to contribute more nonsense.

That makes a lot of sense

[MineralMan]

21. What does that have to do with his common-sense advice?

Whether he believes in reincarnation or not has nothing to do with his advice about anger.

This is a strange thread, I think.

[zeemike]

54. But that would violate the basic principles of anti woo.

That if someone believes in woo then everything they say must be disregarded...because the woo infected are dangerous and must be stopped.

[Gore1FL]

60. Who said that? n/t

[zeemike]

64. Well I did.

Because I have been told that on more than one occasion.

[tkmorris]

31. Well yes, that IS woo

The message in the OP is not.

[AtheistCrusader]

41. No, he isn't.

[Katashi_itto]

47. I would agree too

[GeorgeGist]

66. No he is not.

Teh woo, it burns.

[SidDithers]

89. Is not the Dali Lama reincarnated?...

No, he's not.

Sid

[bemildred]

24. It seems subjective and not empirically verifiable?

Unfalsifiable twaddle?

[BlueToTheBone]

25. I think the Dalai Lama's statement can be verified

by personal experience. Have you never been "blinded by rage"? And it (anger/rage/hatred/attachment to one side) is usually very destructive and later reparations have to be made in order to maintain relationships.

Finding the "gap" between the action and the reaction and allowing wisdom to enter changes the equation and real issues can be addressed rather than the emotional breakdown. JMHO of course.

[bemildred]

27. That's subjective. nt

[BlueToTheBone]

48. The first law of quantum mechanics.

[bemildred]

51. Einstein's Unified Filed(sic) Equation Discovered, Ends 100-year Hunt to Explain Everything

It is the first Friday of the New Year, and given a lot of predictions in the general press that have been not just gloomy but downright apocalyptic, it seems like the perfect time to start off this year with some rather amazing and good news. Actually, let me put a caveat on that last statement since I think it is good news. So what is it?

As the headline states, a researcher for the Minneapolis, MN-based research consultancy Pixidis named Tom Whitney has in the words of his employers, “Achieved the Holy Grail quest of modern physical science: the discovery of Einstein's famed unified field equation. Sought by thousands of scientists around the world, this equation reveals the ultimate blueprint running the universe.”

Solving for the REALLY BIG PICTURE

For those of you who like me are fans of the immensely popular U.S. TV sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” the terminology of the chief brainiac and social misfit character physicist Dr. Sheldon Cooper (played by award-winning actor Jim Parsons) is by now somewhat familiar. Even if we don’t understand what “string theory” is, we know it is important. We also know it has been a key to Dr. Cooper’s quest to solve the issue which it Mr. Whitney has apparently solved. While I feel somewhat for the writers of the show, this is big.

Let’s start with the context. The unified field theory (UFT) equation was theorized to exist by Einstein, but it was just theorized and despite three decades of work by Einstein he never cracked the code. Whitney, uniting hundreds of years of multidisciplinary science in a single, fell swoop appears after roughly 12 years of effort to have figured it out. As Pixidis, explains is their revelation of this achievement, it is “Akin to finding the missing piece of a massive jigsaw puzzle worked on by tens of thousands of scientists over centuries of time to create a single, big-picture understanding of the universe. The discovery is a road map to a whole new scientific future for humanity.”


http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/2014/01/06/365405-einsteins-unified-filed-equation-discovered-ends-100-year.htm

[BlueToTheBone]

65. We are but notes in the universal song.

[Katashi_itto]

49. Lol!! The world is not just a Newtonian Machine. But if that's your belief more power to you :)

[bemildred]

63. I dispensed with the clockwork universe long ago.

Around the time I decided that Math was not going to teach me what I wanted to know either. Words.

Science, real science, dispensed with it too, long ago, because it fails the test of experiment. But fake certainty and magic solutions remain very popular and lucrative.

[BlueToTheBone]

85. There's little Newtonian about quantum mechanics

or am I missing something here? It's easy to do.
The first law of quantum physics states that the observer affects the experiment.

[AtheistCrusader]

40. I've also been 'carried through' by rage, when others would have

quit, or run into exhaustion. Hate and rage can focus you like a laser, on the correct problem, if you employ them properly.

Emotions are tools. Use them well. They all carry benefits and drawbacks.

[BlueToTheBone]

45. I understand the thought process.

[bemildred]

57. Well said. nt

[sabrina 1]

84. Someone might tell you your story is personal and anecdotal and has not been subjected to peer

review?

[Katashi_itto]

86. Very true

[In_The_Wind]

9. I like that woo.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. That's my kind of woo. He is so cool, and I love his laugh. He has the most joyful,

contagious laugh.

[Orrex]

14. Wow. That kind of transcendent wisdom could only come from

Every motivational speaker and self-help guru in the history of the world.

It's not woo; it's entirely mundane.

[Katashi_itto]

15. Gosh how kind of you to share such profundities

[Orrex]

22. Am I incorrect?

The internet abounds with "profundities" attributed to he Dalai Lama that are little more than Hallmark sentiments.

[Katashi_itto]

26. Well bully for you :)

It only Hallmark when it is meaningless sentiment.

[Orrex]

50. That's a statement of religious faith that means nothing to me.

If the sentiment only has meaning whem HHTDL says it, then ot doesn't really have any meaning at all.

[pangaia]

30. But, H H The Dalai Lama knows the way out.

[AtheistCrusader]

42. I can't tell if you meant to respond to Orrex, or the OP.

[Katashi_itto]

44. 0rrex Im the op

[AtheistCrusader]

46. I know.

[callous taoboy]

90. + 1,000

[MineralMan]

18. That's not woo. It's just good advice.

It has nothing to do with science or alternatives to the scientific method. It's advice given by many, many people, and is great advice that should be followed by everyone.

Truly not woo.

[planetc]

29. Incredibly cool guy.

I'll never forget him walking onto the stage at an event a few years ago, sitting down, shedding his sandals, sitting tailor fashion (lotus position) in the chair, and making sense for an hour or more.

[SidDithers]

35. Woo. That's not it...nt

Sid

[treestar]

36. what does he mean by attachment?

otherwise, sounds reasonable.

[Katashi_itto]

37. Attachment can mean to material things or immaterial. It can be a fulcrum point for anger

or other strong emotions, positive and negative.

[leftyladyfrommo]

55. Buddhists are big on getting rid of attachment

to everything. It's a really hard concept for Westerners to understand. We are so attached to everything.

I found that losing my attachment to my opinions was unbelievably liberating.

I love the Dalai Lama. I love to watch him speak. He is such a joyful person.

[zeemike]

58. We are trained from birth to be attached to things.

So it takes a lot of effort to break away from it.

And personally I find breaking the attachment to opinion very dificult...the attachment to material goods is easy by comparison...and it may take me another lifetime to break free.

[leftyladyfrommo]

76. I'm older so it might be easier to break free for me.

When you get older you begin to see how everything is just a big cycle that goes round and round, same things over and over again. Having opinions is just a total waste of time and energy.

When I was in my 20's I was so upset about war - mainly the Viet Nam War but all war. I marched. Now I probably hate war more but am a lot more cynical. There is always war somewhere. Always. People get killed by the thousands for no good reason at all. Just of bunch of men with way too big egos.

There is always famine. There are always starving children. Always. The wheel just goes round and round. Nothing we ever do seems to change anything for very long.

You have to detach in order to get anywhere. The burden is just too much to try and carry for your whole life.

[zeemike]

78. Well I am older too.

Perhaps older than you are...and have went through many transformations...and yet I still struggle with my oppnions...in that I can't seem to stop from expressing them.
But I have some victories in that I no longer get so upset by a world in chaos as I used to...I guess it is what we used to call a short timers attitude when I was in the military...and my short time came to an end in the military in 1967...just as Viet Nam was cranking up.

Sometimes the light is all shining on me
Other times I can hardly see
Lately it's occurred to me
What a long strange trip it has been.

[leftyladyfrommo]

81. It is an interesting trip, isn't it?

And the trip is so different for everyone.

I don't have much trouble with the opinion thing but I have trouble with other stuff that probably doesn't bother you one bit.

[Katashi_itto]

75. Agree!

I find Buddhism actually very helpful in my Kendo and day to day life.

[intaglio]

39. That is not woo that is basic critical thinking

It also misses one point that anger and attachment are expressions of human empathy.

[Iggo]

43. That's not woo.

[arcane1]

59. Not only is it not what is generally called "woo", it's not even entirely correct.

Anger can be very helpful. Being angry about injustice, for example.

He's right that thinking can be clouded by anger, but he's wrong to say it "never helps to solve a problem." There's certainly nothing deep or mystical about his statement. Heck, change the order of the words a little bit and it would sound like it came from Yoda

[BarackTheVote]

71. "Anger is forbidden... attachment is forbidden...

but compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi's life. In fact, you might say, we are encouraged to love." --Anakin Skywalker, Episode II

[bhikkhu]

61. He fills a valuable cultural role

...in the same way as the pope and other religious leaders. That he fills a vital role is an objective truth, which I can say even as an atheist. In the same way, Obama fills a cultural role as "president", and that's how I take his occasional little prayer-things. I don't find them alienating because I recognize that they are a part of the job.

[Gore1FL]

62. Woo from the Dali Lama would be...

...is if he suggested holding red rocks in one hand while waving a chicken in the other would help you to not be angry.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

67. how is that woo? he is just uttering his philosophy

not making big scientific claims

[JVS]

70. I wonder how attaching himself to the CIA payroll helped his understanding.

[Gravitycollapse]

72. The Dalai Lama is quite possibly the most banal, pointless world figure to ever exist.

Churning out completely uncontroversial, mindless sentiments that idiots the world over lap up like milk. All this despite a questionable history of potential misconduct and religious and social beliefs that are, to put it lightly, outdated.

[Katashi_itto]

74. I can see why you might be an expert on banal, pointless things.

[leftyladyfrommo]

77. Well, Buddhism isn't for everyone.

I think it's fascinating.

The Dalai Lama has a phenomial grasp of all the schools of Buddhism.

I'm a Zen person myself but I love Tibetan Buddhism.

[Katashi_itto]

79. Same here. I have been attending one of the Buddhist temples here in New Orleans, truly great

[leftyladyfrommo]

80. It's nice to find someplace quiet in this chaos.

I can really see why some orders of nuns and monks just pull away from the world. a lot of days, after reading the news, I wish I could.

Buddhism is just so interesting.

Practicing Zen is so interesting.

[Katashi_itto]

82. There is even a zen mediation on Sunday. I do that before Kendo

Well right now just the mediation. I am recovering from hip replacement

[leftyladyfrommo]

92. I think sitting zazen a lot can cause some joint problems later in life.

I don't have trouble with hip joints but I do have trouble with my feet sometimes. When I was younger I used to sit for pretty long periods at a time. And I sat full lotus which really stretches out your feet and ankles. I don't do that much any more but I feel like I should. I have to sit half lotus now. Some people just sit in a hard backed chair and that works, too.

The trouble with Zen and even other forms of meditation is that it just takes a really long time to get results. Like a lifetime.

[Gravitycollapse]

87. SLAAAAAAAAM

[icymist]

73. Reminds me of a friend, a scientist who sent the Dali Lama schematic plans for an Atomic Mind Eraser

Says it works too.
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what were we talking about?

[Marr]

83. I assume you embrace all Catholic dogma as well.

Well... unless you disagree with this, of course:

[img][/img]

[rusty fender]

91. The Pope and the Dalai Lama are Woo spinners 24/7

Woo is their job. Eat it, regurgitate it. Jesus, Mohammed, Woo, Woo.

Humans' tendency to attach woo meaning to natural/random events is inexplicable, really, but they continue to do it.