[Mr. Blonde]

I started watching that night was but was hopped up on coffee and desperately trying to stay awake at the same time. I will say that, while I know you have studied David Pearce much more than me, even in the first couple minutes I have noticed some fundamental misunderstandings of how he perceieves Buddhism and the buddhist ideals.

I'll elaborate more on this later, but the reasons most buddhists want to eliminate desire, in my opinion, is that those who seriously and independently take up the pursuit of discovering the meaning behind suffering, disease, and death, USUALLY are spurred by some sort of catastrophic loss in their lives that they cannot go on living with without having some sort of support --- some reason to not kill themselves.

This sounds gritty but I believe it to be the main basis for religions everywhere -- whether it's just believing in a positive story of the afterlife, or a much deeper seeking for esoteric, hidden truths of the world for a greater understanding, people who desire do not desire still DO THINGS --- I would say Indian Yogis are more what he is describing, as I mentioned elsewhere, wish their consciousness to be identified with something beyond human consciousness so they can no longer feel "imprisoned by flesh". For those who have suffered greatly, this may be the best choice. Anything is better than suicide.

But buddists have a LONG history of social justice and community activism -- the entire goal of buddhism is global, progressive, self-transformation into fully conscious, ethical, loving and compassionate beings. I believe this is the natural state of the human animal, it's just buried under tens of thousands of years of Ape Games that cause anger, jealousy, war, greed, etc.

I'll explain more later, but it truly disappoints me he seems to paint this "non-desire" in such a negative light. It's not that buddhists don't desire --- in fact they accept that they will be desiring for the rest of their lives. It is the human condition to desire (many monks and teachers in books talk of this). It is more the acceptance that you will always desire, as a human being (ape-descendent), because that's just part of you are. And there's nothing you can really do about it, except deny yourself (in a loving way) when you find yourself desiring.

It's honestly much more about personally evaluating (through extended meditation) how many our our own personal desires are conditioned and unnecessary, and over time, one naturally sees these and corrects them, leaving much more room open for desires to be "reformatted" to constructive, often social pursuits.

It's more about desiring not pleasure and avoiding pain, as we have been conditioned as children, but radically accepting (preferably with a friendly overtone) EVERYTHING that is happening right now, ,whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, because by the time a person gets upset about it it, it has already happened. To fight against this, despite most of us doing it our entire lives, is absolutely retarded.

Why get angry at the person who cut you off in traffic? It's only going to make you angry and hurt you and result in impotence. These things happen in worlds with traffic.

Cut your finger making food? It's already happened. Don't be dramatic about it, you will heal and be fine, plus these things happen all the time. Accept it, patch it up, and move on.


If ANYTHING, buddhism is about action, particularly social action, because the meditation training involved in buddhism makes one acutely aware of both how little time we have to waste (constantly being present = constantly staying busy ---- what else is there to do?), as well as the suffering around us at all times. The bodhisattva ideal is one that inspires me greatly, if not for the "enlightenment" of others, whatever that means, then for the decreasing of suffering of others.

Getting out of our own heads opens our eyes to a world of suffering that needs our help. I don't have a lot of personal goals for my life --- but if I have one that's keeping me from "ENDING IT ALL IN A BLAZE OF GLORY", it is that there is still much, much suffering to be alleviated.

aka Buddhists don't get "blissed out" and become desireless zombies. They just stop desiring for personal gain and desire to help others instead.


But then again, these are all my personal interpretations of Buddhism. Ultimately, buddhism is just sitting down on a zafu pillow or some others pillows, counting your breaths, and when you get distracted, come back to the breaths. Thats it. That is the core of the Buddha's teaching. Everything else comes from your own analysis of your brain.

I'll expound further later.


EDIT: I didn't finish the video yet so allow me some time to watch thoroughly and self- correct any assumptions I may have made.