tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post2951512964443223526..comments2024-03-04T22:54:13.447+05:30Comments on Remains of the Day: Mortality, and PleasureUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-41803280539002560302012-07-05T08:50:50.592+05:302012-07-05T08:50:50.592+05:30Good to revisit these age old questions.
Humans wi...Good to revisit these age old questions.<br />Humans with too much intelligence , time, courage have always railed against basic facts of mortality and meaninglessness (at least in the personal sense).<br />I don’t think there is anything Eastern or Western in it. <br />Solutions too have been similar. <br />Deny mortality (rebirth, perpetual heaven after birth, these days the secular version – your work will live after you).<br />Deny meaninglessness (get busy in a created meaning).<br />West these days have hedonism/distraction as a viable alternative. In India where more than half don’t have enough to eat; hedonism is either insensitive or not doable.<br /><br />I don’t see why we have to applaud the person hanging on holding the twig. He has just found himself in this position, without doing anything. We can applaud only his response. Is merely living 40, 50 80 years worth applauding. I guess you could make a case for it.<br />Since this is my favorite topic I can go on and on ( I may not have the intelligence to tackle it or the courage to accept the outcome. But I do have time ). <br />I will end with an old Zen story.<br />Chela: Master what happens when we die.<br />Master: We die<br />Chela : So what should we do now.<br />Master : Live.<br /><br />Herman , since you so much like to create something. Let me write a coda to it.<br /> Chela : But living is so meaningless.<br />Master : So?<br /><br />Master could have said isn’t it wonderful? . But that will go against the Zen rule of using the fewest words to confuse/amuse/enthuse.<br /><br />Pritpal ShergillPritpalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02386798670397373156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-34098202186004398712012-07-04T11:50:56.227+05:302012-07-04T11:50:56.227+05:30@sanjay, that is a very insightful comment!@sanjay, that is a very insightful comment!Harmanjit Singhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14714797381673153973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-49093980814441034192012-07-03T10:01:49.639+05:302012-07-03T10:01:49.639+05:30If you further reflect on this story you will reac...If you further reflect on this story you will reach the inevitable conclusion that there really is no fundamental difference between those who are jeering at the man and those who are applauding his feat. Both groups have a worldview that they want to defend - one secular, the other transcendental. Is one of them more valid others? Hardly. Since your analysis of hero system seems to be influenced by Becker's thoughts I would let him speak on this:<br /><br />"Since there is no secular way to resolve the primal mystery of life<br />and death, all secular societies are lies. And since there is no<br />sure human answer to such a mystery, all religious<br />integrations are mystifications. This is the sober conclusion<br />to which we seem to be led. Each society is a hero system<br />which promises victory over evil and death...For secular<br />societies the thing is ridiculous: what can victory mean secularly?<br />And for religious societies victory is part of a blind and trusting<br />belief in another dimension of reality."Sanjay Srivastavahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12178069405979485331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-40659875055571600412012-07-02T15:47:33.464+05:302012-07-02T15:47:33.464+05:30Unlike Western thought, in the Eastern thought Tru...Unlike Western thought, in the Eastern thought Truth is not perceived as linear but spherical. So it is not as if there is death at one end and life at the other or God at one end and the Devil at the other,Good at one end and Bad at the other end of a pole or line. <br />So nothing in existence(including) the honey is good or bad in itself. It is how the honey helps the man in remaining in balance with his surroundings that make sit good or bad for the man. For example if he were diabetic then the honey would harm or help him depending on whether his sugar levels were high or low. Man is blessed with a power of dicretion or Free Will. It is how he uses that to determine whether his state of balance is maintained or not which makes something Good or Bad.<br />So it not the seeking of Pleasure that is condemned in Eastern thought - what is condemned is the the act of pursuing that "Feel good " state based purely on the senses, to such an extent that one loses the state of balance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com