Why conservatives will never find freedom... or Zen.

[Writer]

Today's quote from my Zen page-a-day calendar. I think it crystallizes the problem with conservative and fundamentalist thinking:

"Seeing misery in views and opinions, without adopting any, I found inner peace and freedom. One who is free does not hold to views or dispute opinions. For a sage there is no higher, lower, nor equal, no places in which the mind can stick. But those who grasp after views and opinions only wander about the world annoying people."

- The Sutta Nipata


;)

It's my birthday, btw.

[tk2kewl]

1. happy birthday

:toast:

[Parrcrow]

2. Happy Birthday, Writer!

:party: :toast: :party:

and welcome to DU!!

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. Happy birtday! n/t

[Just Me]

4. Happy B-Day, Writer!!!

:bounce:

[sweetheart]

5. Freedom AND action

The zen quote is wise, and esoteric. The fact is, that when they
throw you in jail, you either fight for your right to be free, or you
lose it. Even the Zen tradition suggests that when tyrants run amuck
that it is right to take sides. Of course this is without taking sides,
in the zen sense of the quote, but to take no side, is to be the silent
witness to horror and no friend of justice.

In a monastary, views and opinions are waste; in political life, they
are currency of survival. Tantric zen knows this. A similar theology
once had all the evangelical christians not voting, much as jehovah's
witnesses's don't vote. The view that God sorts out the world and
that it is unholy work to engage in such matters. It is similar in
principal, to that zen quote.

As much as you paint it to the right, your quote is very very relevant
to the spiritualist-left. There is that monastary disinvolved, in
self involved absorption, as if all of life were not interconnected.

Happy birthday! :)

[Writer]

7. But conservatives staunchly hold to their beliefs...

and consider few alternatives. At least that's how I applied the quote to my notion of conservatism.

On the other hand, I have encountered liberals who are just as unwavering in their belief system, which I found interesting as that counters the principle of liberalism which is being open to new opinions. Yet all beliefs have those who believe so staunchly, hence the rise of partisanship and political evangelism.

[ewagner]

6. Happy Birthday

:party: :toast: :party:

:bounce: :woohoo:

[bumblebee1]

8. Happy Birthday

Have a great day.

[Writer]

9. Thanks for the birthday wishes!

I'm gonna cover you with kisses! :loveya: