Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Point

"All the practices -- sitting, Big Mind, and so on -- are skillful means, all for the purpose of building character, consciousness, and awareness so that our functioning is truly coming from wisdom and compassion."

"This is really the point. It's the point of Zen, it's the point of Buddhism, it's the point of all the great religious and wisdom traditions I know, and it's the point of this book. If more and more of us are not functioning with wisdom and compassion toward all beings -- and all beings means all non-living as well as all living beings, in other words, rocks, mountains, the whole earth -- if we're not seeing that everything is really oneself or an extension or manifestation of Big Mind, then we fall into fear, jealousy, greed, and hatred, all based on this illusion of separateness. Seeing ourselves as separate and apart from the great earth, from the mountains, rivers and oceans, we tend to abuse one another and the planet itself. So I think it's really critical at this point in time that we wake up and we function with wisdom, compassion and awareness."
- Big Mind, Big Heart, Finding Your Way - by Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel

This is also the point of being atheist. The reason atheist have become so outspoken recently, is because we see so many have forgotten about wisdom and compassion.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Ray Kurzweil - Our Bodies, Our Technologies

If you haven't read "The Singularity Is Near" by Ray Kurzweil, you should watch this video, which is an excellent summary of the material covered in the book.