11.26.11
Horgan, and buddhism at the end of science
http://darwiniana.com/2011/11/26/horgan-on-sciencebuddhism-so-much-the-worse-for-science/
I find this article from Horgan puzzling: the author of science thesis might note that at the ‘end of science’ buddhism appears (not alone) to sow the seeds for (the end of buddhism!) something that can correct the ‘Iron Cage’ syndrome, the very one that is blinding scientists to what buddhism stands for. The clutter of possibly irrational beliefs (as in Tibetan Buddhism) is beside the point: the techniques of buddhism lead beyond the cultural trappings to the ‘path to enlightenment’. The questions of reincarnation, and soul (no soul!) beliefs, surely shows the superstitions of scientism, not those of buddhism. Horgan even faults Buddhists over theism. But how much more do you demand from an atheist religion. ‘Give me a break’ echoes in the mind.
Scientists are probably the worst possible judges of something like buddhism, and we need to be wary that these idiots don’t destroy this legacy and what it represents, to create a culture of dead science jocks.
The sad fact is that buddhism outside of India has never produced the results it should produce. We can wonder why this is so, and note that a true ‘buddhist’ like Rajneesh was murdered by the American covert agencies, while a harmless idiot like the Dalai Lama takes the field. He is not a threat to anyone, and promotes the hypnotic sleep of pseudo-buddhism that makes it all a waste of time. So one might understand the sudden disillusion here, but it is not the fault of the basics of buddhism, which are almost primordial and stretch back many millennia before the Axial Age.
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Horgan, buddhism, and the Axial period said,
November 29, 2011 at 12:59 pm
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