Challenging myself

Latest vegan TEDx talk. Actually it came out in April 2018. I have been a vegetarian on and off in my life since I learned you don't need to eat meat in a nutrition class at the University of Wisconsin. I've been a vegan off and on since my best friend, and my life partner converted. The three main reasons for veganism, for the environment, for health and for ethical reasons are perhaps the best way for me to enact my ethical hopes.

Meanwhile in Burma there's a monk who preaches war: The Venerable W. And he's a Donald Trump fan! The NY Times has a review of the documentary. I didn't know anything about the 969 Movement.

I am really attracted to the ideals of Buddhism. The reality of a Buddhist nation can be different. Living in a Christian country, I dream of living in a Buddhist country.

I believe this is why Pema Chodron beats on the drum "start where you are." We've got to keep our eyes wide open. Where are we really. Let's be honest.

There was a recent article about William James and Josiah Royce. It said that James believed that we know so little about the world that we should be tolerant of others. I thought that was pretty cool. Royce said that loyalties mark out being. I'd like to read more about this. Ever since I read that article, I've been asking myself what am I really loyal to?

It's a bit like the refuge question. What do you take refuge in. Really, not just what I wish I was taking refuge in. When I'm exhausted working through the night, I meditate. It is so hard to meditate in exhaustion and being more mindful of exhaustion can be painful. But I emerge from meditation more mindful and integrated. It is worth it.

When I buy a hamburger on the way to work because I'm hungry and that is a cheap option, I am not being loyal to my vegan ideas. This is a deeply held belief of mine, allegedly, but the reality is that I slip from time to time. "I am not enlightened yet" is a great moral excuse, but I need to challenge myself to ask why. I must not hold the belief too closely.

I believe we will make the most hay by challenging our own lack of integrity. The land mines inside me are what I need to watch out for. The lack of tolerance inside me is what I look out for. The lack of integrity inside me, is what I need to look out for.

I don't mean we can't criticize others and play out this internal battle in the large stage.

I don't know why ethical struggling isn't the main conversation. I think people hide their struggle with living up to their ideals because if others knew their struggles, they would be giving away negative self information.

Never mind that a 10 year old has figured it out about veganism.

More on violence and buddhism

NY Times had an interesting article, with an interesting quote: "There is a philosophically problematic presupposition that also figures into widespread surprise at the very idea of violence perpetrated by Buddhists -- that there is a straightforward relationship between beliefs people hold and the likelihood that they will behave in a corresponding way."

I'm guilty of violating my core beliefs, spectacularly so, but I do think there is a "straightforward relationship between beliefs people hold and the likelihood that they will behave in a corresponding way." It's called integrity. Unless you're on Arrested Development and part of the Bluth family, there is an expectation between words and actions. Maybe not if you're the president of the USA, and his staff, but for everyone else. (I never realized how much I expect from the president of the USA until a president seems so unpresidential--I often realize my beliefs after I have violated them. I need to be more proactive.)

The writers goes on to say that we are not transparent, we are opaque, and we never really know what we're going to do or for why.

The writers are Dan Arnold and Alicia Turner, and they go on to suggest that what ever people believe, the same wide range of human failings will always be present. A sort of conservation of failings belief? In dumping the metaphysic that people might be influenced by their beliefs, they seem wise and savvy, but do they create another unbelievable metaphysic?

I feel like the second I stepped into Buddhism, it was all about exemplifying and inhabiting a belief in doing well for others, and not just saying it. That's the whole point. Now, we're all in process and we're unlikely to be enlightened so there will be a gap between our aspirations and our behavior. I'd say "hate the sin but not the sinner", but we are what we do, so the sin is the sinner. We can see people for what they hope to be. The point is to be realistic that there will be a gap, but also not make that an "alli alli in come free".

I did like it that the article pointed out that the colonizers, the British, started splitting the country's groups by saying the Buddhists were peaceful, and that the Muslim and Hindu were not. There are peaceful strains in both those religions, they could have worked to unite, but as colonizers they were more about exploiting. So the idea that Buddhists are non-violent may have a history in colonialism.

But I still think we should be able to follow belief to action. I'm not willing to give that up.

Daw Suu

Things could be worse.  Things could be better.

Today I watched The Lady, about the life of Aung San Suu Kyi.  The Burmese call her Daw Suu.  The feeling you get is that people can get caught up on the larger world movement, and that can destroy one's personal life, and the struggle for integrity against the larger world.  What a weird long distance relationship.  What a dramatic conflict between the personal and the political.  I guess that's what being a political prisoner is all about.

She should have been the president of Burma, except for the Junta.  She could have left and just been with her family and lived a quiet life, except for her conscious.

Daw Suu sacrificed her family life, for her political life, though her sons were teenagers when she started her quest for democracy.  All she wanted was democracy.  It helps me to realize, as broken as our political system is, at least there's a shred of democracy.  It could be worse.  I like how she focuses on fear in what I read about her.  There's an amazing scene where a line of men are lined up, pointing guns and she walks into them.  I think that's why I'm sickened by the shenanigans in our democracy in the USA.  It's not so dramatic as guns pointed as people.

Daw Suu's life challenges me, why am I not more political?  I still struggle to find my cause, beyond being nice to the people around me, and blogging, though I am deeply touched by the Buddhist movement in India.  I have a hard time imagining what I could contribute, perhaps I need to work harder figure that out, raise money to go there and do some research.  Daw Suu quotes her father:  "You may not think much about politics, but politics thinks about you."

I've shot guns in my life for sport.  But seeing them used in this movie make me sick.  Guns are sickening.  It's time we move past guns, grow out of it, grow up.

I'm not a huge fan of Gandi because he wasn't really against caste, but Daw Suu continues the tradition of non-violent protests, which I do like.  She's really courageous.

I read most of the wikipedia entry about her before I watched the movie.  There's nothing about hunger strikes (presented in the movie), in the wikipedia entry.

Before today, I learned mostly about her through following the links of Rev. Danny Fisher.  He's a real blogsattva, and if it's social and political awareness you want, you follow his blog.  He's the one who hipped me to this movie.

I like Luc Besson.  I like David Thewlis (Naked is one of my favorite movies).  Burma is 89% Buddhist, btw, compared to 0.7% in the USA.  Daw Suu was married to Michael Aris, a scholar.  Her husband was a twin, both Himalayan scholars.  Another interesting fact, her brother drown in an ornamental pool.

A Thanksgiving Message

To be honest I haven't really followed what is going on in Burma. But watching this video, I feel the passion for the worthy cause, as Danny Fisher updates us on the situation there. He is thankful for his liberty, which is not a given in Burma. Watch this important message.