All four of these Mistakes are grounded in our culture, our way of thinking, our way of seeing the world, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and why we’re here.
Here are THE answers. They are right here - courtesy of Thom Hartmann.
I absolutely believe these four uncomplicated ideas hold the only plausible alternative to a near certain all-out global devastation we are shepherding ourselves into.
I hope for the sake of Life that Thom's words are read, understood, and acted upon - immediately.
Thom—Nice summary of some of the nuggets of your past writings. It also brings back wonderful memories of trips to Stadtsteinach.
The first mistake that you described might be a bit more nuanced in different traditions. You are right on with the Abrahamic religions but the Eastern traditions approach the uniqueness of humans differently. For example, the blended tradition of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan means that more of the physical environment is seen as sacred and worthy of restraint of human behavior. Buddhism also has a different orientation towards the idea of life as a part of a pattern of the universe. These differences may well play into the difference seen in Japan being willing to allow its population to shrink. How this plays out in China may well be different with the mix of Buddhism (Chan), Confucianism, and the state philosophy of Communism.
Hey Dr. Gilbert, I appreciate your comment. I happen to have a big Buddhist streak running through my psyche and it drives me nuts when people refer to Buddhism as a religion. Yeah, it can be a religion for those who deify Buddha, but there are a lot of us more secular Buddhists that think of it more as a mix of psychology and philosophy. I feel the same about Christianity and I'll say that Thomas Jefferson seemed to have a very similar attitude. Some of us don't need metaphysics to practice spirituality.
All of the mistakes begin with, "...is a belief that...". A few weeks ago I was part of a zoom call with Thom and other supporters of Free Speech TV. When it was my turn to talk to Thom I laid into my rant about belief and I don't think he (Thom) appreciated it in the least. Y'all can find that rant as a blog over at my website, https://www.integrativeactivism.com/blog/ .
My perspective comes from decades trying to tease apart spirituality and religion. I also talked to Thom about that in an earlier zoom call. He was more receptive to that although I think that the deeper and more subtle point still eludes him. I'm not saying that religion itself is all bad, but that we would all be wise to understand how identity gets conflated with religion and how the world would be a better place if we were all more spiritual than religious.
People can be religious and spiritual. People and be religious and not spiritual. People can be spiritual and not religious. I find it appropriate to think of spirituality as the virtue within religion. Spirituality is the compassionate and empathetic basis of ethics and morality.
Therefore, all of those mistakes (or at least three of them) are different aspects or manifestations of one thing.
Here are THE answers. They are right here - courtesy of Thom Hartmann.
I absolutely believe these four uncomplicated ideas hold the only plausible alternative to a near certain all-out global devastation we are shepherding ourselves into.
I hope for the sake of Life that Thom's words are read, understood, and acted upon - immediately.
Thom—Nice summary of some of the nuggets of your past writings. It also brings back wonderful memories of trips to Stadtsteinach.
The first mistake that you described might be a bit more nuanced in different traditions. You are right on with the Abrahamic religions but the Eastern traditions approach the uniqueness of humans differently. For example, the blended tradition of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan means that more of the physical environment is seen as sacred and worthy of restraint of human behavior. Buddhism also has a different orientation towards the idea of life as a part of a pattern of the universe. These differences may well play into the difference seen in Japan being willing to allow its population to shrink. How this plays out in China may well be different with the mix of Buddhism (Chan), Confucianism, and the state philosophy of Communism.
Hey Dr. Gilbert, I appreciate your comment. I happen to have a big Buddhist streak running through my psyche and it drives me nuts when people refer to Buddhism as a religion. Yeah, it can be a religion for those who deify Buddha, but there are a lot of us more secular Buddhists that think of it more as a mix of psychology and philosophy. I feel the same about Christianity and I'll say that Thomas Jefferson seemed to have a very similar attitude. Some of us don't need metaphysics to practice spirituality.
All of the mistakes begin with, "...is a belief that...". A few weeks ago I was part of a zoom call with Thom and other supporters of Free Speech TV. When it was my turn to talk to Thom I laid into my rant about belief and I don't think he (Thom) appreciated it in the least. Y'all can find that rant as a blog over at my website, https://www.integrativeactivism.com/blog/ .
My perspective comes from decades trying to tease apart spirituality and religion. I also talked to Thom about that in an earlier zoom call. He was more receptive to that although I think that the deeper and more subtle point still eludes him. I'm not saying that religion itself is all bad, but that we would all be wise to understand how identity gets conflated with religion and how the world would be a better place if we were all more spiritual than religious.
People can be religious and spiritual. People and be religious and not spiritual. People can be spiritual and not religious. I find it appropriate to think of spirituality as the virtue within religion. Spirituality is the compassionate and empathetic basis of ethics and morality.
Therefore, all of those mistakes (or at least three of them) are different aspects or manifestations of one thing.