Posted by sigismund on October 12, 2013, at 17:44:45
In reply to Re: kindness and sacrifice, posted by Dr. Bob on October 12, 2013, at 1:26:10
>What passage is that? I'm not familiar with the Gita.
I'm not either but it is mentioned by TS Eliot and Leonard Cohen.
Arjuna is a warrior, Krishna a god (I'm sure I can't do this justice) and a battle is coming. Arjuna has a vision in which he sees mountains of corpses that he has killed (from the future)and he realises that each one is his brother/mother/father/himself and he is dismayed and says so to Krishna: What should I do? And Krishna says something along the lines of 'You will never understand the chain of causation, the strands of karma that lead to the present. Stop concerning yourself with this and do your duty'. This (to me) is a complex idea that could promote the worst things. But many traditions say this in various ways......they would not be arguing for obedience to orders under all circumstances......in Taoism the argument is, at least in part, for efficient action.>Ser serpiente y morderlos?
I hadn't even thought of that, just being embarrassed to be human. Good idea though, better than being used for target practice or used as food for dogs. The Buddhists say it is a great honour to be human which, I feel compelled to say, I don't recall feeling.
>And people used to getting what they want might be expected to be worse at acceptance?
Yes.
I guess it's all about attachment. We need attachment to begin with to grow, then the attachment gets out of hand, and then we are advised to give it up.
poster:sigismund
thread:1047296
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20130903/msgs/1052080.html