Divine Neutrality

Free giveaways generate buying. Chris Anderson, in a recent article in Wired Magazine, rejoices in the idea. He perceives a new business paradigm in this form of selling. The article is called, “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business”.

It’s a confused and disjointed article burdened with irrelevancies and embarassing ignorance (on the solution to Zeno’s Paradox). But Anderson gives instructive examples of how money has been made out of free giveaways. Entrepreneurs take note.

What these examples exemplify is this: giving something away can induce people to buy things they don’t need. It expands the conscious menu of purchasable choices. It creates more in the world to buy.

Buying generates economic activity. General prosperity rises with commercial bustle. Economic activity produces jobs, consumes resources, generates waste and yields an increase in the level of general satisfaction. In good times even art and philosophy prosper. Thus the creation of a ‘desire to buy’ makes society wealthier! Wired Magazine rejoices.

Merchants prosper and order goods. Manufacturers buy materials and hire workers. The money paid out empowers consumers to generate further economic activity. And so wealth grows. When wealth grows we’re having ‘good times’.

Why can’t we have unending good times?

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Among many people who were not bold enough to do it, my sister, Simma, confessed to seeing no humour in this cartoon.* Wherein lies the humor?

You are a seeker. You have heard of an enlightened one. He is a hermit who lives in a cave in the side of a mountain. You must struggle to get there. The arduous climb symbolizes the struggle to attain nirvana - become enlightened. In clothes befitting the nakedness of your soul and your readiness to become a devotee you ascend the mountain. And, at last, just over the last ledge your struggle is to be rewarded. You will see the enlightened one, an ascetic bearded prophet of great age.

Instead you see a 40 year old hairy man dressed in woman’s underwear, wearing a wig and made up like a hooker, sitting in the lotus position. But then, this astonishingly silly figure speaks the words that his appearance illustrates. And these turn out to be the most profound words imaginable: Disillusionment is enlightenment!

Disillusionment, something mourned by many as the loss of innocence, is declared to be the kernel of enlightenment. By a man whose very appearance embodies disillusionment to the seeker.

The power of this cartoon is of biblical proportions. It is Michaelangelo’s David of cartoons. A masterpiece. Because it speaks profundity through humor.

The pealing away of illusion is surely enlightenment.
And the pealing away of illusion is what disillusionment means.
Disillusionment is enlightenment.

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I am thinking about the functions of religion. What does organized religion give to people that drives them to suspend reason. What is the nature of man that religion exists?

I conclude that people need guided ceremony. And they need prayer: something to offer consolation in times of despair and celebration in times of joy. There exist organizations that offer prayers. Besides the prayers of traditional religions, there are many groups offering non-denominational prayers. Unitarians do this. I googled non-denominational prayers and was led here:

theGreenBelt blogspot, Non-denominational prayer

This site gives some examples of non-denominational prayers. I find them quite poetic. What disturbs the rather astute writer of that excellent greenbelt blog is the futility of the prayer not so much the references to deity, God and Creator.

Let us pray. We meditate on the transcendental Glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the Heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds.

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“May all that have life be delivered from suffering”
Gautama Buddha

“Is it possible to conquer all suffering? Is that conquest even a rational idea?”
Marvin Chester

The foundational structure of Buddhism is enunciated in THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS:

1. The world is full of suffering (dukkha).
2. Suffering is caused by desire (attachment, craving: tanha)
3. If one can eliminate desire, one can eliminate suffering.
4. The Noble Eight-fold Path can eliminate desire.

Buddha’s idea:

• Suffering is no good.
• It’s caused by desire.
• Eliminate them both.

Is this a sound philosophy? Does it even make sense?

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