BuddhaJones - Recent Comments

Yoko's Daimoku song

Simplify — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:56:03 GMT

Interestingly, Yoko posted a soundcloud audio link to this on her Facebook/twitter pages a few hours ago. I've always liked this piece and she sounds sincere to me. It is comforting to know that John Lennon heard NMRK before he died.

http://soundcloud.com/yokoono/...

Burned Twice, Finally Shy

joeisuzu — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:01:45 GMT

I was once convinced that the Org could change. I honestly thought that if you expressed your criticism in a constructive-enough way, the Org's leaders would listen and say, "Hey, he has a good point."

Me too! Twice. Different decades. (Not the sharpest tool in the shed) One of the problems of a position based on "faith" is that you can't reason a person, or an organization, out of a position they didn't reason themselves into. We all have a little "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" in us. Only in this case Claude Rains feels no remorse.

When I was about five years old, I was watching my mother iron. She had a Coke bottle with a thing that looked like a shower head on it that sprinkled water on the clothes. Each time, before she pressed the iron to the cloth, she would lick her finger and touch the iron. I heard small sizzle every time she quickly touched the iron. I remember her casting in my direction, with tilted head and arch brow, a cautioning eye and saying "Don't touch! This is hot!" as she walked the four steps from the living room, which was serving as the laundry room, into our 3x10 bowling-lane kitchen to fetch something. As soon as she had left, I stepped up to the ironing board, stood on my toes so I could reach, and put my entire hand up against the flat of the steaming iron.
My mom came running back to my screaming in agony. Incredulously she asked "Why did you do that? I told you it was hot!" I answered "But you did it!"
Mom wasn't being kept from being burned by "faith" but by experience and physics.

Meh

mroaks — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:27:02 GMT

Not my best. A couple things strike me about this. I was once convinced that the Org could change. I honestly thought that if you expressed your criticism in a constructive-enough way, the Org's leaders would listen and say, "Hey, he has a good point." I didn't understand that I was trying to negotiate with a cult.

All cults are cons -- confidence games -- that revolve around deception and rely on winning and exploiting the confidence of the mark or marks. I fell for the con. This article reminds me of all that.

Middle Day

joeisuzu — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:54:51 GMT

Worst of all they lived in the middle day of the law when the dharma was in decline

Ha ha,...Sesame Steert or Beowulf?! Did they know or care anything about dharma or karma in that cave in Scotland? Only that they were born and Jesus was their salvation from life?

Bother to learn to read?! Are you fucking nuts!

what can I say

philipjamesbrett — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:01:57 GMT

It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. Unfortunately for people living back then they had to make do without Sesame Street or Hooked on Phonics. Worst of all they lived in the middle day of the law when the dharma was in decline, there was no proof, and enlightenment was for the most part an impossible dream. Why bother learning to read if it's going to be Beowulf over and over again, I don't think they had much else.

Philip

Not implied

joeisuzu — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:13:49 GMT

Thanks,
Never meant to imply you made anything up. It was, however, a broad stock you painted and I still believe your premise, capitalization leads to illiteracy in the 7th century, is false. Just was interested in your sources. The study is quite interesting in spite of the fact it was done in East Texas, and I do mean that as a pejorative. I again do not see how this study in email correspondence correlates to literacy capacity in the 800's in Western civilization.

Your point about Roman lettering, opposed to Chinese characters-Egyptian hieroglyphics (or say Germanic Runic even though technically one of many foundations for western language), is well taken.

if you think I just make this up

philipjamesbrett — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:27:42 GMT

Do a little research
http://www.laurenscharff.com/c...

Philip

not universal

philipjamesbrett — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:06:11 GMT

I'm only talking roman lettering. I don't think it applies to arabic, sanskrit,chinese, or swahili (which now uses the roman alphabet).
Many languages don't have capital letters probably because they are much more polite and civilized compared to the english speaking countries.
I certainly don't mean to imply that you should accept something just because it is a commonly accepted fact, I don't.

Illiteracy

joeisuzu — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:18:41 GMT

it's an accepted fact that writing in all caps makes things less legible and that probably accounts for the high level of illiteracy back in those days.

What are your sources of this accepted fact?
Are you talking about post Roman Western Civilization including Greece and Egypt, or Persia and China too? I have read many essays about keepers of the sacred writings and illiteracy was a general rule for the masses opposed to being attributed to something as simplistic as "I can't read this because its all caps". Unless you were clergy, you couldn't read period. No offense, but I'm just saying...

I haven't heard that

philipjamesbrett — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:55:28 GMT

I don't know if people's hearing was worse, but it's an accepted fact that writing in all caps makes things less legible and that probably accounts for the high level of illiteracy back in those days.

Philip

All CAPS before the 8th century?

Ryuei — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:11:15 GMT

Does that mean that people couldn't hear as well back then?

ALL CAPS

philipjamesbrett — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:13:42 GMT

I am aware that some people view writing in all capital letters to indicate shouting. I don't think that means that you can't have titles in capital letters. Headlines are commionly in all capitals. It doesn't mean I'm shouting it usually means I'm too lazy to change when I realize I've written half in capitals and I just continue on. Did you know that up until the 8th century there were only capital letters?

Philip