Men Behaving Badly.

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sue hindmarsh
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Post by sue hindmarsh » Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:40 pm

Bryan and Matt,
Matt: I guess my point is that although it's tempting to think that Truth improves the survivability of the species, it can't really be justified without evidence.

Bryan: I think the evidence lies all about us, echoing throughout the history of mankind. As evidenced by civilization, the spine of which is wrought from the lives and teachings of wise men. Certianly, the words of these sages (ie. Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, and to a lesser extent men such as Confuscious) have underpinned the very advance of mankind.

Matt: Well, the way I see it, all humans have needed to do to survive so far is have sex and (arguably) develop technology. Wisdom isn't necessary for either of these things, so what role do you think it played in the advance of mankind? Jesus was wise, yet all his teachings are ignored by everybody and they have even fought whole wars in his name, so I can't imagine what role wisdom could have possibly played when hardly anyone has ever payed any attention to it.
Bryan I agree with you that men such as the Buddha, Jesus, and Lao Tzu, along with Socrates, Diogenes and Hakuin, have aided our species evolution through the effects streaming from their great wisdom. Matt, I also agree with your point that the depth of wisdom these men possessed continues to be unknown to but a handful of men, even though this wisdom has been around for over two thousand years.

My point is that even though the deeper wisdom of these men has been lost to most people throughout time, the sheer weight of rationality and logic their wisdom possesses has meant that society has been able to glean from this treasure-trove just enough rationality to prevent our species from turning completely into Yahoos.

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Sue

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sue hindmarsh
Posts: 1083
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:02 am
Location: Sous Le Soleil

Post by sue hindmarsh » Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:23 pm

Bryan McGilly wrote:
I think there is a measure of wisdom with which all sentient beings are accorded from birth. An hold-over from the One - a spark of Brahman, of reason by which we may or may not light the way.
Adding to your thought - the philosophic life is a life spent chipping away at the thick encrusted layer of putrid mud that covers our minds, in an effort to reach that perfect wisdom which lies beneath.

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Sue

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