Download
1 / 43
430 likes | 728 Views
How are Western and Eastern wisdom traditions wise from a goal-regulation and personality development perspective? Describe experimental evidence that idealistic and ideological extremes arise from goal regulation processes (i.e., P x E, personal project, goal-priming, behavioral neuroscience, and
E N D
1. Personality Psychology Concluding Lecture Personality, Culture, and Religion
Professor Ian McGregor
Hallelujah chorus: A hallelujah inspired by transcendent, eager ideals, in contrast to the cold and broken hallelujah last week, that Jeff Buckley sang about, related to the frustrations and disillusionments of this-worldly-goals. Segue into this final lecture on religion.
Pachelbels Canonoften played at weddingsharmony of multiple voices woven togethersymbolizes the peace (as relief from chaos) that religious systems try to help people achieve.Hallelujah chorus: A hallelujah inspired by transcendent, eager ideals, in contrast to the cold and broken hallelujah last week, that Jeff Buckley sang about, related to the frustrations and disillusionments of this-worldly-goals. Segue into this final lecture on religion.
Pachelbels Canonoften played at weddingsharmony of multiple voices woven togethersymbolizes the peace (as relief from chaos) that religious systems try to help people achieve.
2. How are Western and Eastern wisdom traditions wise from a goal-regulation and personality development perspective?
Describe experimental evidence that idealistic and ideological extremes arise from goal regulation processes (i.e., P x E, personal project, goal-priming, behavioral neuroscience, and neuroscience evidence).
3. Review
Various Threats ? Defensive Extremes (PxE)
Same Threats ? Approach Motivation (PxE)
Behavioral Neuroscience (right line bisection)
Neuroscience (Left EEG; rEEG*ACC) (PxE)
Same Threats ? Religious Zeal (PxE)
Self-Affirmations Eliminate Distress and Extremism
Healthy-Minded Religious Devotion
Eastern and Western
For review, remind about parenting-personality certainty--do in-class exercise about overconfidence and positive illusions
extrapolate to relationship, political, and religious strife. Dark side of believing what we want to believe.For review, remind about parenting-personality certainty--do in-class exercise about overconfidence and positive illusions
extrapolate to relationship, political, and religious strife. Dark side of believing what we want to believe.
4. Rigid Conviction (at low implicit) (McGregor & Marigold, 2003, JPSP) Conviction and consensustwo key elements of religious devotion
This review demonstrates that it is vulnerable people with eager, approach-motivated dispositions who are particularly inclined to lunge toward reactive ideological extremes when threatened.
Evidence for goal regulation interpretation from last week:
Approach-motivated people most inclined
Same threats that cause ideological extremes also cause extreme goal pursuit (eager and ideological personal projects)
Goal priming studies showed that threats only cause reactive extremes when relevant goals are active
Next few behavioral neuroscience and neuroscience studies showing that a particular part of the brain related to approach-motivated goal regulation is active during the ideological extremes. Conviction and consensustwo key elements of religious devotion
This review demonstrates that it is vulnerable people with eager, approach-motivated dispositions who are particularly inclined to lunge toward reactive ideological extremes when threatened.
Evidence for goal regulation interpretation from last week:
Approach-motivated people most inclined
Same threats that cause ideological extremes also cause extreme goal pursuit (eager and ideological personal projects)
Goal priming studies showed that threats only cause reactive extremes when relevant goals are active
Next few behavioral neuroscience and neuroscience studies showing that a particular part of the brain related to approach-motivated goal regulation is active during the ideological extremes.
5. Fascist Consensus (at low implicit) (McGregor, Nail, Marigold, & Kang, 2005, JPSP) Here, an academic statistics threat caused participants with high explicit self-esteem but low implicit self-esteem (this whole graph is for low self-esteem participants only) to estimate that almost 80% of people in general would agree with their opinions about capital punishment and abortion. This is despite the fact that they had just viewed 10 diverse and common opinions about each issue, so were aware that other opinions were possible.
Exaggerated conviction and view that everyone should hold the same opinionhallmark of fascist and authoritarian ideologies.Here, an academic statistics threat caused participants with high explicit self-esteem but low implicit self-esteem (this whole graph is for low self-esteem participants only) to estimate that almost 80% of people in general would agree with their opinions about capital punishment and abortion. This is despite the fact that they had just viewed 10 diverse and common opinions about each issue, so were aware that other opinions were possible.
Exaggerated conviction and view that everyone should hold the same opinionhallmark of fascist and authoritarian ideologies.
6. Line Bisection Task: Behavioral Neuroscience Measure of Relative Cerebral Hemisphericity Please quickly look at each of the lines below and then make a short tick-mark on each line that divides it in half
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rightward errors reflect relative left cerebral hemisphericity (right visual field is controlled by left hemisphere). Overactive left hemisphere leads to overnoticing of right visual field, which makes a smaller segment seem larger than it really is
.Rightward errors reflect relative left cerebral hemisphericity (right visual field is controlled by left hemisphere). Overactive left hemisphere leads to overnoticing of right visual field, which makes a smaller segment seem larger than it really is
.
7. Behavioral Neuroscience Among people with low explicit self-esteem, uncertainty and mortality threats caused, if anything, a reduction in neural approach (as might be expectedwho wants to approach uncertainty and death). At high explicit self-esteem, however, both threats increased neural approach.
This effect for explicit self-esteem likely emerges because of the strong personality links between explicit self-esteem and approach-motivation. People with approach-motivated personalities would be expected to make most use of a defense that involves approach-motivation.
Among people with low explicit self-esteem, uncertainty and mortality threats caused, if anything, a reduction in neural approach (as might be expectedwho wants to approach uncertainty and death). At high explicit self-esteem, however, both threats increased neural approach.
This effect for explicit self-esteem likely emerges because of the strong personality links between explicit self-esteem and approach-motivation. People with approach-motivated personalities would be expected to make most use of a defense that involves approach-motivation.
8. r Left EEG (F7F8). Line-Bisection Task =.38 Rightward errors (left hemisphericity) on the LBT is significantly correlated with left frontal EEG activity. Rightward errors (left hemisphericity) on the LBT is significantly correlated with left frontal EEG activity.
9. For participants low on explicit self-esteem (a kind of eager, approach-motivated disposition), the academic threat materials did not significantly affect brain activityno difference between red bar academic threat and grey bar neutral control condition.
For highly eager personalities, however, the academic threat signifciantly increased patterns of approach-related brain activity (left frontal EEG).
So, together with the LBT study this provides neuroscience and behavioral neuroscience evidence to go along with the trait, personal project, and goal-priming studies to support the view that ideological extremes are a function of goal regulation processes. For participants low on explicit self-esteem (a kind of eager, approach-motivated disposition), the academic threat materials did not significantly affect brain activityno difference between red bar academic threat and grey bar neutral control condition.
For highly eager personalities, however, the academic threat signifciantly increased patterns of approach-related brain activity (left frontal EEG).
So, together with the LBT study this provides neuroscience and behavioral neuroscience evidence to go along with the trait, personal project, and goal-priming studies to support the view that ideological extremes are a function of goal regulation processes.
10. Finally, further support for the goal-regulation view:
We assessed whether patterns of left frontal EEG activation would be associated with decreased activity in the part of the brain that registers and responds to anxious uncertainty, the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Approach-motivation-related brain activity did indeed correlated negatively with ERN activity in the ACC.
MEANING IN LIFE IS SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED WITH LEFT EEG.
Will goal threats cause people to exaggerate their religious convictions? Finally, further support for the goal-regulation view:
We assessed whether patterns of left frontal EEG activation would be associated with decreased activity in the part of the brain that registers and responds to anxious uncertainty, the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Approach-motivation-related brain activity did indeed correlated negatively with ERN activity in the ACC.
MEANING IN LIFE IS SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED WITH LEFT EEG.
Will goal threats cause people to exaggerate their religious convictions?
11. Academic Goal Frustration ? Religious Zeal Which religious belief system do you most identify with?
Jewish (20%)
Christian (45%)
Muslim (5%)
Buddhist (10%)
Atheist (20%)
12. Confident
Aspire to live and act according to
Grounded in objective truth
Most people would agree if understood
If publicly criticized would argue to defend it
Would support a war to defend
Would sacrifice my life to defend
Believe in my heart more correct than others
13.
14. Approach Personality x Academic Threat Just as with the other eagerly idealistic extremes of thought and action we looked at last week, the same goal threats and eager personality traits combined to cause exaggerated religious zeal.Just as with the other eagerly idealistic extremes of thought and action we looked at last week, the same goal threats and eager personality traits combined to cause exaggerated religious zeal.
15. In other work weve also found inverse correlations between how zealous peoples religious views are, and how reactive their ACC Uh-Oh detector is. Religious people seem less affected and less anxious when they make mistakes. (They also made fewer mistakes.)
This mirrors the relation from 5 slides back, between left frontal EEG and ACC activity
presumably religious zeal is a way to activate left frontal EEG (approach-motivation-related pattern of brain activity). In other work weve also found inverse correlations between how zealous peoples religious views are, and how reactive their ACC Uh-Oh detector is. Religious people seem less affected and less anxious when they make mistakes. (They also made fewer mistakes.)
This mirrors the relation from 5 slides back, between left frontal EEG and ACC activity
presumably religious zeal is a way to activate left frontal EEG (approach-motivation-related pattern of brain activity).
16. Highest Happiness from Contemplating Perfect Ideals and Abstract, Absolute Truth Consistent with Greek emphasis on highest happiness from ideal, absolute truth.Consistent with Greek emphasis on highest happiness from ideal, absolute truth.
17. Defensive Pride and Idealism Consistent with the neoanalytic view that people turn to excessively intense (freud) ideals (adler, horney, bowlby, rogers) and worldviews (fromm) to cope with threats and conflict-related distress (e.g., uncertainty, death, goals blocked).Consistent with the neoanalytic view that people turn to excessively intense (freud) ideals (adler, horney, bowlby, rogers) and worldviews (fromm) to cope with threats and conflict-related distress (e.g., uncertainty, death, goals blocked).
18. Authoritarian Ideology Insecure Attachment and Narcissism May also explain real-world examples of extreme authoritarian and worldview idealism: from Coldwar era, and also from more contemporary idealistic and authoritarian regimes.
Biographers point out that many of these authoritarian leaders have had harsh and shaming childhoods the remnants of which are masked by the grandiose exterior.)
May also explain real-world examples of extreme authoritarian and worldview idealism: from Coldwar era, and also from more contemporary idealistic and authoritarian regimes.
Biographers point out that many of these authoritarian leaders have had harsh and shaming childhoods the remnants of which are masked by the grandiose exterior.)
19. What Causes Religious Extremism? Also consistent with various opinions on what causes religious extremes, and why religiously inspired hatred is so difficult to quell once inflamed.
Armstrong: Historical periods of oppression and frustration associated with extreme mutations of all three monotheistic traditions.
Stern: Interviewed religious extremists and found the combination of oppressive and frustrating circumstances plus eager personality to incline people towards extreme ideologies
Timmerman warns that once hateful ideologies are forged, they are difficult to get rid of because hateful ideologies have rewards for their believers (anger and ideals activate approach motivation). Also consistent with various opinions on what causes religious extremes, and why religiously inspired hatred is so difficult to quell once inflamed.
Armstrong: Historical periods of oppression and frustration associated with extreme mutations of all three monotheistic traditions.
Stern: Interviewed religious extremists and found the combination of oppressive and frustrating circumstances plus eager personality to incline people towards extreme ideologies
Timmerman warns that once hateful ideologies are forged, they are difficult to get rid of because hateful ideologies have rewards for their believers (anger and ideals activate approach motivation).
20. Reactive Zeal Religious rapture is a unifying state
sand and grit of selfhood disappear
Excessively intense thoughts repress conflict
mental dams James, in Varieties of Religious Experience claimed that religious zeal serves to make sand and grit of selfhood disappear (ie., friction and conflict). Similar to Freuds contention about repression
This kind of reactive religious extremism (or reactive approach-motivation of any kind) may feel good because insulates the individual from distress, but may also decrease capacity for compassion (paradoxically, as that is a key element in most religious systems).
Decreased facility with emotions and ability to perspective-take effectively. (paradoxically, given emphasis on loving in most religious traditions)James, in Varieties of Religious Experience claimed that religious zeal serves to make sand and grit of selfhood disappear (ie., friction and conflict). Similar to Freuds contention about repression
This kind of reactive religious extremism (or reactive approach-motivation of any kind) may feel good because insulates the individual from distress, but may also decrease capacity for compassion (paradoxically, as that is a key element in most religious systems).
Decreased facility with emotions and ability to perspective-take effectively. (paradoxically, given emphasis on loving in most religious traditions)
21. Self-Affirmation Manipulations that Decrease Reactive Ideological Extremes Love
Self-Worth
Values Affirmation
Group-Identification and Consensus
Same domains as defensive zeal (and stages)
Like zeal, self-affirmations relieve distress
Self-affirmations only work in the West
Among Eager, Idealistic People (see next)
Threats cause increased reactive extremes for personal and worldview ideals, but these self-affirmations relieve the extremes.
Only in the west and with eager personalities (correlated!).
Attachment Security
Love relationshipsunconditional acceptance
Secure attachment primes (hug, love, friend)
Self-Worth Affirmation
Something you are proud of
False feedback: 97th percentile on IOT
Values Affirmation
Highest value, past and future self
Group-Identification and Consensus
Self-affirmations only work in the West
Reactive Idealism after threats only occur in the West
In the west, the active, decision-making self must feel good and certain in order to be an effective arbiter for choices.Threats cause increased reactive extremes for personal and worldview ideals, but these self-affirmations relieve the extremes.
Only in the west and with eager personalities (correlated!).
Attachment Security
Love relationshipsunconditional acceptance
Secure attachment primes (hug, love, friend)
Self-Worth Affirmation
Something you are proud of
False feedback: 97th percentile on IOT
Values Affirmation
Highest value, past and future self
Group-Identification and Consensus
Self-affirmations only work in the West
Reactive Idealism after threats only occur in the West
In the west, the active, decision-making self must feel good and certain in order to be an effective arbiter for choices.
22. Salience of Dilemma after Conviction Expression Affirming personal convictions relieves the subjective salience of personal dilemmas, but only for people with high self-esteem (one of the markers of approach-motivated personality)
Subjective Salience Items were:
How preoccupied by threat do you feel?
How hard would it be to ignore the threat for a while?
How urgent does the threat feel?
How important does the threat feel?
How significant does the threat feel?
How big does the threat feel?Affirming personal convictions relieves the subjective salience of personal dilemmas, but only for people with high self-esteem (one of the markers of approach-motivated personality)
Subjective Salience Items were:
How preoccupied by threat do you feel?
How hard would it be to ignore the threat for a while?
How urgent does the threat feel?
How important does the threat feel?
How significant does the threat feel?
How big does the threat feel?
23. Salience of Dilemma after Pride Expression (McGregor, 2006, BASP) Bragging about impressive accomplishments has the same effect, but again only for eager personalities with high self-esteem. Bragging about impressive accomplishments has the same effect, but again only for eager personalities with high self-esteem.
24. Self-Affirmations, Goal Theory, and Personal Growth (in West) Recall, completed goals fade
Approach state also relieves uh-oh (ACC) and avoidance vigilance
Allow openness to other information
Less defensive, more generous
Paradox: in West, affirm self-goals so people can let them go (i.e., past their fixationsrecall Rogers). Paradoxically, affirming important goals that are core to the western self seems to be a necessary condition to allow movement beyond the self, beyond Eriksons stages of childhood development that focuses on the ego, to the mature stages of adult development that gradually shift the focus away from the self toward a wider circle of concern. Paradoxically, affirming important goals that are core to the western self seems to be a necessary condition to allow movement beyond the self, beyond Eriksons stages of childhood development that focuses on the ego, to the mature stages of adult development that gradually shift the focus away from the self toward a wider circle of concern.
25. Religion can also serve an important developmental role, encouraging healthy personality development
Mistake to focus only on the zealous and extreme manifestations that get all the news coverage. Like swearing off of sex because rape exists and makes the news so regularly when it occurs
Karen Armstrong: A Case for God
- religion faith as commitment to valueslike identity commitment, with encouragements and technologies to facilitate widening of circle of concern
.capacity to loveReligion can also serve an important developmental role, encouraging healthy personality development
Mistake to focus only on the zealous and extreme manifestations that get all the news coverage. Like swearing off of sex because rape exists and makes the news so regularly when it occurs
Karen Armstrong: A Case for God
- religion faith as commitment to valueslike identity commitment, with encouragements and technologies to facilitate widening of circle of concern
.capacity to love
26. Philosophies, Religions, Cultures as Stories We Live By What to do?
Intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict
Way of Life; Saved from chaos; Hope for peace
Ritual reminders in community worth-ship
Eastern and Western solutions What to do? How to be? Different personalities ? values? uncertainty/conflict within and between people.
Common problem (conflict) and hope (truth/reality)
Religions emerge during social chaos to give norms, values, and direction (recall Durkheim). Salvation from chaos, conflict, bondage, toward hope.
Rituals as vivid, concrete reminders of shared worldviews and values. East and West overlap, but differ in approach to the human condition.
Eastern and Western selves differ accordingly.
What to do? How to be? Different personalities ? values? uncertainty/conflict within and between people.
Common problem (conflict) and hope (truth/reality)
Religions emerge during social chaos to give norms, values, and direction (recall Durkheim). Salvation from chaos, conflict, bondage, toward hope.
Rituals as vivid, concrete reminders of shared worldviews and values. East and West overlap, but differ in approach to the human condition.
Eastern and Western selves differ accordingly.
27. Western Culture and Religion from: Greek idealism
Pythagoras (582-500 BCE): Introspection and idealism from India to Greece; Socratic (470-399 BCE)/ Platonic (427-347 BCE) idealism for social utopia (Platos republic)make a better, more ideal world
Abstract principles and categories, logical analysis, right and wrong, individually realized, logosguides action
Highest happiness from contemplating self-realized, logical, abstract, ideal/essential truth (Plato and Aristotle)
28. And from: Empowering, Generative, Judaic Monotheisms (J, C, I)
Dominant, nature transcending, powerful, loving will of God. Humans in Gods image
Creeds, beliefs, the word, logos, people of the book. Ideals guide powerful action.
World is very good. Let them have dominion over all the earth.
God shapes history: Exodus from Egyptian slavery as metaphor. Gods justice & mercy as the righteous ideal
Freedom, self-responsibility, align with Gods willfrom wrestling with God to social justice and prophetic power
Salvation by alignment with Gods will, and yoke ego (Islam = peace by submission to God); thy will be done
Mistakes & imperfections: covenant of forgiveness & grace along way
Salvation not from being perfect but from active, hopeful, ideal approach Logoshellenistic, rationalizing influence on all three (J, C, I). Logoshellenistic, rationalizing influence on all three (J, C, I).
29. Exodus: Deliverance from Bondage From bondage (blocked goals) to wandering in the desert (uncertainty)not knowing which way to turnbut with HOPE for a promised landa Utopian dream of the future.
Stephen Coveys 8th Habit: Analogy of airplane always being off-coursebut having a clear destination allows constant correctionFrom bondage (blocked goals) to wandering in the desert (uncertainty)not knowing which way to turnbut with HOPE for a promised landa Utopian dream of the future.
Stephen Coveys 8th Habit: Analogy of airplane always being off-coursebut having a clear destination allows constant correction
30. Healthy Minded Monotheism (J, C, I) Affirmation from a merciful God promotes healthy personality development (Erikson, Rogers, Maslow)
Basic Trust: Grace, B-love, chosen, no death, father
Autonomy/Initiative: Freedom to choose good and evil
Industry/Self-worthy: Gods love, intervention, suffering
Identity: Clear values of one God & law; guide action
Intimacy: brothers, compassion, examples, relations, e.g., Jesus, Mary, Muhammed.
Generativity: Cup runs over with gratitude, empowered compassion, charity, justice, mercy, peace
Integrity: Energy, light, vision, vitality, actualization, peak experience.
Cf. Hindu path of desire to path of renunciation.. http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JamVari.html
William James Varieties of Religious Experience
(full text of James book available online)
James makes the distinction between sick-souled (militant, extreme) religion and healthy-minded religion.
This slide depicts ways that healthy-minded religion can help people along the stages of psychosocial development
The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions
(formerly, The Religions of Man)
By Huston Smith
There are many way not to take religion seriouslyone is to stress its importance, but for other peoplepeople of the past, people of other cultures, people whose ego strengths need bolstering. This will not be our approach
This is a book about religion that exists, in William James contrast, not as a dull habit but as an acute fever. It is about religion alive. And wherever religion comes to life it displays a startling quality; it takes over
It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit. The call is to confront reality, to master the self.
Religion is not primarily a matter of facts in the historical sense; it is a matter of meanings. An account may speak endlessly of gods and rites and beliefs, but unless it leads us to see how these things help men to meet such problems as isolation, tragedy, and death
religion has not been touched at all.
Maybe too simplistic to dismiss religion according to its most extreme and attention-grabbing manifestations. Consider Islam
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JamVari.html
William James Varieties of Religious Experience
(full text of James book available online)
James makes the distinction between sick-souled (militant, extreme) religion and healthy-minded religion.
This slide depicts ways that healthy-minded religion can help people along the stages of psychosocial development
The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions
(formerly, The Religions of Man)
By Huston Smith
There are many way not to take religion seriouslyone is to stress its importance, but for other peoplepeople of the past, people of other cultures, people whose ego strengths need bolstering. This will not be our approach
This is a book about religion that exists, in William James contrast, not as a dull habit but as an acute fever. It is about religion alive. And wherever religion comes to life it displays a startling quality; it takes over
It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit. The call is to confront reality, to master the self.
31. Islam Peace and Surrender
From Chaos to Harmony in Mecca
People of the Bookno doubt in this book
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed (Koran and Hadith)
5 Pillars
Creed
Prayer
Charity
Fasting
Pilgrimage
The following notes on Islam are taken from Huston Smiths Religions of Man (more recent new title, The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions).
Islam: Derived from the word salam which means primarily peace but in a secondary sense surrender, its full connotation is the perfect peace that comes when ones life is surrendered to God. Islam is a religion that guides both thought and deed to unparalleled detail.
Allah is formed by joining the word al (meaning the) with Illah (god). Literally,
Allah means the God. Not a God for there is only one.
Islam was born into chaos and produced order. Bedouin tribes converged in Mecca, a major commercial trading center, and indulged in all sorts of licentious activitygambling, prostitution, settling of tribal feuds through violence and murder. There was no consensual moral order, and the time was right for a deliverer.
Muhammed was a business manmarried a wealthy widow 15 years his senior and established a reputation as a wise commercial arbitrator.
After his recitation of the Koran and being ridiculed in Mecca, in 622 he and his Muslim followers fled to Medina, set up a harmonious society, withstood attacks from Mecca, and then 8 years later marched back into Mecca as the citizens welcomed him with mass conversions. When he died two years later, almost all of Arabia was under Muslim control.
Islam assumes that the Bibles of the Jews and Christians too were originally authentic revelations from god, which fact entitles those who hold them sacred to be classed with Muslims as People of the Book. Nevertheless, it assumes that the Old and New testaments share two defects from which the Koran is free: they are incomplete and have become partially corrupted. It is believed that exemption from these two limitations makes the Koran the final and infallible revelation of Gods will. The second chapter of the Koran caps the later point categorically: There is no doubt in this book.
The indelible contribution of Islam to Arabic religion was monotheism. Aside from this unswerving emphasis on monotheism, the Koran, as Muhammed Iqbal tells us, is a book which emphasizes deed rather than idea. Islam teaches man to walk in the straight path (e.g., from the opening surah of the Koran, Guide us in the straight path, The path of those whom Thou has favoured, Not the path of those who incur Thine anger nor of those who go astray.
The straight path is one that is straightforward, direct, and explicit. Compared with other religions, Islam spells out the way of life it proposes; it pinpoints it, nailing it down through explicit injunctions. The consequence is a definiteness about this religion that gives it a flavor all its own. A Mulsim knows where he stands. He knows who he is and who /god is. He knows what his obligations are and if he transgresses these he knows what to do about it. Islam has a clarity, an order, a precision which is in sharp contrast to the shifting, relative, uncertain, at-sea quality of much of modern life. Muslims explicitly claim this as one of Islams strengths.
If we ask what it was in Islam that enabled it to accomplish such a near moral miracle in a half century (from moral chaos to thriving and inspiring moral order), we are brought back to a point we have already remarked, namely, Islams explicitness. Its basic objective in interpersonal relations, Muslims will say, is precisely that of Jesus and the other prophets: brotherly love. The distinctive thing about Islam is not its ideal but the detailed proposals it sets forth for achieving it.
The Koran in addition to being a manual of spiritual exercise is an immense body of moral and legal ordinance in domains of economics and charity, domestic propriety, equality in race relations, and judicious use of force.
Four great stages of Gods revelation:
Through Abraham God revealed truth of monotheism
Through Moses God revealed the ten commandments
Through Jesus God revealed the law to love ones neighbor
Through Muhammed God revealed what love of neighbor requires in a complicated world of human conflicts. Islam consists in having embodied the beautiful sentiment of Jesus into definite laws (in the Koran but also in the Hadith, the tradition of what Muhammed did or said informally, for the most part in the decade of his administration of the collective life in Medina).
Five pillars:
CreedThere is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet.
PrayerFive times a day to remind man that he is not God. Kneel and prostrate selves in direction of Mecca. Gratitude and submission. Humanity has a tendency to place itself at the center of the universe and live as a law unto itself. When this happens, when humans try to play God, everything goes wrong.
Charity2.5% of net worth to charity each year to the most needy.
Fasting during Ramadandiscipline, awareness of frailty, compassion for the hungry.
Pilgrimage (Hajj)to Mecca. Devotion and also emphasizes community of brotherhoodall wear same clothes. When get to Mecca they circumambulate the same shrine (the Kaaba), in the same direction (counterclockwise). The Kaaba symbolizes a spiritual home and the circumambulation symbolizes the brotherhood of Islam, with individual lives consensually revolving around Allah rather than around the ego-self.
The following notes on Islam are taken from Huston Smiths Religions of Man (more recent new title, The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions).
Islam: Derived from the word salam which means primarily peace but in a secondary sense surrender, its full connotation is the perfect peace that comes when ones life is surrendered to God. Islam is a religion that guides both thought and deed to unparalleled detail.
Allah is formed by joining the word al (meaning the) with Illah (god). Literally,
Allah means the God. Not a God for there is only one.
Islam was born into chaos and produced order. Bedouin tribes converged in Mecca, a major commercial trading center, and indulged in all sorts of licentious activitygambling, prostitution, settling of tribal feuds through violence and murder. There was no consensual moral order, and the time was right for a deliverer.
Muhammed was a business manmarried a wealthy widow 15 years his senior and established a reputation as a wise commercial arbitrator.
After his recitation of the Koran and being ridiculed in Mecca, in 622 he and his Muslim followers fled to Medina, set up a harmonious society, withstood attacks from Mecca, and then 8 years later marched back into Mecca as the citizens welcomed him with mass conversions. When he died two years later, almost all of Arabia was under Muslim control.
Islam assumes that the Bibles of the Jews and Christians too were originally authentic revelations from god, which fact entitles those who hold them sacred to be classed with Muslims as People of the Book. Nevertheless, it assumes that the Old and New testaments share two defects from which the Koran is free: they are incomplete and have become partially corrupted. It is believed that exemption from these two limitations makes the Koran the final and infallible revelation of Gods will. The second chapter of the Koran caps the later point categorically: There is no doubt in this book.
The indelible contribution of Islam to Arabic religion was monotheism. Aside from this unswerving emphasis on monotheism, the Koran, as Muhammed Iqbal tells us, is a book which emphasizes deed rather than idea. Islam teaches man to walk in the straight path (e.g., from the opening surah of the Koran, Guide us in the straight path, The path of those whom Thou has favoured, Not the path of those who incur Thine anger nor of those who go astray.
The straight path is one that is straightforward, direct, and explicit. Compared with other religions, Islam spells out the way of life it proposes; it pinpoints it, nailing it down through explicit injunctions. The consequence is a definiteness about this religion that gives it a flavor all its own. A Mulsim knows where he stands. He knows who he is and who /god is. He knows what his obligations are and if he transgresses these he knows what to do about it. Islam has a clarity, an order, a precision which is in sharp contrast to the shifting, relative, uncertain, at-sea quality of much of modern life. Muslims explicitly claim this as one of Islams strengths.
If we ask what it was in Islam that enabled it to accomplish such a near moral miracle in a half century (from moral chaos to thriving and inspiring moral order), we are brought back to a point we have already remarked, namely, Islams explicitness. Its basic objective in interpersonal relations, Muslims will say, is precisely that of Jesus and the other prophets: brotherly love. The distinctive thing about Islam is not its ideal but the detailed proposals it sets forth for achieving it.
The Koran in addition to being a manual of spiritual exercise is an immense body of moral and legal ordinance in domains of economics and charity, domestic propriety, equality in race relations, and judicious use of force.
Four great stages of Gods revelation:
Through Abraham God revealed truth of monotheism
Through Moses God revealed the ten commandments
Through Jesus God revealed the law to love ones neighbor
Through Muhammed God revealed what love of neighbor requires in a complicated world of human conflicts. Islam consists in having embodied the beautiful sentiment of Jesus into definite laws (in the Koran but also in the Hadith, the tradition of what Muhammed did or said informally, for the most part in the decade of his administration of the collective life in Medina).
Five pillars:
CreedThere is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet.
PrayerFive times a day to remind man that he is not God. Kneel and prostrate selves in direction of Mecca. Gratitude and submission. Humanity has a tendency to place itself at the center of the universe and live as a law unto itself. When this happens, when humans try to play God, everything goes wrong.
Charity2.5% of net worth to charity each year to the most needy.
Fasting during Ramadandiscipline, awareness of frailty, compassion for the hungry.
Pilgrimage (Hajj)to Mecca. Devotion and also emphasizes community of brotherhoodall wear same clothes. When get to Mecca they circumambulate the same shrine (the Kaaba), in the same direction (counterclockwise). The Kaaba symbolizes a spiritual home and the circumambulation symbolizes the brotherhood of Islam, with individual lives consensually revolving around Allah rather than around the ego-self.
32. Sick Souled Monotheism (in J, C, I) Punitive God of Sin, shame, guilt
Non-affirming, threatening God causes insecurity, impedes healthy psychosocial development
Introjection of shoulds
Zealous idealism and intolerance as defense
Insecurity and Battle for God (Karen Armstrong)
Ideological warfare more common in the West. So, religions can bolster healthy personality development along the lines of Erikson, or they can be defensive fixations
The self is less focal in Eastern religious traditions. Rather than bolster a powerful self with ideals for deciding how to act, the focus is more on specific contextual and social requirements that differ across situations. So, religions can bolster healthy personality development along the lines of Erikson, or they can be defensive fixations
The self is less focal in Eastern religious traditions. Rather than bolster a powerful self with ideals for deciding how to act, the focus is more on specific contextual and social requirements that differ across situations.
33. Self-esteem: Canadian sample So far in this course we have looked primarily at Western selves.
In the Western story, the independent self is very important and must be valued. It is the guide for action.
Western selves are more promotion-focused and approach motivated. So far in this course we have looked primarily at Western selves.
In the Western story, the independent self is very important and must be valued. It is the guide for action.
Western selves are more promotion-focused and approach motivated.
34. Independent self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) Independent & Interdependent Self-Construals in Individualistic (Western) & Collectivistic (Eastern) Cultures
Independent/Individualistic
Separate from social context
Bounded, unitary, stable
Internal, private feelings, thoughts guide action
Be unique, express self, self-esteem, personal accomplishment
Direct communication
Self-expression; emotional expression; passionate action.
This self is used for goal regulationtherefore must be preserved defensively when challenged.
Eastern cultures and people with low-eager personalities do not show the same kinds of reactive idealism extremes after the various threats...and also are less effected by value affirmation manipulationsIndependent & Interdependent Self-Construals in Individualistic (Western) & Collectivistic (Eastern) Cultures
Independent/Individualistic
Separate from social context
Bounded, unitary, stable
Internal, private feelings, thoughts guide action
Be unique, express self, self-esteem, personal accomplishment
Direct communication
Self-expression; emotional expression; passionate action.
This self is used for goal regulationtherefore must be preserved defensively when challenged.
Eastern cultures and people with low-eager personalities do not show the same kinds of reactive idealism extremes after the various threats...and also are less effected by value affirmation manipulations
35. Interdependent self-construal Selves are less critical for goal regulationsocial norms rather than independent self choices guide behavior (e.g., see Confucianism to come).
Interdependent/Collectivistic
Connected with social context
Flexible, variable
External, public roles, relationships, norms, authority structures guide actions
Belong, fit-in, appropriate action, promote others goals
Indirect communication
Self-restraint; adjust and mute self to maintain harmony
Where did these Eastern and Western trends come from? From culture and religion that helped shape personality
Selves are less critical for goal regulationsocial norms rather than independent self choices guide behavior (e.g., see Confucianism to come).
Interdependent/Collectivistic
Connected with social context
Flexible, variable
External, public roles, relationships, norms, authority structures guide actions
Belong, fit-in, appropriate action, promote others goals
Indirect communication
Self-restraint; adjust and mute self to maintain harmony
Where did these Eastern and Western trends come from? From culture and religion that helped shape personality
36. Self-esteem: Japanese sample Less defensive selves in eastern cultures.
Less exaggerated self-esteemalso less approach-motivation
The independent self is used less as an arbiter of action.
Eastern selves have lower explicit self-esteem on average, and are more prevention-focused and avoidance motivatedLess defensive selves in eastern cultures.
Less exaggerated self-esteemalso less approach-motivation
The independent self is used less as an arbiter of action.
Eastern selves have lower explicit self-esteem on average, and are more prevention-focused and avoidance motivated
37. Eastern Cultures & Religions: India Hinduism (Oldest)
Four Wants: pleasure, success (path of desire), duty, Being (path of renunciation)
Mukti = liberation from limitations
Let people accomplish lower stages, they will want more
Four paths (Yogas = yokes) to true Being, suited to personalities: knowledge (O), love (A), work (E), meditation (I)
Maya illusion vs. True Being (Atman and Brahman)
Sounds Greek. Is this where Pythagoras got inspiration?
Advocates balanced engagement, e.g., Dancing Shiva, i.e., Not identifying with fruits of action. GOALS!
See notes field below for related reading
Notes taken from Huston Smiths Religions of Man
Hinduisms four wants of man:
Pleasure
this is natural
this is good. If it is pleasure you want, says India, dont suppress this desire. See instead that it is fulfilled as richly and esthetically as possible. She says thisand waits. She waits for the time
when one realizes that pleasure isnt all one wants
Pleasure is essentially private, and the self is too small an object for perpetual enthusiasm
Sooner or later everyone wants to be more than a kaleidoscope of private, momentary pleasures however exquisite and subtle.
Success is next
wealth, fame, power
unlike pleasure, success is a social achievement substantially meshed with the lives of others
it brings to many a sense of dignity and self-respect. In the end, however, success, too, is found wanting. It is competitive and therefore precarious
Moreover, though less obviously trivial than pleasure, it too centers value and meaning in the self which must eventually be sensed as too small. Success does not survive bodily death. Together, pleasure and success represent the twin goals of the Path of Desire. They are like toys that we encourage children to play with, but trust they will outgrow them
the healthy individual will work his way through full delight in the senses and success to the point where these pulls have been largely outgrown. Unless one does, ones energies must remain locked forever in lifes banal and outmoded nursery.
Luckily, there is life after desire along the Path of Renunciation. Adherents resemble the athlete in training who turns her back upon every indulgence that would deflect from her prize
What forces us to listen attentively to Hinduisms renunciation hypothesis is the testimony of those who have followed the Path of Desire with brilliant success only to find themselves wishing desperately that life could give them something more
Many experiences that thrilled on first encounter pall on the hundredth. Throughout, each attainment seems only to fan the fire of new desire; none satisfies fully and all perish with time. Eventually there comes a suspicion that one is caught on a nonstop treadmill, having to race faster and faster for rewards that mean less and less
The trouble lies in the fact that Path of Desire satisfactions are limited by the smallness of the self one is scrambling to serve. What if the focus of concern were shifted? Might not becoming a part of a larger, more significant whole relieve life of its oppressive triviality? This question, once it arises, brings the beginning of religion. For though in some watered down sense there may be a religion which makes of the self its own god, true religion begins with the quest for meaning and a value beyond privacywith renunciation of the egos claims to finality.
The first part of the Path of Renunciation is duty
duty to the human community beyond the self
beyond the wish to gain to the wish to give. Faithful performance of duty brings praise of peers
self-respect that comes from having done ones party, of having contributed. But in the end even this realization cannot provide joy adequate to mans desiring. For even when elongated through history, the human community remains both finite and tragic; tragic not only in the sense that it must eventually come to an end, but also in its implacable resistance to perfection. The final want of man must still like elsewhere.
The final human want is for Liberation (mukti): release from the countless limits that press so closely upon human existence. There are three aspects to this desire for liberation.
Desire for being (or liberation from death): normally, nobody wants to die. Soldiers facing likelihood of death in battle display not so much a fear, but rather a profound reluctance to give up the future.
Desire for awareness and knowledge (or liberation from ignorance).
Desire for joy (or liberation from frustration, futility, and boredom).
As with the other desires, Hinduism views liberation as desirable and attainable. The challenge is that this Eternal aspect of human nature is buried under the almost impenetrable mass of distractions, false ideas, and self-regarding impulses that comprise our surface being. Detachment from the finite self or attachment to reality as a whole helps lifts life above frustration and ennui, because the cosmic drama is too spectacular to permit boredom in the face of such intensive identification. The size of ones spirit is the size of the range of reality with which one identifies. Identification with being as a whole makes ones own being infinite. Once one identifies with all of reality, nothing is frustrating. Nothing disrupts peace of mind. One feels no lack, no misery, no fear, and finds on cause for strife or grief. There is no need for ego bolstering, love can flow outward alike to all.
Hinduisms specific directions for actualizing mans fullest nature come under the heading of yoga, which comes from the same root as the English word yoke which means both to unite (yoke together) and to place under discipline or training. The yogas that concern us here are those designed to unite the human spirit with the infinite. How to become divine while still on earthtransformed, reborn, while on the earthly plane; that is the quest that has inspired and deified the spirit of man in India through the ages.
The Four Yogas (Ways to God or the Infinite)
The way of Knowledge or Ideas (Jnana Yoga): For those with a strong intellectual bent. Striving to take a third-person, objective view of oneself, both in times of good and bad fortune. Come to see the persona or mask of personality as an illusion that shrouds the abiding Self.
The way of Love (Bhakti Yoga): Worship of ones chosen ideal with the same kind of devotion as when lover loves a beloved. (Recall the passtionate devotion of the Greek philosophers, and that the word philosophy itself means, lover of truth.). Every step toward loving of the chosen ideal will loosen the worlds grip and provide liberation from it.
The way of Work (Karma Yoga): important, though, what kind of work. Every deed done to enhance ones own private welfare adds another coating to the ego and in thus thickening it insulates it further from God within or without. Correlatively, every act done without thought of self diminishes self-centeredness until finally no barrier remains to cloud one from the divine. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, He who does the task, dictated by duty, caring nothing for the fruit of the action, he is Yogi.
The way of Psychological Exercises (Raja Yoga): Culminating in capacity for intense concentration on objects of choice (as a means of clearing the mind of the clutter of intruding thoughts); complete immersion in the focus of thought so that the self-disappears; and finally, with mind stilled and self quelled, one can merge with the one reality, the brimming ocean of utter being, boundless as the sky.
Notes taken from Huston Smiths Religions of Man
Hinduisms four wants of man:
Pleasure
this is natural
this is good. If it is pleasure you want, says India, dont suppress this desire. See instead that it is fulfilled as richly and esthetically as possible. She says thisand waits. She waits for the time
when one realizes that pleasure isnt all one wants
Pleasure is essentially private, and the self is too small an object for perpetual enthusiasm
Sooner or later everyone wants to be more than a kaleidoscope of private, momentary pleasures however exquisite and subtle.
Success is next
wealth, fame, power
unlike pleasure, success is a social achievement substantially meshed with the lives of others
it brings to many a sense of dignity and self-respect. In the end, however, success, too, is found wanting. It is competitive and therefore precarious
Moreover, though less obviously trivial than pleasure, it too centers value and meaning in the self which must eventually be sensed as too small. Success does not survive bodily death. Together, pleasure and success represent the twin goals of the Path of Desire. They are like toys that we encourage children to play with, but trust they will outgrow them
the healthy individual will work his way through full delight in the senses and success to the point where these pulls have been largely outgrown. Unless one does, ones energies must remain locked forever in lifes banal and outmoded nursery.
Luckily, there is life after desire along the Path of Renunciation. Adherents resemble the athlete in training who turns her back upon every indulgence that would deflect from her prize
What forces us to listen attentively to Hinduisms renunciation hypothesis is the testimony of those who have followed the Path of Desire with brilliant success only to find themselves wishing desperately that life could give them something more
Many experiences that thrilled on first encounter pall on the hundredth. Throughout, each attainment seems only to fan the fire of new desire; none satisfies fully and all perish with time. Eventually there comes a suspicion that one is caught on a nonstop treadmill, having to race faster and faster for rewards that mean less and less
The trouble lies in the fact that Path of Desire satisfactions are limited by the smallness of the self one is scrambling to serve. What if the focus of concern were shifted? Might not becoming a part of a larger, more significant whole relieve life of its oppressive triviality? This question, once it arises, brings the beginning of religion. For though in some watered down sense there may be a religion which makes of the self its own god, true religion begins with the quest for meaning and a value beyond privacywith renunciation of the egos claims to finality.
The first part of the Path of Renunciation is duty
duty to the human community beyond the self
beyond the wish to gain to the wish to give. Faithful performance of duty brings praise of peers
self-respect that comes from having done ones party, of having contributed. But in the end even this realization cannot provide joy adequate to mans desiring. For even when elongated through history, the human community remains both finite and tragic; tragic not only in the sense that it must eventually come to an end, but also in its implacable resistance to perfection. The final want of man must still like elsewhere.
The final human want is for Liberation (mukti): release from the countless limits that press so closely upon human existence. There are three aspects to this desire for liberation.
Desire for being (or liberation from death): normally, nobody wants to die. Soldiers facing likelihood of death in battle display not so much a fear, but rather a profound reluctance to give up the future.
Desire for awareness and knowledge (or liberation from ignorance).
Desire for joy (or liberation from frustration, futility, and boredom).
As with the other desires, Hinduism views liberation as desirable and attainable. The challenge is that this Eternal aspect of human nature is buried under the almost impenetrable mass of distractions, false ideas, and self-regarding impulses that comprise our surface being. Detachment from the finite self or attachment to reality as a whole helps lifts life above frustration and ennui, because the cosmic drama is too spectacular to permit boredom in the face of such intensive identification. The size of ones spirit is the size of the range of reality with which one identifies. Identification with being as a whole makes ones own being infinite. Once one identifies with all of reality, nothing is frustrating. Nothing disrupts peace of mind. One feels no lack, no misery, no fear, and finds on cause for strife or grief. There is no need for ego bolstering, love can flow outward alike to all.
Hinduisms specific directions for actualizing mans fullest nature come under the heading of yoga, which comes from the same root as the English word yoke which means both to unite (yoke together) and to place under discipline or training. The yogas that concern us here are those designed to unite the human spirit with the infinite. How to become divine while still on earthtransformed, reborn, while on the earthly plane; that is the quest that has inspired and deified the spirit of man in India through the ages.
The Four Yogas (Ways to God or the Infinite)
The way of Knowledge or Ideas (Jnana Yoga): For those with a strong intellectual bent. Striving to take a third-person, objective view of oneself, both in times of good and bad fortune. Come to see the persona or mask of personality as an illusion that shrouds the abiding Self.
The way of Love (Bhakti Yoga): Worship of ones chosen ideal with the same kind of devotion as when lover loves a beloved. (Recall the passtionate devotion of the Greek philosophers, and that the word philosophy itself means, lover of truth.). Every step toward loving of the chosen ideal will loosen the worlds grip and provide liberation from it.
The way of Work (Karma Yoga): important, though, what kind of work. Every deed done to enhance ones own private welfare adds another coating to the ego and in thus thickening it insulates it further from God within or without. Correlatively, every act done without thought of self diminishes self-centeredness until finally no barrier remains to cloud one from the divine. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, He who does the task, dictated by duty, caring nothing for the fruit of the action, he is Yogi.
The way of Psychological Exercises (Raja Yoga): Culminating in capacity for intense concentration on objects of choice (as a means of clearing the mind of the clutter of intruding thoughts); complete immersion in the focus of thought so that the self-disappears; and finally, with mind stilled and self quelled, one can merge with the one reality, the brimming ocean of utter being, boundless as the sky.
38. Engaged in goals and action, but released from ignorancenot overly identified with the fruits of actionEngaged in goals and action, but released from ignorancenot overly identified with the fruits of action
39. Eastern Cultures & Religions: India Buddhism (566-486 BCE: He Who is Awake)
Pragmatic psychology for well-being
Reaction against Hindu authority, ritual, tradition, fatalism, superstition.
Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path (from wandering about to intentional living)
Do not over-attach to goals and fruits of goals
Meditation and mindfulness: noticing and centering on breathing (left hemisphere!)
Strive with awareness middle way
See Shivas dance
Life is suffering, suffering comes from desire and clinging (to the fruits of action), there is a way for liberation, this is the eightfold path
Eightfold path for proper thinking and acting for release from anxiety
(goal conlict). Life is suffering, suffering comes from desire and clinging (to the fruits of action), there is a way for liberation, this is the eightfold path
Eightfold path for proper thinking and acting for release from anxiety
(goal conlict).
40. Eastern Culture & Religion: Chinese Confucius (552-479 BCE), after collapse of Chou dynasty, Period of Warring States, solve social chaos
human animal without instincts requires tradition for social harmony lover of the ancients.
Correct attitudes by following tradition
Perspective-taking: man-to-manness, compromise, social sensitivity
Putting others at ease: graciousness, face
Propriety: situational, relational, and role norms
Doctrine of mean between extremes avoid pure values/ fanaticism
concrete, holistic, collectivism (vs. abstract, analytical, individualism) Antidotes to the myopic extremes of Western Idealism seemingly built in very explicitlyAntidotes to the myopic extremes of Western Idealism seemingly built in very explicitly
41. Eastern Culture & Religion: Chinese and Japanese Taoism: Lao Tzu (Grand Old Master) contemporary of Confucius
Tao Te Ching (the Way and its power)order life in sync with natural world (not transcending and imposing will on it)
Yin Yang: allow contradictions, avoid clear categories, no absolutes (sometimes, some situations)
Creative quiet, mystery, simplicity, humility, spontaneous flow
No self-assertion, competition, or conqueringinstead, befriend emptiness (cups, doors, windows). Water metaphors.
Zen Buddhism: 12 Century Japan (Buddhism + Taoism = Zen)
Inspired by Buddhas Lotus sermon, Koans (one hand clapping); meaning of Zen (lifted little finger, kicked a ball, slapped in face).
Grapple with uncertain, experiential truth beneath words and categories. Kick habit of logical analysis. Silence and no words
Contrast this to Judaic people of the book, the word, logos. -allow uncertainty to remaindo not suppress or solve it in an idealistic, logical Western way---allow uncertainty to remaindo not suppress or solve it in an idealistic, logical Western way--
42. Goal Theory Interpretation East and West agree that narrow ego-self striving is problematic
Western solutions bolster identification with an ideal self, which ultimately transcends itself
Eastern solutions treat self as illusion
At best, both facilitate well-being, lack of defensiveness, openness, and compassion
Habituation, disillusionment, threats, and death cause within-self conflict;
Selfish arrogance is antisocial; Competition and disagreement cause conflict between people
Conflict activates anxiety and vigilant self-focus and preoccupation
Habituation, disillusionment, threats, and death cause within-self conflict;
Selfish arrogance is antisocial; Competition and disagreement cause conflict between people
Conflict activates anxiety and vigilant self-focus and preoccupation
43. Compassion Axial age and Great Transformation (Armstrong)
Emphasis on compassion discourages fanatical intolerance (West) and also aloof personal enlightenment (East)
Non-divisive ideal that directly discourages ego-self-focus
Compelling exemplars to emulate
Theraveda?Mahayana Buddhism (Bodhisattvas) Compassionate Ideals for Action: Best of both worlds?
Theraveda ? Mahayana: shift from austere Buddhism to popular Buddhism that involved focus on Bodhisattvasexemplars of compassionate action
Like Buddha, Bodhisattvas resist temptation to stop with private Nirvana. They return to the world to serve others. Emperor Asoka spread Mahayana Buddhism around the world in the 3rd century BCE.
The Great Transformation: Axial Age to Compassionate Action
e.g., Tibetan Buddhism and Compassionate Action
Emptiness is not enough and words are not enough
Action more fully activates the goal system and aids in absorption and control of afflicting emotions
Negative afflictive emotions require a powerful force
compassionate action is that powerful force
Ideal with less collateral damage
like breathing
Use this as the main course readings because no metaphysical or supernatural claims, therefore compatible with other religious systems
Recent trip to India, met with the Dalai Llama and asked, What do Westerners need to learn about Buddhism. He said were all in the same soup, hard compassion, turn the other cheek.Compassionate Ideals for Action: Best of both worlds?
Theraveda ? Mahayana: shift from austere Buddhism to popular Buddhism that involved focus on Bodhisattvasexemplars of compassionate action
Like Buddha, Bodhisattvas resist temptation to stop with private Nirvana. They return to the world to serve others. Emperor Asoka spread Mahayana Buddhism around the world in the 3rd century BCE.
The Great Transformation: Axial Age to Compassionate Action
e.g., Tibetan Buddhism and Compassionate Action
Emptiness is not enough and words are not enough
Action more fully activates the goal system and aids in absorption and control of afflicting emotions
Negative afflictive emotions require a powerful force
compassionate action is that powerful force
Ideal with less collateral damage
like breathing
Use this as the main course readings because no metaphysical or supernatural claims, therefore compatible with other religious systems
Recent trip to India, met with the Dalai Llama and asked, What do Westerners need to learn about Buddhism. He said were all in the same soup, hard compassion, turn the other cheek.
