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icarusMansplainer!guy sent me a leeeeennnnnnggggggthhhhhhyyyyy follow-up mansplaining in comments. I think he finds himself erudite.
I think he's missing the point of Buddhism. People I enjoy talking to about Buddhism stick to Buddhism, for starters. Second, they don't puff themselves up like this.
I have this image of a big puffer fish, full of hot air and nothing, trying to impress.
That's not Dharma.
That's not any religion.
I'd rather talk to a sincere Muslim who talks about his difficulty in balancing praying five times a day versus finding a pure, clean spot for it that's not been walked upon (I didn't know that was a prerequisite). I can relate to that. I've got my struggles of questioning whether my procrastination is really procrastination, or if the obstacles in my way are real, and have to do with not following the steps: I should've asked my teacher for permission to start the next cycle of practice. Now she's out of town and I can't ask.
I prefer my best friend's video of her performing in her Lutheran church bell choir. Beautiful stuff, and touchingly sweet in the small town church.
Does that mean I'm no scholar?
Perhaps not. I prefer practice to study, that's true. But I don't think it's appropriate to mix religions together, grabbing from one and another, taking a piece from this and that, so you can formulate something else that sounds deep, but no longer has any roots.
Ripping the concepts from their context is disrespectful of the religions, partially because this kind of fooling around assumes that all that matters in these teachings is the concepts--that the more you play with the concepts, the better. But the concepts don't matter. They're just a method.
The religious people I've enjoyed talking to ... the sincere Muslim, the Advaita scholar, the compassionate Christian ... seem to share this feeling of distaste for playing Geranimals with their religions.
I got through about a paragraph of his dancing around, before I wrote back to the fellow: "tl;dr"
To my surprise, he wrote back to the effect that he didn't believe I didn't read it. Laughed that I was lying to him about not reading that page and a half of egotistical bullshit.
0.o
Oh my God, did he not see that his pontificating was just ... so dull? Is he so fascinated with his mental masturbation that he hasn't looked in a mirror to see that really, it's not all that interesting?
Wow.
I'd already unfriended him. Moved past that to blocking him.
Wow.
I'm both floored and annoyed. So the new word: flonnoyed.
I think he's missing the point of Buddhism. People I enjoy talking to about Buddhism stick to Buddhism, for starters. Second, they don't puff themselves up like this.
I have this image of a big puffer fish, full of hot air and nothing, trying to impress.
That's not Dharma.
That's not any religion.
I'd rather talk to a sincere Muslim who talks about his difficulty in balancing praying five times a day versus finding a pure, clean spot for it that's not been walked upon (I didn't know that was a prerequisite). I can relate to that. I've got my struggles of questioning whether my procrastination is really procrastination, or if the obstacles in my way are real, and have to do with not following the steps: I should've asked my teacher for permission to start the next cycle of practice. Now she's out of town and I can't ask.
I prefer my best friend's video of her performing in her Lutheran church bell choir. Beautiful stuff, and touchingly sweet in the small town church.
Does that mean I'm no scholar?
Perhaps not. I prefer practice to study, that's true. But I don't think it's appropriate to mix religions together, grabbing from one and another, taking a piece from this and that, so you can formulate something else that sounds deep, but no longer has any roots.
Ripping the concepts from their context is disrespectful of the religions, partially because this kind of fooling around assumes that all that matters in these teachings is the concepts--that the more you play with the concepts, the better. But the concepts don't matter. They're just a method.
The religious people I've enjoyed talking to ... the sincere Muslim, the Advaita scholar, the compassionate Christian ... seem to share this feeling of distaste for playing Geranimals with their religions.
I got through about a paragraph of his dancing around, before I wrote back to the fellow: "tl;dr"
To my surprise, he wrote back to the effect that he didn't believe I didn't read it. Laughed that I was lying to him about not reading that page and a half of egotistical bullshit.
0.o
Oh my God, did he not see that his pontificating was just ... so dull? Is he so fascinated with his mental masturbation that he hasn't looked in a mirror to see that really, it's not all that interesting?
Wow.
I'd already unfriended him. Moved past that to blocking him.
Wow.
I'm both floored and annoyed. So the new word: flonnoyed.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 05:45 pm (UTC)oh, and you know what else? the arrogance of the guy? makes me laugh out loud. and not much ever makes me do that.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-03 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-03 09:04 am (UTC)I like talking about the what of religions more than participating in the how, but it's SO APPROPRIATIVE to mix and match among the traditions! I mean, yeah some stuff is going to be similar b/c humans have this thing where we talk to each other and idea get around... but show a little damn respect for the the culture(s.) It's not yours, keep your hands off.