Coming out of the Jordan Peterson phase

I think I am slowly coming out of my Jordan Peterson phase, though it might take a bit longer. To me he represents an aspect of the Western critique of the East. When the critical eyes of all these great Western thinkers turned to India, they were nearly all dismissive in each their own way.





What moved me to start writing this is that I am listening to Peterson yet again delineate the absolute horrors of Stalin and Stalinism and the psychology of ideological possession is a transformation of a near total nihilism. And this he does not hesitate to say is evil.

And of course, this is the psychology of evil, individual and collective.
Now I have led a sheltered life. My experiences of evil are minimal. I am certainly not a brave crusader against evil, real or imagined. This is perhaps nothing but good karma, but one's experience is related to one's relative optimism or pessimism.
Ultimately Peterson has nothing to say except to live an authentic life and be a better person than you are. Change starts with yourself. And beware the hell of ideological convictions. Which means a kind of artificial immunity to human feeling in favor of a hyperrational dogmatic approach to the both the individual and society.
And that is bloody true. No religion worth its salt is not engaged in the general cultural task of bettering humanity. It is a competition of stories.
The thing is that in today's world shiny new stories are required every day, and old stories have lost their numinosity.
Nevertheless, as a person who is swimming in the sea of an old story, I will explore it to whatever limits I can find. I believe that I can find the whole of human existence in its pure essence there. And the essence of human existence, in my religious optimism, is to experience happiness, for without knowing happiness, how can one spread it? And if evil is to be conquered, is it not by shining happiness on suffering? To enter into the fight against suffering because one is suffering is to perpetuate suffering. To be free of suffering is the only way to defeat suffering.
But that is easy for me to say. Someone said to me today. "You are getting free meals." I am not in the stranglehold of identification with my body and the things connected with my body that I consider that to be the only reality.
My reality is in essences. I love people in relations, in their essentialness, as sparks of the Divine, as manifestations of the Divine, each in his own individual way.
I believe that my absorption in that world changes my this world. And that is the spiritual methodology I experimentally would like to use to change the world. Facebook Dec 27 2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Mind! Meditate on Radha's Breasts

Image
Flickr As I go through the dāna-līlā episode of Chandi Das's Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtana , there are many songs in which Krishna describes Radha's beauty, and a regular feature of that includes descriptions of her breasts. In fact, breasts are a subject that is prominent in all Sanskrit poetry, and is even standard in prayers to goddesses. There does not seem to have been any inhibition in talking about breasts in the ancient Indian culture, even though I dare say, there is more of one in the modern society, in spite of Bollywood. There is, however, an apparent restriction in talking about genitals, male or female, in the so-called erotic poetry of India--Sanskrit or vernacular--even when lovemaking etc., is described. Such descriptions would automatically fall into some other genre. In Radha and Krishna descriptions, I cannot recall ever seeing or hearing a passage that mentioned genitals or overt sexual activity. It is nearly always spoken of somewhat euphemistically. I remember
Read more

Swami Vishwananda's Bhakti Marga and Parampara

Image
It has been a little strange here at Jiva these past few days. Swami Vishwananda is here with his troupe of disciples, of whom there are a goodly number, perhaps 80 or so. When I arrived in Vrindavan already a couple of weeks back, almost the first thing I noticed at the corner of Mathura Road and the Parikrama Marg was a big billboard with Swami Vishwananda’s charming smile and glowing tilak staring charismatically out at the world and announcing that he would be giving darshan on March 8 at the Jiva Institute. Below him, in a smaller frame was Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji, who besides being his host will be speaking on the Bhāgavatam at the darshan event. This is not the first time that Vishwananda and his group have been at Jiva. Satyanarayana Dasaji calls Vishwananda a friend, and indeed the relations between the two are very cordial. Vishwananda's group is mostly young and enthusiastic, predominantly European (German and points east), who are very enthusiastic about
Read more

Erotic sculptures on Jagannath temple

Image
This was written on the basis of Sundarananda Vidyavinode's Sri Kshetra and intended for a devotee audience, as it was done on a commission by disciples of Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaj. It has never been published. I decided to put this on line since there was a discussion on Facebook on the subject and I thought I would revisit what I wrote here nearly twenty years ago. This is from chapter ten on temple renovations. Please note that I have removed the images that I had found of some of the sculptures. I have been blocked from posting links to this blog on Facebook for some infringement of its "community standards". The only thing I can think of on this blog that might have offended some prudish person in cyberspace is this. I do not have much hope for redemption as it has been over six months since my ban is "under review" and there has been no sign of action. Needless to say, I find this heavy-handed action on the part of Facebook dangerously authoritar
Read more