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Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

nytimes.com

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Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#91

Post by greendragon »

FussyZeus wrote: post #33
Raphmedia wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are rich and already in the middle class, then maybe. But it's not terribly good for the poor class. ... Don't let wealth create unneeded divides. When you enter the mindset of "us vs. them" you will always be unhappy. Edit: I grew up in a very poor community and our family yearly income was well under the poverty line (20,209 in Canada). The middle class has always been the richest people in the world for me.…

While I agree you should try to be content with what you have, there's nothing wrong with aspiring to more. The middle class is being eroded away leaving us with a much larger group of have nots, and an increasingly hard to enter group of haves. I wouldn't have a problem with this except a lot of the haves are in that group via genetic lottery, nothing that they actually did or earned.

If genetics determines all, then we should sort people to tasks best suited for their genetics. Ashkenazi Jew? Work on advancing gene therapy and retroviruses so humans now and in the future can be freed from genetic determinism. European? Build civilization. African? Physical labor/sports. East Asian? Also build civilization. To each is given the minimum necessary to do their genetically determined purpose, ignoring any abstract "human" needs for all. Surplus is captured by the State and hoarded, some used to incentivize the Jews to have more children since their problem is the most important. Eventually the Jews will succeed and no one will have any excuses anymore.

That's not a world I'd like to live in. But it would solve you having a problem with inequality. Or maybe you just need a different perspective to not put so much into genetic determinism in the first place.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#92

Post by Amezarak »

johnwheeler wrote: post #74
antarrah wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really in every aspect. Frank Sinatra was replaced by Justin Bieber. How is that better? :)

No, pretty much in every aspect. If you're living in the U.S. or Europe today, your lifestyle likely surpasses that of the royalty and robber barons of 150 years ago.

What does "better" mean? If we mean that to be afforded more technological luxury is to live better, then sure, no people has ever lived better. Are we happier and more fulfilled than ever before? I don't know, but I doubt it.

Also, while the royalty and robber barons didn't have the internet or chemotherapy, they had servants to do all the menial chores most of is still have to do today, so in that respect we haven't totally surpassed them.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#94

Post by mping »

komali2 wrote: post #50
forgottenpass wrote: post #34

For as prolific as he is, the Dalai Lama doesn't pop up on my radar much. But here he is in the NY Times opinion pages sharing monism. This speaks to a broader human truth: We all need to be needed. There's an old but relevant perspective on life. We value ourselves by how much we can contribute to the lives of others. Still though, I'm left wondering, what combination of forces summed up to this particular writing c…

I don't understand how "meaningful work," when the Dalai Lama says it, means "40 hours into the system." My understanding of Buddhism is "meaningful work" or "meaning" can be slaving away 60 hours a week at your own company, sitting on concrete tinkering away at a motorcycle, or even living on a mountain shaving your head and relinquishing all possessions. The idea is to "find meaning," that is, only do things that f…

This is a common misconception in my line of understanding of Buddhism. From how I see it, there's not even a "me" or "you", maybe there's a "I am you; you are me", or "nothing at all", depending on the line you may follow.

For me, Buddhism teaches about selflessness, not stuff like carpe diem or find meaning of live or whatever; also teaches about the dangers of dying and being reborn/transmigrate in a much worse state, so we should quickly get out of this cycle of suffering. If you are sharp (in terms of Budddhism) you will want to fix this ASAP. If you are not so sharp, they will have to use expedients to slowly show you whats the proper path to happiness - for example showing that clinging to stuff doesn't bring lasting happiness.

Getting out ot our own ignorance requires real effort, not just reading and making assumptions from the comfort of our views.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#95

Post by nowayyeah »

ajbqq wrote: post #82
wozer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the Dalai Lama writes, to feel needed is a basic human need. For more and more people, this need is NOT fulfilled. So, no, this is not the best time to be a human being.

If that would be the only need, sure.

I don't know why people downvotes you. It's not an obvious thing.

To convince you, I gently ask you to see this ted.com video: "What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness"

      http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#96

Post by hypertexthero »

neves wrote: post #9

I'd like to read everyday articles like these. We are drowned in hateful speech. Would feel better reading something like it.

As a counter to hate I recommend anything by Jiddu Krishnamurti, especially Think on These Things and The First and Last Freedom.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#97

Post by wozer »

debt wrote: post #81

to be fair though, if you're feeling severe anxiety you should go see a doctor. i've been seeing a lot of articles on hn lately that are like "just think your way into a good mood yay" or "heres arbitrary reason for how you feel etc" when we all know there's many environmental or genetic factors that play into how our minds develop. maybe it's the fear of the being unneeded or maybe if you have anxiety you should tal…

"Severe anxiety" was probably not the best choice of words.

I believe from a Buddhist perspective, anxiety is a pretty basic thing, i.e. it is considered the normal state of the not-yet-enlightened person.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#98

Post by taurath »

wozer wrote: post #70
sjclemmy wrote: post #16

It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…

As the Dalai Lama writes, to feel needed is a basic human need. For more and more people, this need is NOT fulfilled. So, no, this is not the best time to be a human being.

Think about how many more humans there are, and how unlikely one is to be a special snowflake. We can be special and needed by others - not to society. I don't think society will give us a role that we can emotionally engage with anymore and take pride in. The only way we can belong is to our relationships.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#99

Post by nowayyeah »

greendragon wrote: post #86
johnwheeler wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if he's the originator, but Penn Jillette said one of my favorite quotes: "Everyone always thinks the world is getting worse, but the world is always getting better."

It's really technology that is always getting better. It has been so successful that it's hard to see the decline in so many other things. Factor out technological advances when answering these questions. Are our universities really better than they were 100 years ago? Even just 50? Are our political systems any better than 100 years ago? 2000 years ago? Are our stories any better? Are our People any better? Is our a…

I always wonder: how could we improve humans? (including me).

How to detect bullshit. Make logical choices. Be respectful, etc.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#100

Post by taurath »

greendragon wrote: post #86
johnwheeler wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if he's the originator, but Penn Jillette said one of my favorite quotes: "Everyone always thinks the world is getting worse, but the world is always getting better."

It's really technology that is always getting better. It has been so successful that it's hard to see the decline in so many other things. Factor out technological advances when answering these questions. Are our universities really better than they were 100 years ago? Even just 50? Are our political systems any better than 100 years ago? 2000 years ago? Are our stories any better? Are our People any better? Is our a…

For someone like say an LGBT person, western society/culture is objectively less harmful now than ever. Many more examples
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