Guest guest Posted January 23, 2001 Report Share Posted January 23, 2001 Hi, Been travelling and have met some simple people, in Thailand and Turkey. They smile a lot in Thailand. Lots od hospitality and generosity in Turkey. Most Thais: Buddhists. Most Turks: Muslims. In the west, when disturbed/upset, we say: Ohh Jeesus ! In Thail. thay say : Ohh Big Buddha ! And in Turkey, of course : Ohh Allah ! Most people there have goodness, generosity and ..are very communicative,.. I doubt whether there is just as much alienation as in the west, .. or exciting therapies for sick and lonely minds. And there is much talking going on. ... the 'simple people'.. intellectual subtelty ..no trace of it, somehow they look happy,..and yet essentially like the rest of us,.. I do not regard endless existential chit chat as superior or more worthwhile than theirs, any longer.. they have their awake-dream formats,.. the new agers have theirs, and here, same. A dream. At least they do not have the glorious concept of 'awake' and do not use it feeling as if they are doing something terribly special or indulge in self-concerned 'Higher Consciousness' goal-achievement while battling with words about it. They relate. They talk, laugh, suffer, and though poor, they invite you for a cup of Turkish coffee or a Thai spicy fish soup. And many are very helpfull. A friend and enquirerer neutralized their whole kindness/hospitality with an analytical argument that it is not 'real/genuine goodness.. _Because_' .. because there is a cause behind,.. cultural, conditioning or otherwise. Well, -What- does Not have a cause ?... The 'insight' of the intellect has this flair to downgrade everything, to turn all life into ashes in this fire of Absolute 'Truth' evaluations... ...and smear everything with sh**, in the name of the 'Real thing' which, probably, one does not actually know anyhow. And life becomes such an arrogant and gray drag, in the name of the ... To me, 'Truth' is to be lived. If one does not, it would be much better to refrain from looking down on the simpleton's dream... ...and not explain away his 'relative' goodness, with analytical arguments.. I used to do this undervaluation number for years,.. have enough !,.. I'd rather see the (to me) genuine goodness of a so called 'simpleton', than the refined and proud argumentative subtlety of an analytical mind's dream. We probably all know what happens to a flower, when dissected.. into its causes, molecular/chemical components and genes.. And I'd rather leave that, to the clever and knowledgeable minds. Well, that's some of what I've seen on my recent travel. jb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2001 Report Share Posted January 23, 2001 On Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:19:13 J B wrote: >Been travelling and have met some simple people, >in Thailand and Turkey. >They smile a lot in Thailand. >Lots od hospitality and generosity in Turkey. >Most Thais: Buddhists. >Most Turks: Muslims. >In the west, when disturbed/upset, we say: >Ohh Jeesus ! >In Thail. thay say : Ohh Big Buddha ! >And in Turkey, of course : Ohh Allah ! > Welcome back, JB. Thanks for sharing these reflections on traveling and on the people you met. It sounds like you had a really good and somewhat eye opening trip Love, Amanda. Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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