Links for Tuesday
The call to service, the horror of capitalism, the dehumanizing of technology and the wonders of collective intelligence!
Incredibly inspiring video of Shodo Harada Roshi talking about his awakening experience (h/t Wystan I think?). It’s short - watch it in full. It was so moving how he came to see the purpose of his own life as one of service rather than seeking some private enlightenment. He also foregrounds our lucky, precious, sacred opportunity to practice.
Wonderful piece by Sasha Vezhnevets about working with a view where capitalism is a charnel ground (an above ground place where bodies are left to decompose). The results of that way of seeing are described as follows:
The fruit of the practice is utter hopelessness. You see, hope is not regarded as something useful in Vajrayana. It wastes our time and turns us into whiny muppets chasing ghosts. Having abandoned hope of escape, we can discover freedom and openness, precisely because there is no hope of escaping. Whatever you do, you will end up being oppressed and exploited and will oppress and exploit someone else. So you might stop sitting scared and anxious in the corner, trying not to swallow a bug while breathing, and do something interesting with your time.
This world is fucked, but there is plenty of room for celebration, beauty, generosity, curiosity, and good old fun.
Related to the idea that we should abandon the idea of being a good person.
Another sobering essay by Ted Gioia worrying that the future of technology is to undermine purpose and meaning, thereby making people miserable and anti-social. He quotes Durkheim saying: “Man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs. To free him from all social pressure is to abandon him to himself and demoralize him.” If we do succeed in creating fully automated luxury communism (big if!), perhaps we can find meaning in helping others both in ordinary and extraordinary (spiritual) ways. That is, until the machines become better spiritual teachers than us!
Bonus cool science article! This essay by Kasra explaining Michael Levin’s work on bioelectricity, cellular intelligence and how collective intelligence emerges is the clearest explanation of his work I’ve come across. Levin has to be one of the most interesting scientists working today.