Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter
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Part 38

1/25/2016

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 38: The Misplaced Sense of Self Importance and Privilege

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The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.
-ALBERT EINSTEIN
 
Throughout the ages, the question of "Who am I?" has puzzled the wise, sages, scholars, philosophers, psycholinguists, even astronomers. In fact, if you think you know who you are, then the following TED clip by Amy Adkins is "I-opening" (pun intended) and may change your mind. Indeed when someone says "I" does that person refer to the "I" of twenty years ago, last year, last month, or last week? And will it be the same with the "I" of next month?
 
From a biological perspective, as outlined in Part 22 (There is Something Immoral in Immortality),  Dr. Paul C. Aebersold of the Oak Ridge Atomic Research Center concluded that about 98 percent of the 10 octillion (a one with 28 zeroes) atoms in the average human body are replaced annually. The crystals of bones are continually dissolving and reforming. The stomach's lining replaces itself every five days. Skin wear and tear is completely retreaded in about a month. A new liver is formed every six weeks. Chemistry professor Donald Hatch Andrews of John Hopkins University even estimated that one's physical body is completely renewed down to the very last atom within about five years. In The Accidental Universe (2013) MIT physicist Alan Lightman states that "by the time an unsuspecting person reaches the age of forty, the entire lining of her large intestine has been replaced several thousand times. Billions of cells have been shuffled each go-round." As they say, the only permanent thing in life is impermanence.
 
Naturally the death and renewal of cells is a prerequisite to life. Cells that refuse to die are hazardous to one's health. The dreadful disease of cancer, as stated in Part 22, is caused by abnormal cell growth that potentially invades or spreads to other parts or organs. Scientists have recently understood the fundamental difference between normal and cancerous cells. In Why Aren't Black Holes Black? (1997), Robert Hazen and Maxine Singer state that the cruel irony of cancer is that it results from the failure of cells to die. A normal cell is supposed to age and die naturally. On the other hand, a cancerous cell is immortal because its regulating clock is either turned off, constantly reset, or just ignored.
 
From a spiritual perspective, it's perhaps not surprising that in Buddhism, impermanence (anicca) is perceived to be in the very same package of non-self (anatta) and suffering (dukha). The question "Who am I" is not so much of an issue, because in Buddhism even the notion of an "I" is questionable. This egoless wisdom is actually not a monopoly of Buddhism. Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) seemed to think along similar lines when he declared his Bundle Theory: "An object consists of its properties and nothing more: thus neither can there be an object without properties nor can one even conceive of such an object." In essence, since biologically one's body (intestine lining or liver) keeps changing, her spiritual self (sense of "I") keeps changing too. Body, mind, and spirit are one. And since it keep changing, using "I" as a permanent point of reference may be an exercise in futility.
 
Therefore, both from biological and spiritual perspectives, the egocentric, anthropocentric, privileged and exceptional importance of "I" is a futile, if not preposterous, proposition. From a cosmological perspective, our sense of place and importance in this universe is absurdly insignificant. As illustrated by Guy Murchie in The Seven Mysteries of Life (1999), Planet Earth is orbiting the sun at 18.5 miles per second, while the sun and virtually all visible stars are swinging at 150 miles per second around the Milky Way galaxy, which with a diameter of 100,000 light years, is speeding from other galaxies at thousands of miles per second. Since the observable universe contains at least 100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion) galaxies according to astronomers' best estimates, even if the entire Milky Way disappears—let alone just the Solar system or the Earth or a puny "I"—no one would even notice. In fact, in about 4 billion years from now, "our" Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will be involved in a galactic collision.
 
Indeed the universe would have existed without us. Easily. The primary research interest of Dr. Garth Illingworth, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, are galaxies that were formed within 400-600 million years after the Big Bang. This means he is scrutinizing galaxies which light have traveled through the universe at 299,792,458 meters per second for  about 12 to 13 billion years. Considering that Earth is 4.6 billion years old and the first single-celled organisms appeared on it over 3 billion years ago, light from those distant galaxies had started the long journey 8 billion years before Earth's formation and more than 9 billion years before the first single-celled organisms appeared on it.
 
To repeat what had been stated by American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) in Part 18 (Our Spatial and Temporal Insignificance in the Universe), we—thus a group of "I"s—are here "because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook." Obviously we are not privileged; much less exceptional. "In terms of position, velocity, and acceleration," the late Carl Sagan wrote in The Varieties of Scientific Experience (posthumous 2006), "there is nothing privileged about where we are."
 
Thus, where do our misplaced sense of self-importance, egocentrism and anthropocentrism come from? Do they derive from our sheer luck to inhabit this planet, from our improbable long journey from a bunch of fishes to robot-creating humans, from false beliefs, or from all of the above?
 
[To be continued.]
Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 37

1/18/2016

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 37: How Acceptance or Resistance to Change and Impermanence could be a Predictive Factor for Pacifism or Violence 

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Zen (Buddhism) in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being,
and it points the way from bondage to freedom.
-D.T. SUZUKI (1870-1966)
 
In addition to eschatological and temporal orientation differences as outlined in Part 35 (Religious Obsessions Versus Spiritual Awakening) and Part 36 (Being in the "Zone"), another critical difference between Zen Buddhism and Abrahamic religions is their perceptions of ego. Ego, as per Oxford Dictionary definition is "a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance". Whereas Zen Buddhism has a very modest interpretation of the ego (if any), even suggesting the notion of egolessness, Abrahamic religions are more based on egotistically outlooks.
 
While the Buddha taught that the illusionary ego or the notion of "self" is the source of all suffering, the maxim of French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650)--Cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am")—became a fundamental element of Western philosophy. As underlined by Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987): "The entire Buddhist path is based on the discovery of egolessness and the maturing of insight or knowledge that comes from egolessness." Now, what the heck is egolessness? For most of us with a Western mindset of me, me, and nothing but me (yes that applies to yours truly!), egolessness is a foreign concept.
 
Without getting too philosophical, let's borrow John Welwood's explanation in his Toward a Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation (2014). Egolessness is a common experience, and appears "in the gaps and spaces between thoughts, which usually go unnoticed". According to Welwood, "existential anxiety arises when one realizes that the feeling of "I" is nothing more than a perception." Thus, "only egoless awareness allows us to face and accept death in all forms." In its essence, the notion of "I" denies a holistic outlook of nondualism. Indeed it creates a sharp division between "me" and "you", between "us" and "them", between "in-groups" and "out-groups", even between "life" and "death". In a nutshell, whereas Buddhism seeks the liberation from the self, Abrahamic religions flourish in the tyranny of the self.
 
In fact, if we are honest to ourselves, is it a coincidence that Buddhism which does not introduce any eschatological concept happens to be the same religion that suggests egolessness and accepts impermanence? On the other hand, is it another coincidence that to Abrahamic religions—with their eschatological concepts from the seemingly violent Armageddon to Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Resurrection Day) to Yawm ad-Dīn (Judgment Day)—the notion of egolessness and impermanence seem foreign? As argued by David Nichtern in The Discovery of Egolessness (2010): "the fundamental mistake we make (which causes all kinds of trouble and suffering) is the assumption that we exist as a permanent, unified, independent being. What causes our most fundamental suffering and anxiety is that we are ignorant of the true nature of our existence. Because of our assumption, we cannot fully understand or relate to impermanence (including our own) and the interdependence of all phenomena."
 
Contrast the focus on Life in Zen Buddhism with the focus on Afterlife in Abrahamic religions, and the difference explains a lot. Whereas Zen Buddhism teaches the importance to accept changes and impermanence, Abrahamic religions have a strong tendency to deny change and cling to permanence. Whereas Zen Buddhist believers (like Tanzan) focus on each precious moment in life before moving on to the next one, Abrahamic believers (like Ekido) focus only and only on the afterlife which is manifested by fretting incessantly about what is good and what is evil, what punishments deserve hell and what rewards deserve heaven.
 
Whereas Zen Buddhism accepts impermanence as something inevitable, Abrahamic religions have never been at peace with the notion of impermanence. Whereas in Zen Buddhism, death is accepted as something natural, in Abrahamic religions death is denied, thus strategically sugarcoated as a "temporary transition to an afterlife". The resistance to death is basically the resistance to impermanence. Thus while Zen Buddhist pacifism can be traced back to the acceptance to change and impermanence, Abrahamic violence can be traced back to the resistance to change and impermanence.
 
The Pascal's Wager is a good example. In Section 233 of his Pensées ("Thoughts"), French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) argued that we have to live "as though God exists and seek to believe in God." If God does not actually exist, then we will only incur a finite loss (all the money we donated to the church or the cost of pilgrimage to Mecca, etc.). On the other hand, if God does exist, we stand to receive infinite heavenly rewards and avoid hellish punishment—in eternity. If we read Pascal's Wager carefully and thoroughly, however; there is a not-so-divine element of a cost-benefit analysis. Is it truly about the existence of a God or is it merely about the self interests of a bunch of egotistical creatures who only care about their own salvation—with or without God?
 
"If there is a sin against life," French Nobel Prize author and philosopher Albert Camus (1913-1960) wrote, "it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life."
 
[To be continued.]
 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 36

1/11/2016

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 36: Being in the "Zone"

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Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
(Too much religion is apt to encourage evil.)
-LUCRETIUS (99BC-55BC)
 
As critical as eschatology is to predict a certain inclination towards pacifism or violence, it's but one factor which contrasts Zen Buddhism from Abrahamic religions. Another important factor is temporal orientation. Empirically, I would argue that cultures which get stuck in the past and future do not tolerate impermanence or change and are inclined to be violent. On the other hand, cultures which focus on the present moment tolerate impermanence or change and are inclined to be less-violent.
 
Why did Zen Buddhism appeal so much to samurai warriors, then later, to modern martial artists? The fact that Zen Buddhism still flourishes long after the Age of the Samurai (1185-1868) ended certainly speaks volumes about its usefulness. Perhaps the gist of Buddhism as provided by Dhiravamsa may answer this question. Born in 1934 in northeastern Thailand, Dhiravamsa came to Great Britain in 1964, then later became an assistant abbot at a Buddhist temple in London. "The whole point of Buddhism,"  Dhiravamsa once said, "may be summed up as living in the present." Seriously, that's it?
 
Well, it's easier said than done. Let's go back to the Zen Buddhist parable of Tanzan and Ekido cited in Part 23 (Do We Choose a Belief or Does a Belief Choose Us?)?
 
Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. As they came around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross at an intersection.
 
"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud. Ekido did not speak until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
 

"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"
 
Thus while Tanzan represents Zen Buddhist practical values (to help a girl unable to cross the road), Ekido represents Abrahamic theological dogmas ("don't go near females, especially not young and lovely ones"). While Tanzan innocently lifted the girl in his arm to solve an immediate problem of the present time, then forgot about it, Ekido carried the girl from the past well into the future, with all the theological baggage that polluted his mind and paralyzed his thinking.
 
For Tanzan, and samurai warriors for that matter, living in the present simply increases their probability to survive. For martial artists, living in the present increases their probability to win. In almost any martial arts school, the importance to live in the present is universally emphasized in pursuit of the union of physical, mental, and spiritual selves. Indeed Zen Buddhism has always stressed that life must be seized at the moment, for only by doing so one is in full contact with oneself and one's environment. Modern sport psychology refers to this desirable condition as being in the flow or in the "Zone".  
 
The importance to live in the present moment is actually not a monopoly of Zen Buddhism, nor a foreign concept in Western thinking. In the 17th-century, French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) stated: "So imprudent are we that we wander in times that are not ours, and give no thought to the only time that does belong to us." This sentiment was echoed by American poet and humanist Walter "Walt" Whitman (1819-1892): "Happiness not in another place, but this place … not for another hour, but this hour …" So powerful was the grip of the Christian eschatology on us that we still need another reminder from American author Fletcher Knebel (1911-1993): "Finally it has penetrated my thick skull. This life—this moment—is no dress rehearsal. This is it." Perhaps we do need constant reminders.
 
It's therefore worth noting that Hungarian-born psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, one of the pioneers of the scientific study of happiness who has been studying the "Zone" for about 40 years, stated that happiness is simply being deeply involved in the moment and not having the opportunity to think about anything but the task at hand. Carpe diem.

​Being happy means being deeply involved in the moment, for example, by helping a girl to cross the road, then forget about her. On the other hand, being unhappy and grumpy means carrying the girl in the mind for hours then compulsively obsessed by the girl and simultaneously haunted by probable punishment as decreed by theological dogmas. For Tanzan, orientation in the present moment brings boldness, happiness and pacifism. For Ekido, orientation in the future brings insecurity, unhappiness and restriction, which, needless to say, are the seeds of violence. But how relevant are Tanzan and Ekido for us anyway?

 
The answer is provided by the late Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) who once stated that religion as practiced today deals in punishments and rewards. In a cruel twist of irony, religion breeds fear and greed—the two things most destructive of spirituality. Within the last 70 years, the Middle East, the cradle of the great Abrahamic religions, has been engulfed by nothing but continuous religious wars, sectarian violence, and barbaric tribalism.

​In
Think religion makes society less violent? Think again. (The Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2015) Phil Zuckerman argues that the most secular societies (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam, Hungary, China and Belgium) fare the best in terms of crime rates, prosperity, equality, freedom, democracy, women's rights, human rights, educational attainment and life expectancy. (There are exceptions, such as Vietnam and China, with poor human rights records.) On the other hand, the most religious societies (Nigeria, Uganda, the Philippines, Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Colombia, Senegal, Malawi, Indonesia, Brazil, Peru, Jordan, Algeria, Ghana, Venezuela, Mexico and Sierra Leone) tend to be the most problem-ridden in terms of high violent crime rates, high infant mortality rates, high poverty rates and high rates of corruption.
 
In the U.S., according to Pitt Griffin in The Critical Mind, "the God-fearing Deep South and Bible Belt suffer from the highest crime rates, while relatively atheistic New England enjoys the lowest." Based on a Review of the 2012 FBI Crime Statistics, "states with high rates of belief in God and church attendance do not lead to low crime rates. Utah, despite its large Mormon population, has a high incidence of rape." Furthermore, "The most violent states are 1. Tennessee 2. Nevada 3. Alaska 4. South Carolina 5. New Mexico 6. Delaware. The least violent are 1. Maine 2. Vermont 3. New Hampshire 4.Virginia 5. Wyoming." Believe it or not, the most violent region is the God-fearing, Bible-thumping, South; while the least violent is atheistic New England.
 
For once, can we connect the dots, or will we always be in denial?
 
[To be continued.]
 Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

Part 35

1/4/2016

 

Between Stockholm Syndrome and Lima Syndrome
Part 35: Religious Obsessions Versus Spiritual Awakening

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We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don’t stand up to experimentation, Buddha’s own words must be rejected.
-THE 14TH DALAI LAMA
 
Upon juxtaposing pacifism in martial arts with violence in religion as outlined in Part 33 (Pacifism in Martial Arts, Violence in Religions), the inevitable question remains: Why? What causes the paradox? As explained in Part 30 (The Source of Violence in Religion), someone's inclination towards pacifism or violence may have been determined by carved-in-stone eschatological factors. In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), believers are constantly bombarded—from cradle to grave, consciously and subconsciously—with the notions of rewards and punishments, heaven and hell, last day judgment, Battle of Armageddon, and last but not least martyrdom in its most perverted form: screaming Allahu Akbar then blowing oneself (and others involuntarily) up to pieces. In Judaism and Christianity, according to the Book of Revelation, Armageddon will be "the site of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times." In Islam, Muslims believe in Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Resurrection Day) or Yawm ad-Dīn (Judgment Day) which is believed to be "the final assessment of humanity by Allah, consisting of the annihilation of all life, resurrection and judgment." Somehow, there is always an undeniable element of violence and destruction.
 
Unlike Abrahamic religions, Zen Buddhism, is a nontheist religion. It does not promise an afterlife. This contrast has been outlined in Part 32 (Aiki: the Source of Spiritual Dimension and Pacifism in Zen Martial Arts?) but it's still worth repeating: Lacking sacred scriptures, religious creed, rigid dogma, a Savior or Messiah, rewards and punishments, even a holy city, Zen Buddhism relies more on development of self-knowledge and desire for spiritual awakening. Indeed the following anecdote captures the essence of Zen Buddhism:
 
One of Buddha’s students asked him, "Are you the messiah?"
-"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
-"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
-"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
-"I am awake", Buddha replied.
 
The notion that Buddha's aim was not to save others—instead, to help individuals save themselves or simply awaken them—is definitely liberating and provides a certain refreshing air of freedom. While the oppression by a God (not to count the class of clergy and theologians), the obsessions with religious creed, and the tyranny of dogma in Abrahamic religions may generate OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), anxiety and violence; the liberation and freedom in godless Zen Buddhism seems to bring acceptance, bliss, and peace of mind even to the most unlikely candidates: martial artists! Go figure. Let's blame that on the law of unintended consequences.
 
Indeed, the same Zen Buddhist traits of self-reliance, self discipline, individual effort, self-mastery and nonattachment that were proven to be critically important for samurai warriors in the battle fields are as important for modern martial artists in their spiritual lives. Therefore, the subtle eschatological difference between believers in Abrahamic religions and martial artists inspired by godless Zen Buddhism may very well predict the inclination towards violence or pacifism.
 
Such is the appeal of Zen Buddhism, that since the 19th century, it had caught the attention of prominent western scholars and non-Buddhist philosophers. Danish existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung (1875-1961), Jewish existentialist philosopher Martin Buber (1878-1965), novelist Franz Kafka (1883-1924), German philosopher and phenomenologist Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), German social psychologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm (1900-1980), and French existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) all had positively commented on Zen Buddhism one way or another. Martin Heidegger claimed that in Zen Buddhism text he encountered the very ideas he had been developing independently. Erich Fromm's book, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis (1959, with co-authors D. T. Suzuki and Richard De Martino) is still considered a classic in modern psychoanalysis. In this book, Fromm contrasted the subtle differences between Judaism-Christianity and Zen Buddhism.
 
Both Judaism-Christianity and Zen Buddhism call for giving up one's "will" (to control) in order to be completely open, responsive, awaken and alive. That's where the similarity ends. While in Judaism-Christianity this awareness is interpreted as "to slay oneself and to accept the will of God," in Zen Buddhism it is interpreted as "to make oneself empty", which means an openness to receive. On the surface there seems to be little difference between these two interpretations. That said, while the interpretation in Judaism-Christianity calls for an individual to be obedient and submissive, the one in Zen Buddhism calls for an individual to be open and responsive. "Zen's concept of emptiness implies the true meaning of giving up one's will," Fromm wrote, "yet without the danger of regressing to the idolatrous concept of a helping father." In essence, the crystal clear choice is between not thinking for oneself versus thinking for oneself; between religious obsessions versus spiritual awakening; between perceiving oneself as a slave versus a master.
 
More reliance on personal accountability in Zen Buddhism translates into less dependence and need for a Savior or Messiah. As succinctly expressed by Fromm: "(t)o follow God's will in the sense of true surrender of egoism is best done if there is no concept of God. Paradoxically, I truly follow God's will if I forget about God." In retrospect, if God is truly that almighty and omnipotent, He (or She?) can afford to be occasionally forgotten by puny and unworthy human beings—can't He?
 
[To be continued.]
 
Johannes Tan, Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter 

    Continuously exploring literal, semantic, idiomatic, contextual, metaphorical, symptomatic, conceptual and metaphysical meanings of everything worth thinking about.

    Copyright © 2016 by Johannes Tan. All Rights Reserved.

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