[thechat] New Year's Resolution

[Madhu Menon]

At 11:13 PM 02-01-03, javier velasco wrote:

>what's more silly is that people from America (the continent, not the
>country) visit India in search of ancient wisdom instead of exploring
>Mexico-Guatelala (etc.) for a comparable knowledge that is much more
>proper to them.

Damn you, how dare you belittle my ancient Indian wisdom? My god of
destruction will have your hide for this!

A little secret: there isn't much "ancient" wisdom that we don't have today
in the present. If you want, you can find profound meaning in any doodoo
that's written, and that only depends on your desire to find such meaning.

Take that nut job Deepak Chopra, for instance. A sad export from my
country, but see how many people he's conning. If his way of life is so
free of material wants, why does he have a multi-million dollar mansion in
La Jolla?


>rationality is a good thing, but it's not enough.

It's worked well for me so far. ;)

I keep telling those "meaning of life" spiritual preachers that my life has
got plenty of meaning, thank you very much. I'm not wandering about, trying
to figure out what I'm doing on this planet. I have purpose; *they* are the
ones who're confused. And *I'm* not doing things right?

But of course many people find his teachings deeply insightful. That,
however, exhibits a clear case of selection bias. The people who go for his
help are probably the ones who really need it, and to such people any kind
of introspection will likely help them with their problems. You can bet
that people like me won't go to his seminars, so naturally the negative
feedback will be less.


>i know lots of people
>that are like that, and i can tell you that you're missing lots of
>interesting knowledge that's not explainable my scientifical standards.

Like what exactly?

1000 years ago, people worshipped lightning as a god. Now we know it's
caused by a potential difference.


>my point is that things can be as interesting as you want them to be

Well, yes, perhaps most people do need a reason to celebrate. What the heck.
Christmas is a convenient time where family members get together for a day,
celebrates, and then spend the rest of the year away from each other.
Perhaps it would be better to simply keep the love in the other 364 days.


>what's the poing of watching the sunset from a 100% rational point of
>view?

You watch sunsets? ;)

I don't try and make people understand my way of life, because it appears
to some to be devoid of interest and meaning. That, of course, is because
they judge it by *their* perceptions of what one needs in life. Let's just
say I don't need to believe in gods, fairies, goblins, Santa Claus, and
other assorted things to make my life interesting.

End of spiritual preaching. :D

Regards,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
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