The world could be a better place…
June 1st, 2004 - 12:09 pm
I have been reading a bit recently from a book entitled [”The Art of Happiness”](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573221112/103-7817508-3779032?v=glance) by the Dalai Lama and have been fascinated with some of his thoughts on life and existence. I have yet to finish this book, but it does offer some really interesting and wonderful points of view. Here’s a guy who went from being the undisputed head of his country to complete exile and is happy to have had the experience. He comments on how if he was never removed from his country he would not have had a chance to see and meet so many people from all over the world and he would not have had a chance to learn more and more about other cultures and religions. I only wish I had the capacity to turn everything that happens to me, no matter how horrible, into a positive experience like that. Possibly more interesting is the following quote:
>*”The idea that everyone should be Buddhist is quite extreme. And that kind of extreme thinking just causes problems… Even if we tried to make the whole world Buddhist it would be impractical…”*
How many religious icons do you know of that will openly admit that its impractical and unreasonable for everyone to believe in one undisputed religion? Of course many believe that their religion is the only one that matters, and if you don’t believe it then something horrible will happen to you. And so it goes… The Dalai Lama offers another way of viewing religious differences which I find astonishing in its elegance and simplicity:
>*”It’s like going to a restaurant—we can all sit down at one table and order different dishes according to one’s own taste. We might eat different dishes, but nobody argues about it”*
Why can’t it be this way? I’m not saying that I’m any better. Sometimes I want people to appreciate and respect the same things I do just because if I think its good, so should you damn it. But he’s right, everyone should be able to choose as they please, and should it offend me if you chose pizza over sushi? My opinion is just that… and what works for me, might not work for you for any number of reasons. I will work on this…
For anyone who is curious, no I am not Buddhist, and have no particular attachment to the Dalai Lama.
***Update**: My buddy [dan](http://www.bemetal.com) responds: ([link](http://www.baudburn.com/mt-admin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=49))*
>I only look down on people who prefer pizza over sushi if they haven’t actually tried both. People who stick with one thing because that’s all they know, and won’t even taste a California Roll because it seems strange and foreign to them, those are the people who bother me.
>Food, religion, same thing.
I agree. It’s those same people who scare me the most. The ones who blindly follow and never think for themselves scare me. From my experiences, most people I know who are extremely religious never are doing it for the right reasons. You have your god fearing type who are totally into it because they genuinely believe in an afterlife and want to make sure that they aren’t left out of the party. So it really becomes a matter of inclusion rather than an “I want to be a good person and help my fellow man” type of reason. I have fundamental problems with that line of thinking that I really don’t want to delve into at this time. There’s also the social scene religophiles who are into it for vanity reasons. “All my friends are into it, so should I. If they find me out, I won’t be cool anymore.” This type of thought is also flawed. Now don’t get me wrong, I think there are plenty of genuinely good people out there who honestly believe in their religion and try to be kind to one another. I just think that there are way too many people out there who front like they are holier than thou but can’t walk the walk.
It reminds me of a fact that a server friend of mine once shared. She told me that it was interesting to her to see that the so called “immoral” people who are maybe not wealthy, and go out to the bars a lot, and smoke, and drink, etc. were often the nicest people and the biggest tippers while the religious crowed typically would drive her around like a slave and then leave very little tip. Of course, one experiment does not an experiment make, but it is funny how the “morally depraved” are kinder to their fellow man than the people who prance around claiming to be wonderful people.
Now that you mention it, “food, religion, same thing.” makes alot of sense to me.
I only look down on people who prefer pizza over sushi if they haven’t actually tried both. People who stick with one thing because that’s all they know, and won’t even taste a California Roll because it seems strange and foreign to them, those are the people who bother me.
Food, religion, same thing.
I agree. It’s those same people who scare me the most. The ones who blindly follow and never think for themselves scare me. From my experiences, most people I know who are extremely religious never are doing it for the right reasons. You have your god fearing type who are totally into it because they genuinely believe in an afterlife and want to make sure that they aren’t left out of the party. So it really becomes a matter of inclusion rather than an “I want to be a good person and help my fellow man” type of reason. I have fundamental problems with that line of thinking that I really don’t want to delve into at this time. There’s also the social scene religophiles who are into it for vanity reasons. “All my friends are into it, so should I. If they find me out, I won’t be cool anymore.” This type of thought is also flawed. Now don’t get me wrong, I think there are plenty of genuinely good people out there who honestly believe in their religion and try to be kind to one another. I just think that there are way too many people out there who front like they are holier than thou but can’t walk the walk.
It reminds me of a fact that a server friend of mine once shared. She told me that it was interesting to her to see that the so called “immoral” people who are maybe not wealthy, and go out to the bars a lot, and smoke, and drink, etc. were often the nicest people and the biggest tippers while the religious crowed typically would drive her around like a slave and then leave very little tip. Of course, one experiment does not an experiment make, but it is funny how the “morally depraved” are kinder to their fellow man than the people who prance around claiming to be wonderful people.
Now that you mention it, “food, religion, same thing.” makes alot of sense to me.
that server thing is true. i luckily haven’t had to deal with their type yet, but my sister has served at a billion restaurants and she’s told me on more than one occassion of that same phenomena. she was shit out of luck one week when there was some hoighty toighty christian convention in town.
on another note. i know some religious people that are doing it for the right reasons. granted, they’re not christian, but very religious.
Of course, if the server happens to be pretty, then it makes sense that the “immoral” crowd will always be extra nice to them … and guess why!!
I never heard of anyone claiming to be religious to impress their friends … in both New England and Philly, it was quite the opposite, you had to hide your religion to not get made fun of. And now that I’m surrounded by bible-thumpers in KY, I’m headed in the other direction; I want to disassociate myself from it. Now I’m content with trying to be nice for its own sake, as opposed to trying to secure myself a place in “heaven”. It seems like doing otherwise is only looking out for yourself.
Interesting point Dan. I suppose since we only have input from female servers, it could be the case that they are only tipping larger for sheer “get in your pants” factor. But that aside, why wouldn’t the religious folk want to help out and truly represent their beliefs; in short: talk the talk **and** walk the walk? I believe that what we both were saying is that if you were making stereotypes, that faction would tip only below the customary 15% line.
To the matter of New England and Philly, ahh the beauties of the north. For the last 4 years or so I’ve been living in Texas and Tennessee. The south is certainly a different place. I’m not sure that when I was in NY anyone had to actively hide their religion, but I do know that it wasn’t a topic that usually came up.
>Now I’m content with trying to be nice for its own sake
As it should be, if there is a god, I would like to believe that he would respect people who try to be nice and do nice things for people because its the right thing to do, not because your just trying to get something from it. If I was God and could be omniscient, I would know if you were fake and just trying to bullshit me. The act of fronting like that would upset me enough to push the big red button labeled H-E-double hockey sticks when it was time for your judgment.
:)
I read that book… it’s pretty solid. Reinforced my simple philosophy of life, which is “Behave with Respect.” and has only one corrolary “View life with Perspective”.
I can’t claim perfect adherence, and no one can, but I can accept that and try harder.
Jack Chick (chick.com) disagrees that being good is enough to get to heaven, but I’ve never given much credence to fundamentalists… anyone who reads the Bible, especially the New Testament, and comes away with such a narrow and exclusive viewpoint as that, didn’t get it. If just being a good person isn’t good enough for God, then I veto God.
I’ve railed before (and will again) against “Christians”, by which i mean, of course, people who wear the mantle of a Christian religion, glory in it’s various trappings, and meanwhile act in mean-spirited, hateful, prideful and superior, and generally un-Christian (i.e. not like Jesus) ways.
I consider myself a follower, if you will, of Jesus, in the sense that he was basically about being a good person, and that’s my scene. Alas, i choose not to identify myself as Christian, because i don’t want to be associated with the false, hypocritcal, judgemental crew that makes up so very much of the Church institution. I support the general concept of asking yourself “What Would Jesus Do?”, I’m just not convinced the majority of WWJD sticker/shirt sporting people have ever actually done so.
Something tells me Jesus would take a pretty dim view of the world at the moment…