On Dec 29, 2007, at 8:51 PM, Krimel wrote: > I do not live in the east and while I find eastern philosophy > interesting I > am not much interested in the evolution of doctrine there. I spend > quite a > bit of time on Jewish and Christian doctrinal evolution because it is > interesting to me personally as it informs the views of my friends and > neighbors. I do think people should be acquainted with all aspects > of their > culture. I find the degree of religious illiteracy in the west > appalling but > I would not put say the Apostle Paul on any list of profound thinkers. > Influential, yes but profound, no. Nor would I expect you to be > interested > in Arias, or Valentinus.
Krimel, Shankara isn't just part of the evolutionary landscape when it comes to Vedanta -- he is one of the most brilliant shining beacons. I understand the need to understand things that affect one's natural habitat. Indeed I might not be interested in Arias or Valentinus, since I'm not interested in Christianity or the Abrahamic religions in general. But Vedanta is not a religion per se, as is the case with most things Eastern, there is no demarcation between religion, spirituality and philosophy. The goal of philosophy in the East (can't say I'm a valid spokesperson, but this is my take on the subject) is to ensure spiritual succor -- that is it's ultimate goal. Everything else that comes is a by-product. Religion is yet another tool that aids in delivering the philosophy in a practical manner. These systems don't care about canon too much, with emphasis on experiential knowledge over what someone thought someone else wrote about what someone else said somewhere, sometime. At this point, religion, philosophy, spirituality all become a personal adventure for the seeker in the East (don't think it works quite the same way with the Abrahamic religions). The reason I found Pirsig so interesting is because of his refreshingly different view (from the general Western perspective), much in alignment with Vedantic and Taoist thought. In fact, I would even say that if he were to use the term Consciousness instead of "Quality", he would be simply re-iterating what Shankara or Lao Tzu had said several thousand years ago... Regards, Dwai Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
