ED, What Buddhists say about those atrocities is straightforward. They are strongly against them and will try to make sacrifices to stop them.
However, I am not certain how a zenist (lower case) should react. Those horrible things are of course the results of dualism. It is not about the cause, it is how we react once they have happened. Anthony --- On Sat, 26/2/11, ED <[email protected]> wrote: From: ED <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] What do Zenists and Buddhists have to say about the real (illusory) world? To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, 26 February, 2011, 11:37 PM Demeaning, enslaving, exploiting, segregating, ethnic-cleansing, collaterally damaging and exterminating non-related human groups, when necessary to the security and prosperity of a group with power appears to be in the intrinsic nature of humans. It is doubtful whether Dr. Smith can add anything significant to our understanding of this natural human propensity (which is neither less than human nor more than human.) Horrified by the carnage of WWII, we did take some strides in the right direction by using our neocortexes to analyze the situation, but these days we appear to to be reverting back to pre-WWII tribal mind-sets. "Blood is thicker than water." "Blood is thicker than water" is a German proverb (originally: Blut ist dicker als Wasser.), which is also common in English speaking countries. It generally means that the bonds of family and common ancestry are stronger than those bonds between unrelated people (such as friendship). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_is_thicker_than_water --ED Title: Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others Presenter: David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dept of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of New England When: Monday, February 28, 201112:00 PM - 12:50 PM Where: St. Francis Room, Biddeford Campus Description: David Smith earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of London (Kings College) where he did work on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of psychology. These studies introduced him to the significance of evolutionary biology for understanding human nature, enabling him to come full circle by fusing his interest in the human mind with his earlier love of the natural world. His book Less Than Human gives a revelatory look at why we dehumanize each other, with stunning examples from world history as well as today's headlines. "Brute." "Cockroach." "Lice." "Vermin." "Dog." "Beast." These and other monikers are constantly in use to refer to other humans—for political, religious, ethnic, or sexist reasons. Human beings have a tendency to regard members of their own kind as less than human. This tendency has made atrocities like the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and the slave trade possible, and yet we still find it in phenomena such as xenophobia, homophobia, military propaganda, and racism. "Smith's compelling study and his argument that the study of dehumanization be made a global priority to prevent future Rwandas or Hiroshimas is well-made and important." -- Publishers Weekly "David Livingstone Smith produces a clear and illuminating vision of why human beings are the way we are and how we got this way. The scholarship is broad, the insight is deep and the prose is compelling. Less Than Human will change the way you think about things that matter profoundly. This is dazzling stuff."-- Steven E. Landsburg, Ph.D., author of The Big Questions Admission: Free and open to the public. Contact: DGiuvelis@... 207-602-2888 Sponsor(s): Center for Excellence in the Neuroscience and Center for Global Humanities
