Along with Western imperialism came cultural anthropology (studies of the
Other), Comparative this-n-that, etc., leading to a self-critical look at
our own Western ways, to the point of self-loathing--as is practised so
well in academia.  Anyway, all this is said as an "instigation."  To
provoke frontal-lobe activity.
==Dan


At 02:22 AM 02/13/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>On Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 01:23  AM, Daniel Pearlman wrote:
>
>"we actually try to put these fine principles into
>practice.  In principle, for example, we care about the Other and we
>even
>profess love for our fellows.  In no other region of the world except
>the
>West have such ideals ever been professed, and in fact they appear
>laughable to every other culture on earth.  It is true that we betray
>our
>gods whenever it is necessary or expedient to do so, but our gods are
>nevertheless nicer guys than others' gods."
>
>In response, I'd like to quote a little slice of the Bodhicharyavatara,
>by eighth century philosopher Shanitdeva:
>
>"For all those ailing in the world,
>Until their every sickness has been healed,
>May I become for them
>The doctor, nurse, medicine itself.
>
>Raining down a flood of food and drink,
>May I dispel the ills of thirst and famine.
>And in the ages marked by scarcity and want,
>May I myself appear as drink and sustenance.
>
>For sentient beings, poor and destitute,
>May I become a treasure ever plentiful, And lie before them closely in
>their reach,
>A varied source of all that they might need.
>
>My body, thus, and all my goods besides,
>And all my merits gained and to be gained,
>I give them all away withholding nothing
>To bring about the benefit of beings."    (- Ch. 3, 8-11)
>
>I'm sure that little comment is required to convince anyone that the
>drift of this passage contains just about as much concern for the Other
>as any religion (or region) has heretofore mustered in the history of
>mankind.
>
>And, in this light, I submit that it is laughable to assume on purely
>parochial grounds that "we" (whoever we includes, whoever's gods and
>traditions it implies) "care about the Other and . . . even profess
>love for our fellows" in some special secret ways that those Others
>couldn't imagine on their own, much less understand or accept.  I would
>suggest further that this "care for the Other" all too often doled out
>abroad (I will assume that by "we" you meant something having to do
>with the U.S., or even more amorphously, "the West") is mix of poorly
>paid, labor intensive employment opportunities and dance radio
>broadcasts installed as replacements for the news.  I have no idea what
>history of the relationship between the West and its Others you could
>possibly have in mind when you say what you do, and it sounds to me
>like you take the benevolent empire a little too much at its word.
>
>Whose gods are nevertheless nicer than whose gods?!?  What possible
>sort of comparison are you hoping to make?  (And how would a god show
>his omnipotent niceness anyway? -- the prophets of Ahab, praying all
>day long, fail to convince Baal to send them a theme park -- and before
>Ezekiel prays to his superiorily nice deity, he urges the wicked
>prophets to make the land all about inhospitable, covering it in swamps
>and stunted orange groves -- and lo, Ezekiel's god was so ultra nice
>and so zippa-dee-do-dah-dang happily-ever-after so-glad-to-help that he
>dropped the entire Orlando metro area down about Ezekiel, smiting the
>wicked prophets with long lines for the rides and overpriced
>cheeseburgers shaped like Mickey -- and Ezekiel sat back, having
>conquered Florida, and felt pretty darn good about it.  Every day,
>tourists of every kind, Brazilians and Japanese, Germans and Canadians,
>and good decent American folks from all over this great land had a nice
>place to take their kiddies, where they could steer clear of the
>nastiness of gods with axes to grind.
>
>"If we can dream it, we can do it." - W.D.
>
>Anyway -
>Jon

=====================================================
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