tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-885527867833311224.post7378083259531675013..comments2024-01-17T02:41:29.011-06:00Comments on The Humanist Contemplative Blog: Why be Good? A Systemic ApproachUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-885527867833311224.post-40638590061711739652009-04-02T19:43:00.000-05:002009-04-02T19:43:00.000-05:00Hey, I just discovered that you're blogging again....Hey, I just discovered that you're blogging again. Glad to see it, welcome back. Your scribbling were missed. Oddly enough, I have just recently started blogging again myself, also after a layoff.<BR/><BR/>Yes, this matter vexes me a bit, also. It seems to me that the 'perfect ideals' for which we are encouraged to aim (Buddha or Sage, to give two examples), even if they are achievable, seem almost... well... undesirable. They seem to want us to exert great effort to rid ourselves of feeling. For what purpose? To be like a tree? I think feeling (emotions) are what make us human, and to be without them we would be as cold as machines. I think I realize this is not REALLY what Buddhism or Stoicism want... they both want there to be only some kind of vaguely defined 'good feeling' left behind, post enlightenment/sagehood. It almost seems like some residual emotion that is not merely 'not-unhappy' but also not 'happy' in the usual sense. I still have trouble understanding it. Perhaps this kind of enlightened "happiness without pathos" cannot be understood until it is achieved. ....if it CAN be achieved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com