You probably think a lot and that can be summed up as an extraordinary human being attending the poor, needy and voiceless of Calcutta. Which is what you've essentially seen her doing on TV. Me too. But today I read about the passing away of one Christopher Hitchens on the BBC's website where he had this quote about Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:
And here's Hitchens description of Heaven:
"Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift of God. She spent her life opposing the only cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction."I tried to find out more about this on YouTube and sure enough it was not difficult to confirm that she was against contraception and abortion. We learn something everyday, don't we?
And here's Hitchens description of Heaven:
"Endless praise and adoration, limitless abnegation and abjection of self; a celestial North Korea."Looks like Chris never watched the MBC.
Ahem, Hitchens helped me to see through modern myths like Mother Teresa and other practitioners of faith-based pseudo-science (like Sai Baba, Deepak Chopra and what not), so it's a huge surprise to read here about something I feel strongly against: the use and abuse of faith as a tool for brainwashing and endless profiteering (essentially via tax breaks and sectarian schools) - en fett, enn tipe wadir bann GLD lokal-la. But MBC tends to see things 'differently', because in the number of believers in one particular sect happens to contain some members of parliament...
ReplyDeleteWhat if I to found a sect based on pseudoscientific/religious mumbo-jumbo that happens to garner some following, will get that much favour from the local TV and authorities...?
Bravo to Kozelidir for breaking the news to those who believe in myths.
BUT, we've already got part of our people having been gullible enough to vote in one member of parliament who found that the best option for a disturbed/suicidal teenager was to lock her up alone in a hotel room without the permission of her own parents.
Ah Dodoland! Always dreaming of modernistic gadgetry but wading neck-deep in a nightmare of superstition and dokterr-san-soulier... is it a surprise that cons and kaserr are thriving more than ever?
I had viewed the secret swami program before but I don't feel it provides a solid basis for a definitive conclusion. Remember the WMD in Irak (btw, I just watched an interesting movie on Canal+ about that called Fair Game (it's about Valerie Plame)).
ReplyDeleteI don't find the Deepak Chopra clip damning because it's perfectly fine to use analogies. In fact quantum physics, just like almost anything else, has implications for many fields outside physics. All these branches of knowledge convey essentially the same basic stuff. I believe what's important is not to end up being a prisoner of anything be it a discipline, ideology or religion. Nobody owns a field. Physics is not owned by engineers, economics is not owned by economics or whatever. We have to discuss and doubt as many luminaries have recommended (like Feynman) or try to go to the intersection of more than one field like Heisenberg and more recently Steve Jobs suggested. We surely want to avoid narrow-minded comments like in the first sentence of this budget brief.
Yep, bravo again! It's always enlightening to look at the other side of the coin, especially if it shines too much...
ReplyDeleteAnd, what a coincidence, Dear Leader passed away...
ReplyDeleteThe internet is a very big place. A little help from google will pull out articles and opinions that conform to our little theories. I had a look at some of the links you provided and I was not impressed at all. Some comments were actually quite silly. We should not forget that some people may be so much absorbed by their field of interest that they forget the big picture. And more. Try asking some experts to explain some things they pretend to master in a few simple words or sentences. Good luck...
ReplyDeleteBy the way I read Chopra's book ageless body timeless mind a long time ago and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Well, this is why you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteAnd if "The internet is a very big place. A little help from google will pull out articles and opinions that conform to our little theories" is a valid argument, then nothing that is pulled from the net can be valid. Not even those developped in your blog...
So, if "The internet is a very big place. A little help from google will pull out articles and opinions that conform to our little theories" was only a way of comforting yourself that some argunments are valid, but not others of your own arbitrary choice, then creationist and conspiracy theories also become valid as long as they don't harm people you like. Or not.
No. A fraud is a fraud. Chopra is one. Just like pseudo-sciences, Mother Theresa, Sai Baba, and your very dear friend Rama. If you want to believe in one and not the other, ask yourself why that only one (or two) and why not the others?
In any case, I'm just sharing/exposing rational facts, up to readers to make up their own mind. Like believing or not... Have fun!
Not sure it was why I did.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is indeed a very big place and you need good filters to make the most of it. The links you provided did not really convince me this time.
If you have filters that are not too bad chances are that you will be able to pull interesting stuff from the net. Most of the time.
It was not about comfort, it was about opinion. Don't forget the story of 5 blind man describing an elephant differently.
Mother Teresa may not have believed in contraception and abortion but that doesn't take away the good work she has done.
Let's look at the Chopra interview by Dawkins.
ReplyDeleteDawkins is complaining that Chopra uses quantum jargon. That's not allowed? Should we write a letter to Dawkins each time we use it as an analogy? That's funny because analogies slash understanding time.
Chopra is saying that a shift in consciousness causes a shift in biology. I totally agree with this as I interpret shift in consciousness as learning something that makes a person better (or worse). It could be precious advice from a friend or stranger it doesn't matter. Think of it as aha moments. An example of a shift of consciousness would be understanding that simplifying the CPE exams and allowing for automatic graduation to secondary education would probably reduce stress-related cancer.
I agree also with Chopra that there are fundamentalists in science too, just like in every field. And that it's perfectly ok to use discontinuity in a poetic fashion.
It's wonderful to be able to live with ambiguity:
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.
Paul Dirac
Because most stars are so far away, their light has yet to reach Earth.
Edgar Allan Poe solving Olber’s Paradox in a poem
The good work: yes, indeed! (sorry for more links, just don't read them if you are not prepared for some alternative, yet factual, perspective about a fabricated myth)
ReplyDeleteHmm, please, don't overestimate my supposed persuasion powers, as I don't have the objective of convincing you, especially a highly opinionated person of your caliber, Sir. It's only from what I've read about these people's deeds, et voilá.
But, trying to analyse Chopra's "logic" does not dispell the after-taste of being intellectually raped: it's as if reading through horoscopes - depending on the mood/mins-state of the reader, one will find it either perfectly fitting, or ironical at worst.
Ah, I'm glad you quote Paul Dirac... and Edgar Allan Poe too - one of the best proto-sci-fi authors. If we meet, they're more chances we'll agree to disagree on fraudsters / promoters of intellectual masturbation and remain friends than anything else.
And that film about Mrs Plame's ordeal was eye-opening to say the least: where does shock therapy end, eh?
Thanks for the exchange - but where is Anonymous? Summer school program?
Didn't find anything shocking in the CNN clip either. And it shouldn't be too difficult for you to agree that Dawkins sounds like a bozo in that other clip.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about Irak here's a little something about your buddy Hitchens. Bonn pa bonn?
Btw, don't need a rocket science each and every time to be persuaded.
I have to admit that I don't know a lot about Mother Teresa apart from the postcard stuff I've seen in the media. But I wouldn't necessarily trust Dawkins to make me see better.
I hope we don't agree on a lot... it would be quite boring for me to meet my twin... and I would feel terribly redundant...
Sa bougre la ene disgras pou nous communaute sa. Et ene danger pou nous pei.
ReplyDeleteCelui qui avait dit qu'il ne faut pas melanger religion et politique n'avait pas tort. Surtout quand le 'barman' c'est C.M. Ca donne un cocktail explosif...
ReplyDeleteFelisitasyon akagugo! Banla finn batiz enn pwason galan Dawkins. Mo dimann mwa si pa zonn dimann pwason la so lopinion?
ReplyDeleteAla enn ti lartik ki vinn donn rezon Hitchens.
ReplyDeleteFilip pe eksplik nu surs enn rasinn violans kont bann fam.
ReplyDeleteHere's Tom Wolfe who adds an additional angle to this thread. You might need a subscription or to read it from the FT page on FB.
ReplyDeleteSome additional perspective on making Teresa a saint.
ReplyDelete