Political Theory

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:01:28 GMT

@TronCat

What are your thoughts on Shinto?

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:50:57 GMT

Ha! That's insane. I mean, I love my dog, but seriously? Don't these people realize that we're killing plants when we eat them?

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

Neodoxy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:49:12 GMT

Look, you can spend all day on the wikipedia anarchism page. I'm surprise that there hasn't been more attention drawn to this

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:47:46 GMT

By the way, if I were to take on a religion, I'd have to say it would be Shinto.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:47:08 GMT

I can't imagine how the man must have felt throughout his life. Using all of that scientific knowledge to bring ultimate power to the most evil collective known - the state.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

TronCat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:41:40 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8H7Jibx-c0

Still the most powerful quote for me. Haunting.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:35:23 GMT

Yeah, in fact I own a beautiful edition of "Tao Te Ching." I know in an interview Bruce Lee stated that he wasn't religious, but he did say that Taoism was his main influence (and that he rejected Confucianism).

Oh yeah, that's the one I forgot. Confucianism is practically atheist. The only way it could ever be considered a "religion" is through the Confucian temples located in Taiwan and China, where people literally worship him for his wisdom.

And I haven't heard of the Bhagavad Gita, I'll definately look in to it, thank you.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

TronCat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:30:45 GMT

Taoism always seemed interesting to me. I know Bruce Lee initially considered himself a Taoist, and the inspiration can be seen in his book 'The Tao of Jeet Kune Do'.

I'd recommend The Bhagavad Gita, it's a great piece of work that goes back before Hinduism went dumb.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:22:46 GMT

While this is true, I do think that there are many things throughout the Buddhist canon that would count as definately being more religious. You could call all religions philosophies, and it's made me want to chew the stuffing out of my couch when I think about where you draw the line between religion and philosophy. But overall I think that if there is a religion out there that comes closest to being a philosophy, it's Taoism (although later on it became corrupted by deities which people through in)

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

TronCat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:17:44 GMT

To be fair, Buddhism wasn't initially intended as a religion, only a philosophy. Some argue that Christianity wasn't either intended as a religion (or at least not in its current form), as Jesus says like "The kingdom of God is within" and he wasn't a fan of people with Pope-like positions - ""Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets." (Luke 20:46)

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:02:37 GMT

I used to like Buddhism, I thought it's story was great.

Until I discovered Zen at War. Now I think it's just as corruptable as any religion.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

TronCat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:00:30 GMT

Buddhism seems alright. The Dalai Lama is a dictatorial scumbag though, no matter how Yoda-like he seems.

I've enjoyed the Bhagavad Gita (not Buddhist) more than any other 'religious' text. It's wonderfully poetic, and complex.

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:49:02 GMT

Haha yes, in fact he did. I don't know why we're ripping on Buddhism only. I hate to quote Bill Maher but he was right when he said that "religion is like a golden horse in a room of comedy."

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

TronCat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:47:21 GMT

Didn't Buddha leave his family to find 'enlightenment'?

Re: Has anyone heard of this?

SkepticalMetal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:31:07 GMT

Well, Buddhism in it's nature doesn't equate suffering with something that is a capitalistic issue, or at least most of the time. More of the time it's talking about inner depression and what not.