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diff --git a/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md b/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md index d455309..93d7c62 100644 --- a/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md +++ b/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md @@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ One can meditate just as well in a quiet room as one can right outside a constru Good criticism has been leveled against spiritual authors like Eckhart though. The criticism goes something like this: "You claim that giving up one's ego, ceasing to identify with life problems, stops suffering. But what about systemic social issues? Aren't they worth solving?". It's here where people like Eckhart Tolle fail to give satisfying answers. So I'll take my crack at answering that. ### The Non-Contradiction of Spirituality And Activism -The reality of today is that almost everyone is identified with their thoughts all the time. I live in a society where the thoughts people get lost in can be very negative. Thoughts like "I got fired today. There goes my healthcare. How am I gonna pay rent? I'm fucked". The way society is organized directly influences people's life situations, which influences the character of their thoughts. A poorly organized society leaves millions of houseless people sleeping on street just waiting to be harassed by [thugs](/glossary/#thug) while centibillionaires amass great fortunes. Of course that causes negative thoughts and suffering. +The reality of today is that almost everyone is identified with their thoughts all the time. I live in a society where the thoughts people get lost in can be very negative. Thoughts like "I got fired today. There goes my healthcare. How am I gonna pay rent? I'm fucked". The way society is organized directly influences people's life situations, which influences the character of their thoughts. A poorly organized society leaves millions of houseless people sleeping on street just waiting to be harassed by [thugs](/glossary/) while centibillionaires amass great fortunes. Of course that causes negative thoughts and suffering. Mindfulness and non-identification with thought may help to reduce the suffering of a few individual houseless people, but to suggest mindfulness as an alternative to a real solution for houselessness would be moronic. Houselessness is a social problem. It's easier to eliminate the suffering that comes along with houselessness by dealing with its social causes than by telling mentally unwell houseless drug addicts they just need to meditate. As I said earlier, there is always another problem and identification with problems causes suffering, but at least the problem wouldn't be not having a safe place to sleep. Failing to find an entertaining television station is a better problem to have. |