I'm an atheist but I quite like Buddism...

[The Grand Nudger]

You don't have either to offer. You're sitting in a trash can saying "well fine, don't come in if you don't want any of this souffle!"

yeah, no shit......

[Angrboda]

Part of his analysis of the human condition was to separate joy and pleasure. In neurochemistry, these are responses to serotonin (joy) and dopamine (pleasure). We get pleasure from getting things, like winning, or eating a big meal, etc, but pleasure is inherently addictive. After we feel it, it's gone and leaves a need for more, in an endless cycle. This is 'attachment'. Most people struggle with attachment and desire for material things, but there is also attachment to ideas and the sense of self. The point is, this pursuit doesn't lead to that contentment and joy, in fact, it obscures it. Joy comes from being a good person and living a good life. When you remember joy, you feel it again, when you remember pleasure, you feel the lack.

This is bogus. Neurochemistry doesn't work like this. Both serotonin and dopamine are involved in many different systems and it's not a simple linear response that serotonin leads to joy, or dopamine results in pleasure.

[tantric]

Part of his analysis of the human condition was to separate joy and pleasure. In neurochemistry, these are responses to serotonin (joy) and dopamine (pleasure). We get pleasure from getting things, like winning, or eating a big meal, etc, but pleasure is inherently addictive. After we feel it, it's gone and leaves a need for more, in an endless cycle. This is 'attachment'. Most people struggle with attachment and desire for material things, but there is also attachment to ideas and the sense of self. The point is, this pursuit doesn't lead to that contentment and joy, in fact, it obscures it. Joy comes from being a good person and living a good life. When you remember joy, you feel it again, when you remember pleasure, you feel the lack.

This is bogus. Neurochemistry doesn't work like this. Both serotonin and dopamine are involved in many different systems and it's not a simple linear response that serotonin leads to joy, or dopamine results in pleasure.

Busted - that was a HUGE simplification. Nevertheless, dopamine is the root of addiction, and most of the things Buddhist consider 'attachments' are things that give a dopamine rush. The idea that people can be addicted to reality - that most people are addicts, going from one cheap rush to the next, be it from buying junk in walmart, eating junk food, or shooting junk in their arms, is a big part of modern/western Buddhist thought. I have refs on this, but if you don't accept sociobiology, you won't want to hear it. It relies on the idea that the addictive mechanism is a product of evolution, a means of encouraging our ancestors to eat fatty foods (junk foods), and expanded to include things like 'winning' (gambling addiction) and just acquiring stuff (hoarding). PM me if you care.

[FatAndFaithless]

The idea that people can be addicted to reality

Good lord that's a vapid and meaningless idea.

[tantric]

You don't have either to offer. You're sitting in a trash can saying "well fine, don't come in if you don't want any of this souffle!"

yeah, no shit......

And you're rude and uncouth. What is going on that gives you so much vitriol? Does your antitheism and anti-religious attitudes stem from some particular experience? Personally, I try not to carry around hate - some things are marked as 'avoid' but hate is a poison. Just saying - you seem unhappy, does attacking people like me help in some way?

[thesummerqueen]

You don't have either to offer. You're sitting in a trash can saying "well fine, don't come in if you don't want any of this souffle!"

yeah, no shit......

And you're rude and uncouth. What is going on that gives you so much vitriol? Does your antitheism and anti-religious attitudes stem from some particular experience? Personally, I try not to carry around hate - some things are marked as 'avoid' but hate is a poison. Just saying - you seem unhappy, does attacking people like me help in some way?

You really don't know Rhythm.

[The Grand Nudger]

People also seem to be addicted to bullshit, case in point buddhists.

And you're rude and uncouth.

If you'd like for me to whisper sweet nothings into your ear, then stop shitting into mine.

What is going on that gives you so much vitriol?

-buddhism.

Does your antitheism and anti-religious attitudes stem from some particular experience? Personally, I try not to carry around hate - some things are marked as 'avoid' but hate is a poison. Just saying - you seem unhappy, does attacking people like me help in some way?

See, this is what happens when you combine judeo-christian bafflegab with eastern religion. Twats like this fucker. On the last count, yeah, actually, it does. But not me, necessarily. Exposing people such as yourself as frauds and charlatans, and demonstrating that I don't have to give you or your fairy stories any unearned respect is a very positive takeaway for a better tomorrow. If more people stood up and said "Hey, wait a minute, this is bullshit" - when they smelled bullshit, the world might be a better place. But no, for whatever reason, when it's religious bullshit, people think they have an obligation to shut up and listen to the charlatan speak his mind. That's why, for example, nothing prepared you to hear or respond to criticism of buddhism. Why it's never occurred to you that someone might have an ethical objection to buddhism. Unearned respect. Complicity through silence.

-bullshit

[tantric]

I actually came back to remove what I wrote, as I said it in haste. Then you used the t-word, so I reported you. Get some help - people who have neuroses and adopt political movements to express them or other emotions cause no end of problems for those who follow such movements for rational reasons. Usually it's communism or anarchy, but anything will do. I'm not kidding - you're a fanatic. Fanaticism is the enemy of rational thought, and "but I'm right" is every fanatic's excuse.

[The Grand Nudger]

Thank you for providing yet another example of precisely what I'm talking about.

"The fanatical humanist called me names for being a passive-aggressive douche-nozzle....after making snide implications about his character and life experience, waaaaaa!"

I grabbed my nuts and said exactly what I wanted to. Take notes. Could have addressed any of my long litany of comments, but nope, 4 little letters hung you up.

[tantric]

Actually, it's not about insults, it's about the specific word you used - it denigrates women. Only the basest sort of man would use it as a common insult. You're a vile person. That being noted, it follows you really don't know anything I want to learn. Your thoughts, however logical they might be, will be used for destructive purposes. I think our conversation is over.

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The idea that people can be addicted to reality

Good lord that's a vapid and meaningless idea.

Good point - I meant their lifestyles. Dopamine is the root of addiction, and it's heavily involved in ... screw it, just read this.