Rich Domesticated Primate, Poor Domesticated Primate

[j_assmuffin]

I recently thought about a quote that I heard on a PBS program about the Reagan administration. As I recall the quote went something like this: "People tend to vote Democrat when they feel poor and Republican when they feel rich." I interpret this quote to mean that Domesticated Primates who "feel poor" might be attracted to the idea of a

Comments

[hfx_ben]

"Domesticated Primates who "feel poor" might gravitate more towards a socialist model while Domesticated Primates who "feel rich" might find a laissez faire capitalist model to be more appealing."
That's what I was working on at the U ... tying in social- and cog-psych with PoliSci.

Dig: both Marx and Buddha talk about how the actual condition we find ourselves in condition the way we think things through. "Karma", in abhidharma (Ok, so entities are empty of self-existence. Yaa fine, but "the mirage is compellingly realistic!") and dialectical materialism in political theory.

And that's why I designed "Participatory Deliberation" ... not just to walk through an analysis of issues, but to show the subjective nature of our narrative.
Kewl, nae?
:-)

[j_assmuffin]

"Dig: both Marx and Buddha talk about how the actual condition we find ourselves in condition the way we think things through."

Indeed.

I do not know about you, but keeping thoughts like that in mind during "difficult" conversations (or while reading/listening to points of view that I do not necessarily agree with) seems to help me maintain a sense of compassion.

Interesting website. I really dug the quote from Andre Maurois: "The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it." In the context of situations/conditioning/etc. guiding our reasoning, difficulty not only "ends" with "knowing" the opinion but with "knowing" what influences (or lies behind) the opinion as well.

Metta

[hfx_ben]

"but keeping thoughts like that in mind during "difficult" conversations [...] seems to help me maintain a sense of compassion."
:-)
I just got a lovely memory of talking with Ane Pema Chodron (the abbess of our monastery) about inter-presonal stuff, and her reminding me to talk dharma to myself when things go side-ways.

Of course the point is to release ourselves from need for such mechanical responses, but in the meantime, yaa, absolutely. And here's what thrills me: if I can uphold that sort of bodhicitta, it gives me a bright background against which my nasty reactions stand in clear contrast. Point is, I can purify my own personal karma by hanging in there and working through it.

"the quote from Andre Maurois: [...] In the context of situations/conditioning/etc. guiding our reasoning, difficulty not only "ends" with "knowing" the opinion but with "knowing" what influences (or lies behind) the opinion as well.There we go, you've read my intention