Slavoj Zizek is smart:
"If I were to imagine the ideal religion for global capitalism, it would be what I ironically call Western Buddhism. Its basic lesson is that you shouldn't get totally involved in social reality, that you should learn to withdraw into an inner peace. Don't even try to grasp what is going on, just resign yourself. This is an empty spirituality in the sense that it doesn't call on you to change anything. The most decadent Hollywood star can have this religion as a pure fetish."
this is from http://www.time.com/time/europe/specials/ff/trip5/zizek.html
Call me a pragmatist, but I've always thought there was something kind of disingenuous about most Western incarnations of Eastern philosophies. All this "separate yourself from the world" ascetism -- it sounds like an easy, selfish way out. Came across this article, and Zizek articulates it so well.
I mean, listen to an American neo-Buddhist and s/he more often than not sounds like an Objectivist. *shudder*
[of course, this has nothing to do with actual Buddhism -- just how it tends to be appropriated and bastardized in western culture]
what do you think?
"If I were to imagine the ideal religion for global capitalism, it would be what I ironically call Western Buddhism. Its basic lesson is that you shouldn't get totally involved in social reality, that you should learn to withdraw into an inner peace. Don't even try to grasp what is going on, just resign yourself. This is an empty spirituality in the sense that it doesn't call on you to change anything. The most decadent Hollywood star can have this religion as a pure fetish."
this is from http://www.time.com/time/europe/specials/ff/trip5/zizek.html
Call me a pragmatist, but I've always thought there was something kind of disingenuous about most Western incarnations of Eastern philosophies. All this "separate yourself from the world" ascetism -- it sounds like an easy, selfish way out. Came across this article, and Zizek articulates it so well.
I mean, listen to an American neo-Buddhist and s/he more often than not sounds like an Objectivist. *shudder*
[of course, this has nothing to do with actual Buddhism -- just how it tends to be appropriated and bastardized in western culture]
what do you think?
_v_:
i fear inner peace