Interesting books

In light of issues we've discussed here, I'd like to recommend 2 very
good books: "The Coming Plague," by Laurie Garrett, is an amazingly
researched book about strange and deadly diseases, such as Ebola, Aids,
and many others. In light of the bioterrorism scares today, it makes a
sobering read. "In the Absence of the Sacred," by Jerry Mander, is a
remarkable look at the contrasts between Native, indigenous cultures,
and the world of corporations and market economies...check them
out...Hstick

Hello all from Vancouver. I've really enjoyed a bit of respite from the anxiousness in NYC. However, one thing has bothered me.

The 3 "world" religions are all predicting the end of all things and it seems at least as serious as the Y2 escapades. It really pisses me off that Jewish, Christian, and Moslem religions are so confident that the end of the world is nigh.

It's not that I believe this for a second...but the self-prophesizing factor might weigh in. The worst part of this is that if it doesn't happen this year, there's always next.

Johnny - still smiling.

isn't the joke that "prophets" have been predicting the immanent end of the
world since, well, the beginning of the world? Actually, eventually the
world >will< end, and then they can all say "see, we told you so"! It's like
if you perpetually feel that you are going to die any minute, eventually you
will be right. In fact, this is recommended in Zen Buddhism. It's more
healthy, spiritually, to think you're about to die (memento mori) than it is
to think you are going to live forever. Although, since we are not only this
one particular body, we >do< live forever... although since there really is
no "self" as a permanent unchanging entity, there is nothing to live
forever: or die either. So really, we are neither mortal, nor immortal: its
called "dependent origination". As for the "big three" religions that came
out of the Levant- I think they all suck, but thats just me.

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Afmmjr@... [mailto:Afmmjr@...]
> Sent: Friday, November 23, 2001 11:13 PM
> To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [metatuning] Interesting books
>
>
> Hello all from Vancouver. I've really enjoyed a bit of respite
> from the anxiousness in NYC. However, one thing has bothered me.
>
> The 3 "world" religions are all predicting the end of all things
> and it seems at least as serious as the Y2 escapades. It really
> pisses me off that Jewish, Christian, and Moslem religions are so
> confident that the end of the world is nigh.
>
> It's not that I believe this for a second...but the
> self-prophesizing factor might weigh in. The worst part of this
> is that if it doesn't happen this year, there's always next.
>
> Johnny - still smiling.
>
>
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