sree

It's nigh impossible to say anything these days without hurting somebody's feelings. Even looking at someone the wrong way can cause a brawl that escalates quickly into a riot. And all I wanted to do is talk about dying and death. It's not a popular topic, I know. Nobody wants to die even though every body dies. Naturally, everyone gets evicted unceremoniously. There is no grace in that. Like inconsiderate guests who won't leave long after dinner is over even when the host is so damn tired and literally wants to drop dead. Do we get the hint? Not on your life. If the heart stops, get a new heart. If the liver is cancerous, wait for a road kill and get a donor. If the kidneys are done for, dialysis. Even if there are no vital signs, maintain life support. Do you want to learn the Tao of dying or do you also want to ride your poor buffalo into the ground? And this is not intended as an insult.

Take it easy, ok? Viewing women is what men do. We are in a discussion about dying and death, not women. When you show me a youtube video in this context and tell me that the presenter has great legs, I have to set you straight and get you back to the topic of discussion. It’s not women I want to focus on. It’s about dying and death. You are the last person I would want to talk to about women. Hell is very real. It's not imaginary. That poor guy getting hacked to death in Woolwich is hell. The emotion that caused that was rage, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Another is lust that possess men who have appetite for tarts – not the kind that come out of ovens but the ones with great legs. Forget that lady, already. It is you who feel insulted when I pointed to the baited trap you fell for. And I didn't intend to demean you. I was being your friend telling you that you are in a demonic spell. Please understand that tarts are not women. Tarts are trance states that possess the lecherous minds of men. I don't like politics. Ganging up is evil. Those two men ganged up to hack to death a lone man in Woolwich. Power of numbers is the power of bullies. The Red Light district is not a part of American life. Prostitution is a crime in the USA. Europeans laugh at Americans and see us as prudes because we take pride in being a Christian nation. Vaina has folded his cards. It’s now just between you and me in this game of poker. We can play for high stakes with no holds barred. You against me. A Brit against a Yank. Are you up to it?

Today, I see on TV the news about two black men hacking a white man to death in London. The colors of the men are incidental. But the emotion that caused that horror also drives us all in our interaction with each other. Please watch out for that emotion if it ever surfaces during our discussion.

Don't get so agitated, my friend. I don't see anything wrong in making a judgment about that lady being a tart. My observation is not directed at her, personally. It's a point about human behavior that I meant to share with you. If you disagree and conclude she is wholesome, that's your call and I am not going to argue with you. You want me to interpret what Nirvana is? I can't do that. But I can interpret what Niraka is. Niraka is Buddhist Hell where we all go as long as we are part of this horrible human specie that you have been railing about. How come you can condemn all mankind as monstrous specie of psychopaths, puppets and powerbrokers and I get dumped on for calling one woman of that specie a tart? I don't have that need too. When in Amsterdam, I prefer to sit by the canals to check on the pretty girls riding by on their bicycles. See, no tarts: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+girls+on+bicycles+i+amsterdam&mid=4069EC5CE4BB042C243A4069EC5CE4BB042C243A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE3 No apology from me; especially when you are not apologetic about bad-mouthing the human race you insulted. I didn't insult anybody. All I did was relate what a lady friend told me about her Finnish husband and what I personally saw on a flight to Rome. Personally, I have no moral opinions about other people's sexual lives or drinking habits. You know your beer. Belgian is good.

You believe in the existence of the operator? You are Vaina, the software generating the consciousness onto the screen - this three-dimensional, holographic, multi-sensory reality. It's so f**cking real, man. You are actually walking around as a human being in space-time. It's so real that you are even led to live a life in relationship with other human beings. And you believe there is an operator behind all this? Seriously, you really believe that? You have no proof, right? It's just a hunch. Disagree with what? What do you not agree with? What is it I said that you cannot accept? Come on, don't be scared. Use your brains to take apart what I said and prove me wrong.

She is not a pretty woman. She is a tart. Nobody who has achieved Nirvana would shove her breasts in your face. No woman's breasts pop up around her neck like that. Natural breasts don't look like that. Look at those good looking bare-breasted bodies of native women in Africa and the Amazon jungle. They are natural and not flamboyant like artificially shaped wonder bra Buddha-wrecking fun bags. Then, you'd better go for confession and get absolution. But if you think you won't be bungy jumping Home anytime soon, I could pick you up and we can go check out those pretty women in windows in Amsterdam before heading to Helsinki for a mix sauna party with Vaina. The whole package; especially the software. Finns are less discerning, said a lady friend of mine about her husband. They wound pound anything with legs - man, woman, cow, goat. Perhaps, it's because they are such hard drinkers. I was with this Finn guy on a flight to Rome. We were chatting and drinking at the back of the airplane. All of a sudden he just dropped like a rock to the floor flat out drunk. Cheers! What do you drink? Beer?

Yeah, she does seduces. I am glad you are still excitable despite your 15 health problems. Perhaps, you are not that near death as I thought.

I guess so. I have never been to Helsinki yet. It has to be.

We are talking about the welfare state, right? The problem with bureaucracy begins when you feel it takes more wood/electricity to go alone in the sauna and you want the double bonus of economy and togetherness. (Incidentally, going economy is a human trait that is not akin to Mother Nature's way which is bountiful.) Togetherness, with other people, creates the family, the group, the tribe and the nation to which the individual must compete for relevance. Thus the country must survive at your expense if you cannot come up with a social system that serves both without conflict. So, you either invent the society that puts the individual first (Option 1) or become first in whatever society you live in (Option 2). Forbes list of billionaires are Option 2 individuals who live well in any culture be it the welfare state of Finland, the communist state of China or Russia, the theocracy of Iran, or the dictatorship of North Korea. What does the Tao Te Ching advocate - Option 1 or Option 2?

The exploration of death to seek a deeper truth about life is indeed frighteningly fascinating. It does purifies and forces you to see what is important in life and what is not. Like a mountain climber ascending a vertical cliff of Mount Everest, you carry no dead weight and everything you have is essential for survival. It's not a silly game that pretenders play but a serious mission because if you don't succeed, you fall and die like every loser in life - from the bum to the President of the United States. You should - constantly, passionately, fanatically and with a desperate obsession that consumes you completely to the exclusion of everything in life. This is the way of the human spirit that goes beyond the known where none has gone before. This is the way of people who seek excellence in doing a great job like Steve Jobs and Tiger Woods. It's such a pity that all that remarkable drive went to making electronic devices that empower people to waste their lives, and developing a consummate skill for hitting a ball into a hole. Insults or compliments - they are the same thing, reminders that reinforce the illusion that Vaina, the person, exists. Can life be lived without the fear of death? We know how the body - the hardware - dies a natural death painlessly. Can we discover how the person - the software with the brand name Vaina - dies a natural death with grace before the body breaks down. The Tao of dying is the most purifying exploration of all. Not possible. Society - even a basic one in the time of your ancestors - cannot be ruled like cooking a small fish. And because it couldn't be done, efforts were made to seek solutions as the tribe evolved to become a nation of 5 million called Finland today. Forget the Finnish nation, it is even impossible for the VR Group to even run the Finnish railway network like a small fish. Everybody's understanding of Chapter 60 is wrong. I see. Doing things together is more economical. One log for five people. I don't think it is shame of the body. This is the nudist argument for taking off clothes. It is the guilt about our sexuality that makes us cover up our private parts. Animals have sex. Humans fornicate. We know it's awful behavior and that is why we call it making love. Being naked with good-looking bodies in a mix sauna in Helsinki is as erotic as being in a mix sauna in Bangkok.

If you are happy in the situation, why are you interested in death and dying? To be happy is to live like people do and die like people do. Quite straight forward. It's not just the past. It's also the present. You can't dissolve into nothingness if people keep calling out "Hey Vaina. Hyvää huomenta, Vaina. Miten voit, Vaina? Hei, Vaina! Potkin selkään, senkin typerys, Vaina. How was it possible to take the solitary route as a teen? How did you support yourself without money? I assume teenagers are not financially independent. Money can free you from all rules. What is your understanding of this verse? The Chinese text has its own meaning. Anyway, how can ruling a large nation - say, Finland with a modern industrialized economy for 5 million people - be like cooking a small fish? How is that possible? I think the English translation is ridiculous and does not reflect the wisdom of Chapter 60 of the Chinese version. Why would you want to use a mix sauna? I like an empty sauna with no one inside except me. It's a good to meditate in an empty, quiet sauna. Why do Finns like to get naked?

You would rather live with people you disagree with than be on your own? Are you socially attached or what? Some women would put up with domestic violence rather than run away. I don't understand this. My search for the Tao of dying, led me to drift away from social ties. I am talking about learning how to die as a person. It is not possible to dissipate, psychologically, if I were to live among people who know me. Everything looks good on paper. In fact, communism is the original theory for a welfare state. It couldn't work because it was a theory of walking dreamed up by chickens who wanted to strut like ducks. Finland is trying its best to come up with a humane society. America is divided now with 50% (liberals) rooting for Finland-style socialism and the other 50% (conservatives) who prefer to go your parents' way as the best route to the pursuit of happiness. Oh no, not off-topic at all. I feel that the Tao of dying is an integral part of the Tao of living i.e. the right way to live. So, far we humans have not been able to figure out the right way to live together. As a Daoist, if I were to offer solutions from nature - like a beehive or an ant colony - they would be criticized as too regimented. I don't get the feeling that bees are complaining the way humans riot in Athens or London. Cite me one instance where it says in the Tao Te Ching that the welfare state doesn't work. We all have different views of each other. I told a Swede that Americans would not undress in each others' company unless they were going to have sex but Swedes would, in the sauna, with strangers. He corrected me:"Not the Swedes but the Finns. They would even exit the sauna naked to dip in their backyard water pool in plain sight of neighbors."

I am focussed on you and you alone. I want to know how you deal with your reality. Rupert Sheldrake doesn't have an ileoanal pouch. People like him feel empowered to spin stuff about the dogmas of science. He needs an ileoanal pouch to shut his mouth up. If each of us has an ileoanal pouch and have to spend five hours everyday emptying it, nobody would be cocky. We would be forced to pay attention to the mortality of our bodies and learn the Tao of dying. Your Mum had an alcohol problem? She can't be from India because Hindu women don't drink. Your namaste keeps throwing me off making me think that you are from India. Anyway, wasn't your Dad around to deal with your Mum? Yes, they are all stories. So, let's drop all those stories and stay with our reality I outlined: Everything we know as real is what we have accepted as real. Things like the sky above, the ground beneath our feet, the planet we call Earth, the human body we inhabit, and this consciousness we have of our reality which will all come to an end when your body dies. Do you think Sheldrake would consider this reality a scientific dogma? Like I said, if we all have ileoanal pouches, we will not go around killing each other. The reason why we are destructive is because we are not focused on our mortality. No one thinks he can die. Sure, one day it will happen but in the meantime they party, invent drones and kill people. It takes personal catastrophes to wake each of us up. Even then, we could still distract ourselves from harsh reality and create mischief. If you have rambled, then you must not be in physical pain. Do your painkillers knock out all pain everyday? Do you take painkillers every five hours to keep pain in your neck and arthritic hands at bay? I take it that your ileoanal pouch is the only thing messing up your lifestyle; otherwise, you can function physically like me and Vaina? Yes, you made sense. I am surprised by your mental energy for someone with 15 health problems. You show more vitality than Vaina. If you weren't hobbled by your bodily ailments, you probably would run for Parliament.

Doing without being attached to the results is wu wei? You would be fired at Apple? How old are you? There seems to be a wu wei for everyone? To kids who don't care about the results of their actions, wu wei is the excuse for no accountability. To the bum who doesn't want to shape up, wu wei is the excuse for laziness. To the sleazebag who wants to sleep around, wu wei is the excuse for a wanton life. Not all threads about wu wei is truly about 無爲.

Forgive me if the picture I draw is too vivid for your liking. You live in polite society that eschew confrontation with the truth. I come from a culture that settles the score in no uncertain terms at high noon on Main Street. Cultural mindsets dictates predominant human behavior in public places through which you navigate everyday. If you don't agree with that behavior, then you will be oppressed by it. It's fine if you are compliant by nature. There is nothing wrong with the welfare state. In fact, it is the only intelligent way to live together. In such a culture, every baby born is a wonderful addition to the community, and every member is care for and protected by all from birth to death. Why would you avoid such a harmonious way of living?

I agree. Wu wei (無爲) is the way, the only goddam way. Let AIDS wipe out Africans and nuclear weapons the human race. Are you with me? I think I get what you mean but can you rephrase that in simple English? Are you saying that do-gooders are evil? Why is that, my friend? You are very astute. What's wrong with these people? Can you lay it out?

Let me position your Nordic gaze a little towards Zen. Actually, there is no player. There are only the cards, the hand you are dealt with. You are it. As for gentlewind, why do you think he is winning? He shows a fantastic attitude and it intimidates the hell out of you. Are you folding? This is poker, right. There are three of us at the table. I have not folded yet. I know the odds and they are heavily in my favor and yours too. You know that and yet you are afraid. You folded and there are only he and me now. I am a betting man, my friend. I am all in on this game. I am betting the farm on my three kings. More Zen. The feeling of luck is the anticipation of a better situation, be it gaining more or not losing what you have. So, you are either feeling lucky or you have cashed out i.e. dead. What you are saying - in American terms - is that everything has gone to the dogs. This is a universal lament of the older generation of people who cannot get away from the mess. Money can make a difference. It can buy you refuge. As a Fin, you may like the sea and a sailboat in a warmer climate would be ideal. Or you could live in the clouds in Bhutan. What's wrong with being on your own? Take care of your own welfare and leave the rest of the world be?

What’s your own truth? This question inquires into what is true. Everything we know as real is what we have accepted as real. Things like the sky above, the ground beneath our feet, the planet we call Earth, the human body we inhabit, and this consciousness we have of our reality. If we accept these basic facts at face value, then we can take our chances to live out our temporal life as best we can and die out along with the body like any other animal. If we are not content and want to seek the truth beyond what is our reality or attempt to explain reality, then the confusion begins. To stop seeking, as you advocate, is for each of us to accept our reality - this monstrous human condition - the way you accept your health problems until death mercifully puts an end to it. Wu wei (無爲), a central teaching of the Tao Te Ching, questions our worldview and the reaction it provokes. The perception of ourselves as an animal specie that is monstrous and horrifyingly cruel is itself a reaction to what we are. On the one hand, you show a wu wei attitude towards the monstrous havoc afflicted on your body by diseases but on the other, you resent the horrifying effects of a cruel human nature that we suffer. Why the inconsistency? Why won’t you apply your personal philosophy to mankind as a whole and consider the state of our world with all its horrors as chosen by us before our creation? If you don’t condemn the diseases your body is inflicted with, then why harbour recriminations about the horrendous social conditions we endure?

I want you to know that I think of you everyday. The Passion of Christ is his love for mankind trapped in suffering. You are not a Christian, I know; and neither am I. It's all symbolism but powerful representation of the untenable human condition crying for deliverance. The story of Jesus inspire me to seek salvation from all health problems and the physical pain they wreak. If you are happy with health problems, then it is a joy I cannot comprehend. I think of Mother Teresa who surrounded herself with health problems, other people's. Like all philanthropies, her movement thrived on human misery rather than eradicate it. It seems to me that if I had Jesus' miraculous power of healing and made you as whole as a healthy newborn baby, you would lose all desire to exist. I agree. Everything should be free the way everything is free for other animals in the forest. Do away with money since it benefits only the very few who are wealthy. This is the pervasive thinking sweeping across America. Finland is the model of a welfare state. I hope you don't mind if I joke with you also. If this is the best way to die, how come it is perceived as corporal punishment - worse than lifetime imprisonment - for criminals? Do you use the salutation, accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, in front of the chest, in your daily interaction with people to indicate we are all part of Brahman?

I wonder if you would appreciate the fact that most of us are dealt winning hands but just can't get the pot. More often than not, we hold a royal flush and still lose out to bozos with deuces. Still, we play on like gambling addicts unable to leave the table. You are smart and you know it. You keep playing that three kings until your luck runs out and you are dealt deuces. Looking ahead, at this point in your life, do you still feel lucky? Looks like you are trashing everything about Finnish culture. Who are your ancestors?

Apart from your ileoanal pouch concerns, your nerve problems with the neck and arthritis with your hands, you also have renal issues. Did I miss out any other illness? What about food, clothing and shelter for the sickly? These are basic needs of those unable to work for a living. Shouldn't they be provided free of charge too? I am trying to get an idea of what your life is like. This is supposed to be a shared-experience project, remember? For such a condition, what is the best way to die then?

So, you believe that people in society are made up of different individuals, each with his or her own reality. In other words, what is true for me is not true for you and vice versa. I can accept this viewpoint when looking at a fly and a frog. These two life forms, even though they can interact, do not share the same reality. What is the basis for stating that two human beings do not share the same reality? Would you say that your mindset is a product of your culture?

Let me rephrase the question. When you have stopped breathing and your heart have stopped beating, the body is still. Four hours later, rigor mortis sets in. Would you say that life, as you know it, at that point in time does not exist? What is good nutrition for your body? What do you eat on an average day?

You write well and have much to say that is meaningful to people going through bodily pains such as yours. You have convictions that, to me, come across better than motivational gurus out there and they are making millions. Deepak Chopra is doing exceptionally well and he is not convincing at all. Why do you think people are monstrous and not like other animals that, even when they kill, seem to be undriven by evil? You believe each one's life is what one makes it to be? Perhaps, so. But don't you believe in an even playing field where everyone gets the same starting point. What if you are born as part of a Siamese twin and sharing one torso? How do you deal with life? Or you are born in a family of beggars in Mumbai and have your eyes burn out with acid so you beg better for a living? How would you make your movie then? There are many versions of the Tao Te Ching. Which version are you at One with?

Three operations? What were they for and when were they done? By being a guinea pig, do you mean that your operations were conducted on camera and watched by students? Did you get a copy of the recordings? You must have Viking genes. Even at 12 stones, you are not easy to get on a carving table. Being big is easier to operate on, I guess. Don't you prefer a society that doesn't have to spend a lot on health care? Is it not better to have a world where nobody needs intensive and expensive healthcare and everyone is healthy? As people gets older, incidence of old age diseases escalates. The elimination of old age could cut healthcare costs dramatically. Even health insurance premiums would go down. For example, cars that new and don't breakdown are cheaper to run. In your condition, you would not survive a day as an animal in the forest. Is there something wrong with human society or is nature too brutal? Even in death, animals don't have funerals and not buried. They are eaten up. Nothing is wasteful. How long have you been unable to work for a living? Let me guess. Ten years? I can't say I agree with euthanasia although putting animals out of misery seems the proper thing to do. In the case of humans, which are strictly animals also, something makes it inappropriate. The person has to be dealt with first before the body can be shutdown deliberately. This is why the Tao of dying is important. The rest of your post trends towards the philosophical. So, I will tackle it separately.