What would a non-offensive World look like?

[三江源]

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Edited July 12, 2014 by cat

[Dainin]

Canada!

[Jainarayan]

Seems to me part of being non-offensive is not to bash other peoples beliefs. ...

 

In your eyes, you're totally right, totally justified, they/it deserves it and much worse, they must be educated about their evils.

 

Not to mention that when people quote Jesus to try to make a point that he was no saint (no pun intended), the quotes are taken completely out of context viz. the time, place, setting and understanding of his audience, situations they had first-hand familiarity with. Jesus was the king of metaphors and parables, par excellence. So much that even his disciples sometimes didn't get the lessons in the parables and metaphors. You can't take a lot of what he said at face value.

[konchog uma]

So you took offense because of your sensitivities? VMarco wasnt "being" offensive?

 

Do you mean that there is no such thing as 'being offensive' , there is just people "taking offense" where they really need not?

 

vmarco was being vmarco. how anyone interprets that is their own trip.

 

maybe someone else really appreciates vmarco for the same words i found offensive.

 

i don't know if people need not take offense, i think perhaps people need to when they do. Its just a natural reaction to a situation if you have those kind of sensibilities. Another way of looking at it is that when the body, energy, and mind are cleansed of obstructions, things are perceived as the dance of the infinite, or the dao, or the vajra world, or whatever aldous huxley was trying to talk about. Pick your semantic framework. But until one can clear away their obstructions, which usually happens through practice and effort, maybe they need to get offended. Maybe that offense is a way of showing them what they need to work on, so really its a perfect part of their healing process. Maybe someone offensive is really that offended persons medicine. Thats why i say its all in how one chooses to look at the world and react to it.

 

So in the end whether we say someone "is offensive" or "is acting in a way that is perceived to be offensive" or or that one is just "taking offense" etc etc i think this is all semantic. Interesting, and perhaps useful, but semantic. Beyond the semantics is an experience of life situations, even (and especially) offensive ones, which i am trying to illuminate (semantically!), one that revolves around taking obstacles as the path and cleansing the doors of our own perceptions via whatever practice we engage in, whether its sex and drugs, or tantric sadhana, or just meditation, or qigong, etc etc. I mean, thats why we're all here right? to talk about practice and the potential to cleanse our own obstacles?? to learn about such things and then go do them? Im only trying to suggest that if you're here to get offended by other peoples points of view, theres a bigger world out there. And that even if you aren't here to do that, but it happens anyway, you can work with that as square one of your practice, and follow that thread to unearth your own hidden issues and deal with them.

 

this last bit to the royal "you", not to you personally cat.

[konchog uma]

it wasn't offense or non-offense until i took it one way or the other.

 

schroedinger's offense

[Vmarco]

So you took offense because of your sensitivities? VMarco wasnt "being" offensive?

 

Do you mean that there is no such thing as 'being offensive' , there is just people "taking offense" where they really need not?

 

There's a question. If I verbalize the N-word among a group of White Sheets, is that offense? Or Paul deen spewing it out a Georgia social limited to the grandchilden of former slave owners dreaming of better times. Or, even better yet,...you go out in the woods by yourself, screaming about those (pick you hate word) are the cause of your woes.

 

Personally, I feel all of the above are unconscious of the hate inside them. And all of the above pollute the world with disharmomy,...thus maintaining a vibration that breeds more ugliness, as can be seen growing in recent years.

 

Lao Tzu said, "Who can enjoy enlightenment and remain indifferent to suffering in the world? This is not keeping with the Way?"

Edited June 26, 2013 by Vmarco

[三江源]

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Edited July 12, 2014 by cat

[Apech]

is "offence" a mechanism whereby 'something' is punctured and therefore contracts?

 

 

•  

   

  • offend (v.)
  • early 14c., "to sin against (someone)," from Old French ofendre "transgress, antagonize," and directly from Latin offendere "to hit, strike against," figuratively "to stumble, commit a fault, displease, trespass against, provoke," from ob "against" (see ob-) + -fendere "to strike" (found only in compounds; see defend).

   

[Marblehead]

And that even if you aren't here to do that, but it happens anyway, you can work with that as square one of your practice, and follow that thread to unearth your own hidden issues and deal with them.

 

this last bit to the royal "you", not to you personally cat.

I just wanted to repeat this part of your post. Thanks.

[Stosh]

Im offended by the idea that I stand accused of being accomplice to the hate speech directed at me.

 

Hateful speech is often an attack mediated by the correct assumption that it will be seen as an attack,

While it is true that one ascribes their own meaning on the words that fall on ones ears to a degree ,

words are ascribed meaning collectively , that means the meanings they have are

not entirely mine own.

 

If I heard a siren-noise and was 'offended' by it , well THEN yeah ,that is just my personal response to a sound in my presence.

If the words however are sent ,and recieved, in the light - intended collectively -it is NOT just my personal take on them.

[thelerner]

There's a question. If I verbalize the N-word among a group of White Sheets, is that offense? Or Paul deen spewing it out a Georgia social limited to the grandchilden of former slave owners dreaming of better times. Or, even better yet,...you go out in the woods by yourself, screaming about those (pick you hate word) are the cause of your woes.

 

Personally, I feel all of the above are unconscious of the hate inside them. And all of the above pollute the world with disharmomy,...thus maintaining a vibration that breeds more ugliness, as can be seen growing in recent years.

 

Lao Tzu said, "Who can enjoy enlightenment and remain indifferent to suffering in the world? This is not keeping with the Way?"

I disagree. I'm more into action then thoughts. Screams of profanity in the empty woods doesn't cause vibration that spread around the world. They may be just blowing off steam. I judge others by there actions and even thats tricky, but at least its real. Versus someones thoughts where we can assume anything. You assume a lot about Paula Deen but she's an easy target, a 66 year old woman who grew up in the South in the 50's and 60's. Frankly, she has black friends, I cut her slack, obviously the game is played by taking short quotes that make the person look bad and ignore all other evidence. A victory for the PC thought police.

 

Ultimately we can't control others, we can only be examples. Watch this- Jesus Christ is great. How negative do you feel? How much do you need to correct me, tell me I'm wrong? Let it go. Spread tolerance not hatred or negativity towards groups. And if you have to, at least wait until they've acted poorly, don't become the mind police and attack because of there thoughts.

[hydrogen]

I wasn't offended by Paula Dean's word. I was offended by her cooking.

 

She is the queen of butter. Her slogan is butter always make things taste better. Well, it's true. However as a skillful chef, she sould be able to make something taste good without butter. Personally she has diabetes. I doubt her eat anything that she cooking on the TV show. Knowingly promoting something you don't believe in is a bigger "crime" than offensive word in my opinion.

 

Sorry for throwing stone from my glass house.

Edited June 26, 2013 by hydrogen

[三江源]

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Edited July 12, 2014 by cat

[三江源]

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Edited July 21, 2014 by cat

[Marblehead]

Butter is good stuff.

It do be that. And I will be putting some on the chicken I will be having for supper along with other seasonings.

[konchog uma]

this is just what it says in the dictionary, rather than a delineation of the proccess of what happens internally,energetically, using an inner awareness apropriate to taobums.. an awareness that could be deconstructing the proccess so as to recognise it as a mechanical snarl up, an unconscious reflex, or a decision.

 

its an interested question cat. "is "offence" a mechanism whereby 'something' is punctured and therefore contracts?"

 

my immediate answer is that that 'something' is the ego. Then i had to check myself for not being able to talk about things in a universal framework, since ego means different things to different people, especially modern buddhists. So within the limitations of the concept of ego, i still think that's basically whats getting punctured, peoples self-concept and the ideas about ourselves that we have, and constantly need to reinforce via our thoughts, words, and actions. So thats pretty predictable coming from a buddhist, and i apologize for that, but then again, i am a buddhist because it makes a lot of sense to me, and embodies a language that allows me to deal with myself and my world effectively.

 

So i think its actually the idea of the self and the insecurities that surround that for each of us, and that can be taken out of a buddhist context... we all have self-concept, regardless of the path we follow.

[Apech]

this is just what it says in the dictionary, rather than a delineation of the proccess of what happens internally,energetically, using an inner awareness apropriate to taobums.. an awareness that could be deconstructing the proccess so as to recognise it as a mechanical snarl up, an unconscious reflex, or a decision.

 

 

I thought it was good starting point ... to look at the origin of the word ... then go on to explore how it functions ... energetically or otherwise .... I think that is appropriate to TBs ... in fact I wish people did it more often ...

[三江源]

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Edited July 12, 2014 by cat

[hydrogen]

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

 

The black manager sued Paula Dean becasue she felt was slighted and humiliated by her? Who knows. Did he sue her for money? Obsolutely. Was that justified? I don't know.

[Apech]

You thunk good idea. Forgive us our trespasses...

 

it looks like a boundary issue.

 

I was pondering that if offend means to strike against then ever time we bump into each other and things its a kind of offence. That life could be said to consist of joggling and jostling along ...and that if that didin't happen then we would be in a kind fo stasis each in his/her little island ... it would be insanely boring ... so maybe we need offense ... to keep us alive somehow ... so when the blow comes we should just either accept/deflect/dodge or whatever but not wish it away ... that not wishing to be offended is actually a flawed attempt to control the Tao ... the flow of life .... (just an idea) ...

[rain]

a world without pretense perhaps but I am awfully unsophisticated

[Wu Ming Jen]

The world would look the same with maybe less things blowing up.

[Stosh]

I was pondering that if offend means to strike against then ever time we bump into each other and things its a kind of offence. That life could be said to consist of joggling and jostling along ...and that if that didin't happen then we would be in a kind fo stasis each in his/her little island ... it would be insanely boring ... so maybe we need offense ... to keep us alive somehow ... so when the blow comes we should just either accept/deflect/dodge or whatever but not wish it away ... that not wishing to be offended is actually a flawed attempt to control the Tao ... the flow of life .... (just an idea) ...

Thats pretty reasonable , Myself was going more along the lines that the opportunity to be offended is a byproduct of trying to protect oneself ,or ones own effects -so as long as one is doing those things they are alive ,whereas if one isnt , then yes they could be seen as removed from the world -like on little islands safe from the tigers claw or the rhinos horn.

But im not sure whether the voluntary disconnect of ones personal emotional state from external negatives is flaw or not.

Shrugging off the jabs and rain and insults and dissappointments of a life seems to be a valid goal for taoists , (a heck of a lot more reasonable than trying to emulate the eternal Tao ! which WOULD be a fools errand- IMO)

[三江源]

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Edited July 12, 2014 by cat

[Apech]

What offends a dolphin?

 

A shark? ... or another dolphin ...

 

http://www.dolphins-world.com/Bottlenose_Dolphins_Fighting.html

Edited June 27, 2013 by Apech