Quit picking on me! I'm going to go gather up all my other weak friends to tell you how wrong you are about us! With the threat of your words neutralized, we will emerge strong at last!

No, kidding aside, this is all very true, and of course it's what the right wing taps into when they go on about John Doe and terrorism. And yet it's a human failing, not exclusive to them at all. It's also something harder for me to see in myself than to see in others. I have made some progress, I have less difficulty with it than I used to, but I am still prone to operating from an unreachable defensive standpoint, Me versus Them.

Lots to think about here, as usual.

yes...this is some of why i phrase it as people who "choose to be weak," rather than Weak People which draws a line that does not reallllly exist. we all chose from moment to moment. and framing it as a choice that can be taken up even after you fail it empowers a person. true, some have learned to make the choice not to be weak long enough that they dont think about it much anymore. but they are still fallible. and even someone who has chosen to be weak all their life can one day decide otherwise.

This sounds much like th organization I work for. No wonder I butt heads with them relentlessly.

Beautifully said, Nez. I like the fact that the element of free choice is key in your critique. In Buddhism we say that indeed heaven and hell are a constant moment-by-moment choice; so the practice of mindfulness might be described in the context of this post as the constant alert choice to not fall prey one's own weakness. We humans are a frail bunch, though, so none of us can win all the time, we will necessarily have our weak moments, but that shouldn't discourage us, what's important is to keep trying. And the theory is that as one practices this type of mindfulness, one gets better and better at not being weak, and one spends more and more time in stronger and stronger states of mind, and indeed one eventually establishes firm footing and a spiritual and mental posture that is resistant to our own weakness. Hard work requiring seering self-honesty and constant attention, but it seems to me a good investment of effort. And now I should probably get to work on getting somewhere with the practice of this lofty theory. ;-) Peace.

by the way, ilyka, your first graf cracked me up.

and thank you.

thank you bro. i guess i'm like that movie, eh? The Accidental Buddhist.

As a lit major I must draw from that experience...

Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

ursula's words?

I keep coming back to read this entry; it's powerful. Hee, and it coincides with parts of a book I've been reading, too. This section gets a little bit into challenging oneself rather than succumbing to complacency -- and I think it touches on the theme of weakness you're describing. A person always has to feel that willingness to keep learning. Kai mentioned it above, and this excerpt complements what he's said in a little more detail. (Oh, and there's FOOD in the explanation. I'm not hungry; I swear.)

We have so many wrong notions and ideas; it is dangerous to believe in them, because some day we may find out that that idea is a wrong idea, that notion is a wrong notion, that perception is a wrong perception. People live with a lot of wrong perceptions, ideas, and notions, and when they invest their life in them it is dangerous.

...The practice of Buddhism has very much to do with the removal of notions. In Buddhist practice, we aim at liberating ourselves from notions and perceptions, even notions and perceptions about our own happiness.

There is something more important than notions and perceptions, and that is our direct experience of suffering and of happiness. If our faith is made of this direct experience and insight, then it is true faith and it will never make us suffer. Last time we talked about the experience of making tofu. There are so many examples that can be used. Suppose you have learned the art of making fruitcake. You have made fruitcake several times, and because of your experience you now have faith in your capacity to make fruitcake; you are confident as far as fruitcake-making is concerned. There is only one thing that you have to bear in mind: Your art of making fruitcake can be improved. You know how to make fruitcake, but you have to be aware that there are people who are better than you at making fruitcake, and you can always improve your art of fruitcake-making.

Suppose you have suffered because of something and then you have come out of that suffering. The way you were released from that suffering may have been discovered by you, or may have been proposed to you by a teacher or by brothers or sisters. But because of your discovery, you have been able to get out of that one kind of suffering. To suffer and to know the way out of that suffering is quite a realization. You have confidence that the next time you are put in such a condition of suffering, you will know how to get out again. That is insight, that is direct experience, and they are the elements that build up true faith.

from Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh

Maybe you are an accidental Buddhist. lol

Paul Atraides to be exact, from the Benne Gesserit code.

ah hell, i was misremembering Dune as being written by Ursula K Leguin.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." — Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

of course i dont know that that page is accurate. but i did remember the quote from Dune. other pages i've found from a google search show herbert as the author as well. thoughts?

It's from Herbert's 'Dune', first chapter, where Paul meets the Gom Jabbar.

why thank ya sir

Oh, thoughts… well, the Litany doesn't work for big ass Wolf spiders. I tried picturing them in their underear too, with terrifying results.

But this fear can not merely be brought down by a wand, for it is not our fears, but the fears of others that we confront, their paranoia, fed from a putrid wellspring of media manipulation and government propaganda.

Remeber, Oceania was always been at war with Eurasia!

Rafael,

I hope my previous remark doesn't seem to make light of the Herbert quote. The Gom Jabbar scene from which it comes is a great metaphor for facing fear and willingness to sacrifice. I remember it because I like it.

As for my fear of spiders, there is no cure, magic or otherwise. I once jumped on a table to escape one, like Dumbo from a mouse.

No at all....my comment was more of a clarification. Been spending the entire night trying to upload my podcast, only to find out I uploaded them 4 times! At this late hour either my cylinders don't fire or their on overdrive. I used the wand reference to another literary favorite of mine, Harry Potter, which is the one I presumed you where referring to (correctly I hope?)

Well I used to fear cockroaches, now I loath them and want nothing more than to exterminate them.

Isn't there a danger in misidentifying those who have limitations as being those who have chosen to be weak?

...or perhaps I'm reading this a touch too literally?

you may be, zaecus. i said nothing of generic limitations, of " those who have limitations" in general. if you have limitations that you do not classify as "weakness," well, i wonder how you came to apply this post to them at all.

and of course, if it cannot apply to your situation, i urge you not to apply it.

i chose to be weak about feminism until i could face what it meant me and to making certain changes in my life. now i no longer (consciously) chose to be weak about it. i think the way you have framed this is awesome and wonderful!

thank you! that sounds great.

A chosen disintegration/a war on terror fought by spreading fear.

(Also my favourite Cure album.)

Ixnay on the Otterpay, okay Rafael? I don't want people to think I'm a big iencesay ictionfay - antasyfay eekgay. Next to being attacked by a spider or sued by a flying Imam, that is my greatest irrational fear.

Talking of flying imans...one of my favorite right-wind media fool, the "chicken little/sky is falling" fool Glen Beck had a whole program dedicated to the "flying imans". You know, how it was ok to be a bigot because these people where not really nice people. Not that they did anything, you know, wrong or gosh darn it ILLEGAL, just that well their not nice people.

When the last time you heard a prayer aboard a plane. Hell I pray that some idiot did not leave his wrench near the engine intake or that the ground crew remembered to make sure all the electrical wiring was connect right or what ever passes for food on a plane does not kill me to worry to much about some dudes with prayer mats and beads.