Allow me to take a moment to peacefully, thoughtfully vent.
I read this post by Jamie G. on the blog I've recently started following called Progressive Buddhism and was very interested in the discussion that started to follow. The discussion honed in on the idea that religious violence didn't have a rightful place in Buddhism. "Great," I thought, "I couldn't agree more."
There seemed to be a bit of ignorance on the part of some of the bloggers though, who thought that Buddhism has NEVER espoused violence. It has. Every religion has. There is no pure, blemish-less faith. So I commented on the post, displaying some instances of Buddhist violence. I also wanted to try and flesh out some of the tacit assumptions being made by the commentators. Essentially, by saying that Buddhism isn't a violent faith, they were silently claiming that other religions WERE naturally violent, and I take serious issue with that statement. I tried to comment on the idea that even though all religions have displayed instances of violence, that does not make the religion itself violent, only the people who claim to follow the faith. All religions are, at their core, based on peace. Read any of they sacred texts and you will see this as an indisputable fact.
I was disappointed to see that the very next comment by Jamie G. was a slightly ad hoministic comment claiming that I was "naive" to believe that all religions are peaceful. "I think an academic study of the Abrahamic faiths in their early history quickly disproves 'every' [religion to be peaceful]," says Jamie. Admittedly, Jamie doesn't know I'm a religion major and naturally he'd assume that I've never studied every Abrahamic tradition academically. I've read numerous books and written papers on all three. I've studied their sacred texts. I know what I'm talking about. It irks me that I was assumed to be stupid when I made that comment.
I am idealistic, yes. I am not, however, naive. I'm not ignorant. I'm hopeful. And I think this type of conversation has always bothered me about modern Western Buddhists. There is some feeling of superiority by a lot of them for some reason. I did a survey of Western Buddhists last semester, and almost all of them left Christianity because they were hurt by it at some point in the past (Jamie himself went on to admit this later in the comments section), and I think this causes them to close their minds to Christians. So when I come onto the blog and attempt to defend Christianity or Islam or Judaism, I'm attacked. It's unjustified.
I think people are people, whether they're Buddhists, Christians, or atheists. We all have a desire to be right. We want to be justified in what we are believing. Why does this translate into a desire to prove other people wrong? The two ideas don't have to go hand-in-hand. Why can't we be at peace with ourselves AND allow others to be at peace with themselves as well, even if they're different from us? I have no desire to convert people to my system of belief (if you can call it that), but I do ask that everyone show each other a little bit of respect and default to compassion when we aren't sure who's right and who's wrong. Religion should be a vehicle we use to help us connect with each other and with something beyond ourselves, not a tool wielded to inflate our egos and deflate others.
2 comments:
"Why does this translate into a desire to prove other people wrong?"
Because it's instinct. Because as social creatures, we humans are constantly concerned about the hierarchy of the social structure. We want to climb as high as we can, because it's best to be at the top of the pyramid. So, whenever we feel threatened, we must immediately act to reestablish our dominance. If someone else questions the validity of our information, well, that can't be tolerated. If they prove us wrong, then they are proving that, at least in this one way, they are superior. Our position is suddenly in danger. We must protect our standing, so we shoot them down.
I think even the best of people are guilty of it at times. You can even look at your own reaction. You were offended--albeit justifiably so--when your own expertise was questioned. A little ironic, perhaps?
Like many things in life, there's nothing to do but grin and bear it.
Mozart-
I agree completely. I think we are conditioned to think that way and so we can change it, but it's definitely the way of the world as it stands.
I also agree that my reaction is ironic. I knew that from the beginning (which is why I didn't vent like this on his blog), and it is kind of embarrassing. More than being upset at having whatever authority I possess brought into question, I was upset that this guy was condemning religions on what seem like very feeble grounds. It's offensive to a lot of very loving, compassionate people who put their faith in Abrahamic traditions. But when it's all said and done, I think you're right. We've all got a lot of growing up to do, myself included.
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