Friday, January 25, 2013

a reminder to myself

A reminder to myself ....

I was reading a couple of responses to things I had written on the Internet, things that roughly fell into the category of spiritual musings. The responses were laced with that kind of thinly-veiled righteousness that can infect spiritual commentary ... lotsa "metta" and "clarity" camouflaging a "right view" that would better be described as "my superior view."

OK ... nothing new in it, but it did make me think:

If I cannot meet my own expectations, what makes you think I would be stupid enough to try to meet yours?

As I say ... a reminder to myself.

10 comments:

  1. Well now thats interesting.
    I read the exchange that you are probably alluding to and it was YOUR attitude that struck me as " superior" and condescending...
    But there we are. As the poet Burns said "Oh for the gift to see oursel' as others see us ".

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    Replies
    1. You're probably right, but I do what I can to own my failing superiorities, as for example not alluding to myself as "anonymous."

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    2. Hmmm...I I took you off my face-book because you left me Superior ,condescending type comments ,here I thought I was the only one who noticed...
      Anita

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  2. I am not alluding to myself as anonymous. I AM anonymous. But then I have no need to have my ego buffed up by my devout online fanclub..both of them.

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  3. It seems to me that there is no difference between a detractor and a fan. It requires an equal amount of energy. It requires the equal amount of attention.

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  4. Why not shut down the comments section? If all anyone has to say is basically telling you how it ought to be and you are simply doing the same with your posts but the comments seem to require ice, on your part, then why not rid yourself of the headache and become left with only your own expectations to be disappointed by? Your comment seems to leave little room for discussion, laments, or discourse. But if you never learn anything through what anyone has to say (based on your musings here learning doesn't seem to be your strength, pontificating does seem to be something you excel at) then ghost the comments.

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  5. When things go bad, good for Zen. When things go good, bad for Zen.

    Zen must be going swell for you based on the beating you are taking in the comments.

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  6. Anonymous, wouldn't it be easier if you identified yourself as oldcharlie or laurap or bodhidharama?

    But what would those provide that anonymous doesn't?

    Then the blogger couldn't dismiss your comments based on the fact that you are anonymous!

    He doesn't listen to anybody but himself, name or no name. I'm sure his wife would agree.

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  7. Anonymously lobbing personal attacks on the Internet has long ago been given the term Troll. Not as a metaphor for a repulsive ogre living under a bridge, but more as a descriptive verb, as in "trolling"...trolling for attention".

    A personal attack under the guise of anonimity is no different than a high school kid scrawling something derogatory on the bathroom wall, hoping not to be caught. Then, running away giggling, he can't help but peek around the corner to see if his cowardly action has gotten any of the attention he endlessly craves. It is a juvenile, ego-feeding pursuit.

    Comments are meant to address the topic of the post written by the blogger, which I do here on occasion. The comments that contain only personal attacks to feel some sort of superiority and to indulge in their own ego-buffing are useless.

    A personal attack as a response to this comment will only further support my point.

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  8. I did not mean my comment as a personal attack , just a comment that I have noticed this trait in the past , something of note . Personaly I think your running this blog and keeping us all informed about budhism and practice is a wonderful service to the public that far out weighs any negative personality traits you may or may not possess .I think the whole thing boil's down to forgetting to change your hat . theres the editor hat , The writer hat, the zen hat, the advanced zen teacher hat, the father hat etc...Its all just a matter of the right hat for the right situation , Anita

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