Comments on: Changing your mind: reading Friedrich Nietzsche and Sherman Alexie http://tailfeather.ca/2009/11/changing-your-mind-reading-friedrich-nietzsche-and-sherman-alexie/ There is a difference between what we experience and what we think it means Fri, 11 May 2012 04:37:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Cathy Sander http://tailfeather.ca/2009/11/changing-your-mind-reading-friedrich-nietzsche-and-sherman-alexie/comment-page-1/#comment-7206 Cathy Sander Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:14:31 +0000 http://tailfeather.ca/?p=1520#comment-7206 There's a concern of me that a lot of religions have highly moralistic components to them, so much so that people within these sects find it hard to express themselves in a non-moralistic way. I think this is a big issue with western religious traditions, which tend to be quite hierarchical in nature. On a somewhat related note on the notion of 'purity': it seems to be an historical artefact from various religious traditions, particularly Christianity, Islam and some other eastern traditions like Buddhism. Usually it is tied up with the notion of sacifice to something larger, usually of some deity or ideal...to which people seem to be unable to distance themselves from. Our current society seems well intent on the idea that we can buy and sell cultural identities without the need for appreciation of the historical legacy that these identities come by. As for the question: "How to change when what you want to change is so deeply resistant to simple awareness let along manifest alteration?" ...it's admittedly hard to answer for most of us, including me. But in my case, I try to see myself as simply a falliable person, able to learn. I see our ability to learn as an essential part of our ability to change. It doesn't mean that I have to constantly fight the underlying stubborn beliefs, but to see them in a different light, so that I don't have to fret too much over them. There’s a concern of me that a lot of religions have highly moralistic components to them, so much so that people within these sects find it hard to express themselves in a non-moralistic way. I think this is a big issue with western religious traditions, which tend to be quite hierarchical in nature. On a somewhat related note on the notion of ‘purity’: it seems to be an historical artefact from various religious traditions, particularly Christianity, Islam and some other eastern traditions like Buddhism. Usually it is tied up with the notion of sacifice to something larger, usually of some deity or ideal…to which people seem to be unable to distance themselves from.

Our current society seems well intent on the idea that we can buy and sell cultural identities without the need for appreciation of the historical legacy that these identities come by.

As for the question: “How to change when what you want to change is so deeply resistant to simple awareness let along manifest alteration?”

…it’s admittedly hard to answer for most of us, including me. But in my case, I try to see myself as simply a falliable person, able to learn. I see our ability to learn as an essential part of our ability to change. It doesn’t mean that I have to constantly fight the underlying stubborn beliefs, but to see them in a different light, so that I don’t have to fret too much over them.

]]>