Sharing the following link with you:
You might find her speech interesting.
http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html/
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You might find her speech interesting.
http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html/
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2 comments:
Stephen wrote:
Dear Anthony & Dharma friends,
Quite an inspirational speech!
I'm a fan of Karen Armstrong and have been reading a few of her books since the mid 90's. First up, her career initially as a Roman Catholic nun turned into a free-thinking scholar, freelance writer & broadcaster got my attention. Her expansive and in-depth knowledge of all major religions are second to none among her contemporaries. As a start, "A History of God (1993)," "The Battle of God (2000)," "Islam: A short history (2000)," "Buddha (2001)," "The Great Transformation: the beginning of our religious traditions (2006), " and the latest "The Case for God (2009)," are some of her best books which educated as well as inspired me.
While I applause her achievement and the winning of TED Prize in 2008, and I can hardly match her academic background by a wide margin, I'm respectfully disenchanted with her conclusion (as per her speech) that the solution to all these religious troubles that mankind created throughout the last 2000+ yrs, is to have all religions to respect the 'Golden Rule' as the ultimate moral code.
It is time to acknowledge the mere fact that in the first place it is the propaganda of GROUP RELIGION that has divided the people into different hostile sects and keep them from truly practising the 'Golden Rule,' a universal value that have preceded all known religions for thousands of years, as the anthropologists have shown us, and does not need religion to promulgate this idea which has been imbedded in the human nature, like hunger, thirst, and sex.
Earlier, I have written a short comment about a video:
那个宗教最好？
愚見認為，最好的宗教就是沒有宗教。
宗教，只不過是一葉輕舟助你渡彼岸。當你到岸后，便應棄之如敝屣。
金剛經有云：「應無所住而生其心。」
宗教，也應作如是觀。
Dare I say, if you may allow me, we can all be RELIGIOUS AT HEART and respected each other by practising the 'Golden Rule' without the help of any GROUP RELIGION.
YES, WE CAN end all the bloodshedding religious wars, be it open or subtle, just with a change of mindset !
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Lan wrote:
Hi Stephen:
I always think that one can be spiritual without being religious. For me, hiking in the woods or planting a seed in the garden and watching it grows is spiritual. As Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opium for the masses.” Even Dalai Lama said that if one is acting on one’s good virtue and conscience, one doesn’t need religion. The matter is: how do you define good virtue and conscience?
Lan
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