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Talk: 19980603-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-shining_the_light_of_death_on_life_part_1-43031 Leandra Tejedor.json Start_time: 01:10:51 Display_question: I've been feeling this really longing for that old-fashioned 19th century old age, sickness, and death way of impermanence. Keyword_search: aging, sickness, death, 19th century, relationship, intimacy, commitment, impermanence, greed, hatred, delusion, Marxist, Gandhi, internet, India, Pakistan, social critique, Engaged Buddhism Question_content: Questioner: I’ve just noticed over the course of time, I've been feeling this, really longing for, that old-fashioned 19th century, old age, sickness, and death way of impermanence. You know where… Larry: What is it you're longing for? Questioner: I'm longing for something real; it feels real. As opposed to not having any ties, being autonomous, moving to this town, moving to that town, going to this fax machine, going to that thing. That’s my longing. Larry: Okay, but you see, please don't... I hope you don't get offended by what I have to say, but one hand, maybe this society is organized in a way that makes it difficult to accomplish depth of relationship, intimacy, and even commitment. And maybe we have to swing back a bit. But finally, are you real? You see, in other words, there are differences in the way the environment is ordered. Some are more crazy, some are less, granted. But finally, otherwise there'd be no reason for these teachings. Then Marxism would have been correct. Marxism is trying to reorganize the society, and they had a very primitive psychology. And so, what happens is people don't change. They still have greed, hatred, and delusion. Only now it's got Marxist language. Gandhi did real work on himself, and he was able to hold millions of people together, and prevent bloodshed and as soon as he was killed it was a bloodbath, because they were held by his moral strength. But they hadn't done the inner work. So, it's true, we probably need to change the outer world somewhat, so that we don't spend our whole life on the Internet, and not speak to the person living in the house with us. Break_line: But in the meantime, it always comes back to… in other words, life is real, if you are. See, if you are, then you're going to attract other people who feel the way you do, and who want to be real too. And the fax machine. There's nothing wrong with a fax machine, or a great computer. It does seem we've gone out…it's out of control. We have fantastic machines. They're amazing. And the people are... we're just the way the human beings are. The way we have been for thousands of years. It's the same old stuff. It's like we haven't learned how to live with each other, no matter how long we've lived on this planet. We have these amazing computers, and clean bathrooms, and we have wonderful…and the people we're just doing the same thing. We're just instead of clubs, and leopard skins, we vaporize each other. And we blame India, and Pakistan. That's not the problem. But do you see what I'm getting at? Questioner: I see what you mean. Break_line: In other words, it's okay to have the social critique but find out if the social critique is deflecting attention from numero uno, from you. See, the practice is always about you. And if you want to then start doing things about changing the outer world, by all means. It's sometimes called Engaged Buddhism now. But that won't do too much good, if you don't really work on yourself. That's just something I've seen over, and over again. Do the words make any sense? Questioner: Yeah. Larry: You didn't get insulted? Questioner: No Larry: Good. End_time: 01:14:06
