is dalai lama a dictator?

What you might not know is that Dalai Lama is considered a “religious dictator” (against his “competitor” Dorje Shugden‘s worshippers) by some.

In the West, he is mostly beloved/admired for his intense charism and Hollywood connections, projecting an image of an avuncular “Santa Claus.” Western fans see in him a “secular saint” or a “politically correct god for a godless world”.

Furthermore, admiration for Dalai Lama taps into older Western ideas about Tibet (forbidden to Westerners during 1792-1903 period) as a remote and mystical Shangri-La.

Sleep is the best way to meditate according to Dalai Lama.

gaming can save the world

Take-aways:

3 billion hours/week playing online games (21 billion to save the world).
In games we become best versions of ourselves.
World of Warcraft (second biggest wiki worldwide; 5 million people playt it every month) is an ideal game world simulating reality.
WoW-players have collectively spent 5.93 million years solving virtual world problems.
Unlimited satisfaction from feeling of being on verge of epic-win makes us spend much time playing.
A youth in a game-culture country spends on average 10.000 hours gaming by 21.
>500 million gamers spend >1hour a day playing games.
games give us: urgent optimism + social fabric + blissful productivity + epic-winning = super-empowered hopeful individuals.

rats, landmines and tuberculosis

Colorblind, sociable, strong, smart, fast (from meetup to hookup to breakup lasts two seconds), a rat can go longer than a camel without water and fall 15 meters without being injured. Rats have the most developed olfaction of all mammals.

In Western cultures, rats stand for dishonesty and cunning, but in Eastern cultures, rats are associated with honesty, hard work, intelligence and good luck. Rats are very clean. In Eastern spirituality, the Year of the Rat is the first year of the Chinese zodiac.

These talents of rats are now put in good cause. APOPO trains rats to detect landmines, tuberculosis,…

7 things entrepreneurs can learn from art of loving

Eleanor of Aquitane is the origin of courtly love. Courts of Love, troubadours and de Troyes bore her influence.

Philosopher Fromm presents love as a skill that can be learnt/nurtured, not unlike entrepreneurship.

Ideally, I (entrepreneur) feel towards you (idea):

intense desire/attraction;
full dedication without (material) expectations in return;
no sense of rigid ownership;
love for what you’re now – support in your desire to grow;
need to constantly communicate/interact;
your right to go your way with my love/support still with you, despite me/my feelings;
joy for moments shared together.

Love is the highest feeling humans can attain.

soul food (chapter 2 of tao te ching – translated by ursula le guin)

Everybody on earth knowing

that beauty is beautiful

makes ugliness.

Everybody knowing

that goodness is good

makes wickedness.

For being and nonbeing

arise together;

hard and easy

complete each other;

long and short

shape each other;

note and voice

make the music together;

before and after

follow each other.

That’s why the wise soul

does without doing,

teaches without talking.

The things of this world

exist, they are;

you can’t refuse them.

To bear and not to own;

to act and not lay claim;

to do the work and let it go:

for just letting it go

is what makes it stay.

gandhi, world blunders and google’s idea of 21st century

Mohandas Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi a piece of paper on their final day together, shortly before his assassination, which had a title “Seven Blunders of the World”:

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.

Doesn’t sounds like a value-based 21st century vision, does it?

A Google search for “21st century vision” gives more than 55 million results. Google Trends would only take “21st century.” The result: Philippines and Tagalog language have more trending of “21st century” than America and English.

what is money?

Banks create money based on borrowers’ promise (in exchange for bank loans) to pay back, i.e. money is created out of debt.

The Bible:“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has great wealth” (Proverbs 13:7). Or: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.”(Proverbs 22:7).

Buddhism states money complex is a demonic religion – demonic because it cannot absolve our sense of lack.

French classic-liberal Bastiat‘s collection includes an Achilles-Tortoise-styled polemic about money.

P.S. Bush’s grandfather used money helping Hitler rise to power.

good and evil – lessons from zen and nietzsche

The image is of young “mud-addict” enjoying himself at Reading Rock Festival, taking place on 26-28 August in Leeds (UK).

Is he good/evil/crazy/stupid?

Bodhidharma, founder of Zen Buddhism, is credited saying:

Buddhas don’t keep precepts. And buddhas don’t break precepts. Buddhas don’t keep or break anything. Buddhas don’t do good or evil. To find a buddha, you have to see your nature.

Nietzsche despised classic philosophers; he identified qualities of “new philosophers”: imagination, self-assertion, danger, originality, and “creation of values.” He thought will to power (realization of human potential) is what matters and is beyond good and evil.

historic diplomacy and modern e-diplomacy in America

Modern diplomacy origins trace to 13^th-century Milan. Sforza’s Milan saw many modern diplomatic traditions begin (ambassador credential presentation,…) and was first to practice balance of power.

One of first American diplomats was Franklin, who secured French support against England, leading to Treaty of Alliance, a turning point in Revolutionary War.

But nowadays, Obama’s America is less popular in MENA than Bush’s. In Turkey, its popularity plummeted from 52% in 2000 to 10% in 2011.

Obama-style solution? E-diplomacy: US State Department operates 230 Facebook accounts, 80 Twitter feeds, 55 YouTube channels, according to this research, leveraging tools like Klout, Facebook Insights,… for influence and measurement.

goedel vs escher vs bach – life and self

This isn’t a review of Goedel Escher Bach (GEB) but a vivid recommendation for all polymaths/curious types.

The book not only details interesting life episodes of Kurt Goedel, M.C. Escher, and J.S. Bach, but also exposes the unifying framework of mathematics, art and music, while attempting to contextualize the “self” as a result of a strange loop.

Is “This sentence is false” true or false?

All chapters start with dialogues of Achilles and the tortoise and “What the Tortoise Said to Achilles“, so interwoven as to feature musical pieces, mathematical theories or art.

More GEB resources here and here.