Sunday 3 March 2019

SARTRE X EXIST X BDHA



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In fact, I often think Existentialists are just depressed Zen Buddhists! 



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The "Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker is relevant here. Frenzied human activity is an attempt to cope with the knowledge of one's inevitable demise and the terror or anxiety that causes. Therefore, it is better to cut down on activity and be simply meditative and quietly mindful. The meaning of life and death can then be revealed or realized which diminishes the fear of death. We can accept the end of life better when we have accomplished something of value for all of humanity and not just as self glorification or immortality in the way that Freud pursued it. Sure,he achieved immortality in the way the average man does not but at the expense of now being the subject of dissing debunking. Better to transcend the ego in the way that the Buddhists recommend. I am not sure what existentialism says about the ego. It seems that all that activity in the service of forging an individual meaning to one's life could magnify and exacerbate egotism and the suffering secondary to it. For this reason, I prefer Buddhism which also emphasizes the importance of compassion.

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