Lifestyle

Dear Alan, I have read your piece “Distorted Visions of Buddhism: Agnostic and Atheist,” which appeared in the previous issue of Mandala. While I recognize that some of what I say conflicts with Buddhist orthodoxy, I do not believe that I am distorting the message of Siddhattha Gotama. I am offering an interpretation of the Dharma in the hope that the Buddha’s teaching will continue to speak to the core concerns of people in today’s world and provide an effective philosophy and practice with which to address them. I realize that what I say might seem puzzling, objectionable and even heretical to followers of traditional Buddhist schools. And I regret any offence I might inadvertently have caused you and others through my writings. Here is an email I received via my website a few...
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Mr. Buffett: You have been quoted time and again, without any denial on your part that I am aware of, as having said, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." In view of the seriousness of this statement, I have to ask you some questions. Do you intend to be taken seriously when you speak? Do you know the meaning of the words you use? Do you know the source and implications of the doctrines you espouse? The doctrine of class warfare is a derivative of the exploitation theory, whose best-known proponent is Karl Marx. According to the exploitation theory, profit and interest, indeed, any income other than wages, is an unjust deduction from what naturally and rightfully should be wages. What makes possible the...
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Dear Ted: First, I personally thank you for the valuable work you have done, and are doing, for the Second Amendment. You have used your talent, success, wit, and celebrity to fight for our freedoms. Additionally, you are a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA. So this letter is directed to you in strictly that capacity. Why? Because I believe that you will listen. And you have the standing and respect within the NRA to actually do something regarding the issues I’d like to bring to your attention. We at JPFO recently received a letter from an angry and very articulate fellow who took the vast majority of gun owners to task for not being NRA members. He rightly points out that there are more than eighty million gun owners and only five million members of any pro-gun...
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Dear Professor Hawking, There are many reasons why you are considered one of the world’s leading scientists. As you know very well, one reason for your achievement is the ability to keep a mind of your own and to refuse caving in to pressure by the mainstream. Innovation is only possible if you are immune to such pressure. Given my respect for your achievement I am surprised and saddened by your decision, reported today by The Guardian that you have cancelled your participation at this year’s President’s Conference in Jerusalem, and that you have joined those who call for an academic boycott of Israel. I would have expected a man of your standing and achievement not to be influenced by the pressure that was reportedly exerted on you to cancel your visit in Israel. Let it first be...
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Dear fellow Albertan, Politics is changing in Alberta. Last election, the people of Alberta gave the PC Party their 12th majority government on the hope that new leadership would modernize the party and move it in line with the evolving values of Albertans. Unfortunately, change from within hasn't worked. This is an important time in Alberta history; the decisions we make now will determine whether or not Alberta remains economically prosperous and socially strong for generations to come. Alberta needs a government capable of creating a long term plan, and sticking to it. We need a government committed to ensuring we have good jobs now and for our kids. A government committed to keeping our economy strong while still protecting our environment and a government that will return...
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Dear Mr. Webber, You don’t know me. And I don’t know you, though I know some of your close friends. So let me first introduce myself. In 1993, when your heart was broken in front of a national television audience, I was 27 years old and near the end of my first year as a professor at the University of Michigan. I watched the game and when it ended I cried — not because of Michigan’s loss — but because of what felt to me like the enormously unfair tragedy that had just befallen you, a young man the age of my students. Yes, you were already a celebrity baller, but in that moment, I just felt what it was to be a kid making an honest mistake under a terribly harsh spotlight. Years passed, and as my own career at the University unfolded, the scandal erupted, and once again I could only feel...
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Dear Mr. Webber, You don’t know me. And I don’t know you, though I know some of your close friends. So let me first introduce myself. In 1993, when your heart was broken in front of a national television audience, I was 27 years old and near the end of my first year as a professor at the University of Michigan. I watched the game and when it ended I cried — not because of Michigan’s loss — but because of what felt to me like the enormously unfair tragedy that had just befallen you, a young man the age of my students. Yes, you were already a celebrity baller, but in that moment, I just felt what it was to be a kid making an honest mistake under a terribly harsh spotlight. Years passed, and as my own career at the University unfolded, the scandal erupted, and once again I could only feel...
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Dear church, I wanted to take a moment to say thanks. I could thank you all for so much! But I want to thank you for something specific. Can I thank you for being bold enough to stand...? Because its hard to stand sometimes when you are carrying something heavy. Church isn't necessarily heavy but her burden is. Our new friends evenings and connect lunches on the first Sundays of the month are going to combine a little in that the message will be the same. We can only do that because you have shown Giovanna and myself including our leadership team just what it is we are passionate about as a church. Something everybody is noticing is that Christ Church has changed over the years, its not about what church does so much that has changed or its systems and procedures. Its more than that...
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Dear Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Congratulations. As I write this letter to you, I am choking. It is a red letter day in Indian politics. Hope is back. Space for alternative politics is alive and kicking. People power has spoken and one amongst us has won. Delhi has spoken for India. Delhi has voted to protect democracy. Negative politics has been dealt a death blow. All parties will be forced to come back to an agenda which is positive, transparent and accountable. And Arvind Kejriwal you personified our hopes of new kind of politics. Now, our responsibility of giving you another chance to fulfill your unfulfilled promises is complete. It is mission accomplished. During this arduous course, we had invested our time, energy and resources. We had lost friends, made enemies. We were ridiculed...
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Dear Dr. Curtis, ‘Should we not say that we make a house by the art of building, and by the art of painting we make another house, a sort of man-made dream produced for those who are awake.’ Plato, The Sophist Recently I made two visits to Tate Britain. The first was to see the ‘Late Turner’ exhibition and the second to view the gallery as a whole. I know the gallery well, having worked in the publications department in the late sixties and visited many times since. I had not until recently seen the new hang of the exhibits. In spite of your efforts towards clarifying the collection I think that the hang of the galleries is a failure. This is why. I believe that works of art must, at some level, offer the possibility of transforming our psychological states from the aloof,...
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