Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper is documenting the Wall Street protests, and he is now sharing video he shot Thursday of Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman.
In the video, below, Thurman is aided by activists via a chant of sorts, the message of which turns on a dime from impassioned to snarky to moving. A sample: “No one should be protesting against some nasty bankers if they really truly do hate them. They are not worthy of being hated. They are just like us. They’re just luckier at the moment. And unluckier in the long run.”
Click here to visit Velcrow’s site, Occupy Love, which is a step towards a new documentary to be called Evolve Love: Love in a Time of Crisis.
Also: The Interdependence Project, The Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and several other groups are planning an “open, public meditation in Downtown Manhattan. The goal of the meditation will be to bring mindfulness to, and show organizational support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. A simultaneous public meditation is being planned for Oakland, CA and all are encouraged to organize their own meditation events in their area at the same time.”
See also: Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street, by Michael Stone.
Stuffy, condescending, self-agrandizing and full of uncreative generalizations. Does he want to support what is happening or show himself off with a lot of Buddhist vocabulary? Corporate Buddhism!
Bitter about something, eh?
Floortime Ego is a better moniker.
Simple, direct, and witty. And he doesn't use any Buddhist vocabulary. I guess "Floortime" either didn't watch the video or is just another of those uncreative trolls who likes to feel important by stirring other people up. Yawn.
I didn't hear any Buddhist vocabulary but I see how could one see/hear it as condescending at times.
I love this! The power of everyone listening and repeating transcends the digital medium. To some, it may seem silly, but it's right on.
there is something totalitarian about the crowd blindly repeating the words of Thurman. Definitely would not like to be part of this show. All traditional gimmicks: global warming, no fat food, therapeutic morality, and other senseless rants. Calls to properly teach ethics and meditation and cursing his university for not doing this. Pathetic. There is something unhealthy about the whole show. At least, in the end Thurman had a sense of humor to poke fun of himself, which was the best piece of his "buddhist" wisdom.
Great! Humour, wisdom, time to hear it because of the refraining (that at first sounds scary, until you see the faces and remember PAs are banned), times are going to get VERY hard – – – – – > good to have some humour to take with us into those times. . .
Here's a great idea from someone I respect:
Bail Out the People and Planet
"Debts that can't be repaid, won't be repaid" Michael Hudson
There are increasing calls for solving the financial crisis by cancelling debts. In the history of humanity there are many times when societies have been overwhelmed by debts that this has been done. In the Ancient World, in Mesopotamia in the era around 2000 BC, debts were written off every 50 years and it was called a Jubilee.
Writing off debts now is fair – particularly when you consider what most people don't realise – the banks create the money that they lend. They create it out of thin air and paying interest to them then transfers millions from mainly poor people to rich people. They have also lent to people they knew could not repay – and unwisely to fund speculative investments. They deserve to lose it.
However, if enough debts are cancelled banks would go bust. This is likely to create a chain reaction in which other banks also go bust – and then, when you next put your card in the cash machine, or try to use it at a supermarket check-out, your money would not be there. The payment system on which the economy depends would freeze up. That's the dilemma – the banksters know that if the banking system seized up there would be chaos and thus expect to be bailed out. They continue gamble with our money and if they win they keep the gains and if they lose they expect us to pay.
But that's not the only issue with a bail out – if we bail out those who are in debt to the full amout of their debt, it is hardly fair to those who are only in debt to a small degree, or not at all. If they have not been on a consumption binge, or not speculated with their house, is it fair to them that those who have done these things are bailed out but more careful people get nothing?
One solution would be for governments to pay everyone a voucher – let us say equal to the average amount of household debt – whether they are in debt or not. This voucher could then be used pay down debts up to its full value – or, if people were not in debt, they could use it for something else – for example , it could be said that vouchers not used for debt repayments must be used for energy efficiency work, or invested in renewable energy. That is so that it helps pay our "ecological debts" – otherwise todays children will pay for our carbon intensive lifestyles with climate change and with the hardship of living in a society that has exhausted its cheap fossil fuel reserves without developing alternatives.
Money creation for debt cancellation and ecoinvestment: http://www.feasta.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/…
Taking away from banks the right to create money: http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/
Brian Davey: [email protected]
If they weren't angry they wouldn't be there…..I love the use of the phrase " the planet "…..nobody can relate to the " planet " . Hate to say this , but this is BS .
Hate to say it, but Bill is a troll.
Passive aggressive is still aggressive. Which by the way is what I think he's hinting at when he says anger: Aggression.
Either way, just being aggressive, or angry, is not going to do the trick. No one wants to listen to someone who's telling the world how angry they are, and how justified their anger is.
The way I see it, what Robert Thurman is saying, is that we need to transcend that anger and shine some light on the real issue, by being there time and time again. Without being discouraged or getting caught in our own greed, hatred and aggression when we don't immediately get what we want.
why postpone nirvana? why not just tune in, turn on, drop out..
cant help people who dont want to be helped.. let em rot in the hole they dug for themselves
I made video of the entire talk. The mic on his sweater is mine, so the sound is pretty good. You can find it here:
http://whatmeditationreallyis.com/index.php/lang-…
Yay, Erric!