changso said:
Do you believe that Bush is a really a fool?
Yes, I think he is the king of fools, too wrapped up in his own ego to see that when he hurts others he is actually hurting himself, cuz beneath the surface we are all an expression of a single reality, we are all the children of the planet we call home, and we are all in this together. Because of this, I feel sorry for Bush, and I wish I could help him past his intellectual limitations and the prison of his own selfish desire. Bush is the kid on the playground who beat up the other kids and take their lunch money. Kids like that are usually the unhappiest of all because they are hated by everyone, including themselves.
I mean unquestionably worst than another, less valuable that someone else?
Worse, yes (because of the consequences of his actions), less valuable, not really, just more deluded and selfish/self-absorbed. Besides, things like "worse" and "less valuable" are merely labels we apply to things, there's a subjective element in that which cannot be overlooked.
Or by fool you meant unconscious of his behavior?
By fool I mean something which may not make much sense to you right now, because is stems from Buddhist philosophy, which is quite against the grain of how most people think of themselves/the world, but what the hell, I'll shoot: He is wrapped up in the delusions of his senses and mistaking them for reality. He's mistaking his mental map for the territory it represents, like most people do, and pretty much all animals do. He's a deeply and fanatically religious man, in the scary/condemning/dangerous/self-righteous way, and as such he is held captive by the illusion of his own segregated ego and the demands of his sadistic and demanding freak of a god. He doesn't feel in harmony with the world, he doesn't feel connected to the world (which he obviously is), he feels the world is something that is completely distinct from himself and that he must dominate it in his own quest for power/happiness. But such selfish motivations do not lead to happiness, they lead only to more rampant desires and unfulfillment.
The attempted attainment of happiness by the feeding of desires is futile and only leads to more unhappiness. Contentment cannot be achieved in that manner. This is because as we gain more and more of what we want we just end up wanting more and more. Perpetual dissatisfaction and a steady increase in what it takes to fulfill us is just who we fundamentally are. Think about it, people think that if only they had a car they would be happy, they mistake their lack of a car as the
source of their discontent. Then they get a car and within a few months, after the thrill wears off, they are unhappy again, so then they blame their unhappiness on the fact that they don't have a nice house. So they get a house, but they are still unhappy, now they want more free time or more friends or whatever. It's a viscious cycle with no end. As we feed the monster of selfish desire (aka "the american dream" ) the monster just gets bigger and hungrier, and feeding it becomes increasingly difficult. It's a race we cannot win, and everyone tries and everyone fails because they don't know there is a way out of it, out of that trap. To summarize:
1. To be an intelligent creature with an ego (a sense of a distinct "self") is to be discontent, it's simply part of what is called the "human condition".
2. Rampant desire (unfulfilled wants) is the *root* cause of that discontentment (and no matter how many wants we fulfill we'll always want more, because we are greedy and selfish by nature, it's just who we are, and enough is never enough for very long).
If you see the raw, simple, and highly applicable logic in the previous 2 statements then congradulations, you have just figured out something which remains a mystery to most people: the entire basis of what Buddhism IS and what it endeavours to overcome.
Satori
PS: Btw, the 2 numbered statements above are simply a re-wording of the first 2 noble truths of the Buddha:
1. Existence is suffering
2. The cause of suffering is desire
