The Orient and the Ancient

I've submitted my second assignment. If there's anything wrong with it, it's too late now, there's no going back!

I've also been very busy this week working through the chapters on the Dalai Lama and then Plato. While I was in the mood for studying, I thought I might as well get my third assignment written up.

I really enjoyed both chapters, although I started to falter a bit when I got to the political stuff about Tibet and China. I have always been interested in learning about all religions. I don't know whether this is because I am atheist, or whether I am atheist because of it? I can identify with many of the Buddhist ideas, as there is none of the 'we are right and you are wrong' that you get with some other religions.

I have to say though, that the Plato chapter stands head and shoulders above all the other chapters as my favourite. I don't know if this is because, like Plato and Socrates, I enjoy a good argument. I have decided I am definitely a Moral Rationalist - I like to know the reasons WHY people choose to do things; WHY they believe what they do; I like to challenge the reasons and make conclusions based purely on the evidence, not experience.


This often annoys people, as most people tend to be Moral Traditionalists - They do things because that's what they've always done; they believe things because their parents believed it... and their grandparents... and their great-grandparents...


Think of how many people you know who are like this - the bloke who comes in the pub at exactly quarter past twelve on a Sunday, has three pints, plays the fruit machine for ten minutes when he gets his second drink, then goes home at exactly ten to three because his wife will have the dinner ready... or the old lady who goes into town on the eleven o'clock bus every Tuesday, visits the same three market stalls, has fish with peas and a cup of tea for lunch, goes to the supermarket to buy the same seven items, then gets the quarter to one bus back home.


I am most definitely NOT a creature of habit. To illustrate this, I have worked extra hard this week so I can have the next couple of weeks completely study-free. I'll see you after the Easter break...