Question A: Is the kind of self-sacrifice is promoted by the Eastern religions and philosophies we’ve studied healthy? Is it wise to willingly give up our consciousness in search of a “higher” one?
Physically, I dont think that this is healthy at all. As we saw with Siddartha, he starved himself for 6 years or something and thanks to the movie we all saw what happened to him. Because of his religion, he felt that he couldn't want anything and to get to that point he had to starve himself for a long period of time. In real life, you would die after a week or something. Mentally though, I think this ok to do. Searching for a higher consciousness makes you think about yourself and life which could lead to discoveries about yourself that you wouldn't find otherwise. So in conclusion, a hardcore Sidartha approach to this would not end well. If you take a monk like aproach to this then thats fine because its part of their culture and its not an unhealthy or dangerous lifestyle.
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I agree that physically,self sacrifice isnt healthy and that believing in a higher being is ok because this will allow you to move on. However, i believe doing self-sacrifice for a short period of time. We all know that the human body needs x amount of food and water to live a healthy life. Many religions do fasting for a short period of time and thats self-sacrifice
ReplyDeleteHey, Ben. Remember the one main content rule regarding blog posts: explore the possible answers first, then take a position. Show me you’re actively considering the options.
ReplyDeleteI'm also little confused by your post, Ben. Siddartha rejected starving the body as a means to enlightenment in favor of the middle path of all things in moderation, including food.
What I want to know is whether is healthy to simply try to stop thinking. What are the benefits to not having a sense of self? Drawbacks?