AND LOFF56 WINDS DOWN AS WELL/PL RESPONDS!

Here's L56:

"Thanks PL, I appreciate your comments.

That aside, can you find for me in any of your cited enlightenment references (especially Buddhism which I'm most interested in), any writings that contradict my approach to finding a whole truth out of the many parts. Like in my concept of how to solve the Gun problem or the Affirmative Action problem - which you state is dualistic. (And I still disagree with...) I've been looking all over the internet (especially in Buddhism) for something that contradicts this way of approaching a problem but can only find support for it. Here's a link to a Buddhist's approach to the Abortion problem. I almost could have written this myself." (http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/abortion.htm)

PL:

And I yours, L56!

I don't think I am contradicting the idea of "finding a whole truth out of the many parts," as you put it. I would add that also, one can find the whole in each of the parts. That is the Yin/Yang. That is why a sick part means a sick body and a sick body means a sick part.

Two great books I would recommend reading, written by a well-known Buddhist psychotherapist named Mark Epstein, are entitled "THOUGHTS WITHOUT A THINKER" and "GOING TO PIECES WITHOUT FALLING APART."

This is from a website, AnmolMehta.com, on non-duality in Zen Buddhism (their capital "T's", not mine!):

"Buddhism looks at non-duality as the absence of the sense of a separate ego. Simply because that is the Truth, it is not Hindu or Buddhist, it is simply the Truth. A shift of awareness is what creates an encounter with the non-dual nature of Reality. Such a shift of awareness can produce an experience such that one encounters the absence of the sense of separate existence. If you are experiencing the natural working of the organism, without any sense of separation, you are enjoying a Buddhist enlightenment experience. At the end, it does not matter what you label it, and if you wish to argue it differently you may. The point is that the roots of non-duality lie in the absence of the sense of separation."

Regarding your comments on gun control and affirmative action, what I would say is that the Buddhist, non-dualistic approach would be not to focus on whether its guns or people or guns and people that are the problem, but rather to observe and understand our creation and possession of guns as it relates to the well-being of the whole. Seeking the Truth first and foremost.

Great dialogue!