Sogyal Rinpoche starts off this book by alerting us that our belief that this life is all we have leads to short term planetary detrimental effects. Fundamentally believing that this is the only life, modern people have not developed long term vision. So there is nothing to restrain us from plundering the planet for our own immediate gain and from living in a selfish way. To me, this makes a well-reasoned proclamation regardless if you have any religious interests or not. He goes on to argue that belief in life after death brings about moral and ethical values for life on the planet. My answers to "What would it mean if I accepted death?" surprised me and gave me a new vision of how my life would look.Modern society is a fanatical religion. We are demolishing, poisoning, destroying all life systems on the planet. We are signing IOUs our children will not be able to pay... we are acting as if we were the last generations on the planet. Without a radical change in heart, in mind, in vision, the earth will end up like Venus, charred and dead.
Serendipitously, I had encountered a video on fora.tv (which I pasted on my facebook wall a few days ago) where Wade Davis, an archeologist, brilliantly argues that modern man's way of life is disastrous. A very important and timely video in my opinion. Amber and I thoroughly enjoyed it and viewed it over 2 evenings as it took 1.5 hours. Save it for the weekend!
http://fora.tv/2010/01/13/Wade_Davis_Why_Ancient_Wisdom_Matters_in_the_Modern_World
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