[Engaged] Negativity against engaged Buddhism?

[Kyōsen]

The "experts" tell us eating meat causes cancer, saturated fat and cholesterol are bad when they are in fact protective, that you need to eat a certain amount of portions or calories to lose weight (the cal in/out hypothesis), that taking a statin to lower cholesterol is good even though statin drugs are very harmful and have never been scientifically proven to help reduce cardiovascular events and have been correlated in an increase in dementia, and the same "experts" that tell their diabetic patients to make sure they eat enough carbs even when carbs are what causes the pancrease to release the most insulin.

I know I'm switching topics to nutrition, but this is the same case where the purported "experts" who tow the company line do not know anything when it comes to human nutrition.

So forgive me if I'm suspicious of experts that claim the world is ending; but of course I could be wrong

Science does seem to have a bit of a PR problem and unless you're a scientist yourself or you're immersed in the world of academic research it's perfectly understandable why anyone might think the experts are confused (at best) or even maliciously deceiving the public to push an agenda (at worst). I honestly believe the real problem lies with how scientific studies and findings are reported by mainstream media which does not understand how science is done; they pick up on some neat bit of "gossip" from the science world and run with it and there's no sense of literacy there. So we end up with having a new study every other year that says coffee is either good for you or bad for you. Which begs the question: How is the average person supposed to make sense of any of this?

In my opinion: They should stop getting their science news from mainstream sources. Mainstream sources, again, don't care about educating or informing - they care about viewership because viewership means ad revenue which means $$$ for them. They should not be trusted sources when it comes to studies being done about nutrition, climate, physics, astronomy, or anything of the sort. They are, at best, tabloid magazines sensationalizing things that only may be true in part.

To get a better understanding of what's really going on, there are free sources which are much better. There are YouTube channels like Seeker, SciShow, PBS SpaceTime, Crash Course, It's Okay to Be Smart, and more. These channels are focused on education (while being entertaining) rather than getting attention for those ad revenue dollars.

Channels like these often take care to explain when more research is needed, how one study may or may not be valid depending on methods used to reach conclusions, how other studies contradict one another and why that may be the case, etc.

Then there are philosophical/debunking YouTube Channels like HBomberGuy who investigate claims made against hot-topic issues like climate change and who shows his research, methodology, and uses logical deconstruction to show where other views are weak or even incorrect. He's also an entertainer so his videos tend to be "flashier" than a serious academic investigation (he is on YouTube after all). A good example of this would be his video Climate Denial: A Measured Response.

I realize not everyone has the time to watch a ton of videos, and it's not my intention to suggest that you do - we all have busy lives and can't necessarily find the spare time to sit down and watch these things. By bringing up these sources I hope to start to point others in the right direction. Channels like Seeker and SciShow tend to do shorter videos in and around the 5-minute mark so they're pretty easy to digest once or twice a day and, over time, I think they're pretty effective at giving a clearer view of what is actually going on in the world of scientific research and academia.

Gassho
Sen
Sat|LAH

[Jundo]

Again, I have to bring this conversation back to Zen Practice, no matter how we each personally feel about the question of Global Warming.

If there is global warming, if the land will flood and most of the animals will vanish (including us), and whether or not humankind is the cause ... sit Zazen and let it be.

And if there is no global warming, if the land will not flood, if the animals will flourish, and/or if humankind is totally innocent ... sit Zazen and let it be.

In either case, all composite things are impermanent, this earth and our lives upon it, all the plants and trees are only here for a time, long or short. What is more, there is something tasted in Zazen that is beyond all time, at the source of all hot and cold, free of passing ages, without coming nor going, sweeping in all people, plants and trees, their thriving and dying ... and we sit Zazen here.

At that point, when the bell rings, getting up from the Zafu sitting cushion, some folks may wish to march and install solar panels, believe the scientific data and move higher up the mountain.

... while others may wish to stay in their house not far from the beach in Florida (where Risho lives by the way, in Tampa, so he will have to live the Karma of his beliefs I suppose ) enjoying a high fat burger.

We already have one or two threads in this Forum dedicated to those who would like to make environmental issues part of their Practice ...

Living Earth

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?16570-Living-Earth

ECO-Life

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?17002-ECO-Life

Those folks feel that it is their calling to help clean the planet, just in the same way that monks in a temple make it their practice to sweep the floors, wash their bowls and tend the garden. However, participation there is purely optional, and it will not resonate with all our members to join there.

Zen practice is a strange beast: We may seek to stop a war, take medicine to cure a disease, prevent violence against children ... yet somehow when we sit, we sit as that which is at the center and beyond all disease, war, violence and other suffering. Then, getting up, we get back to stopping war and violence, curing the disease. We may not all agree on the means and medicine however.

Gassho, J

STLah

PS - Ya can't trust those Nasa guys anyway, as they faked the moon landing. (Just kidding)

https://www.space.com/apollo-11-moon-landing-hoax-believers.html

PPS - As a former Florida resident I will also say that, should the whole place vanish ... well, it is not only a bad thing.

[Jakuden]

[emoji4][emoji120] Thank you Jundo [emoji573]

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Sekishi]

PS - I'm sorry I keep responding to these; I tell myself not to respond, you don't need the last word all the time, but this discussion is just very compelling and my storehouse consciousness won't let me stop. hahahahah

And then you took action, allowing the seeds to bare fruit, planting future seeds. And then I responded, and ... D'OH!

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat