From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/11/2026 8:59 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:   
   > On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 23:50:11 -0500, Noah Sombrero    
   > wrote:   
   >>   
   >> Bottom line about natural laws.  We are not so massively important   
   >> that the universe would bother having laws about us.  A careful   
   >> reading of history suggests that we have no right to anything, and   
   >> anything at all, no matter how horrible, can happen to you, has   
   >> happened to others.  Is happening in various parts of the world right   
   >> now.   
   >   
   > But no, that is not an excuse to be depressed about it all.  One right   
   > you do have, is to choose your state of mind as long as you have one,   
   > unless you are clinically depressed.  As demonstrated by monks in our   
   > time who burn themselves alive in protest of one thing or another. The   
   > validity of their protest is not the issue.  The issue is the   
   > possibility of choice, always.   
    >   
   So, I'm not sure you didn't just make that up about the monks. We are   
   going to need to see some source material or comment from Ned, to back   
   that up. Thanks.   
      
   At the time, it looked like a case of suicide to me.   
      
   A member in a Buddhist death cult. Not a normal thing for a monk to do   
   before reaching enlightenment. The Buddha warned of these kinds of   
   extreme many times.   
      
   "Avoid extremes, but do not extremely avoid extremes." - Buddha   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)