XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: wudao@wuji.net   
      
   Kitty wrote in response to a Tang-view:   
      
   > It's been my observation that people   
   >who cause suffering are often unaware that they are committing acts that are   
   >considered evil.   
      
   I consider it evil to keep fish in tanks and birds in cages.   
   Zoos should be abolished. They are an abomination.   
      
   People used to be considered property.   
   Many were kept fenced in and worked for a pittance.   
   In the States, the prison-industrial complex is alive and well.   
      
   Evil continues, often going unnoticed, rationalized, condoned, etc.   
      
   > An example on the micro level, is that it isn't unusual   
   >for convicted pedophiles to say they actually love children. On a larger   
   >scale, Stalin,et.al. did what they did for reasons that made total sense to   
   >them. Perhaps it is easier for us to wrap our heads around those kinds of   
   >acts against humanity by total condemnation.  If we don't, it looks like   
   >there is condoning of the behaviors - but more importantly, it also means we   
   >probably feel better about ourselves. If we look too closely at ourselves,   
   >we might see the seeds of it within ourselves. I of course don't know this,   
   >and I sure can't make generalizations - but find it interesting that so many   
   >people don't appear to want to take a peek at themselves.   
      
   Eating cows is something I do on a regular basis.   
   Last night I ate pig-flesh yet we were never even introduced.   
   Birds and fish often appear for dinner too.   
      
   It's not as if my cousins give me their permission, and yet,   
   when I see my own blatant hypocrisy, at times it's easier for me   
   to excuse what imperfection is seen as existing in some   
   so-called other form of Life, or Being, or Existence   
   as any so-called thing is reified and chopped   
   off the Uncarved Block by its neck.   
      
   When I'm on the light-beam and it's not in my own eye,   
   the motes and moats of others are easier to take for granted.   
      
   A heavy trip can be on a rolling coaster aye'd say.   
      
   - off m'eye rocker horse   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)