here’s part 2 of this month’s buddhist carnival, a conglomeration of voices from the buddhosphere. wonder where part 1 is? it’s here.
integral buddhism 
my blogging friend william reflects on what he sees as a shortcoming in famous atheist sam harris‘ view of buddhism, which, william thinks, concentrates too much on the “technique” of meditation.
as individuals and as cultures, we develop through a series of ever more complex and more compassionate understandings of the world. these stages can most simply be defined as egocentric, ethnocentric, and worldcentric. buddhism serves each of these stages in different ways.
love and aloneness – unravelling the ego and pride
albert talks about this topic at urban monk:
why is loneliness so painful? there are many reasons – but there is one in particular i’m starting to notice. loneliness is a curse because we don’t know who we are – and that is our basic anxiety. when you are alone, all your self knowledge, your identity, your personality – your ego begins to unravel. the deeper into your aloneness you go, the more you see all your self-knowledge as they are – false.
and it is scary Рwhat you have known your entire life Рfalse! it is so scary that much of our culture is based around this fear. social clubs, associations, political parties, and even caf̩s Рthey all exist for one thing: so one can avoid being alone. and what if we are by ourselves? then we turn to music, alcohol, the television, the internet Рall to avoid being in our own company.
but the strange thing is – losing our false identity, it is a blessing. it can be scary, yes, but when we turn around and face it – when we turn our loneliness into aloneness -that is when we begin to experience what is real.
here are a few more posts that didn’t really talk about buddhism but allude to topics covered in buddhist literature: kindness, generosity, and the connection between thoughts and what we call reality:
the cosmic wheel of kindness…pass it on!
the generous december group writing project
why your thoughts create reality – thought, energy, and matter
that’s it for part 2. part 3 will be posted by the end of this week. in the meantime, if you have an article that talks about buddhism, use this carnival submission form to submit it.