The way we think about charity is dead wrong - Dan Pallotta

Sheldon Kopp's Eschatological Laundry List

An Eschatological Laundry List

1. This is it.
2. There are no hidden meanings.
3. You can't get there from here, and besides there is no place to go.
4. We are already dying, and we'll be dead a long time.
5. Nothing lasts!
6. There is no way of getting all you want.
7. You can't have anything unless you let go of it.
8. You only get to keep what you give away.
9. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
10. The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there's no compensation for misfortune.
11. You have the responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
12. It's a random universe to which we bring meaning.
13. You really don't control anything.
14. You can't make anyone love you.
15. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
16. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.
17. There are no great men.
18. If you have a hero, look again; you have diminished yourself in some way.
19. Everyone lies, cheats, pretends. (yes, you too, and most certainly myself.)
20. All evil is potentially vitality in need of transformation.
21. All of you is worth something if you will only own it.
22. Progress is an illusion.
23. Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
24. Yet it is necessary to keep struggling toward solution.
25. Childhood is a nightmare.
26. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown-up.
27. Each of us is ultimately alone.
28. The most important things each man must do for himself.
29. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
30. We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that's all there is.
31. How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.
32. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.
33. All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
34. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
35. No excuses will be accepted.
36. You can run, but you can't hide.
37. It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
38. We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
39. The only victory lies is in surrender to oneself.
40. All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
41. You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
42. What do you know for sure...anyway?
43. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again.


Quoted from Sheldon Kopp's book "If You Meet the Budha on the Road, Kill Him"

You can find a list of Dr. Kopp’s books on wikipedia.org and many used on Amazon.com. Titles are as fantastic as the books.

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How Ordinary People Become Monsters ... or Heroes ...

Here is a link to a talk by Phillip Zimbardo.  If you have 24 minutes to explore the nature of evil in everyman, this is a great talk!  The title is How Ordinary People Become Monsters … or Heroes  You may remember Zimbardo from the Sanford Prison Study where average college students did some really interesting things when given power or having it taken away…

Zimbardo has also come out with a super book delving into Social Psychology, the nature of evil, and how putting good apples into a bad barrel is a recipe for rottenness! In "The Lucifer Effect" Zimbardo walks us through the Stanford Prison Study day by day and hour by hour. We see the compliance with corruption of both the "Guards" and the "Prisoners." He also takes us inside other experiments done by social psychologists and startles us with the results. He brings it together by reviewing the deplorable conditions for detainees and our soldiers in Abu Grahib. 

The short message: Humans are often pushed passed their ethical boundaries by conditions and social situations. The moral: We can learn from those who resist the pressure and behave heroically.