DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Any techniques to overcome 'wilful ignorance' ????

**yWleIJm4** · 09-22-2012, 07:00 AM

...Thais are generally quite reluctant to engage in deep thought about what it means to be Thai. This is to do with Thai ideals and values as expressed by Buddhism. According to Buddhist belief, Less is More.

Buddhist belief encourages Thais not to think too deeply about things, if one thinks too deeply about something it inevitably leads to rebirth and renewed suffering. Now, we wouldn't wish that on anybody, would we?

As you've probably noticed Thais tend to lead their lives on the surface of things, while the Western world is busy burying itself in thought. Who's to say which is right and which is wrong?

This strikes me as rather strange from where I sit. I do not see a lot of thoughtfulness in California, and those who are thinking the hardest about how to live their lives tend to be those pursuing "new age" (Eastern-inspired) philosophies. Perhaps we can say that everyone who is not questioning (or at least open to questioning) what they were raised to believe is going to be somewhat (unconsciously) insensitive to people from different cultures. It probably transcends "face" or "rationalism" or other cultural constructs and is just the way humans are wired. I'm not sure what opens an individual's eyes to this habit of thought, but if they are not even aware of it, for sure they are not going to change.

09-22-2012, 07:00 AM	#47
yWleIJm4 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 441 Senior Member	...Thais are generally quite reluctant to engage in deep thought about what it means to be Thai. This is to do with Thai ideals and values as expressed by Buddhism. According to Buddhist belief, Less is More. Buddhist belief encourages Thais not to think too deeply about things, if one thinks too deeply about something it inevitably leads to rebirth and renewed suffering. Now, we wouldn't wish that on anybody, would we? As you've probably noticed Thais tend to lead their lives on the surface of things, while the Western world is busy burying itself in thought. Who's to say which is right and which is wrong? This strikes me as rather strange from where I sit. I do not see a lot of thoughtfulness in California, and those who are thinking the hardest about how to live their lives tend to be those pursuing "new age" (Eastern-inspired) philosophies. Perhaps we can say that everyone who is not questioning (or at least open to questioning) what they were raised to believe is going to be somewhat (unconsciously) insensitive to people from different cultures. It probably transcends "face" or "rationalism" or other cultural constructs and is just the way humans are wired. I'm not sure what opens an individual's eyes to this habit of thought, but if they are not even aware of it, for sure they are not going to change.
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