RE: Tricks of the Trade, Part I - This Might Sting a Little.
I do not believe this is so. The noble eight-fold path specifically teaches compassion, not indifference. Without developing compassion, liberation is not possible.
Compassion is a means to an end and not the end.
A more creative yet widely reported etymology divides pāramitā into pāra and mita, with pāra meaning "beyond", "the further bank, shore or boundary," and mita, meaning "that which has arrived," or ita meaning "that which goes." Pāramitā, then means "that which has gone beyond," "that which goes beyond," or "transcendent."
An Arhat is incapable of acquiring any form of karma. They are absolutely beyond good&evil. They are incapable of virtue according to Abhi-Dharma.
Equanimity would be a better use as I meant Upekkhā when I said indifference. An Arhat is not affected by anything at all. Their mind is in absolute serenity.
The psychopath is unable to experience compassion. You are comparing opposites.
My understanding is that the more you understand, the more indifferent you become. Think about all the things we take for granted like sending enough money to buy a mansion to a friend at the other side of the world in a matter of seconds or talking to that person face to face.
Psychopathy IMHO arise from understanding a human flaw, weakness and developing something opposite to it. Arhats are unaffected by anything. Psychopaths are having an opposite reaction to the same incident out fears and insecurities caused by their own understanding of the said human weakness.
A perfect example would be the MGTOW movement or Islamophobia (in western countries). Both stem from valid reasons and has an immediate net positive effect on those who adopt such views. But they are arisen from fear/insecurity/hate/inability etc. like the nerds who burn the night oil.
Your friend needs some good focus and direction to get the best out of what he has become. I can understand some aspects of him. Generally I tend to do well with those who are with powerful but odd personalities much like the antagonists (note I didn't say villain but used a word with greek origin instead) from Psycho-Pass. Please give the series a watch. It's a real masterpiece with very low episode count.
Also check my reply to @valued-customer.
The difference here is that an arhat is a normal person who has transcended his ego while a psychopath is a organically brain deficient person who totally identifies with his ego.
The enlightened individual is unaffected by the "drama" of the world while the psychopath uses drama to elevate his own status on the material plane. Apples and asteroids.
Lots of good stuff in these conversations.
Very true. But you missed a very important and vital part: The learned version. First let me ask do you think of the most homosexuals or transgenders we see today as the real deal or bunch of attention/validation seekers or some lost causes following a fad?
Organically brain deficient psycho/sociopaths are rare compared to the ones that arise from circumstance. People learn to become sociopathic as a survival mechanism. Some are obsessed with studying. But a large percentage of those who study do it because they notice that more studying will lead to better grades.
Those who see certain positive qualities that can be greatly beneficial if properly used gets their hands on these qualities and cause a Chernobyl. Think of many PUA stuff like being an asshole/jerk. Most of these "Players" adopt a persona which they see somewhere expecting success. Ghost in the Shell 2 :Innocence compares these kinds of acts as girls playing house with dolls. It's not the real thing as making a family and bringing up kids. Most of these "Players" who "Attempt" to replicate the success of naturals are much like playing house with dolls. There are real genuine Jerks but a large portion of them are just putting up a persona to get some girl by looking dominant, tough etc.
Sociopathy as a survival tool is very prominent in our modern society just as pseudo-homosexuals etc.
Totally enjoying these chats with you and many others. Where would I be without steemit.....
If you are interested in philosophy, you can check my blog. I post about once a day.
Yes, I do believe there are "posers" in the LGBTGH (yadda, yadda) movement who are caught up in a fad. And while this may or may not be damaging to society, I don't think of them as sociopaths, just part of the sleeping masses who aren't aware of their social programming.
Chernobyl was an accident (I believe), the result of misguided efforts not psychopathic evil.
People accept jobs designing missiles, high power explosives, etc. These are the nerds you have mentioned. I don't think of them as psychopath, just idiot/savants who cannot see the ramifications of their actions.
Bottom line is that the type of "learned" psychopathy you're talking about can be treated, but the sort of organic psychopathy I'm talking about cannot (perhaps with CRISPR tech.)
Following you already.
Sorry for not making myself clear enough. LGBT and Chernobyl were analogies and not examples. I wanted to draw parallels.
Think about the "posers" in the LGBT community. There are many such "posers" among psychopaths/sociopaths. Just as the poser LGBT people do what they do because of attention/validation seeking, wanting to get ahead the curve, want to feel like they matter etc. There are Fake sociopaths who learn their qualities the same way a low grade PUA does. They see certain aspects that gain the female attention (the positive qualities I mentioned) and screw things up just like Chernobyl accident which indeed was the result of misguided efforts that is like a being an asshole to get the girl and screwing up every relationship through misuse of the positive qualities.
For an example being cold and calculating people (like me) are actually really nice people if you handle us in the right way. For an example I love cute stuffed toys and even act like a kid sometimes. But I'm not a touchy feely person at all. But I've seen many people who attempt to be cold and calculating by being a dick and doing lots of backstabbing and manipulation.
The reason I behave "Ethical" is my personal values (NAP, Buddhism etc.) and because I think it's totally dumb to trash my own house. I'm a part of this world and making it a better place helps me too. We have to look at the larger scale and think long term. I'm an "Ethical" person who doesn't even hurt a mosquito or drink alcohol exactly because I'm a cold and calculating person.
But a faker, like playing with dolls instead of children, only adopts a house of cards like set of surface qualities and ends up going Chernobyl.
Hopefully I was clear enough this time.
I started following you after the first few exchanges of comments.
Thank you. I see where you are coming from. Psychopathic traits do seem to be the sort of characteristics that accomplish certain goals and I can see how someone might attempt to adapt their personality accordingly. But I might also argue that the motivations themselves are rooted in psychopathy. I've long argued that the DSM-V should include a condition described as pathological ambition. Just as megalomania is the pathological extreme of a positive self image, pathological ambition would be the extreme of insatiable drive and acquisitive behavior.
I think most people feel this way. The problem arises with the definition of "better." I've been around a long time. All my life people have been trying to make the world a better place. I don't believe it was all lies. But the world is so much worse in so many ways that I'm glad that I'm not young and have another whole life ahead of me. I don't want to live in the world that I see on the horizon, not unless the whole shebang crashes and burns. But that's IMHO. Not many agree with me.
My philosophy is that the reality consists of cause and effect and that is Both the beginning and end of it. There is nothing that exist out of cause and effect. Understanding of this hyper-complex web of cause and effect allows a person to understand the consequences of actions. Actions taken with the accurate understanding is good for the world and yourself and hence called virtuous. The actions that stem from ignorance creates the opposite effect regardless of intentions.
The more you understand actions and consequences, more skilled you can become in your actions. It's easy to break things apart. It takes skill to build a better world through correct actions.
In a way it's a lot like trading.