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A New Online Defilement?
I have been thinking lots about how things can get in terms of online communities. They are funny palces because they are like amplifuied societies, where peoples beliefs and efforts to defend their beliefs are much more excercised than in this mundane real world.
There was a show on telly recently where somone killed somone else after an ongoing fued in a Buddhist chatroom, actually, It might have been "World of Warcraft" rather than Buddhism:p But the point it, how can it get to that point, from an online, ongoing chat? Bonkers.
From a Buddhist perspective I think it is it is quite easy to see why. Egos become entwined in some issue/conflict and the more they struggle against each other the more the conflict, the Dukkha, grows. This feedback cycle continues without end, until something external ends it.
In the real world where we have real lives with vastly more important issues than the beliefs of people you will probably never even say hello to let alone meet. But online it seems differnt, as if a few words of ASCII text can represent somone's entire illusionary ego. And once the egos sees this of itself again it attarcts more mental attention, it grows because now it is out there, in public, in the primal gladiator pit of self versus others.
Why is this?
As Buddhists we try to break negative mental and moral states into their causes and principles so we can better irradiate them; this is a part of the dharmic practice. Since on-line communities have arisen there is at least one new, emergent, mental defilement, like greed or sloth or jealousy, but only available online. I am not sure of the Pali Translation but in English it comes out as something like "taking oneself way too seriously online."
Where as in the real world the root of suffering is ignorance, online it is not so much ignorance but "taking oneself way too seriously online." One might be the worlds biggest expert on something, yet still find are inflicted by "taking oneself way too seriously online."
Typically we can see the dependent origination of this online defilement in Karmic sequences such as:
Incidentally, I have never suffered from this online defilement, I suffer from the karmically equivalent "not taking anyone else seriously online." That's a joke. I love you all:p
Well wishes
Mat
There was a show on telly recently where somone killed somone else after an ongoing fued in a Buddhist chatroom, actually, It might have been "World of Warcraft" rather than Buddhism:p But the point it, how can it get to that point, from an online, ongoing chat? Bonkers.
From a Buddhist perspective I think it is it is quite easy to see why. Egos become entwined in some issue/conflict and the more they struggle against each other the more the conflict, the Dukkha, grows. This feedback cycle continues without end, until something external ends it.
In the real world where we have real lives with vastly more important issues than the beliefs of people you will probably never even say hello to let alone meet. But online it seems differnt, as if a few words of ASCII text can represent somone's entire illusionary ego. And once the egos sees this of itself again it attarcts more mental attention, it grows because now it is out there, in public, in the primal gladiator pit of self versus others.
Why is this?
As Buddhists we try to break negative mental and moral states into their causes and principles so we can better irradiate them; this is a part of the dharmic practice. Since on-line communities have arisen there is at least one new, emergent, mental defilement, like greed or sloth or jealousy, but only available online. I am not sure of the Pali Translation but in English it comes out as something like "taking oneself way too seriously online."
Where as in the real world the root of suffering is ignorance, online it is not so much ignorance but "taking oneself way too seriously online." One might be the worlds biggest expert on something, yet still find are inflicted by "taking oneself way too seriously online."
Typically we can see the dependent origination of this online defilement in Karmic sequences such as:
- You believe x
- Someone online believes y.
- Online, you discuss x and y, because you are interested in the discussion.
- As you argue for x against their arguing for y, your viewpoint, from which you argue, starts to become your current Ego.
- It becomes important to you, and more to your Ego, that they at least understand why you believe x and at least acknowledge your criticisms of y.
- Ideally, if all goes well, you hope that they will end up believing x not y.
- Charged by the debate, invested in the debate, you find yourself inflicted by "taking oneself way too seriously online"
- All is Dukka:)
Incidentally, I have never suffered from this online defilement, I suffer from the karmically equivalent "not taking anyone else seriously online." That's a joke. I love you all:p
Well wishes
Mat
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Comments
You then go and shoot the other person for believing y!
NOW your list is complete!! Hahahahaha!
Oh if it is a World of Warcraft thing it might be addiction related. Seriously, people get addicted to online games, they even have support groups these days.
Enough said. Those people can get absolutely insane. In fact, the husband of a friend of my mom's literally lives on his computer playing that game and is so oblivious to real life that her ongoing affair in ANOTHER COUNTRY (OFFLINE!) goes unnoticed by him.
See, to them, that's absolute reality, that's their entire life.
Generally, people online distance themselves entirely. They actually encouraged him to instead. I think that's the bigger problem online - people forget that they're talking to other real, live people. I had to do a case study of a group of people of all ages online who watched a kid kill himself on his webcam. He told them he was going to do it, and not one of them tried to talk him out of it, or call the police.
whole new realms of delusion the Buddha I guess couldn't have imagined (unless maybe they had the internet in the realms of his past lives?)
I can't believe that any of this happened in real life, it's just too mad. How the hell could you place a game over your tiny children. It's just in a different league.
Its called "taking oneself way too seriously online":p