The Monk and The Philosopher
My scientific career was the result of a passion for discovery ... In short, science, however interesting, wasn't enough to give meaning to my life. I came to see research, as I experienced it myself, as an endless dispersion into detail, and dedicating my whole life to it was something I could no longer envisage
Those were the first words from Matthieu Ricard that catch my attention. Finally I found an outstanding book from a scientist explaining Buddhism. This man, for all of you who doesn't know him, was a great biologist who suddenly decided to quit his scientific career to become a Buddhist monk.
The book is a continous speach betweek Matthieu and his father, Jean-François Revel a philosopher from whom I recomend his book "Neither Marx nor Jesus" about why two ideal-utopical societies have failed throughout history. Some parts may be some heaving reading because of the philosophical terms and some chapters target the Buddhist metaphysics concepts. However the whole book is a great insight into Buddishm and helps you understand some differences between the Western and Eastern societies... or maybe between Christian and Buddhist societies? At the begging I thought I knew the basis of Buddhism well enough, but the book seemed to discuss one topic I am interested.
Why Buddhism is becomming popular in the Western world? In a scientific world where religion seems to lose ground, a secular spirituality fills the human need of spiritual meaning without the religious framework which seems unpleasant for a growing number of people.
It has a wonderful discussion about how Western world has evolved with a science driven society while Eastern has been focused in the mind and personal growth as a way to achieve the enlightenment. It also clears several misconceptions about Buddhism and how it can enrich a cold science world. Philosophy is sadly loosing ground in Europe, maybe because many science fields have become independent and don't need it. It was fun to realize that at the beginning, philosophers were like Buddhist in the Western history. They were knowledgeable people seeking personal growth, people who were valuable advisors and affected whole societies. However with time they lost influence and focused on studying knowledge and society.
This book was everything I wanted. It was a great chance to discover the work of many philosophers I didn't know and others I just knew their name. A wonderful discussion of father and son, Philosopher and Buddhist monk about religion, science, Western society evolution and its growing lack of spirituality and humanity.
| About the author: Francisco Garcia is a freelance software consultant based in Europe. He is passionate about agile software design, kaizen development, social coding and egoless programming. | |
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