86 Comments

It would be a peculiar meet up if you weren’t attending !

Expand full comment

Is registration required, or can one just show up?

Expand full comment

Red flag alert! In all Buddhist traditions anyone who claims to be enlightened immediately invalidates that assertion. Humility and an utter lack of ego reification or self-identification with enlightenment is the very definition of an awakened heart-mind. Therefore, a realized individual would have no need or even a subtle impulse to utter such characterizations or claims about themselves and their level of realization. Oh how Western Buddhists, blinded by self-regard, get the essence of the Buddhist teachings so wrong... the ego will take everything as its own; including enlightenment.

Expand full comment

It took a certain amount of Googling to confirm whether this Daniel Ingram who's into music and philosophy and has music on SoundCloud is the same as the Daniel Ingram who composed 80 songs for My Little Pony and has music on SoundCloud. They're not: one is https://twitter.com/danielmingram and https://soundcloud.com/daneilmingram, the other is https://twitter.com/dannyimusic and https://soundcloud.com/dannyimusic. :)

Expand full comment

I hope to come -- will it be awkward if I wear a mask the whole time? My husband is immunosuppressed so I have to be super careful.

Expand full comment

I think Daniel believes that the path to enlightenment is attainable and he has broken down the steps to get there in his writings. It's not a guarantee, but it is a prescription. Assuming enlightenment is not some mystical crapshoot or granting-of-the-gods, it may be less magical and more methodology that the Buddha figured out and Ingram has quantified.

Expand full comment

Hey just a reminder that David Friedman is hosting a meetup tommorow in san jose (If you can come to berkeley maybe you can meet some of us in San Jose beforehand) http://www.daviddfriedman.com/SSC%20Meetups%20announcement.html

Expand full comment

Wait, I thought there was no alpha left in bringing Buddhism to California?

Expand full comment

I have this hypothesis that taking antipsychotics would make enlightenment go away. No one thinks enlightenment would survive a lobotomy, and antipsychotics are not that, but they are no joke either.

Has Ingram tried that? He is interested in the science of enlightenment. Can someone float the idea to him?

Expand full comment

Will this talk be recorded and uploaded somewhere?

Expand full comment
founding

I was surprised and confused that you knew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ingram_(composer) but then I read the post and was disappointed.

Expand full comment

MCTB initially sounded really promising; I liked the sound of Scott's description of being an "antidote to the vague hippie-ism you get from a lot of spirituality". Then I started having the same concerns as this commenter from Scott's linked review: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/18/book-review-mastering-the-core-teachings-of-the-buddha/#comment-548033

Basically, the author believes in actual magic and psychic powers. "Give zero credence to anything coming from someone who believes in magic or psychic powers" is an extremely deep-seated heuristic of mine. I have had this same disappointing experience - someone sounds like they might know what they're talking about, and then the word "magick" shows up - a couple of times now while exploring meditation literature. Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too harsh, but on the other hand I really really really don't want to end up in a cult, and absolute contempt at the first sign of wee-woo feels entirely necessary to that.

Expand full comment

I wish I could attend! Will any portion of the event be recorded?

Expand full comment

Thank you for organizing this event. I am delighted that this event will be outdoors, COVID-conscious, and inclusive. I will be happy to remain masked during the event to respect the health and comfort of all who participate.

Expand full comment

Will there be food?

Expand full comment

Will there be a talk/interview or just an opportunity to mingle with David? Sorry for the silly question, never attended an ACX meetup, so want to understand the format.

Expand full comment

In the interest of fairness, will Mara have a representative also?

Expand full comment

I found Dr. Ingram very disappointing. He paid a staggering amount of homage to such pseudosciences as astrology and Norse mythology. He also described himself as a "practitioner of chaos magic." I was thoroughly shocked and disappointed that someone with such certitude about this kind of hocus-pocus would be invited to a "rationalist" event.

Expand full comment