The Anatomy of Hate

Last Thursday on March 25th, UAB had the privlage to watch Mike Ramsdell's new documentary "The Anatomy of
Hate" with an after movie live debate between the UAB Free Thoughts group and Life 180. First I want to point out that
the documentary was one of the best I have seen in the past few months. The movie focused on why we hate, and what causes fear in our lives. The movie focused on domestic problems (what the general public views it as) here in the US, such as white supremacy groups and Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist church, as well as foreign issues such as the on going war in the middle east. We were shown emic as well as edic perspectives, and the movie was put togeather in such a non-biased matter that you could truthfly see what was really at the core of the problems. The main idea that Mike Ramsdel wanted us to understand was that all of our hate, was caused by our fear: of the other, and what we think they want to do to us. Religion, politics, and culture teach us what we should hate, or love, and with these groups you begin to create seperation between yourself and those that are not like you. The movie showed us that we still need hope in order to move past these dark times, and with a better understanding of those who are different, we now know each other a little better than we did before.

The Buddhist Experience

Last week, William took me to his Buddhist temple along with Jamie. It was a small building with nothing (which I saw) on the outside to indicate what was going on inside. When we walked inside he asked me to take off my shoes, and place them next to the shoe pile as you walked in the door. When we arrived we sat down with a group of 15 who were already in the middle of a discussion. They spoke about the problems in the world, and how we all need to know peace, and not to hate, even your enemies. After about 20 minutes, the discussion was over and it was time for meditation. We each picked up a pillow to sit on, and a meditation book showing what we will be reading for the day. The meditation was fascinating. The room was so quite, and I began to enter, what I thought was a type of Zen mode (even though this was Tibet Buddhism), where I closed my eyes, listened to the monk, and came to peace. After meditation, we put back the pillows and had tea and crackers while William showed Jamie and I the different areas of the temple (which was a lot smaller than I pictured). Jamie and I had the chance to ask many of the people there about their thoughts on Buddhism. What I found most interesting about their statements is that with all religions, you almost feel as if you being overwhelmed with other people trying to covert you, while with Buddhism, they even say that "it's not for everyone".

I enjoyed going to the temple, and I would like to point out that I too, am a fan of karma.