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Stephen Batchelor

Stephen Batchelor Quotes

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Famous Stephen Batchelor Quotes

“Failure to summon forth the courage to risk a nondogmatic and nonevasive stance on such crucial existential matters can also blur our ethical vision. If our actions in the world are to stem from an encounter with what is central in life, they must be unclouded by either dogma or prevarication. Agnosticism is no excuse for indecision. If anything, it is a catalyst for action; for in shifting concern away from a future life and back to the present, it demands an ethics of empathy rather than a metaphysics of fear and hope.”

IfsWorldMatterActionVisionRiskDemandEmpathyEthicsConcernExcuseEncountersEthicalCrucialDogmaExistentialStemMetaphysicsShiftingOur ActionsAgnosticismNo ExcusesCatalystStanceBlurIndecisionFuture LifePrevarication
Author:Stephen Batchelor
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“The Four Noble Truths are pragmatic rather than dogmatic. They suggest a course of action to be followed rather than a set of dogmas to be believed. The four truths are prescriptions for behavior rather than descriptions of reality. The Buddha compares himself to a doctor who offers a course of therapeutic treatment to heal one’s ills. To embark on such a therapy is not designed to bring one any closer to ‘the Truth’ but to enable one’s life to flourish here and now, hopefully leaving a legacy that will continue to have beneficial repercussions after one’s death. (154)”

RealityActionCoursesFourBuddhismOffersBehaviorDoctorsLeavingNobleHealHopefullyLegacyCompareTherapyDescriptionTreatmentDogmaBeneficialHere And NowDoctor WhoPrescriptionsPragmaticTherapeuticRepercussionsDogmaticLeaving A Legacy
Author:Stephen Batchelor
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