The big storm and Stephen Batchelor goes weird
I just got back online. We had a big storm that came in from Alabama late Monday night and did some damage. In my neighborhood an oak tree fell over the power and cable lines knocking out our electricity and cable/internet and half of Emory University's power. It was quite a furious storm. The wind was really strong. I was watching out for hail expecting a tornado. Luckily, none came. Just wind, rain and high level lightning like huge flashbulbs going off all the time. The next day this is what I found just around the corner.
Just wanted you to know what happened. I have been working on blogs since early this morning. Lucky for me the power came back on (but no internet).
Here is one I just finished. It's about my archenemy Stephen Batchleor.
Stephen Batchelor, who is the vanguard of secular Buddhism (at least most would regard him as such) has authored two very influential books, Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997) and Confession of a Buddhist Atheist (2010). What I find astonishing about the author is apparently he is no longer an agnostic Buddhist but has became, instead, an atheist since first he put pen to paper writing, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist,
I bring this up because on page 19 of Buddhism Without Beliefs, the author writes:
An agnostic Buddhist eschews atheism as much as theism, and is as reluctant to regard the universe as devoid of meaning as endowed with meaning. For to deny either God or meaning is simply the antithesis of affirming them. Yet such an agnostic stance is not based on disinterest. It is founded on a passionate recognition that I do not know. (Bold emphasis is mine.)
Assuming that by 2010 Mr. Batchelor had become an atheist, no longe! r es chewing atheism, does this mean that hes rejected his previous agnostic role? At least, we can safely conclude that Mr. Batchelor now knows that there is no God. I mean, after all, he is a self-confessed atheist. I assume, too, that he knows the Buddha did not attain anything transcendent like the immortal (P., amata), etc.
I have no idea why Batchelor switched from being an agnostic Buddhist to now being a Buddhist atheist, but I suspect it has a lot to do with making a lot of dough. In the future, I would not be surprised to see other Buddhist books by Batchelor such as, Buddhism With Meat or Confession of a Dialectical Materialist Buddhist.
