Kevin:

Don't you think that you are being too hard on them? The tree that they are playing with is not that high, has a step-ladder built into it, etc... The comforts of that tree make masakatsu and agatsu to become self-evident to all. Your invitation and mine to allow them to try the other trees in places like Homs, Afghanistan, a bunch of places in Africa, southeast Asia, etc., now that is simply being too hard on them.

Whereas we all do not have to go to those places to wake up to a larger, more nuanced and ugly set of realities, we should at least be honest enough to ourselves and others as to the significant limits inherent in many of our ideas and practices.

Comments like Graham's have quite the hollow ring to them:
When a person realizes just how stupid or mad the competitive mind is and just how stupid they have been following it then they can start growing spiritually and in awareness and even become a comfortable person to be around.

Quite a judgmental statement from an allegedly spiritual, comfortable person.

An equivalent to my world is when I talk to couples about strength in a relationship. I talk about that strength as not being evident in how well they get along, but in how well they fight with one another.

Regards,

Marc Abrams