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Jack comments on Welcome to Heaven - Less Wrong
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It just sounds blatantly self-contradictory, whereas the metaphor with Christian heaven is inexact but at least I sort of understand it. Here, I feel like adopting the rhetoric of Eastern religion actively impedes my having any idea what the hell it means (and doubly so if it's just a metaphor for some other concept).
You're confused because Kevin (no offense to him) doesn't really know what he is talking about. Nirvana has nothing to do with "becoming one with the universe" and "literally obliterating one's consciousness" is a really bad translation of the doctrine of anatman. It isn't a metaphor, it is a genuine metaphysical and prescriptive doctrine.
He is right that Buddhism should be part of the conversation. The damage New Age, Depak Chopra bullshit has done to the West's image of Buddhism is really a shame, though.
Oh, I suppose so. I'm reasonably conversant with Buddhism, and I know that neither of those two phrases is close to being a good description of nirvana. I was more concerned that the borderline word-salad of "literally obliterating one's consciousness and becoming one with the universe" was being used as if it weren't a completely meaningless turn of phrase. Garbage in ...