When two minds meet ...

JF Revel defends Western values ​​inherited from the eighteenth century that give predominance to science and reason. He recalls that they allowed the improvement of our living conditions (life expectancy in 1830 was 25 years old!) And médécine. Matthieu Ricard, meanwhile, regretted the relentless pursuit of innovation in our society that leads us to forget the traditional values ​​related to mind, welfare that provide meditation and knowledge of the world.

I was quite impressed by the singular destiny of Matthieu Ricard, dedicated to great scientific career. He did his doctorate with the Nobel Prize in biology and could have been the source of great discoveries. But according to him, science dissects, deals with material things and forget the essence of our life make sense. That's why he left Tibet, converted to Buddhism and is now the interpreter of the Dalai Lama.

The book also provides a good overview of the political situation in Tibet and the choice of non-violence of its leader: the Dalai Lama. This admirable positioning is proof of a culture that has a real force, since a small state like Tibet manages to avoid being enslaved by China, although he suffered his horrible tyranny.

But by what means Tibet he resisted the Chinese superpower? The exile of its leader (that can be seen as a constructive leak), the explanation of its position in order to put the whole world and especially the powerful states such as the United States and Europe and finally by a strong will to reject violence preferring the patience and negotiations.

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Here are some quotes that I liked:

1) "The utopians are all authors of totalitarian constitutions" (Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tong, Marx. They do not take into account human reality, refuse, kill in the name of an ideology, hoping to create the " new man "by force and enslavement). "Starting from the abstract idea of ​​what humans should do, they apply their prescription mercilessly."

2) "Mao died almost insane, his wife committed suicide." (P.226)

3) "Stalin asked on his deathbed that murders his mistress" (because he could not stand that she can go with other men. Even when dying, he did not let go and continued to kill without remorse and without any consideration for the life of the other.)

4) Tibetan proverb: "To want two things, when we have a means opening the door to the devil."

5) "Buddhism has no conquering attitude, it makes a kind of spiritual influence." (P.300)

6) "Pride prevents the emergence of wisdom and compassion." (P.309)

7) "Western art is to arouse passions, sacred art to calm them down."

8) "The true patience, true nonviolence is to choose the most altruistic solution." (P.114)

9) "The consciousness escapes nature mode of investigation of the physical sciences, but not finding something is a proof of its nonexistence." (Critically about science)