I only forgive people who show remorse for bad actions but I cannot forgive murderers of children, pedophiles, serial killers and other kinds of monsters.

@Condorandino then I guess you're missing the lesson. you need to forgive EVERYONE.

@jeffmesser absolutely not

@Condorandino and WHAT advantage is possibly gained by giving someone a lease to your emotions like that? I'm sorry dude but that's just plain ignorance. Let it fricking go.

@JeffMesser I did not know I was talking to a philosopher. Sorry!

@Condorandino the robe wasn't a giveaway? the mala beads? here, have some sanskrit: atmaneva atmana tustah. I'm a monk. a sadhu. a sannyasin. mumuksa.

@JeffMesser I saw many people dressed like you in China. I visited several Buddhist temples and I saw them praying. I don't know what they were saying or to who they were praying. I don't like religions. I am not sure about reincarnation because I don't know what the soul is. Anyway, you may be happier than I am. I tried to meditate but I can't. I don't believe in the concept of pure consciousness either. I prefer to be a simple ignorant man and live a simple and peaceful life. I love sciences though.

@Condorandino those Buddhists you were describing generally wish the same: a simple existence. I am actually a vedantist (Hindu), but the Buddhists also study the upanishads and Buddha was the 9th avatar of Vishnu. Advaita Vedanta is all about science. The whole science of epistemology comes from the Indus valley as do numbers and algebra and astrophysics. I don't believe in gods or magic.The world is a much broader place than you're giving it credit for.

@JeffMesser I am glad that you are a Vedantist and I am well aware of all the contributions of the hindus to sciences and mathematics. Do you believe in reincarnation? If so, how can you prove that the soul exists? More basically: What is the soul? Can you touch it, see it, hear it, talk to it, detect it, smell it? Please, I only want a scientific explanation.

@Condorandino a scientific explanation? and which of the possibly 10 pramanas do you accept?

@Condorandino you're gonna need to answer my question before I can answer yours ... as I keep trying to explain to you.

@JeffMesser Then I will have to educate myself about the pramanas

Fernapple, do you really think that Trump is affected by hate?? I mean his own hate towards his enemies and the hate bestowed on him by his enemies.

@Condorandino I have no idea really, but he certainly is not motivated by love.

I believe that you are a spiritual person and unfortunately I am not. Now, switching subjects to the hater-in-chief I believe that with all the hate that he spreads from the highest office in the land, he is adored by his followers. He does not feel any remorse, everything he does is "perfect" and he is making America Great Again. In other words, in his mind he loves America and he hates Democrats and anybody who opposes him. One anchor on MSNBC even said that Trump does not know what is love. I disageee with that anchor completely, Trump loves his base and probably his children and Melania in that order. We all know that he suffers from Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder due to his father who was an evil person in the same way that Hitler became such a monster due to his father, Alois. Does he control his emotions: hell, no! He is authentic in expressing what he feels and in spite of all his shortcomings and defects, he is the most successful man on Earth. If you stop to think what he achieved in 2016 (even with the help of the Russian hackers) to defeat 16 contenders in the Republican Primaries and then the First woman who gonna-be President, his feat is just incredible. Does he need to love his enemies? Absolutely NOT. When he insults and demeans his enemies, his base loves him even more. They think: " finally we have a real authentic man as a leader, not a phony politician". That is the reason why he has so much charisma among his supporters and at the same time so much vilification among his enemies. The bottom line is that he does whatever he wants, he considers himself above the law and he doesn't care about the separation of Powers. I wouldn't be surprised if he is re-elected that he could pass a Constitutional Amendment abolishing the stain of "being impeached" and clearing his name in the history books. I really think that he does not need to love his enemies. We just have to hope that he does not start killing his enemies like Hitler did. His base (I call it his Al-Qaeda) will always support him. He has already said it: "I could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and I will not lose any votes". This is another example where Hate trumps Love but I have to recognize that makes life more miserable for his opponents.

@Condorandino
So much brilliant writing has been done on the subject of love that I’d be silly to think I could add anything constructive to that conversation, but suffice it to say that there are deeper understandings of love than simple animal appetite.

Donald Trump loves his supporters like a fox loves a rabbit. He will do nothing for them that doesn’t serve his own selfish gratification.

If wisdom were common knowledge, we wouldn’t need a word like wisdom. It’s the kind of knowledge that can’t be collected in a single lifetime. It’s often counter-intuitive.

The kind of love written about in our wisdom traditions is more like altruism. It’s sacrificing something of value to ourselves for the sake of another. Just the opposite of anything DJT ever did in his entire lifetime.

The reason for doing such a counter-intuitive thing is not readily apparent to the casual observer. But we are a social animal. We depend on other humans for our survival and wellbeing. So helping the group do well is ultimately not even as unselfish as it first appears. But that’s the nature of wisdom.

Love is about giving; not about taking. It doesn’t have anything to do with ghosts or magic or anything supernatural. It’s just the observations of many generations of humans over many thousands of years. When we treat others with the same consideration we’d give ourselves, we all benefit in the long run. It’s not sappy sentimentality; it’s just the hard physics of human nature.

@skado To me the concept of "don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you" is pure common sense. It has nothing to do with love. It's the essence to be able to live in a civilized society.

@Condorandino
And do you extend that common sense to your enemies?

@skado Believe it or not, I don't wish death or horrible illnesses like cancer to my enemies. I just try to be as far as I can from them.

@Condorandino
Well that’s about how I am too.