Brahmin as an example of a coherent
Those aren't his words, but he didn't think I had misinterpreted him when I showed him my article.
From p. 227-228 of his (Jonathan Haidt’s) book The Happiness Hypothesis--
He offers the Brahmin as an example of a coherent, meaningful way of life because, if you are the Brahmin, "viscerally" you feel a need to "respect the invisible lines separating pure from profane spaces, and you have to keep track of people's fluctuating levels of purity before you touch them or take anything from their hands" etc etc. (there's more)
This visceral understanding contrasts with the fact that we in the west can't understand why "contact with a dog, a menstruating woman, or a person of low caste can render a person of high caste temporarily impure and unfit to make an offering."
Lots of empathy here for the happy Brahmin, but none for the victims of the caste system. Ugh...it makes me dubious of the whole positive psychology movement. It's about me-me-me and my journey to sublime happiness. Never mind the serious problems in the world I may be causing or overlooking. Jonathan Haidt’s book The Happiness Hypothesis
According to Encyclopidea :-
In Hinduism, the supreme being, an impersonal and infinite creator of the universe. Brahman exists in everything, and is the spirit, or atman, of every living thing. Achieving union with Brahman and ceasing to be reborn is the goal of every Hindu. All the images of gods, such as Vishnu or Durga, are aspects of Brahman, the one indivisible god. Brahman acts in the world through three major forms: Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, known collectively as the Trimurti.
The Om, or Aum, is the symbol of both Hinduism and of Brahman.

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