Gregg Allman Quotation

 Following quote pulled from 2026 documentary, Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul, as introduced on AZ Big Media.com by writer Christina Fuoco-Karasinski.

“Every one has the blues. You come out of your mama’s womb, crying and you have the blues.”

-Gregg Allman, musician, d. 2017

Said Allman's manager, Michael Lehman, "Some of the things that come out of his mouth are mind-blowing."  Adds Fuoco-Karasinski, "It’s the kind of observation that reveals not just a musician, but a philosopher — someone who understood suffering as a universal condition and turned it into art."

Thus, one may fathom connections to the quote in both Buddhism and Christianity.

Buddha: Life is 'suffering' (Pali, dukkha).[1]

Jesus Christ: In this world you will have trouble (Jn 16.33 NIV).  

Note

1. Other translations of Pali word, 'dukkha' are workable, such as, 'unease' or 'unsatisfying;' consult Wikipedia article 'Duhkha.' See, Walpola Rahula, What The Buddha Taught (NY: Grove Press, 1983), p. 16, "The First Noble Truth (Dukkha-ariyasacca) is generally translated by almost all scholars as 'The Noble Truth of Suffering', and it is interpreted to mean that life according to Buddhism is nothing but suffering and pain. Both translation and interpretation are highly unsatisfactory and misleading." Also, p. 17, "It is admitted that the term dukkha in the First Noble Truth contains, quite obviously, the ordinary meaning of 'suffering', but in addition it also includes deeper ideas such as 'imperfection', 'impermanence', 'emptiness', 'insubstantiality'. Cf., Michael Carrithers, The Buddha (NY: Oxford, 1996), p. 55, "Let us take the first Truth, that of the existence of suffering, in a form in which the Buddha is traditionally thought to have explained it shortly after the awakening. That description begins thus: 'What is the Noble Truth of Suffering? Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering' (S V 421)." [This is a translation from Pali text, Sam yutta Nikaya, volume 5, p. 421.]

Shame on Human Race

 Shame is consciousness of guilt.  Guilt is inner acknowledgment of wrongdoing.  Shame is a personal and social thing, felt by individuals in relation to others.  Shame arises when faced with proof of misconduct; shame is guilt exposed.  [A person feeling ashamed though his evil and guilt has not been discovered is evidence of  divine watchfulness.]

Proposition - every human being is ashamed sometime.  The way to prove this is by asking people, "have you ever felt ashamed?"  Then, keep track of the responses and do a statistical evaluation.  

If 90% or more of people answer above question in affirmative, it is proper to debit humanity as a whole as shameful.  Beside guilt and shame, there is also good and gladness in humankind.  Shame does not prevent good, but does limit good.  It's bad that we are not wholly good.  

What do you think about moral categories, good and evil?  Are they important and necessary?     

Daguerreotype, John Brown, American abolitionist, 1856

John Brown, radical Christian anti-slavery activist, raided U.S. arsenal, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in October, 1859, taking control.  He was captured by Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and executed in December that year.  Was this man good or evil or a mix?  

Note

More on John Brown at VCU Social Welfare History Project.