Recently I bought a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. I had read this book in college and was pretty impressed with it then (though I didn't understand all of it). Hofstadter has added a new preface for the twentieth anniversary edition. In this preface, he states that he finds Zen Buddhism "quite confusing and silly".

WTF?! This one statement of his has made me lose half my respect for him. Hofstadter's opinion brings to mind this quote from The Three Pillars of Zen (it's about the enlightenment experience of Dogen Kigen):

"...Dogen's insights as to time and being, realized by him introspectively in the thirteenth century through zazen, and the views of certain contemporary micro- and macro-physicists on time and space, parallel each other to a remarkable degree. The difference, however, and a deeply significant one, is in the effect these insights had upon these men. Dogen's realization, being a Self-discovery, liberated him from the basic anxieties of human existence, bringing him inner freedom and peace and deep moral certainty. But, as far as can be seen, no such inner evolution has followed in the wake of these scientific discoveries."

I think it is very appropriate that I am listening to Shame by Matchbox Twenty as I type this.