Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Meditation comes in two forms: “focused attention” and “open monitoring”

It's easy to be distracted by the seemingly many forms of meditative practices. Wikipedia offers a pretty good rundown of them.  Naturally, devotees of the various practices almost always believe that theirs is the best. I fell into this delusion during the 35 years or so when I meditated every day for one to two-and-a-half hours. After all, my meditation practice was based on a secret mantra -- the Five Holy Names! Which, actually, weren't so secret. But no matter. The power of the mantra supposedly came from the divine energy of the guru who initiated me. So even if some…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Ten years of Church of the Churchless blogging. I’m thankful.

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up here in the United States tomorrow, I was trying to decide whether to write something thanks giving'ly for today's blog post.  Problem is, I don't like forced or expected expressions of any sentiment, including thankfulness. If it isn't spontaneous and natural, an emotion isn't truly genuine. At least, that's the way I feel. Telling someone, "Say that you love me" -- pointless. But then I thought about the month and year, November 2014, and realized that it's been almost exactly ten years since I started this Church of the Churchless blog. My first post…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

There are no believers in God at funerals

I really like Julian Baggini's retort to the oft-heard saying, "There are no atheists in foxholes." (Meaning, in desperate situations.) Which, by the way, isn't true. I can also affirm that there are atheists/agnostics in dentist's chairs.  Here's what Baggini said in his book, The Ego Trick. But third, it seems that the charge can be turned around: there are no theists at funerals. Many people say that they believe that death is not the end, but the way people behave at graveyards and crematoria suggests that they don't really believe it. You may cry and be upset at the…
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Posted inBuddhism Science

Genuine enlightenment is a simple intellectual understanding

Ooh! I bet the title of this blog post will irk spiritual types who believe that enlightenment is some sort  of mystical transformation of consciousness requiring lots of meditation and/or other practices to achieve. I certainly would have felt that way myself prior to my enlightenment about enlightenment. But as noted in this recent post, I've come to the understanding that spiritual realization (if this term really means anything) involves seeing through the illusion of a soul/self that is separate and distinct from the body and brain. In short, there is no self. No soul. No person sitting inside our…
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Posted inReligions

No special rights for religion: three churchless thumbs-up

Here's three godless good news pieces that popped into my web browser recently.  I liked Russ Belville's (a.k.a. Radical Russ) "No More Special Rights for Religion" a lot. I learned about Belville, who lives in Portland, via our shared interest in supporting Measure 91 -- which was passed by voters this month, leading to legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon. Along with him, I've also wondered why religious reasons for doing this or that should get more legal standing than personal reasons for doing this or that. After all, holding a religious belief is a personal decision. Why should it be treated…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation Wu Project

Who do you want to be? Someone, Anyone, or Nobody?

The existential alternatives in the title of this post were named by brain researcher Susan Greenfield. I came across a mention of them in Julian Baggini's intriguing book, "The Ego Trick: What Does It Mean to be You?" Here's how Baggini describes the alternatives, based on an interview he did with Greenfield at the 2009 Bristol Festival of Ideas. After sharing these excerpts from his book, I'll add some observations of my own. Where Greenfield gets a little more speculative is when she imagines the variations in types of selves which might emerge if different types of connections become dominant.…
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Posted inHumor

South Park’s “Grounded Vindaloop” holds key to reality (or…not)

I'm a big fan of getting my cosmic inspiration from the comic pages and Comedy Central. This week has been a bonanza in that regard.  Here's what today's Pearls Before Swine had to say about the meaning of existence. In three panels, it nicely encapsulated the human condition. (click to enlarge) Even more profound was the most recent South Park episode, "Grounded Vindaloop." It blew my mind, and I wasn't even under the influence of any psychoactive or hallucinogenic substances.  If you watch the episode after taking LSD, I predict that instant enlightenment will be yours. Or insanity. Or both. …
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Why atheists are more “spiritual” than religious believers

Maybe this statement seems paradoxical to you: I feel more genuinely spiritual now that I've stopped believing in God.  But it makes good sense to me. Here's the main reason why. I no longer feel special. Virtually every religion and spiritual path considers that its adherents have a special relationship with God or whatever other supernatural entity they believe in.  There are so many chosen people on Earth, they vastly outnumber the unchosen, the non-special group I'm pleased to be a part of. I understand that feeling special has its own delights. In my case, I was a member of…
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Posted inReality Science

“Spiritual oneness” is embracing your bodily being

Having written a well-received book called "Return to the One," I've obviously thought a lot about oneness. My views have changed considerably since I wrote the book. I used to believe that the goal of a spiritual or self-realized life was to merge the soul's immaterial consciousness with universal consciousness, which often is termed God or The One.  Now, I've got another view of oneness. A simpler one. A more easily achieved one. A considerably more scientific one. What I am, what we all are, what everything in the universe is -- its the stuff of physics. Julian Baggini puts…
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Posted inBuddhism Science

The self exists, but not independently of its parts

My journey from churched to churchlessness pretty much can be summed up in this fashion: I used to believe that I had (or was) a distinct, unified, immaterial soul or self. Now, I rejoice in the understanding that there's no non-physical "pearl" of Me; I'm a collection of material stuff just like everything else in the universe is. Julian Baggini says this in his terrific book, The Ego Trick: What Does It Mean to Be You? A cart is not an illusion just because it has no existence other than by the correct arrangement of its parts. The only thing that…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Thoughtful criticism of the Radha Soami “cult” by an Indian woman

A few days ago "Tanvee" left a great comment on a recent post, "More weird news from the world of Radha Soami Satsang Beas." It deserves to be upgraded to its own post, which I've done below. This is a thoughful, well-written look at how the RSSB way of life can turn into a hypocritical, judgmental, rigid, dogmatic pseudo-spirituality. What is said below fits with my own thirty-five year experience with this Indian religious-mystical organization, which is currently led by Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- who has grown wildly rich while serving as the RSSB guru. Read on.... Being married into an…
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Posted inMorality

Why I feel killing animals for sport is wrong

I just wrote a post on my other blog, "Why a photo of a dead deer makes me feel hunting is wrong." The post includes thoughts about the nature of consciousness, the value of wildness, and such. Give it a read.  Here's an excerpt. It bothers me when people de-animalize themselves. Humans are animals. After billions of years of evolution, we are related to every other living entity, including bacteria, insects, fish, and other animals. There isn't any sort of gulf or divide between us and them. Life on earth is a continuum. I've read a lot of books about…
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