Posted inTaoism/Tai Chi

The truth of who we are lies without, not within

For about 35 years my daily meditation practice was aimed at "going within." This was the teaching of the Indian guru I followed, Charan Singh.  The assumption was that there is an unchanging conscious essence within us that could be termed soul. By leaving aside both impressions of the outside world and mental images (thoughts, emotions, and such), what remained in closed-eye meditation would be revealed as Who We Truly Are. Well, my ideas have changed.  I now realize that this was a highly limiting view of what spirituality and self-knowledge is all about. It was a notion founded in…
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Posted inHumor

Jesus and Mohammed talk about truth vs. facts

Here's a good cartoon from the Jesus and Mo web site. Yeah, what if the truth isn't factual?  Well, then it isn't true. Not that this would bother religious believers, because their "truth" is whatever they want it to be, whatever their faith commands.  Which doesn't make it true, of course. Doesn't something have to be factual to be true? It seems obvious that this is the case with objective reality, where facts are the common ground that enable different people to understand the same phenomenon. Yet it also appears that even subjective reality, such as an emotion or dream, also…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Watch this “Adam ruins death” video. Truthful, blunt, non-religious.

My wife and I are big fans of "Adam Ruins Everything." Here's how TruTV describes this entertaining and informative series. In Adam Ruins Everything, host and investigative comedian Adam Conover embarks on a comically inventive yet unrelentingly serious quest to reveal the hidden truths behind everything you know and love. Tackling topics ranging from the workplace and voting to forensic science and security, he gives you not just fun facts to share with your friends, but information that will make you see the world in a whole new way. If knowledge is power, then Adam Conover will have you laughing…
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Posted inReligions

My wife, Laurel, is on an atheist letter-to-the-editor writing mission. Every month she submits another letter to our local newspaper, the Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal.  Here's her March letter (click on the link to read the online comments). Nicely done, Laurel.  Question those who flaunt "religious arrogance" Could religious beliefs survive if children were not indoctrinated into religion from an early age by their families and cultures, and instead were allowed to decide whether religions make sense when they are old enough to examine the evidence and logic? Why do almost all religious believers believe in the religion their parents or…
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Posted inReality Science

Have faith that reality is better than any belief

One of my first Church of the Churchless posts, "Just have faith," was written in November 2004. It's still one of my favorites. Re-reading it today, I was pleased that I still agree with just about everything in it.  The reason: even though thirteen years ago I was more open to the hypothesis of God and life after death than I am now, the method of open-minded scientific faith that should be used to investigate all sorts of hypotheses -- both worldly and spiritual -- rings as true to me today as it did back then.  My personal research into…
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