Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB and critical thinking

Below is another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon asks 30 good questions about the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, and the RSSB teachings. Some of them have answers in the RSSB literature, but they aren't convincing answers, as the answers raise even more questions. As Anon says, critical thinking is discouraged by RSSB, along with every other religion.…
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Posted inMindfulness

Thinking is good. Overthinking, not so good. Ruminating, pretty bad.

Sometimes people attached to a certain kind of spirituality (or pseudo-spirituality) say that thinking should be avoided, that somehow we should live in an intuitive la-la land where actions occur spontaneously and naturally, no thinking required. Aside from being totally unrealistic, I've wondered how it is that these people express their distaste of thinking in words that sure seem like thoughts. After all, what is saying or writing "thinking should be avoided" but an expressed thought, thinking should be avoided. Mindfulness practice, in my experience, doesn't view thinking as a problem any more than emotions are a problem. Both are…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB engages in weaponized recalibration

Here’s another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up a guru that I belonged to for 35 years. GSD stands for Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the current RSSB guru. RSSB CONSTANTLY recalibrates its positions on its own beliefs and positions. It makes it hard to know where you stand. They're often subtly done and vague about it and it's never announced. The script just changes. It can also create a situation where you YOURSELF are just trying to get onto solid ground. RSSB also weaponises hypocrisy for…
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Posted inMeaning of life Personal/Stories

We are all living the dream life

A few days ago I was using one of the machines in my athletic club's circuit weight room, when I heard a guy at a nearby machine say, "Brian?" I said, yes, and the guy said “I’m Bob. Bob Jones.” [Not his real name, as I want to respect his privacy.] I hadn’t seen Bob for about 36 years or so. We used to play tennis together back when I was into the sport that I'd played since high school. Bob asked if I was still playing tennis. I said, no, not for many years. How about you? He said,…
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