Posted inBooks Spiritual practice/meditation

The supreme fiction of Wallace Stevens

Following up on my previous post about John Gray's "The Silence of Animals," here's some passages from another part of the book that I liked a lot, a section called The Supreme Fiction.  This is pretty much how I've come to look upon spirituality: believing in a fiction that we know to be such. Not true, but attractive.  When I read a well-written fictional book, I can get so absorbed in the tale that I forget this is just a story. Likewise with an engrossing movie. What makes such books and movies so enjoyable is their capacity to transport me…
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Posted inBooks

John Gray’s “The Silence of Animals” rejects humanism as a myth

This book, "The Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Myths," is as wonderfully strange as its title. It was fitting that I was led to buy it in a strange way. After reading a highly critical review of it by Thomas Nagel in the New York Times. Nagel started off his review in this fashion: John Gray’s “Silence of Animals” is an attack on humanism. He condemns this widely accepted secular faith as a form of delusional self-flattery. “In the most general terms,” he tells us, “humanism is the idea that the human animal is the site of some…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Two good New Scientist letters about our inner voice

Last month I blogged about an article in New Scientist regarding inner speeech, inner dialogue, the voices inside our heads, or whatever you want to call it. In the June 22 issue there were two interesting letters about this article. Here's the first one: From Brian Reffin SmithYour article on inner voices was fascinating (1 June, p. 32). I often solve problems or rehearse a text, such as a lecture, in my head. Saying it out loud destroys the moment, with just fragments remaining from some beautiful yet fragile structure. It seems, in that moment, so simple to see the…
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Posted inGod Spiritual practice/meditation

We can feel soulful…without a soul

I enjoy feeling spiritual. But I don't believe in spirit any more. I know what it's like to be soulful. But I don't believe in soul any more. I like to talk to God. But I don't believe in God any more. I'm not crazy. Nor at odds with myself. Nor out of touch with reality. I'm just a normal human being, living a normal human life.  As noted in my previous post, the brains of Homo sapiens' have come up with all kinds of amazing concepts. We are creative thinkers. Unlike other mammals (so far as is known), people…
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Posted inScience

There isn’t any science of the soul

Being scientifically-minded and liking the notion of an immortal soul (dying and living forever beats dying and being gone forever), I used to believe that a "science of the soul" was possible. Meaning, we humans could experiment with our own consciousness -- tweaking normal ways of thinking, perceiving, feeling, and such until evidence of soul'ness was unmistakable. Mostly this would happen through closed-eyes meditation, "going within" one's self until the essence of consciousness, soul, was separated from the non-essential aspects. Dualism, of course, is the basic philosophical premise of a science of the soul. Soul is distinct from body; spirit…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Good article on mindfulness meditation

As sort of a counterpoint to a recent post, Buddhists are wrong about a "witnessing mind," check out How Meditation Works. This story in The Atlantic is a good overview of mindfulness meditation from a secular scientific perspective. I still wonder what it means to watch thoughts arise or be aware of emotions blossoming. Hard to believe that our consciousness is outside of the brain where all of this stuff is going on. Thus it sure seems like being "mindful" of what the mind is doing is another activity of the mind that we can be mindful of. And, of…
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Posted inBooks Christianity/Jesus

Eben Alexander’s “proof of heaven” has been disproved

Well, it turns out that my skepticism about Eben Alexander's so-called "proof of heaven" (title of the book he wrote) was well-founded.  An investigation by Esquire magazine found all kinds of problems with Alexander's tale, including his credibility. The resulting article, The Prophet, costs $1.99 to read if you're not an Esquire subscriber.  I paid up. After reading the well-written piece, I feel like I got my money's worth. The four "don't believe him!" posts I've written about Alexander, here, here, here, and here, now are shown to have been valid, while Alexander's claims are either deusional or worse --…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Buddhists are wrong about a “witnessing mind”

OK, admitted: my previous post about a Speculative Non-Buddhism essay was pretty damn intellectually intense for summer reading.  I thought of writing about something lighter today, but decided to make another attempt at conveying what I like about what little I know about what those guys at Speculative Non-Buddhism seem to be up to. (Hope that last sentence conveys my uncertainty about what their goal is; these are the most articulate, deep, philosophically-sophisticated Buddhists-who-aren't-really- Buddhists I've ever come across; hard to fathom them after just a little reading.) First, a note about my own split personality toward Buddhism. Part of me…
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Posted inBuddhism

Interesting take on how Shin Buddhism supports social activism

I don't claim to fully understand Tom Pepper's "The Radical Potential of Shin Buddhism." But then, I don't claim to fully understand anything.  The vestiges of other-worldly mysticism remaining in my mind have found Pure Land Buddhism both utterly unbelievable and also strangely compelling. After all, what's not to like about reciting Namu Amida Butsu and earning a ticket to Nirvana Land? Sure beats other forms of Buddhism that require you to engage in all sorts of arduous practices, including back-breaking, mind-numbing meditation for ever and ever (almost).  But Pepper presents a view of Shin/Shinran Buddhism that tosses out its unbelievable…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Recollections of Sant Mat and Charan Singh

Here's a mildly edited email message that I received recently from someone whose connection with Master Charan Singh, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), and Sant Mat started about the same time mine did. I added some links and bracketed explanations of terms. His thoughts brought back memories, and stimulated some new ideas. He gave me the OK to share his message in a blog post. It's an interesting rendition of how someone can be converted to a faith, and then deconverted. Dear Brian: Reading your blog evokes recollections that have long been dormant. What a compendium of experience I long since…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Embrace with joy life’s “one damn thing after another”

A few days ago I revealed the meaning of life: one damn thing after another. (Note: I agreed with a commenter that "damn" sounds negative; however, I am using it in the sense of wow, as in damn! she's a fine-looking babe!) With several dog walks and even more cups of coffee having stimulated my psyche since that post, I've delved more deeply into the astounding richness of that five-word encapsulation of what life is all about.  I'm nowhere near the end of grokking the nuances of one damn thing after another. But with every damn thing that passes through my mind when…
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Posted inReality Wu Project

Meaning of life: one damn thing after another

Beginning at age 13, when I wrote my first philosophically-minded poem, until today, age 64, I've been searching for the meaning of life. I've delved into psychedelics (LSD and mescaline); pondered existentialism (Sartre, Camus, etc.); for over 35 years meditated hours a day under the guidance of an Indian mystic; done the marital arts and Tai Chi thing; read countless philosophical, religious, mystical, scientific, and spiritual books; explored Argentine Tango and ballroom dancing; walked at night under Oregon stars (and rain) looking into the vastness of the universe -- just as I did at 13; written books about physics &…
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Posted inReality Science

“Heterophenomenology.” Not a sex act. Way of studying consciousness.

I've learned a new word: heterophenomenology. Was immediately attracted to it, even before I knew what it meant. Had an exotic sensuous ring.  "Hey, hot thing, I'd really like to do some heterophenomenology with you. Are you up for it?" Turns out, though, that what Daniel Dennet is talking about in his new book, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, isn't a sex act, but a means of investigating subjective consciousness.  Or at least, what people usually think of as subjective consciousness. Dennett has an interesting take on how it is possible to investigate experiences that are usually regarded…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Sam Harris on dangers of religious ecstasy

Reading "Islam and the Misuses of Ecstasy" by Sam Harris brought back some memories. I wouldn't call them exactly religiously ecstatic, but they were damn close. The first time I went to India, for two weeks in 1977, I was able to experience one of the large "bhandaras" held at the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in the Punjab. This is a photo I took, showing just a portion of the gigantic crowd that had come to hear and see the RSSB guru. (I wrote in "God's here, but I've got to go" about the decidedly non-ecstatic experience of…
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Posted inBooks Science

White’s “The Science Delusion” is deluded about science

I admit it. I haven't read Curtis White's "The Science Delusion." But I've read reviews of the book. I considered buying it to see what a skeptic about science has to say. However, White seems so off-base in his claim that science is determined to supplant the humanities as well as religion, I figured it would be a waste of money. Slate has a fairly favorable review. Some comments on the review make a lot more sense to me, though. No scientist is saying that physics or chemistry or biology can explain a Dylan song or Dickinson poem. But science…
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Posted inMiscellaneous

Check out “25 Ways To Feel Totally Fucking Awesome”

Most of the time I do feel totally fucking awesome. Now I know why. I'm into almost all of the awesome-feeling ways listed by Chris McCombs on his Hardcore Happiness site. Some, though, I suck at. Like #20, Sleep. Chris advises 8-9 hours a night. My owl'ish wife and I usually only get about seven, often less.  I'm also not so great at #17, Minimize. I've got too much crap. But I enjoy buying more. Books. Longboards. Crazy Shirts apparel. Sandals. I figure it's better than buying crystal meth, hookers, or fast food. Here's some of my favorite tips for…
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Posted inHumor

Jesus appears in a pug’s butthole. Praise Dog!

There's really nothing to say about this awesome (or ass-some) miracle: an obvious image of Jesus appearing in, or as, a dog's butthole. A picture is worth more than any amount of words I could utter in praise of Almighty Dog. (click to enlargenfy) This explains why dogs spend so much time with their noses up each other's asses. They're looking for Jesus!
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Posted inReality Science

Religion: believing we know more than we really do

My wife and I are enjoying "Brain Games," a National Geographic channel program about how the brain works.  Every episode features exercises that viewers can take part in. An episode we watched a few nights ago was called What You Don't Know. Short answer: a lot.  But most of us mistakenly believe that we know more than we really do. So says a summary of that episode: Bet you could explain something as basic as how a zipper works? Or correctly draw something as simple as a bicycle? If you said yes, you likely bet wrong... but don’t worry it’s…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Jay Lake is dying. Honestly. Bravely. Read his blog!

Jay Lake has a terminal cancer diagnosis. He expects to die within a year. I love Jay Lake. Yet I've never met Jay Lake. I probably never will meet Jay Lake. I only heard of Jay Lake yesterday, from a story about him in the Portland Oregonian.  Last night I wrote about him on my other blog. I donated $10 to the Jay Wake pre-mortem celebration of his life/roast that is happening next month. I left a comment on the Oregonian story. I can't believe my comment was, and is, just one of two readers of the story have written.…
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