Posted inScience Spiritual practice/meditation

Most inspiring message in a movie

When I ponder what line spoken by a character in a movie has inspired me the most, here's my answer (share yours in a comment, if you like).Jodie Foster, playing Ellie Arroway, a scientist searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence, in Contact -- a movie based on Carl Sagan's novel. Strapped into a machine whose construction was made possible by technical drawings contained in mysterious messages from the Vega star system, not knowing what the machine does or if she'll be killed when it is activated, enduring violent shaking as The Machine is first turned on, Ellie tells mission control...I''m okay to…
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Posted inScience

Guide to creating scientific controversy

Don't like facts? Hate science? There's a handy four-step guide to generating your very own scientific controversy. I think some religiously-minded commenters on this blog already know #3.When people point out that the facts don’t back up your claim, ignore them. As those people get angry and shouty at you, smugly say, “They’re persecuting me! They’re so closed-minded that they won’t let anyone ask questions!” Bonus points for saying that science is now a religion.
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Posted inScience

Evolution shows why reality can’t be categorized

The natural world doesn't come with names attached. Look up at the full moon. Do you see a label on it, "moon"? (Leaving aside the question of what language that word would be written in.)Both religion and science make the mistake of confusing human thoughts about what is real with reality itself. Religions make the most egregious errors, of course, since they intellectualize about entities -- God, heaven, angels, and such -- that can't be shown to even exist.Scientists, though, can also forget that nature is flowingly continuous, not discretely categorized.This morning I read the "Missing Persons? Missing No Longer"…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Why Radha Soami Satsang Beas initiates are so special

Recently I got an email message from someone who wanted to know why I felt so special when I was an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a Sant Mat organization headquartered in India.In your posts, you often make mention of having felt special when you were in RS mode, and how you now feel relieved to have shed this sense of being special. It isn’t clear to me what was your basis for this feeling of being special. The way I understand it, Sant Mat teachings and practice inculcate in the initiate an ever broadening and expanding perspective of…
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Posted inReality Spiritual practice/meditation

Maya is illusion: Alan Watts’ good news

People are fond of saying to someone they disagree with, "get real!" It's a put down to be told that you're living an illusion.So when Eastern religions tell us that this physical existence is maya, not really real reality, it's natural to feel concerned. Even though life seems pleasant enough most of the time, what if I'm living a dream and a much better state -- nirvana, satori, enlightenment, god-realization, buddha nature -- awaits beyond my current consciousness horizon?Not to worry, says Alan Watts in "Become What You Are," a book that belies its title because Watts tells us that…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Become yourself before trying to be one with God

I started to practice yoga and meditation when I was 20 years old. Forty-one years later, I'm still at it: trying to find the real me and the truth at the heart of the cosmos.Along the way, in 1990, I married a woman who has taught me as much, or more, about reality than meditation has. Laurel is a psychotherapist (now retired). She helped me understand that attempting to transcend this world is crazy if you haven't first come to grips with yourself and how you relate to other people.This is a central theme of John Welwood's essay, "Double Vision:…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

This Is It. Great movie. Terrific philosophy.

"This Is It." My wife and I saw the movie last night. Marvelous. Michael Jackson as never known before. I mean, I knew he was a supremely talented dancer and singer. But as a person... I threw him into my weird tortured artist category. Watching him in real life as he rehearsed his "This Is It" show reveals a Michael Jackson who comes off first and foremost as a supremely nice guy. Courteous, soft-spoken, gentle, harmonious, humorous, balanced.That's my take on the movie. Then there's This Is It, the philosophy. Which is reflected throughout the film. Jackson and the other…
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Posted inReligions Science

Religions are wrong: in the cosmos, humans aren’t special

It's a burden to believe that you're special. Especially when it isn't true. Feeling special places you in a starring role. You're at the center of a script that has a marvelous ending -- with you at center stage taking bows.Religions appeal to people because dogma leads them to feel special. God has a plan, for you. Enlightenment is going to happen, for you. The heavens and earth were created, for you. A guru will appear, for you. Jesus died on the cross, for you. Christianity likes to speak of the "good news."The Christian message of good news is described in…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Halloween churchless cheers and jeers

Well, I've got to start off my Halloween cheering with a big shout-out to the Oregon Ducks football team, who crushed fifth-ranked USC tonight in Eugene -- an hour's drive away from Church of the Churchless headquarters here in south Salem. Next, praise for Halloween itself, a nice mostly-pagan/secular holiday, albeit with some mildly Christian overtones, which are barely recognizable beneath all those sexy costumes. It's interesting, but not all that surprising, that so many adults (and children also) choose to express their darker, sensuous, slutty, or sinister side on Halloween. You don't see many Compassionate Buddhist Monk or Charitable…
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Posted inReality Science

Don’t worry about yourself. You don’t have one (a self).

Ah, I love instant enlightenment. OK -- not exactly instant, because I had to watch 54 minutes of a You Tube video before I got to Thomas Metzinger's philosophical "money shot" right at the end.But I had enjoyed Metzinger's book, "The Ego Tunnel," which I blogged about here, here, and here.So when I saw a mention of the video on my Twitter feed, I figured that it would be worth watching. I'm a sucker for a Zen-titled talk, "Being No One," from someone who specializes in scientific perspectives on the philosophy of mind.Most of Metzinger's presentation is pretty darn boring.…
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Posted inReligions Science

Should science have an opinion on the supernatural?

Some people think that science and religion operate in two different spheres, with never the twain meeting. This often is called NOMA, non-overlapping magisteria -- a term coined by biologist Stephen Jay Gould, who said:The magisterium of science covers the empirical realm: what the Universe is made of (fact) and why does it work in this way (theory). The magisterium of religion extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value. These two magisteria do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry (consider, for example, the magisterium of art and the meaning of beauty).I disagree, unless "religion" is defined…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Shocked at my past beliefs, should I disown me?

I picked up the book. Thumbed through the pages and located the right chapter. Scanned a few paragraphs. Then found the lines I was looking for:Mysticism has little quarrel with the theory of evolution -- as long as it is recognized that life evolves not randomly, but under the guidance of an intelligence which is far beyond our ability to fathom. All that is evident are the results of a divine will reflected most imperfectly in the fossil record and the current diversity of species.Oh no!, I thought. The author is an intelligent design advocate. He believes in bullshit!I threw…
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Posted inUncategorized

Are you religious, or mentally ill? Take the test.

Problematic symptoms can have many different causes. Differential diagnosis aids mental health experts like me*** to tell what you're suffering from.(*** I have a Master's Degree in Social Work. I had field placements in a Community Mental Health Clinic and a Family Counseling Agency. The fact that I never worked in mental health after I graduated, or got any sort of licensing, shouldn't bother you. After all, this is the Internet -- where advice is free and always worth what you pay for it.)Please consider the following ten statements carefully. Answer "yes" or "no" honestly, according to whether you agree…
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Posted inScience

Evolution reflects the beauty of science

Reality is so much more attractive than illusion. This is why science is so much more beautiful than religion.It just takes an open (and humble) mind's eye to see. Science places us within an interconnected cosmos where we are part and parcel of everything in existence.This is akin to the "oneness" of religion and mysticism. Except, it is demonstrably real. Behold: I'm a couple of chapters into Richard Dawkins' new book, "The Greatest Show on Earth." Which happens to be evolution. Great read. A spine-tingle on just about every page for those, like me, who get turned on by scientific…
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Posted inBuddhism Humor

Enlightenment: there’s an iPhone app for that

Since I love my iPhone, and it can reliably guide me to earthly destinations, I figured that spiritual enlightenment also would be available via one of the many downloadable applications for this marvelous device.And yes, it was. In the form of Guided Insight Meditation.Buddha must have been looking out for me, because I came across this app on the very last day, October 17, that it was still free. (As of now, you'll have to fork out $2.99 for enlightenment. Plus the cost of an iPhone, if you've got bad karma and don't have one yet.)I liked how most of…
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Posted inBooks God

“The Evolution of God” falls flat at the end

My prophesy turned out to be correct: I didn't agree with the final chapters of Robert Wright's "The Evolution of God," just as I anticipated.But there wasn't anything miraculous in my ability to see into the future, just as a transcendent divinity isn't needed to explain how religions change over the course of history -- embracing, by and large, a more inclusive, tolerant, and universal moral code.Mostly, this is what Wright says in his book. This book’s account of the moral direction of history has been a materialist account. We’ve explained the expansion of the moral imagination as an outgrowth…
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Posted inGod

God doesn’t exist, but is improving

I'm expecting to disagree with the final chapters of Robert Wright's "The Evolution of God," as I prophesied a few months ago.So I wanted to write a positive blog post about this book, which I'm almost finished with, before I turn more negative. As a New York Times review says, there's a good news/bad news joke for religious believers here:Wright makes it clear that he is tracking people’s conception of the divine, not the divine itself. He describes this as “a good news/bad news joke for traditionalist Christians, Muslims and Jews.” The bad news is that your God was born…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

How to cheat death — without religion

Religions offer up a damn good deal on death: have faith, do what you're told, and you won't die.If this was really true, I'd sign up in a heartbeat, since then I wouldn't have to worry about what will happen after my last one. Which appears likely to be nothing... death being the absence of living.But there are worse things than dying and not existing any more. I'd rank the possibilities in this order of preference:(1) Die and live on pleasantly in another form ("heaven").(2) Die and cease to exist.(3) Die and live on horribly in another form ("hell").Most of…
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Posted inScience

O’Reilly vs. Dawkins shows why I’m churchless

A friend of mine is fond of saying, "No one's life is ever completely wasted. He can always serve as a horrible example for others."This adage came to mind as I watched a video of Bill O'Reilly showing his ignorance in an interview with Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is an eminent scientist who has just published a well-reviewed book about evolution, "The Greatest Show on Earth." O'Reilly is a right-wing talk show host who is fond of mangling facts.And, in this case, making up facts when they are lacking.The fundamentalist mindset is on display beautifully at the beginning of the interview.…
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