Posted inScience

Physics ventures into the territory of mystics

I find scientific explanations of the universe much more satisfying than religious ones. Science grounds hypotheses in reality that can be observed, tested, and experimented upon. Religion constructs airy-fairy castles in the sky that are divorced from everyday experience. But there's a point, way out there, where observing, testing, and experimenting aren't possible – not even in theory. For example, much of the universe is forever beyond human knowledge because it is receding from us faster than the speed of light, so no signal will ever reach us from this domain. However, we can envision a possibility, remote as it…
4
Posted inMiscellaneous

How to talk with each other

It bothers me when visitors to this blog don't talk courteously with each other. Now, I realize that this is an endemic problem in cyberspace. Anonymity breeds contemptuousness. Everybody who leaves comments here is a person (possibly aside from some robo-spam, which I have to delete now and then). Yet if the people who engage in heated Church of the Churchless comment conversations were face to face in a coffee house, it's hard to believe that they'd be talking to each other in their online fashion. Even, or especially, if they'd just met. There's no hard and fast rules for…
26
Posted inReligions

Let all of religion fall down. Every bit.

It's such a Byzantine structure, all these notions about God, salvation, life after death, soul, spirit, ultimate meaning. The Grand Temple of Speculation sprawls endlessly, with more building continuously going on. Floors piled on top of floors, rooms tacked on to rooms, furnishings added and subtracted as dogmatic decorators fine tune how they want things to look. For most of my life I've enjoyed wandering through the building. I'm familiar with most of the basic architecture – the religious, mystical, spiritual, metaphysical, and philosophical teachings that have blossomed and multiplied from the dawn of recorded history (and likely long before…
25
Posted inReality

Turning around the guns of religious skepticism

It's so easy to fire skeptical bullets at deluded religious believers. Because they aren't me. It's a lot tougher to turn my big guns around and point them at myself. Yet that's what we all need to do – especially those who call themselves "churchless." The way I see it, we often fail to recognize that while we've demolished the most obvious walls of blind faith that kept us confined within dogmatic bounds, often we've just retreated to a smaller and less obvious belief structure. We've shrunk our religiosity from a grand cathedral to something much more humble. However, it's…
104
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Is there anything to do but be?

I love it when a Church of the Churchless post comes back to life. Resurrection! Praise Blog! The past week there's been an intense high-quality discussion on last November's "Another RSSB initiate bites the dust" – a 75 comment interchange since February 12. I've followed the conversation mostly from afar, though I've thrown in a comment or two of my own. As frequently happens on this blog, the specifics often have to do with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the mystic-religious organization I was involved with for thirty-five years. But the general themes are universal. One of which, to my mind…
32
Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Christian sex toys

Well, finally. Some Christianity that I can get behind. Or on top of. Whatever. Christian sex toys. Though the offerings are fairly tame. The NPR story says the "site steers clear of certain types of sexual activity that they believe are unholy." Any guesses? Well, at least Joy Wilson and her husband are making good use of Biblical passages from the Song of Solomon. Sexual theology appeals to my churchless soul. [Update: Gosh, does God have a plan for me? Am I about to convert to Christianity? Could be. Just noticed a CNN story about a minister asking his married…
4
Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Religious beliefs keep us from spiritually dancing

I've learned a lot from dancing. Or, even after several years of lessons, what often feels more like attempting to dance. Regardless, it's a lot more like real dancing than I was capable of before. Just as I now feel like I'm better able to dance spiritually, having given up religious beliefs that kept me overly rigid. Rigidity and dancing – not a good mix. Sure, after just a few lessons it's natural to be unsure of yourself. You haven't gotten the steps down, so you earnestly try to move just right. And pretty soon you realize that this earnestness,…
1
Posted inUncategorized

Insecurity: the only safe place

I'll admit it: sometimes I start to lose faith in my faithlessness. I get this craving to believe. I'm not fully cured of my thirty-year addiction to dogma. I sniff some 80 proof belief and have a little fantasy about bellying up to the church bar again. Then the saner side of me whispers, Stay strong, Brian. WWWD? Ah, yes. WWWD. Others, of course, find inspiration in WWJD – but these are folks looking for security, and I've come to realize that this is the root of religious addiction. So a few days ago I renewed my commitment to sobriety…
5
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Jesus is alive and well in India

Most Christians would be surprised to learn that right now, in 2008, millions of people believe that a man in India not only teaches the same spirituality as Jesus, but is the same godly being. Yes, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a branch of Sant Mat, holds that the path of the saints (a translation of "Sant Mat") is identical with the teachings of Jesus. One of the RSSB books, "Light on Saint John," says: Since most of you have a Christian background, I shall try to explain the teachings of all the Saints in the light of the Bible,…
27
Posted inGod

Skepticism is genuine faith

Fairly frequently people question, Why this Church of the Churchless blog? I've got an email in my "to reply" file that asks just this. Why be critical of religion? Why discuss the believability of theological tenets, including those of the group to which I belonged for thirty years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas? Why place articles of faith under the looking glass of reality? Because truth is worthy of veneration. Now, some people consider that there is no such thing as objective truth, that reality is whatever we consider it to be. There's, well, some truth to this. But you see…
6
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Playing fair with words

Yesterday I got some advice from a commenter on a post to "be silent." I responded right away, because this is one of my favorite subjects – playing fair with words. Zion, I always find it interesting when someone, like you, advises that silence is the best policy -- and posts a public comment using many words. If I should be silent, shouldn't you? Or do you know me better than I know myself? And does your advice only apply to me, or also to yourself? …I'm curious about this: how do you know that "those who know always keep…
42
Posted inPersonal/Stories

I’m an ignorant fool (happily)

For most of my life I'd get pissed off if someone told me, You're an ignorant fool! But now I've begun to say that to myself. And it makes me feel good. Today the words came to me before I began my habitual morning meditation. I'd drunk my strong cup of coffee. I'd read from my eclectic mix of books, a bit of science, a bit of philosophy. I'd settled onto my cushion, preparing to open myself to insights into the Meaning of It All. And the voice that speaks inside my head blurted out, You're an ignorant fool! My…
11
Posted inPolitics

Irreligious questions for the presidential candidates

Oh, if only the press would have the balls to ask the twelve questions John Allen Paulos wants posed to our presidential candidates. A sampling: For Huckabee: Do you really believe, Mr. Huckabee, that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that humans and dinosaurs cavorted together? For Romney: Do you not see an implicit religious test in your statement that "Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom"? Furthermore, are not, respectively, most of Europe and some Islamic countries obvious counterexamples to your statements? For others: Do any of you think God speaks to you, only…
8
Posted inPlotinus Radha Soami Satsang Beas

My inside look at RSSB books

It's interesting that currently churchless me once was so involved in writing books for a decidedly churchy organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). A couple of years ago I blogged about "How writing a book rewrote me." This was the third, and last, major RSSB book project that I was involved with. The end result was "Return to the One: Plotinus' Guide to God-Realization." But it wasn't published by RSSB, even though the plan all along was that this would be the first in a Mystics of the West series. I have to give credit to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the…
44
Posted inTaoism/Tai Chi

A wee bit of guidance on the Way

Over on my other blog, HinesSight, Joshua left a Taoism related comment on a DSL-themed post. Go figure, especially since some of the sentiments I expressed in the post were just a tad on the egocentric side. Many of my neighbors are deeply grateful that I've brought the potential of DSL to some 240 homes in our area. Quite a few are trying to run businesses out of their homes. That's tough to do with a dial-up connection, and satellite is expensive. I've been thinking that a bronze statue of me, commemorating my DSL triumph, would be a nice addition…
12
Posted inMorality

“I’m right” vs. “I like” morality

It feels so good to be right. Or rather, to believe that we're right – which means that other people must be wrong. This is a big reason religion is so popular. It offers a pleasant sensation of self-righteousness. There's also a simpler way of feeling good. To just feel good. Janis Joplin sang it. You know feeling good was good enough for meGood enough for me and my Bobby McGee. We can just say "I like," rather than justifying our preference with an "I'm right." What a difference it would make if Christians said, "I like feeling that Jesus…
6
Posted inPlotinus

Marcus Aurelius’ meditations move me

In my previous post about death and Stoicism, I didn't give my main Stoic man, Marcus Aurelius, the blog time that he deserves. So yesterday I found my well-thumbed copy of his Meditations, a hard to find 1964 translation by Maxwell Staniforth, and re-read some of Marcus' marvelous observations on living a good life. And dying a good death. I'm putting this post in my "Plotinus" category because both of these philosophers, one of whom I've written my own book about, shared a fundamental Stoic philosophy. Which moves me. Now, that's sort of a contradiction, because Stoicism holds (along with…
No Comments
Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Embracing a Stoic view of death

Like I said at the end of my previous post about dealing with death, there isn't much to add to the philosophic options given to us by the ancient Greeks and Romans. After all, there are only so many different ways of looking at reality. The ancients ran though them all. Metaphysical. Natural. Atomistic. Holistic. Rational. Mystical. So when I found myself leaning toward a "nature knows what it's doing" attitude toward death, it didn't take me long to realize that I was walking on well-trod Stoic ground. I love Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Aurelius was a Roman emperor who penned…
8
Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Death shines under a full moon

Walking the dog last night, I turned around when we got to the path that leads to Spring Lake. A full, or almost full, moon had risen above the tree tops. Clear and cold. No sounds. Moonshine on the fir trees. Beautiful. I spoke to whoever the heck it is I talk to on such occasions. "Thank you. For letting me be alive. To be aware of this moment, right here, right now." But my gratitude had a flip side. And it made an appearance almost immediately. Because I couldn't help going on to envision my death. No more dog…
14
Posted inBuddhism

Meditation is useless

I like it when a practitioner says, "There's no point to what I'm doing." Especially when he's talking about a supposedly spiritual practice. For me, this is the dividing line between fake religiosity and genuine whatever. (I tried to think of a better word than whatever, but couldn't). You just do it to do it. Meditation. Prayer. Worship. Study. Whatever. Zen and Taoism appeal to me because they extol uselessness. In "The Tao of Paris Hilton" I said: And let us also learn to appreciate Paris more by studying this passage from "The Book of Chuang Tzu," where a long-lived,…
13