Posted inMorality

Moral relativism is absolutely great

I love to argue with the Pope. It sends a thrill up my lapsed Catholic spine. The notion that insignificant me has a shot (in this case, a certainty) at out-moralizing the head of one of the world's major religions – marvelous! Pope Benedict XVI hates moral relativism. I adore it. So who's right and who's wrong? This is why I win: the fact that this is a serious question shows I'm right. Nobody says that the atomic structure of water has several possible answers. Two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen always is the correct response. Recently President…
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Posted inMystics

“Perfect” gurus: myth or reality?

Those steeped in a Western monotheistic religion, such as Christianity or Judaism, might be surprised to learn that millions of people in the world today believe that God walks on Earth in a human form – divinely perfect. Some Christians believe that Jesus was perfect, but his flawed humanity seems to be as important as his divinity. In like fashion, most Muslims consider that Muhammad was a flawless conduit for God's message as revealed in the Koran, but the Prophet himself isn't revered as God. It's only in the Eastern religions, so far as I know, that a person is…
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Posted inPolitics

Bitterness and religion: some advice for Obama

I've been doing some thinking, from my churchless perspective, about the controversy over Barack Obama's remark that people in struggling Pennsylvania towns are bitter and cling to religion (among other things). And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. Clinton has seized on the words "bitter" and "cling" in blasting Obama for his supposed elitism. On cable news today I kept seeing her new ad being played. In the ad a Pennsylvania woman…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Radha Soami Satsang Beas embraces the Internet

I like it when a religious organization shows some flexibility. So kudos to the group that I belonged to for some thirty-five years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, for significantly expanding its embrace of the World Wide Web. Today I learned that the RSSB web site has a new look. Previously there was basically just a home page and a catalog of RSSB publications. Now there's much more, including essays on the Sant Mat philosophy that forms the core of the group's teachings. For a long time the current RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh, asked that disciples refrain from discussing Sant Mat…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Religions should offer a better deal on death

Yesterday I spent part of a nice afternoon musing about a not-so-nice subject, death. And here I am doing it again, on an even sunnier and warmer Oregon day. As I said in "Baby boomers confront the big 'boom,' death," dying is an unwanted intrusion into the pleasant pursuit of existing. Dying wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a likely nasty side effect: non-existence. Forever. That'd be a bummer, to put it mildly (only good side is, I won't be around to be bummed out). So humans have invented religions to reduce anxiety about the hereafter. Which is more…
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Posted inVedanta/Advaita

I am, therefore I am

The older I get, the more I feel like embracing seriously simple approaches to spirituality. That way, if I become senile, when someone asks me what I believe a ready answer is more likely to spring from my receding lips and failing psyche. This helps explain why I'm enjoying Stanley Sobottka's Course in Consciousness so much. I've been lugging my laptop into my meditation lair each morning, reading some of his downloaded book-length manuscript before I meditate. I'm about halfway through. The basic message is exceedingly simple, though it takes over 200 pages to express it. Consciousness is all there…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Loving is one thing, investing another

I've had an interesting email exchange with someone who noted my statement in a previous post: "Often I hear believers say, on this blog or elsewhere, that sharing their personal experience runs the risk of enlarging their ego. In my opinion, the risk lies in the other direction." She disagreed, saying that for her (a Sant Mat initiate), love is the whole of spirituality. And love should be private. The inner personal experience of meditation is regarded by many satsangis as a very personal, private, and precious gift which has relevance only to oneself. The experience is a special gift…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Short cut to losing the ego

Been meditating for lots of years? Made pilgrimages to India? Devoted yourself to serving a church or other faith? And you still have a big ego? Don't worry. I've discovered another path to egolessness. No Zen master required. All you need is an inexpensive Flip Video and a free You Tube account. Then make some videos of yourself doing something that you think you can do, upload them, and experience the marvelous humility of seeing yourself from the outside rather than the inside. That's what I did yesterday on my other blog, with "Me doing Tai Chi." I mention this…
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Posted inScience

Brain damage = enlightenment?

Jill Bolte Taylor had what she calls a "stroke of insight." In her case it was an actual stroke – which produced a blood clot the size of a golf ball that pushed on her language centers in the left side of her brain. Watch the nineteen minute video of her talk about the experience. Or read the transcript. It's fascinating and moving. Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by…
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Posted inScience Vedanta/Advaita

Quantum and non-dual consciousness

Ah, intellectual and inspirational bliss. A free, downloadable, thoughtful, well-written "Course in Consciousness" that moves smoothly from down to earth quantum theory to soaring spirituality. This is my cup of reading tea. I've only been able to quickly browse through the 242 pages of Stanley Sobottka's writing, but I can tell that there's a lot to like here. Sobottka is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia, so obviously he knows his scientific stuff. His deep knowledge of, and appreciation for, Buddhist/Advaita teachings is more surprising – though he isn't the only physicist to wade into some…
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Posted inMiracles

Curse god freely. Then, laugh.

Praising god, what fun is there in that? But cursing god – or whatever higher power you don't believe in – this has a lot more entertainment value. Over on the terrific science blog Pharyngula ("Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal"), I ran across a post about a Indian man who volunteered to be put to death by a Tantrik magician. On live TV, no less. The laughing fellow on the left is Sanal Edamaruku, president of Rationalist International and atheist. The cranky old man in the robes on the right is Pandit Surinder Sharma, a…
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Posted inBooks

I abandon all hope in my book shelves

It's the only line from Dante's Divine Comedy that I know: "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." (one of various translations of what's inscribed on the gate of hell) For me, it's what I feel nowadays when I peruse the spiritual, mystical, metaphysical, and religious volumes in my book collection. I used to read these books voraciously, devouring them for insights into the Meaning of It All. I went through phases where I'd study a single subject for weeks or months. Sant Mat. Rumi. Meister Eckhart. Other medieval Christian mystics. The "desert fathers." Zen. Taoism. Plotinus. Emerson. To name…
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Posted inMiracles

Magicians, gurus, and magical thinking

Magic is so, well, magical. We see, but we can't believe our eyes. A rabbit comes out of a hat. But I saw the hat was empty! And nothing could have been put into it! Yet there's the rabbit, coming out of the hat. Go figure. Which most of us can't, because magic tricks usually are closely guarded secrets – from non-magicians, at least. Adam Gopnik wrote a fascinating piece for The New Yorker, "The Real Work," about the practice and philosophy of magic (the full story doesn't appear to be available online, just an abstract). About all an outsider…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Like what you believe, believe what you like

On big religious days like Easter, the faithful get to hang out with other believers and enjoy a pleasing group validation of shared beliefs. Today our local newspaper had a story about how 70 Christians turned out for a sunrise service in the Oregon rain and cold. A woman was quoted: This is a good way to start Easter – with other believers. Sure, why not? If I could find 70 other people who agreed with whatever the heck it is I believe in – an amorphous faithless faith that changes frequently – I'd love to hear them tell me,…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

What, it’s Easter?

After I bought a cup of coffee and some muffins this afternoon, the clerk said "Have a nice Easter." I thought, What, it's Easter? I'd completely lost track of what tomorrow was. I started to say, "I'd forgotten about it. Guess that shows how religious I am." But I decided to bite my tongue and simply say, "Thanks." Easter means absolutely nothing to me. Probably somebody in the world celebrates a memorable day in Zeus' existence. The two celebrations are equally senseless to my churchless self. Yet I realize that other people find religious rituals and holidays deeply meaningful. They're…
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Posted inUniverse

Brains vs. the universe

So who would come out on top in this contest? Might as well put it on pay per view, for more dramatic effect. Brains vs. the Universe – ultimate smackdown! My bet is on the universe. It's a lot bigger. And, when you think about it, smarter than brains. Because brains are part of the universe, and the universe is the whole deal (that's why it's called a universe). I got to pondering this in the course of leafing through a book I'd already read, "Creation Revisited" by Peter Atkins. Atkins is a chemistry professor at Oxford University. So his…
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Posted inPolitics

Obama paints a pleasing shade of religious gray

There's too much black and white in the world. Especially when it comes to religion. Believers adore crisp, clean demarcations between right and wrong, faith and faithlessness, truth and falsity, sacred and profane. Me, I'm increasingly into gray. Not that there's anything wrong with black and white. After all, their mixture produces the subtle shades that I like. Politicians, though, are under a lot of pressure to stake firm positions. "You're either with us, or against us" is a simplistic example. So this morning I was eager to read Barack Obama's speech on race and religion to see how he…
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Posted inGod

The Mystical Mind of God

Last week I got a present: an email from someone who attached a wonderfully written essay, "The Mystical Mind of God." I asked for permission to share it. Whatever you wish, came the reply, though please, if you do decide to do something, leave no footprints to my door. So the author is anonymous. Here's the piece in Word and PDF formats. It's thoughtful and well worth reading. Download the_mystical_mind_of_god.doc Download the_mystical_mind_of_god.pdf I enjoyed… --the emphasis on Western mystics and thinkers, who tend to get short shrift in mystically-inclined writings --how the author weaves together insights from theology, philosophy, psychology,…
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Posted inBooks

A critique of Ken Wilber and “Integral Spirituality”

I've got to keep my churchless credibility intact. I don't want to sound like I've become a Ken Wilber groupie after speaking favorably about his "Integral Spirituality" in some recent posts – here, here, and here. So now that I've finished the book, and visited (or re-visited) some web sites that criticize Wilber's Integral "theory of everything," I'll share what I don't like about Wilber's take on reality. Main objection: his complex theories about how everything in existence fits together strike me as much more reflective of the inside of Ken Wilber's head than of how the universe really works.…
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