Posted inMorality

Morality isn’t what God wants

Here's a thought-provoking passage from Plato's "Euthyphro" that you can throw into your next coffeehouse conversation about the meaning of life (you do have them, don't you?). Socrates says: The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods. This is the Euthyphro dilemma. I ran across it for the first time while reading "The Top 10 Myths About Evolution." The authors, Cameron M. Smith and Charles Sullivan, were making the point that morality is a natural…
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Posted inTaoism/Tai Chi Wu Project

Beneath buckets of thought, a formless thinking pool

Taoism shuns thoughts, while adoring thinking. Flowing along further with Thomas Cleary’s Taoist Meditation, a focus of my previous post, here’s some additional Taoist sentiments. Thinking about the Way is correct; thinking about things is error. The Way is inherent in us; when you think about the Way inherent within us, thinking itself is the Way…Thinking is a door of entry into the Way, whereas thoughts are roots of obstruction of the Way. “I think, therefore I am.” Cogito ergo sum. As noted before, Descartes had this much right. If he’d stopped with his Meditations at this point in his…
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Posted inHumor Taoism/Tai Chi

Comic strip and a Chinese sage both say: “Do it!”

When in doubt, don’t doubt. Unless you’re sure you want to doubt. Then doubt ferociously. Life is meant to be lived full throttle. Which can mean being absolutely still. Or, rocketing across the salt flats. Turning to one of my favorite sources of inspiration, Funny Times, I came across this “Maxine” comic in the February 2007 issue. My heart said, yes. (click on the image to enlarge) Confusion, indecision, uncertainty: that’s part of life. But we magnify that part when we fail to recognize what we already know. In the sphere of spirituality, that counts for a lot. Indeed, it…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Sant Mat looks like a religion

Sam emailed me today from the United Kingdom. He has an interesting perspective on Sant Mat and Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), looking as he does from the outside rather than as a true believer. Myself, I’m sort of in the middle. I used to be a true believer and so can’t say that I’m able to view Sant Mat and RSSB from as detached a position as Sam can. So I found his ideas interesting. He left them as a comment to a post, which I’ve copied (and mildly edited) below. He makes some excellent points. Even in the…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

The metaphysics of a really shitty job

I spent six hours this weekend pulling disintegrated insulation out of the crawl space above our garage. There are difficult jobs. There are nasty jobs. And then there are really shitty jobs. Like what I just did. Serendipity is perusing the comments on your blog and finding just what you need to give a boost of profundity to the post you were planning to write. Thank you, Edward, for the Richard Feynman quote: "A poet once said "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do…
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Posted inScience

Global warming and God’s will

The science is settled. Global warming is happening. Humans are very likely the cause. “Very likely” means with 90 percent certainty, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That’s up from “likely” in the panel’s 2001 report. You can bet that the next report will say “extremely likely.” Unfortunately, scientific near-certainties get muddied up when theological guesses are thrown in. I like to listen to conservative talk radio. Hearing gibberish makes me appreciate truth more, just as a string of cloudy Oregon days produces an Ah! when the sun finally comes out. This week I’ve heard both Michael…
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Posted inMiscellaneous

Be natural

Got some sort of Mr. Natural theme going on. Recently I ran across David Lane’s right-on musings about the problem with “perfection” when it comes to gurus. Or, anyone else. David says: "If we say something like the guru is infinite, then if we see something that is finite, something that is limited, then if we subtract that finite aspect from Infinity we end up with something infinitely less. There isn't apparently degrees of infinity here. So any thing that appears less than Perfect is going to become a point of contention, whether it is reactions about photos or internet…
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Posted inGod Radha Soami Satsang Beas Science

Does God exist? Science says no.

Proving (sort of) that no-god has a plan for my life, on Friday the mailman delivered two ungodly packages that I’d been anticipating for quite a while: Victor Stenger’s new book, “God: The Failed Hypothesis,” and the free DVD, “The God Who Wasn’t There,” I got for sending myself to hell via the blasphemy challenge. Back in August I wrote about an advance description of Stenger’s book that led me to pre-order it. Good decision. I’m several chapters into “God: The Failed Hypothesis” and am enjoying a physicist’s scientific demolishing of the God hypothesis. Stenger’s central thesis is that if…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Meditation teaches the brain new tricks

Okay, so nobody knows what consciousness is. Doesn’t really matter, so long as we use the consciousness that we have—whatever the heck it is—wisely. Which includes training the brain. In TIME’s “How the Brain Rewires Itself,” Sharon Begley presents some encouraging research that overthrows the depressing notion that “the adult human brain is essentially immutable, hardwired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much stuck with what we are.” She goes on to say: But research in the past few years has overthrown the dogma. In its place has come the…
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Posted inScience Spiritual practice/meditation

Digging into the hard problem of consciousness

Want to tackle one of the most intractable mysteries in science? You’ve got a hold on it right now: consciousness. Nobody knows what it is, though everybody uses it to think, “What is it?” Steven Pinker has a terrific article in this week’s TIME magazine, a special issue devoted to the mind and brain. In “The Mystery of Consciousness” he talks about the Easy Problem of consciousness, which basically concerns how mental processes function and are correlated with neural goings-on in the brain. Tough enough, certainly, but researchers are making good progress delving into this area. However, barely a scratch…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

How would Jesus have us pee?

When you need to go, you’ve got to go. Peeing is simple. At least, it should be. But when going to the bathroom gets mixed up with religious dogma, organizational rules, and guru worship, it’s amazing how much controversy arises about getting up to go during a “sermon.” My post about blind obedience being a hallmark of cultish religion got noticed over on the Radhasoami Studies discussion group. I’d talked about how the leader of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh, objected to having his photo taken in a public place, and how devotees tried to force a man to…
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Posted inReality Universe

Consider a cosmos that is only consciousness

There’s always another side. To anything. A coin can’t have “heads” without “tails.” Being on this side of the wall implies a that side. So I have no problem flipping the pancake of my “Consider a cosmos with no consciousness” post. Reading the final pages of Suzanne Segal’s Collision With the Infinite this morning got me thinking about what lies behind, beyond, within, and without my consciousness of thinking about those final pages. Early on in the book I read that Segal had a profound experience at a bus stop in Paris. In fact, it’s listed in her Acknowledgments: The…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Blind obedience a hallmark of cultish religion

“Don’t do that!” We hear this a lot when we’re children. Often for good reasons. Like when we want to flush kitty down the toilet, or see what happens when the bathtub water just keeps getting higher and higher. But once we can think things out reasonably for ourselves, few of us want to be treated like two year olds. So why are so many people attracted to religions that demand blind obedience, no matter how nonsensical the command? I guess because humans also value security. If we let someone else make decisions for us, we may not be free,…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Silent snow has a lot to say

This is a Church of the Churchless day when some Oregon snow is going to do most of the talking. I learned quite a bit from it on my walk this morning. When you feel the spirit, jump up and dance with snowballs. Bare bright branches are beautiful. No leaves necessary. Even blah barren brush turns into wow! with a coating of white. Put on the right coat and you'll say "It's not cold." Dead trees are still alive. Oh, yes, very much so. It’s possible to walk in your own footsteps (our dog can, at least, which is how…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Shabd is a power, not a person

Currently I’ve got a heretical reputation in the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) branch of Sant Mat, which means “teachings of the saints.” Earlier though, I wrote a couple of books under RSSB auspices, one published directly by the organization and one that was published commercially, then bought and resold. My Church of the Churchless blogging led to me being fired as a RSSB speaker. And regularly I get emails from other RSSB initiates who take me to task for supposedly having strayed from the core Sant Mat teachings. In my own mind, though, I consider myself a true Sant…
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Posted inScience Universe

Consider a cosmos with no consciousness

I’ve always thought that the “we create our own reality” folks didn’t have much of an argument to stand on. It just seems so darn obvious that the universe stands apart from any conception of it. How we perceive the cosmos certainly depends on our sensory and cognitive capabilities. However, that there is a cosmos—however it may appear—prior and separate to any perception struck me as self-evident common sense. In other words, I considered that the universe stands on its own (anthropomorphically envisioned) feet. While we humans are able to create subjective realities within our minds, the grander cosmos outside…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Stages of spiritual growth: skeptics top believers

I was prepared to scoff at M. Scott Peck’s levels of spiritual development . But when I scanned the four stages and saw that I’m definitely a “three” and probably a “four,” I became an instant believer. Somehow I’ve managed to never read any of Peck’s many books, he of “The Road Less Traveled” fame. He converted to Christianity after dalliances with Christian and Islamic mysticism, but I don’t hold that against him. Well, maybe a little. I did enjoy reading an abridged version of Peck’s analysis of the stages of spiritual growth after Bob, a Church of the Churchless…
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Posted inHumor

Blasphemy Challenge video proof

Today I denied the Holy Spirit on camera and uploaded the video to YouTube. I now qualify for both a free DVD and eternal damnation, per my previous post. Hope my afternoon is equally productive. I considered filming another take of my blasphemy, but figured that if you’re going to deny the Holy Spirit, it should be spontaneous. (And you should bring your stuffed animal along with you.) See:
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

I condemn myself to hell. For a free DVD.

I haven’t made my Blasphemy Challenge video yet, but here’s the written version: “Hi. I’m Brian. I deny the Holy Spirit.” According to Mark 3:29, my soul is now in deep hellish doo-doo. “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” On the plus side, if my video is among the first 1001 to be uploaded to YouTube, I’ll get a free DVD of The God Who Wasn’t There. That’s a $25 value, definitely enough for me to sell my soul. Actually, I’d condemn myself to hell for a lot less.…
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Posted inReality

Reality is a terrible thing to waste (on religion)

I admire anyone who writes this boldly about believing in God: You believe in God. You also believe that we have a soul that lives eternally once our earthly bodies fail us. You believe that both of these statements are true. Now that we’ve agreed upon what you believe, let me tell you what I know. (Not what I believe to be true, but what I know to be true.) I know these statements you believe to be true are false. I know they are false because I know they are not true. That anyone is Jon, a Church of…
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