Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation Universism

Salem Universists meet, noisily

Here we are, six Salem Universists, gathering outside of the Coffee House Café last Thursday evening. This was the first meeting of our non-dogmatic spiritual support group, loosely organized under the Universist banner. “Loosely” is the operative word, as I wasn’t organized enough to check and see if the café had a band playing on Thursday nights. I’d pictured us sitting on the Coffee House’s comfortable couches, sipping lattes and discussing deep philosophical issues. As soon as I walked in the door, clutching a Universist flyer to my chest so a few members I hadn’t met yet would recognize me,…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Radha Soami Satsang Beas

How does Jesus save?

We often hear that “Jesus saves.” My question is, “How?” What is the exact mechanism by which Jesus saves souls? How did Jesus’ actions here on earth fit into the cosmic order of things? I’ve never heard compelling answers to these questions. I’m not just picking on Christianity here. Virtually every religion or spiritual path is equally vague on “how’s.” For example, with Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the organization that I’ve been associated with for a long time, a central tenet is that the guru connects the soul of the disciple with spirit, a.k.a. shabd or sound current. But…
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Posted inBooks Radha Soami Satsang Beas Science

Don’t believe, just have faith

Sunday I gave a talk to my spiritual group that inspired me. So before I lose touch with my self-induced inspiration, I figured that I should capture it in a weblog posting. That way hopefully I can re-inspire myself as needed. However, I have to admit that this whole way of thinking is at odds with what I was talking about. Namely, the absurd split between “I” and “me.” More defensible are the splits between “belief” and “faith” or “religion” and “science.” Nonetheless, we humans love to divide up reality with concepts divorced from experience, then get anxious about feeling…
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Posted inReligions Science

Religious Americans: tolerant but gullible

Since I have a decidedly nontraditional attitude toward spirituality, it was reassuring to see that a Newsweek/Beliefnet poll found that 79% of Americans answered “Yes” to the question, “Can a good person who doesn’t share your religious beliefs attain salvation or go to heaven?” Of course, I’d feel even better if I could get that assurance directly from whatever higher power is responsible for doling out salvation. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Christians appear to be more tolerant than I have been giving them credit for. Evangelical Protestants were the least tolerant, but 68% still were willing…
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Posted inScience Spiritual practice/meditation

Seeing clearly now

My philosophical mind is always trying to find the commonalities in spirituality. Also, my scientific mind. We don’t say “What science do you believe in?” But “What religion do you believe in?” is a common question. That’s because science is a universal approach to learning about physical reality, while every religion considers that it alone holds the key to the truth about a presumed spiritual reality. So scientists are able to stand on common ground with other people, while religious believers end up isolated on their own distinct islands of false understanding. I’m attracted to the possibility that it’s possible…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

What’s your God experiment?

We all have beliefs about the nature of “God,” a term that to me is synonymous with “ultimate reality.” If you believe that the physical universe is all there is, that’s your hypothesized God. Alternatively, if you believe that there is a spiritual reality apart from materiality, then that’s your hypothesized God. I’m interested in how you are trying to turn that hypothesis, whatever it might be, into certainty or near-certainty. Specifically, what is the One Thing you do that is most central to your pursuit of truth and meaning? By “do,” I mean that this One Thing is an…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Live your own life

The absurdity of what I was contemplating hit me as I was stair-mastering away at the athletic club this afternoon, watching a TV that was showing Tiger Woods finish the ninth hole at the NEC Invitational. For some reason I’ve started to enjoy watching televised golf tournaments. I hope this isn’t a sign that I’ve got a brain tumor. There’s no rational reason to play the game—it’s expensive, eighteen holes takes forever, you get minimal exercise—much less watch it. But I started thinking that maybe I should cut my usual routine at the club short so I could get home…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

An honest embrace of faith

Earlier this month I heard from a New Zealand woman, Elizabeth Wagner, who has come to embrace faith after a lengthy period of faithlessness. I liked how honestly she spoke about her spiritual journey, so with her permission I’ve shared her email message below (mildly edited for clarity and to Americanize those weird British spellings like “endeavour”). Her thoughts are sort of a counter point to the “More criticism of Radha Soami Satsang Beas” post that similarly included a guest opinion from a person who, like me and Elizabeth, has had a long-time connection with RSSB, a.k.a. Sant Mat. As…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Politics Religions

Fundamentalism is religious racism

Racists erroneously believe that there is proof one race is superior to another. Fundamentalists erroneously believe that there is proof one religion is superior to another. Thus there’s a natural affinity between fundamentalism and racism. This is one reason, among many, why fundamentalism in any form—Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, whatever—can’t be tolerated by tolerant people. On my other weblog, HinesSight, I recently wrote about the danger of “Religious right on a crusade.” Now, many people would accuse me of overreacting to the attempts by Christian fundamentalists to take control of the political, educational, and judicial systems in the United…
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Posted inReligions Science

Science is flexible, religion is rigid

It’s good to be flexible physically, mentally, and especially, spiritually. This is why science should be embraced and religion rejected. For religion promotes a truth-denying rigidity while science emphasizes the need to be open to reality in all of its guises. The current controversy about the teaching of intelligent design, which is creationism in new clothes, illustrates this difference between open-minded science and don’t-bother-me-with-facts religion. Science is founded on the scientific method, a process for revealing the truth about how things work in the physical universe. Whatever demonstrable truths this process ends up finding are added to science’s fund of…
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Posted inUniversism

Greetings to Salem churchless and churched

If you’ve found the Church of the Churchless by reading the Statesman-Journal’s article today about local bloggers (only part of which is posted online), welcome, new visitor. A note to the churchless: if you think you might be interested in a local face-to-face discussion group about faith, faithlessness, non-religious spirituality, keeping science and religion separate, and similar topics, take a look at my “Plunging deeper into Universism” post. If you want to join this group, which has been founded under the Universism banner more for convenience than anything else (the Universists are way more organized than I am, and espouse…
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Posted inReality Spiritual practice/meditation

Uncertainty: Be sure of it

We all need something to cling to. The big question is, “What?” What can be counted on to support us when everything else falls away? What will stay with us and never leave? What is the stable center around which the rest of our crazy spinning life can revolve? This is a theme that I keep coming back to in these Church of the Churchless “sermons.” I do so because I’ve been searching for that reliable something my whole life, as have we all. I haven’t found it yet. I’ll willing to bet that you haven’t either. For if we…
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Posted inReality Science

Truth comes in two guises

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shared a marvelous insight about the nature of the universe with other people and had it fall as flat as a baking powder-less pancake. I’ll speak with astounding passion, clarity, and insight, laying out a metaphysical truth that is so evident to me I figure there’s no way I’ll fail to be showered with praise by an audience grateful beyond belief for being given the gift of my revelation. Yet…actually there’s just a brief moment of silence, as if everyone is mentally praying, “Dear God, please let this conversation head off in…
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Posted inHumor Science

A witty rebuke to creationism

Don’t miss this great “Open Letter to Kansas School Board” that demands equal teaching time for the theory that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. The letter’s author, Bobby Henderson, presents persuasive evidence to support his argument that, if Intelligent Design is an alternative scientific theory to Evolution, then so is the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory. What Henderson demands is “one third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.” I enjoyed this Open Letter a lot. A good way to combat…
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Posted inReligions Science Spiritual practice/meditation

Plunging deeper into Universism

As reported on my other weblog, I’ve decided to sponsor a Universist face-to-face discussion group here in Salem. Currently the group has two members: me and my wife, Laurel. This makes it easy for us to meet, but it would be nice to expand the membership between the confines of Hines. So if you live in the Salem area, consider becoming a group member (sign up here). Though this discussion group will be under the Universist banner, there’s essentially no difference between the philosophy of Universism and what gets preached here at the Church of the Churchless. I know this,…
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Posted inUniversism

Salem Universists

[Note: I've stepped down as organizer of the Salem Universists group. Reason is described in my "I abandon Universism" post. So far no one wants to take over as organizer, but such might happen.] Welcome. Here you'll find information about the Salem, Oregon Universists, a group devoted to discussing the big questions of life in a dogma-free fashion. We are tolerant of any and all spiritual, religious, or philosophical beliefs other than intolerance. This is the weblog of Brian Hines, organizer of the Salem Universists. I'm using this Church of the Churchless post as a web page where people can…
Posted inReality Spiritual practice/meditation

Support for the churchless

What supports the churchless? What’s the spiritual equivalent of firm physical ground beneath our feet that provides solidity for every step? “People of faith” are able to cling to a set of beliefs which usually promise that, no matter how much this world may appear to be a whirlpool where everything changes but change itself, someone or something—Jesus, God, Allah, Guru, Buddha, Krishna, the One—is an utterly dependable rock. The problem, though, is that this rock isn’t visible. So you aren’t able to hold onto it directly, as you could a real rock in a real river. It’s the idea…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus God Morality

Talking with a churchless Christian

Last Tuesday I spent two pleasant hours talking with a Christian philosophy professor, Thomas Talbott. Tom teaches at Salem’s Willamette University. We were introduced by philosopher/artist/writer Patricia Herron, a friend who was instrumental in getting me thinking about this here Church of the Churchless back in August 2004. Pat, Tom, Don (a friend of Toms) and I got into lots of deep stuff during our conversation at the south Salem Beanery. Though my neurons were flying on the caffeinated wings of a grande vanilla latte, I really didn’t need any artificial stimulation to stay focused on the fascinating topics that…
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Posted inPolitics

John Roberts’ religious faith matters

Since the Bush administration has no problem with religion being part and parcel of public policy, it’s strange that Republicans don’t want John Roberts to be questioned about his Roman Catholic faith during his confirmation hearings. Hey, you can’t have it both ways. If the right-wing wants politicians and judges to be free to express their personal religious beliefs in the course of their official duties, then those beliefs should be considered when assessing their competence to perform those duties. In Roberts’ case, he’s a devout member of a religion that doesn’t let an elected official (such as John Kerry)…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation Taoism/Tai Chi

We all believe in jihad

It isn’t just Muslim extremists who believe in jihad. Almost without exception, every person does. Rooting out jihadists, or mujahideen, is impossible. There’d be nobody left on earth if this were to happen. For the root meaning of jihad is “to strive” or “to make an effort.” In the Islamic world this striving takes on certain characteristics, while elsewhere the striving manifests differently. Always jihad flows from the same psychological condition, though: a belief that individual effort can make the world a better place. Before I get inundated with angry emails and comments calling me a moral relativist offering up…
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