Posted inHappiness Personal/Stories

Emotional highs and lows are a big part of our humanity

Last Saturday I watched a couple of college football games that put me through an emotional wringer. I summarized those ups and downs in the first paragraph of a post I wrote on my HinesSight blog, "Pushing the pile" doomed Oregon State against USC. While yesterday's Oregon vs. Washington State football game had an emotional arc for Ducks fans like me that went pre-game optimism - most of second half despair -- last few minutes elation (amazing comeback by Oregon), the Oregon State vs. USC game was pretty much the opposite. In discussing the games with a friend the next day…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Finally, some news about the Singh Brothers/RSSB financial scandal

It's been quite a while since there's been any news about the financial scandal involving brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, their relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), and others connected with RSSB such as Sunil Godhwani.  Here's screenshots of a story in The Times of India that was published yesterday. I'll comment on the story below. It's difficult to understand why, exactly, the Singh brothers were jailed. In 2019 I wrote about how the Supreme Court had issued a contempt decree against them, but didn't enforce it. Here's part of what I said in…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism

“Living as a River” is a great non-religious Buddhist book

A few days ago I was drawn to look over the Buddhism section of my bookcase to see if a title appealed to me as something to re-read. One did. Bodhipaksa's Living as a River: Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change. (The author was born as Graeme Stephen in Scotland before he took on a Buddhist name.) After buying the book in 2011, I've written several blog posts about it. Live as a river -- fluid, dynamic, interconnectedWe have a conventional self, but not a soul-self And I mentioned the book in Overcoming the fear of non-existence, where I…
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Posted inReligions Science

Here’s what makes something scientific or ascientific

Recently I was talking with someone about Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the India-based religious group centered on a guru that I was a member of for 35 years.  I mentioned to this person that I'd always loved science, so one thing that attracted me to RSSB way back in 1970 was that it sometimes used Science of the Soul to describe itself.  I liked the idea of a spiritual science. But back then I hadn't given a lot of thought to what makes something a science. There's lots of different definitions. In her book, "Existential Physics," here's how Sabine…
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Posted inBuddhism Consciousness Spiritual practice/meditation

I’m pretty sure Sam Harris’ “pure awareness” doesn’t exist

As much as I like Sam Harris' approach to meditation, which basically is Buddhism (Vipassana variety) minus the Buddhist part, I'm still left with a key question. Which if asked of a Zen master likely would earn me a smack on my head or kick of my butt -- or more mildly, a quizzical look and an admonition to return to my meditation mat and seek more diligently for the true nature of my self. That self, of course, doesn't really exist in Buddhism, nor in Sam Harris' guided meditations on his Waking Up app. So whoever it is who…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Sam Harris and I make up. All is good between us now.

For those worried about my previous post where I expressed some criticism of Sam Harris' approach to meditation -- are Harris and Hines at risk at breaking up? -- I want to reassure all of you, who likely number in the low single digits, that our relationship is back on track now. Well, more accurately, my relationship with Harris is back on track. Harris has no idea that I exist, which makes for a decidedly unbalanced relationship, since my contact with him is limited to his writings and some recordings by Harris on his Waking Up app.  Regarding the app, a…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Sam Harris isn’t crystal clear about meditation

A few days ago I shared some brief thoughts from Sam Harris on what makes life worth living. He ended with: I don't think there's just one answer to this question. We might want to say that love is what makes life worth living, or doing meaningful and creative work, or appreciating the beauty of nature, or helping other people and making their lives better. And I'd probably say all of these things.  But all of these things have a common property. They all depend on real attention, real presence of mind, real connection with life in the present. And…
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Posted inScience

Good video on “Does the past still exist?”

Today commenter Appreciative Reader clued me in to a video by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder about whether the past still exists. This is a fascinating topic that I wrote about recently since I'm reading Hossenfelder's book, Existential Physics. Here's what Appreciative Reader had to say about the video, along with the video. Just watched this Youtube video of Sabine Hossenfelder speaking about just this topic, about how and whether the past might exist per theoretical physics. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwzN5YwMzv0.) Short enough video, around 15 minutes. She speaks very well, and explains all of these complex concepts and ideas in an extremely clear…
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Posted inMeaning of life Spiritual practice/meditation

Sam Harris answers “What makes life worth living?”

I came across a tweet by Sam Harris that was a (mildly) animated GIF with Harris' narrated words scrolling at the bottom.  He asks a good question. Whether you think his answer is New Age bullshit, ancient spiritual wisdom, or something in-between is another good question. What makes life worth living? This is an important question, probably the most important question, because if we don't know, then we can't prioritize what we actually value. We tend to live as if we've answered this question for ourselves. But most of the time we're just doing one thing after the next, following…
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Posted inBooks Science

All it takes are particles to make a conscious being

Here's an excerpt from Sabine Hossenfelder's book, Existential Physics, that I liked a lot. In another post I'll share some subtleties about her emphasis on reductionism as being how the universe works. Does it take anything more than particles to make a conscious being? I have found that many people reflexively reject the possibility that human consciousness arises from interactions of the many particles in their brain. They seem wedded to the idea that somehow something must be different about consciousness. And while the scientifically minded among them do not call it a soul, it is what they mean. They…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

The big problem with life is…life. So what to do?

Yesterday I wrote a post for my HinesSight blog about a stand-up comedian I like a lot, Taylor Tomlinson. The post started off with a bit of semi-tongue-in-cheek philosophizing. My big problem with life is... (drumroll please)... LIFE.  Meaning, insofar as I know what I mean, but now that I just wrote this blog's topic sentence, I'm stuck with explaining it, no matter how many problems get fixed in my life, new ones pop up like a perpetual motion machine designed by a sadist. I suspect most people feel this way. So what are we to do?  Sex, drugs, and…
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Posted inBooks Science

A physicist answers the question, does the past still exist?

Here's how theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder answered one of Life's Biggest Questions in her book, Existential Physics -- which I wrote about a few days ago.   This is the brief answer to "Does the past still exist?" (At the end of each chapter, Hossenfelder gives a one paragraph summary of her take on the Big Question tackled in the chapter.) According to the currently established laws of nature, the future, the present, and the past all exist in the same way. That's because, regardless of what you mean by exist, there is nothing in these laws that distinguishes one…
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Posted inBooks Science

“Existential Physics” — great title for a engrossing book

As soon as I saw the title of this book mentioned in a recent issue of New Scientist, I ran to my computer and ordered a copy of Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions from Amazon.  As expected, I'm enjoying the book. I've only read the Preface and initial chapter, "Does the Past Still Exist?", but that's enough to tell me that theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is a gifted writer with a talent for explaining complex ideas so ordinary people can understand them. She describes her approach in the Preface. I like how she views the relationship between…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

How the RSSB teachings preserve the illusion of a “perfect master”

Religions evolve in accord with a sort of cultural natural selection. If a religion is obviously false, not being able to back up its claims with demonstrable evidence even though that evidence supposedly is there for all to see, then it won't take long for people to reject the religion and it dies out. So many religions rely on a claim that only after a believer dies are they able to know the truth of the faith that they followed while alive. That's an easy way out of the "where's the evidence?" problem. But what's a religion to do when…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism

“No mind” in Zen doesn’t mean what most people think it does

Something led me this morning to take a look at a book I'd already read, James Austin's Meditating Selflessly: Practical Neural Zen. Austin is a clinical neurologist, researcher, and long-time Zen practitioner, so his background is right up my reading alley. And I enjoyed re-reading the first few pages of his book. But the Great God Google, whose presence I feature in a search box in the right sidebar of this blog, led me to a couple of posts I wrote in 2011, when I bought this book. Turns out that I didn't resonate all that much with it, according…
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Posted inMorality

Good friends of mine prove that morality doesn’t require religion

Last night my wife and I attended a 61st anniversary celebration of a couple we've known for a long time, Russ and Delana Beaton.  When I got home, I wrote a blog post about the evening. Excerpt: Laurel, my wife, and I have known the Beatons for a long time, over 25 years. If there's one word that describes them, its nice. If you want two words, nice and caring. Going for three, nice and caring and competent.  After a moving slide show of their married life narrated in a poetic rhyming fashion by their children, other people spoke about…
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Posted inScience Universe

Science says about dark energy: “So the mystery continues”

One of the most amazing scientific facts is how much of the universe is unknown to science. About 95%. As discussed in the NASA article below (I copied it from a NASA web site), currently about 68% of all the stuff in the universe is considered to be dark energy, and nobody knows what it is. Another 27% is dark matter, and nobody knows what it is. That leaves 5% normal matter, and we do know what that is.  Except the article says, Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn't be called "normal" matter at all, since it is…
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Posted inGod Politics

School board ditches pledge of allegiance due to “under God” language

Nice to see the Fargo, North Dakota school board did the right thing and stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance at its meetings after a school board member made some great arguments about why this didn't fit with their policy of inclusion. After all, "under God" does indeed refer to the Judeo-Christian god. If the pledge said "under gods, or no god," that would be an accurate reflection of the wide variety of religious beliefs in the United States, which includes atheists and agnostics who don't believe in any god. To see a brief video of the persuasive argument used…
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Posted inUniverse

The universe is mind-blowingly huge

In my current atheist state of mind, I find thoughts about God thoroughly uninspiring. After all, how is it possible to be inspired or awestruck by an entity that almost certainly doesn't exist? Or at the very least, has no demonstrable evidence in support of its existence. But the universe... Ah, that's something which obviously exists, and science knows enough about it for awe to be an entirely reasonable reaction to the immensity that not only surrounds us, but is us. The July 30 issue of New Scientist features a cover story called Your Brief Guide to Everything Ever: An…
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Posted inBuddhism Morality

Treat yourself like you would a friend: gently, kindly, compassionately

Loving-kindness meditation as I've learned it typically starts off with an "I" statement, then moves on to "you" and "all." As in May I be happy... May you be happy... May all be happy. Sometimes this rubs me the wrong way, as it seems egotistical to start off with an intention for my happiness, and only then visualize someone close to me (usually my wife) and all of humanity being happy. But given the way most people treat themselves, it does seem like it makes sense to extend loving-kindness to our own self before extending it to others. Often we're…
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