Posted inScience

Woman who doesn’t feel pain shows mind-body connection

I'm 71. I've experienced a lot of pain and anxiety in my life, as has everyone. Well, almost everyone. Because a 72 year old woman who lives in the Scottish Highlands says she has never felt pain or anxiety, and scientists are making progress at learning why. I learned about Joanne Cameron via a fascinating article in a recent issue of The New Yorker, "A World Without Pain." Here's how it starts out. Joanne Cameron We like to think that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, or more resilient, or . . . something. Deeper. Wiser. Enlarged. There is “glory in our…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Spiritual practice/meditation

Calm clear consciousness — my new favorite “mantra”

OK, calm clear consciousness isn't really a mantra for me, notwithstanding the title of this blog post. Those are just three words that I've been saying to myself a few times a day, because they do a good job of summing up my current approach to meditation and spirituality. Here's some additional words that explain part of the meaning that I attribute to calm clear consciousness.  Consciousness. Everything we have experienced, are experiencing, and will experience is dependent on consciousness. No consciousness, no experience.  But there are degrees of consciousness. There's a big difference between someone comatose, in a dreamless…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth God

Don’t be 100% sure about anything, including God and life after death

In the course of looking through old blog posts yesterday to find those related to death, because I'm working on another book based on my writing on that subject, I came to a couple of posts that made me think, in my usual humble way, Dude, these are fantastic! They make so much sense, it's a freaking secular miracle! So, behold... Some ten years later, this is still my best guess about God. Also, about life after death, existence, and the nature of the self. Looks like I’ve reached a pretty stable stage of my atheism. My best guess about…
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Posted inBuddhism Personal/Stories

Another mini-enlightenment visits me on a yoga mat

I'm assuming, and hoping, that my many mini-enlightenments are adding up to an eventual maxi-enlightenment -- in the same way saving spare change found in pockets eventually totals to some real money. Today I added to my mini-enlightenment score card while standing on a mat in an exercise room at my athletic club where I do some Tai Chi and yoga after doing my elliptical trainer and weight lifting thing. I decided to take a photo of the just-after-mini-enlighentment moment in case I ever attain maximal Buddha nature, and those who revere me want documentation of something analogous to the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Money laundering case leaves questions about Dhillon family involvement

It's difficult to know what to make of a development in the financial fraud saga involving the Singh brothers, Sunil Godhwani, and Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Godhwani was the guru's right-hand man and personal financial advisor. An India Today story (see below) says that India's Enforcement Directorate has charged Shivinder and Malvinder Singh, plus Godhwani, with money laundering. But details are lacking as to how and why this occurred, and who the ultimate beneficiary was of the laundered funds. Also, the story says that the amount of money in question is only Rs 150…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

On being a Technicolor person in a black and white world

Recently someone sent me a message saying that it had been quite a while since I'd written about Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the spiritual organization based in India that I was an active member of for 35 years. This person wanted another RSSB post. Well, though usually I write about what's on my mind (I have three blogs that represent different parts of my mind), and RSSB rarely makes an appearance in my psyche unless there's some news about the RSSB guru being reported in the Indian financial press, responsive blogger that I am, here's a RSSB-related post. The…
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Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 28 (free speech for comments)

Here's a new Open Thread. Remember, off-topic comments should go in an Open Thread. This hasn't been happening recently, as some commenters have been using blog posts as a "chat room," basically, so from now on I'm going to vow to do better at not approving comments submitted on a regular blog post if the comment doesn't deal with the subject of the post.  As noted before, it's good to have comments in a regular blog post related to its subject, and it's also good to have a place where almost anything goes in regard to sharing ideas, feelings, experiences, and such. That…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth

Psilocybin helps people die without fear or regret

I'm not a big fan of death. Being alive strikes me as, well, a heck of a lot more appealing. More than infinitely so, in fact, since the difference between (1) being alive, and (2) dead and gone forever, is the same as the difference between something and nothing.  How many zeros does it take to equal one? The answer is... not even an infinity, because no amount of nothing can equal even the smallest something. But since death is inevitable, the next best thing is to not fear it. Or at least, not to fear it too much. Which…
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Posted inScience

Why science can be trusted

I'm an admirer of science. My mother played a big part in fostering this when, in my childhood years, she bought me science kits, chemistry sets, and the like. I fondly remember cramming a card table into my bedroom closet, putting a light bulb over the clothing rod, and happily conducting experiments in my very own "laboratory." Our home also featured a subscription to Scientific American, which I still get, along with the British science magazine, New Scientist. I rarely read religious or spiritual books anymore, because I'd rather learn about reality instead of myths. But until I finished reading…
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Posted inGod Religions

Ugh. Brady Breeze says fumble recovery in Rose Bowl was “gift from God.”

Well, obviously my 2004 request to God for no more sky-pointing in televised sports events was met with deaf divine ears, probably because God doesn't exist, so has no ears (nor anything else, of course.) Because here's Brady Breeze, safety for the Oregon Ducks football team (number 25), lifting his eyes skyward, along with his right hand, following his recovery of a fumble by the Wisconsin punter which he ran in for a touchdown. Being a big Oregon fan, living as I do in Salem, about 60 miles north of Eugene, the home of the University of Oregon, naturally I…
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Posted inMeaning of life Personal/Stories

Best wishes for an ordinary New Year

Here's my New Year's wish for visitors to this Church of the Churchless blog, myself, and indeed, everybody. Be ordinary. Do ordinary things. Feel happy in your ordinariness. I say this because now that I've reached the wise old age of 71, I've realized that overlooking the ordinary that's right at hand for some supposedly extraordinary thing that's around a corner has some serious drawbacks. One reason is what I talked about in a post last month, Why you should be happy today, right now, no matter what. Be happy today, right now, at this very moment and every following…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

I agree with Alan Watts. Except when I don’t.

Below is a quotation from Alan Watts that someone emailed to me, asking what I thought of it. I've shared my response after the quotation, but I want to add on a few additional thoughts that came to mind after re-reading what Watts said. I completely agree with Watts that there's a time and place for fully immersing ourselves in the lush sensuality of the world without putting on unnecessary coverings of thoughts, concepts, abstract ideas, and such. Likewise, a warm bath or hot sauna feels best when completely naked. But note my use of the word "unnecessary." Sometimes it…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus God

Do you believe Jesus was the Son of God?

It's Christmas day here in the United States. Seems like a good time to put up a poll about Jesus' divinity. Finally, a post from an Oregon blogger will settle the question! (In my dreams.)  Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you want to expand on your poll answer, which is anonymous, of course. Do you believe Jesus was the Son of God?    
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Posted inGod Religions Spiritual practice/meditation

Belonging is what we long for

I'm not religious now. But I used to be.  What turned me off about religions was how divisive they often are. Each religion has its own theology, its own rituals, its own moral codes.  I got tired of feeling special. I got tired of feeling different. My spiritual quest now is to find common ground, to come to grips with whatever universal human yearning leads people to seek solace in religions. Today I started reading a book about how psychedelic entheogens -- psilocybin, peyote, mescaline, LSD, and I'd add marijuana in a sense -- can produce a sense of divinity…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Politics

Christianity Today editorial about Trump also applies to religious leaders

During the fifteen years I've been blogging away here at the Church of the Churchless, I've mentioned the evangelical magazine Christianity Today twice in my posts -- here and here.  Not surprisingly, in both cases I disagreed with what Christianity Today had to say.  But yesterday Christianity Today published an opinion piece whose conclusions I heartily agree with. Namely, that President Donald Trump deserves to be impeached and removed from office for his immoral behavior. Way to go! It's great to see an evangelical standing up for what most Christians supposedly believe in: honesty, respect, truthfulness, selfless service, dedication to…
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Posted inGod Religions

What if God existed, but life after death didn’t?

I think the question I asked in the title of this blog post is an excellent one. After all, most religious people believe in these two things. (1) God exists(2) Life after death exists So what if only the first proposition was true? Would religion have such a hold over billions of humans if God was real and so was the finality of death? Meaning, no life in heaven. No life in hell. No life after reincarnation. No life at all after we humans take our last breath. I strongly suspect that religiosity would lose a large part of its…
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Posted inReligions Science

Science rocks at comprehending the universe

When has somebody using the faith-based method of religion made a spectacularly accurate prediction about how reality behaves? Never. Not ever.  But people using the tools of science have done just that. This is one reason, among many, why science rocks and religion sucks.  I've finished the marvelously informative and entertaining book about calculus, Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, that I've written about previously here and here. Below is an excerpt from the final chapter, where Steven Strogatz, the author, discusses how amazing it is that calculus can be used to make predictions about reality that are…
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Posted inHumor Personal/Stories

I urge that Santa Claus be impeached

If you think I'm tough on religious leaders, check out what I wrote about Santa Claus in my HinesSight blog post, "Santa Claus must be impeached."  I credit my wife, Laurel, with coming up with the concept for our 2019 Christmas letter. Then I researched the grounds for impeachment and came up with four excellent reasons. There are more, of course. For example, I deeply doubt that Santa Claus is abiding by minimum wage and workplace safety laws in his present-making workshop staffed by elves.
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Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 27 (free speech for comments)

Here's a new Open Thread. I appreciate that off-topic comments have been going in a previous Open Thread. As noted before, it's good to have comments in a regular blog post related to its subject, and it's also good to have a place where almost anything goes in regard to sharing ideas, feelings, experiences, and such. That place is an Open Thread. Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. Remember that I'm moderating comments, so it could take a while for your comment to be published. Almost every comment submitted to an Open Thread…
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Posted inComments

Reminder: no trolling, flaming, or off-topic’ing in comments

A recent burst of comment activity in trolling, flaming, and off-topic'ing (new word!) leads me to once again remind visitors to this blog of its commenting policies.  That link, which is echoed in the Commenting section of the Navigation bar at the top of the page, replaces another post that said the same thing, but in a less detailed fashion.  I've copied in the commenting policies below. If you submit a comment and want it to be approved, be sure to read what follows closely and follow the policies.  Regarding irrelevant off-topic comments, it will be obvious from the title…
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