Miscellaneous

A regular blog commenter, "cc," sent me these thoughts recently. I enjoy writing like this: something I can read several times, and not exhaust the thoughtfulness contained therein. Reminds me a bit of Chuang Tzu's useless tree.  When the extra-terrestrial alights on Earth it says to the first human it encounters, "Take me to your leader", because it sees immediately that the human is not intelligent enough to live an unauthorized existence.  It is obvious to the extra-terrestrial that the human's slavish dependency on its knowledge renders it ignorant of the need for an open mind; that because it can't…

Whenever I get an email from someone about this blog that has a first line with "love it," I'm inclined to agree with the rest of whatever is said. In this case, I have good reasons. Nicely said, dude. Just enough profanity to emphasize your points. Here's the guy's message, mildly edited to correct some spelling. I was just snooping around your site and gotta say..LOVE IT...I did manage to stumble across it a few years ago, but managed to turn a blind eye cause i couldnt have anyone fucking with my nonduality delusions..he he he..all these spiritual traditions are…

It's been a while, but Open Thread has been resurrected. I've been getting comments that didn't fit with an existing post, so further off-topic comments should go in this post. So here's another Open Thread (previous OTs are still open, of course). Leave a comment about anything you want to talk about. I've put some recent off-topic comments here, to start it off, instead of the posts they were left on. Comments on other posts need to be related to the subject of the post, or they will be candidates for deletion. So an Open Thread is the place for…

I'd seen a Stephen Colbert interview with the director and star of Kumare, Vikram Ghandi, a movie about an Indian guy who pretends to be a guru. Not surprisingly, he fools a bunch of Americans. But I hadn't watched the intriguing two-minute trailer, until someone emailed me a link. (Thanks, Tej.) Have a look.   Kumare is on my Netflix list. Or maybe it'll come to our local independent movie house. I loved the Borat movies, but now Sasha Baron Cohen is too well-known to be able to pull off his impersonation stuff.  Vikram Ghandi, though, succeeded. Heck, I bet…

As an old geezer respected elder who now is on the Social Security gravy train, I'm always on the lookout for reasons to look upon age 60+ as the "golden years." Yes, right now I'm enjoying life. But at the beginning of the video below, Jane Fonda correctly says that our culture has tended to look upon aging as the downward cycle of a human lifespan. From middle-aged vigor, it's a steady slump into decrepitude. Fortunately, her central eleven minute message is a heck of a lot more positive. Bodies may decline in various ways, but the "spirit" (which I don't…

It's been a while, but Open Thread has been resurrected. I've been getting comments that didn't fit with a recent existing post, so further off-topic comments should go in this post. So here's another Open Thread (previous OTs are still open, of course). Leave a comment about anything you want to talk about. Comments on other posts need to be related to the subject of the post, or they will be candidates for deletion. So an Open Thread is the place for miscellany and whatever. Feel free. Just observe the comment policies (click on "comment policy" above).

I enjoyed an email message from Tamara so much, I asked her if I could share it in a blog post. Her OK reply was equally enjoyable: "By all means, Brian, throw my golden prose onto the godless telegraph. ha. My opinions are always liberally (double meaning) expressed to everyone within earshot--or email. Accreditation is no prob." Here's her message: Brian, baby, LOVE LOVE the Oct. 12 "God is too good..." piece. At last, a kindred spirit in this religion-soaked world. My opinion of god is, if we entertain the premise of that existence--he/she/it does not DESERVE my worship. This crap about…

Kind of fitting. It's Memorial Day here in the United States. And today this blog passed a memorable milestone: one million pageviews.  Feels good. Thanks for the good feeling, blog visitors. There's something about a million that's, well, substantial. Not that my ego cares about this meaningless stuff, of course. My many years of meditation have brought me enlightenment and ego-loss. Also, delusions. 

I don't know whether The New Yorker does this on purpose (probably not), but sometimes an issue has a marvelous juxtaposition of articles that casts a spotlight on a Big Important Question. Like, how best to live one's life. After belatedly reading the November 29, 2010 issue, one approach to charting our general life course is to ask, "Would I rather be like Keith Moon or George W. Bush?" Moon was the drummer for the Who. Bush was the president of the United States. Wildly different professions. Also, wildly different personalities -- which is my focus. Moon, as befits his…

It's been a while, but Open Thread has been resurrected. I got a few comments that didn't fit with a recent existing post, so it seemed fitting to give them a home here to start the OT 8 off. Here's another Open Thread (previous OTs are still open, of course). Leave a comment about anything you want to talk about. Comments on other posts need to be related to the subject of the post, or they will be candidates for deletion. So an Open Thread is the place for miscellany and whatever. Feel free. Just observe the comment policies (click on…

I've got some interesting links floating around my email inbox, thanks to blog visitors who wanted to share some churchless info. Also have a few other cyberspace-inspired thoughts floating around my psyche. Might as well toss them all into a potpourri post... ----------------------------------- Wow! How did the United States ever come out victorious in World War II without having "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Makes me wonder why every president now finds it necessary to say May God bless the United States of America at the end of his State of the Union speech. (Thanks for sending the…

When you scroll down the page, you'll see an Apture site bar appear. It's pretty cool. Highlight a word or words. Click on "search." You'll get results from my blogs, Wikipedia, Google, You Tube, Amazon, and more. Web sites found via a search can be browsed from within this blog (though other blog posts on the subject open in a new tab; also in Firefox for some reason). Close the browsing window by clicking the "x" and return to the post you were reading. Share a post via Facebook, Twitter, or email by clicking on the site bar icons. Enjoy.

My wife and I saw "Avatar" last night in all of its 3-D, Dolby Digital glory. I loved the movie. It inspired me politically, but Avatar's spiritual message is even more powerful -- and more universal.I mean, right-wingers don't like the movie's anti-corporate, pro-environmentalism theme. But who doesn't resonate with the all is one philosophy of the Na'vi, the indigenous people of Pandora whose beautiful earth-like moon is threatened by human invaders seeking a precious mineral, Unobtainium. Even a Christian minister could get behind the Na'vi nature-based spirituality.The Na'vi (per Indigenous tradition) are incredibly spiritual, sharing a connectedness hard to describe.…

I love to get comments on my blogs. Open discussion is a big part of what churchlessness is about. What I don't like, though, and I'm pretty sure almost all blog visitors would agree with me on this, is having to wade through comments made by people who aren't interested in furthering the purpose of this blog, but clearly have another agenda.So I'm going to be more assertive in deleting comments that are off-base. I'm tired of dealing with "flame wars," a bane of the Internet. I'm tired of responding to commenters who want this churchless blog to go away.There's…

It's Independence Day here in the United States. July 4 is a great time to remind yourself, no matter where you are in the world, "I'm free -- independent of religious fantasies."This afternoon I'm going to ride my newly-beloved Suzuki scooter through some beautiful countryside to nearby Independence, where a Fourth of July celebration is happening (seems appropriate to visit Independence, Oregon on Independence Day).A very bodily activity. As if any of us can do anything else, so long as we're alive. What isn't bodily? Meditation sure is. Ditto for every other form of supposed "spiritual" practice. Yesterday I started…

Between my two blogs, I've accumulated about two million page views over the years. That's a lot. With all of this activity, only a few people have been persistent obnoxious commenters. Most blog visitors understand that leaving a comment on a blog post is a privilege, not a right. They respect the purpose of a blog, are appropriately courteous to other commenters, and don't abuse the complimentary free speech offered to them (meaning, I pay money, and put quite a bit of time, into maintaining this blog so that visitors can freely share ideas).It's a quandary when some commenter acts…

Like the good Buddhist that I'm not, I have boundless compassion for the sentient beings who visit this blog.Largely, because I'm one myself. Aside from proof-reading my own writings after they're posted, I read every comment, even when I have to grit my teeth and force myself.So what produces the dreadful affliction, Comment Reading Aggravation? And how can it be prevented? I covered these questions pretty well, in my non-humble opinion, last year in "Boxing up varieties of belief." Which began with...Why do some people's proclamations irritate or please me more than other proclamations? I'm speaking generally here, about all…

TIme for a Church of the Churchless banner change. I wanted a stronger look that matched my other blog. Browsing through my photos for image inspiration, I came across one that I took at Suttle Lake in central Oregon. (Larger version viewable in this blog post.)I like how Serena, our pet companion (a.k.a. Canine Perfection), is gazing in the opposite direction from the way the chair on the dock is facing.When I saw the photo, my mind said "spiritual independence." Which got the image onto the banner. Last October I made a video of our walk around Suttle Lake. It…