Posted inReality

While I’m glad this blog doesn’t have a fact-checker, the job is a vital one

Facts. The word is so appealing. Who doesn't love facts? Well, actually lots of people these days, notably including the president of the United States, plenty of politicians, and conspiracy theorists. I'd add religious believers, but I'm not sure how much we should expect from a religion when it comes to facts. After all, faith in things unseen is a hallmark of religiosity. It's impossible to fact check what can't be observed in any fashion. The check, though, can reveal an absence of a fact, not its wrongness. Still, I do my best to keep my blog posts as accurate…
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Posted inNeuroscience Reality

Where does reality come from?

We here at the Church of the Churchless don't shy away from asking Big Questions. No indeed, our problem isn't with questions, it's with answers. That's a much tougher proposition.  Nonetheless, I'm pretty confident that I can answer the question posed in the title of this blog post: Where does reality come from?  From you and me, along with every other person in the world. Reality isn't given to humans. Reality is produced by humans. Now, I'm not saying that we somehow have godlike powers of bringing the universe as a whole, and our planet in particular, into being. Nature…
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Posted inGod Reality

Reality always has the last word

It's difficult to encapsulate the essence of reality in just a few words. One reason is that reality, physical reality at least, isn't founded on words. Only human reality is. This human capability is what allows me to write this blog post and for you to read it. But my favorite adage about reality is Philip K. Dick's Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. I've praised this sentence quite a few times on this blog, as in a 2015 post, "Best statement about reality, in just thirteen words." In that post I shared…
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Posted inReality Science

If woo-woo is true, it’s scientific, so all woo-woo is based on faith

I haven't spent a lot of time in my life pondering the deeper meaning of woo-woo, but the word has come up on this blog recently, so I might as well dive into the murky woo-woo waters. Let's begin with a Google AI definition. The term "woo-woo" is used as an adjective and a noun to describe beliefs or practices that are considered unconventional, pseudoscientific, or based on irrational superstition. It is often used to dismiss or mock beliefs outside mainstream science or accepted norms, particularly in the areas of spirituality, mysticism, and alternative medicine.   Here's a breakdown of…
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Posted inReality Science

Intriguing idea: chain of causality comes to an end in quantum realm

We live in a world governed by causes and effects. Everywhere we look, this causes that, while that in turn causes something else. This determinism both enables science to be successful in explaining things, and allows we humans to navigate our daily life in a predictable fashion. The only exception appears to be in the realm of quantum mechanics. While there are disagreements among physicists about the meaning of quantum mechanics, the prevailing view is that probabilities rule in the realm of the very small. So in the case of an electron, for example, it is impossible to say where…
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Posted inMeaning of life Reality

This is a great scene in Netflix’s The Four Seasons about emotions and reality

Sometimes I get more meaning and wisdom from a short television scene than from a long book. That was the case last night when my wife and I finished watching The Four Seasons on Netflix, a streaming series (not to be confused with the 1981 romantic comedy with the same name). I can't avoid giving away an important happening in the final episode, so consider this a spoiler alert. It really isn't necessary to understand what The Four Seasons is all about to appreciate the dialogue in a scene that I thought was really well written and thought-provoking. But here's…
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Posted inReality Science

Quantum theory is still largely unexplained, but that’s how science works

Quantum theory (or quantum mechanics) is the foundation of our modern world. Without it, we wouldn't have computers, the Internet, GPS, and so many other inventions that we've come to take for granted.  I'm fascinated by quantum theory. Though it is generally associated with goings-on at the atomic and subatomic level, not at the level of everyday life, since everything is made up of particles and energy, obviously the existence of we humans and all that surrounds us is dependent on quantum processes. This is where much of the mystery of quantum theory resides: how is it that the uncertain,…
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Posted inDelusions Reality Spiritual practice/meditation

Doing Nothing — a book about ending the spiritual search

Back in 2013 I wrote a blog post about a book by Steven Harrison, Doing Nothing: Coming to the End of the Spiritual Search. I was pretty positive about the book in "Doing Nothing. Sounds like my kind of anti-religion," though I hadn't read it. Here's a tip for authors of books in the spirituality, religion, mysticism, and meditation genres: If you want readers to finish your book, don't include a mention of another title like "Doing Nothing: Coming to the End of the Spritual Search." I stopped reading during my pre-meditation quiet time when I came to that mention.…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Reality Religions

Truth is religion’s weakness, no matter what Ross Douthat says in “Believe”

I've finished reading Ross Douthat's book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious. He failed to make his case with me, because I'm still not religious. Not surprisingly, there were few discussions of truth in the book. This is religion's glaring weakness, no matter what faith appeals to you. The key question, how do we know it is true?, can't be answered persuasively by any religion, notably including Christianity (Douthat is proudly Catholic). So Douthat recommends what he calls "true'ish" belief. Basically this means that if you believe in some sort of divinity inhabiting some sort of supernatural realm, you're closer…
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Posted inBuddhism Reality

This is all there is, says David Chapman. But what is, is extraordinary.

David Chapman is a really interesting guy. I've followed his writings on Buddhism, artificial intelligence, and other subjects for quite a few years. Meaningness is his main web site, and well worth a look. Chapman describes his form of Buddhism this way: I am, somewhat reluctantly, a Buddhist. Of an odd sort: “the opposite of whatever you’d expect” comes close. That sort of Buddhism shares central themes with Meaningness. I explain it elsewhere: A window has recently opened for Buddhist innovations that can address new cultural, social, and personal problems. Vividness explores possible futures, based on Buddhism’s history and its…
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Posted inReality Religions Science

No, major religions don’t provide a truer picture of reality

It isn't surprising that, as an atheist, I find a lot not to like in Ross Douthat's book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious. However, what does surprise me is how weak Douthat's arguments are.  For while I admire his clear writing style, as befits a New York Times opinion columnist, often he simply tosses off glib statements about the marvelousness of religious belief without backing them up with either solid facts or persuasive reasoning. Here's an example from the book's "Big Faiths and Big Questions" chapter, which argues that the world's major religions are a better bet than minor…
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Posted inBuddhism Reality Religions

Science is the best guide to spirituality

Some people believe that science is opposed to spirituality, that these pursuits operate in different realms of reality and an embrace of one implies a distancing from the other. I've never believed this. Even when I was in my most religious frame of mind, the 35 years I was an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru considered to be God in Human Form, I remained intensely interested in what science has learned about our universe even as I explored the possibility of realms beyond the physical. This is why…
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Posted inComments Reality

I’m not impressed with NotebookLM or weird notions of oneness

I do my best to accept the diversity of opinions expressed by people who leave comments on this blog. Diversity is good. If we all believed in the same things, life would be super boring.  However, I'm also big on coherent conversations. While I understand that it is difficult to accomplish this via blog post comments, there's much more value in comments that can be understood by other people, as understanding is the foundation for agreements or disagreements.  Here's an example. A few days ago I wrote "Some thoughts about what oneness is, and isn't." It wasn't one of my…
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Posted inPlotinus Reality Universe

Some thoughts about what oneness is, and isn’t

Oneness comes in for quite a bit of discussion in comment conversations on this blog. Not surprisingly, there's no consensus about whether oneness exists or what form it takes. That's to be expected, since debates over whether reality is inherently marked by unity or duality have been raging for thousands of years.  Though I've written a book called "Return to the One," which describes in a lot of detail the teachings of Plotinus, a 3rd century Neoplatonic Greek philosopher, I don't feel like I have anything genuinely wise to say about oneness.  Nonetheless, here's some non-genuinely-wise thoughts on the subject.…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Reality Religions

Free speech is as important in religion as in politics

I'm continuing to enjoy Tim Urban's book, What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies. He's a wonderfully creative thinker. It's rare that I can read 245 pages of a non-fiction book without coming across something that just seems wrong to me. But Urban's arguments are so compelling and well stated, so far he's convinced me of the rightness of every point he's made. Recently I read his take on free speech. I'll just describe a few aspects of what he says about this important topic, which is enshrined in the United States constitution in a way that few other…
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Posted inDelusions Mindfulness Reality

“The Surprising Allure of Ignorance,” an essay by Mark Lilla

My wife subscribes to the print edition of the Sunday New York Times. As I was taking the discarded December 8 edition to our recycling bin, I noticed an essay in the Opinion section, which was on top of the pile, that looked interesting: "The Surprising Allure of Ignorance," by Mark Lilla. (That's a gift link from my digital New York Times account, so it should be readable by everybody. But I've also copied in Lilla's essay in its entirety below, as it isn't all that long.) Lilla is a professor of humanities at Columbia University and the author of…
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Posted inReality Science

A clear mind sees a foggy world. A foggy mind sees a clear world.

In my previous post I talked about how science is viewed in Tim Urban's creative and engaging book, What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies. I've continued reading the book, finding Urban's writing style highly appealing. Here's a terrific passage that offered up a compelling way of looking upon the difference between a Scientist and a Zealot. While the Scientist's clear mind sees a foggy world, full of complexity and nuance and messiness, the Zealot's foggy mind shows them a clear, simple world, full of crisp lines and black-and-white distinctions. When you're thinking like a Zealot, you end up in…
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Posted inPolitics Reality

My cosmic conclusions from the 2024 presidential election

For some reason it's usually easier to draw Gigantic Cosmic Conclusions from big events rather than small ones. It doesn't have to be that way, though "gigantic" and "big" do have an affinity with each other.  Why does death or a disaster move us to ponder the meaning of it all more readily than loading the dishwasher does? If there are grand principles underlying our human experience of reality, why can't we recognize them in the smallest of events as well as the biggest of events? Don't know. Maybe because rare big events grab our attention while everyday small events…
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Posted inPolitics Reality

How am I coping with Trump’s victory over Harris? By embracing reality.

Reality is a terrible thing to waste. It's one of our most precious possessions. For when we depart from reality, truth obviously suffers. So does our ability to deal with problems, which to handle appropriately, almost always requires a healthy dose of reality. Problem is, and I struggle with this often, as almost everybody does, evolution didn't confer upon us the advantage of knowing the world as it is. Rather, evolution through natural selection promotes reproduction of our genes by living long enough to mate and have offspring.  Sure, that necessitates an ability to know how the world is, since…
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Posted inReality Religions Science

If God and the supernatural are real, where’s the evidence of them?

Religiously minded people like to have it both ways. I know whereof I speak, because I used to be one of those people before I saw the error of my ways.  The basic error is this: religious believers assert that (1) God and the supernatural can't be known through reason and the physical senses, yet (2) God and the supernatural are real, and deserve the respect shown to these divine realities. So those of us who reject blind faith are supposed to accept that one or many someones, somewhere, some time, had an experience of God and the supernatural that…
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