Posted inBuddhism Mystics Religions

Splitting is the biggest danger in religiosity and mysticism

There are lots of good reasons to be wary of religiosity and mysticism. Splitting is one of the most important. It comes in various forms. Most obviously, religiosity and mysticism split us from other people. It is easy, almost compulsory, really, for a believer to consider that they are on a path that makes them special. Perhaps they are saved, while others are condemned. Perhaps they are God's chosen, while others are ignored by God. Perhaps they possess some special revelation, while others wallow in ignorance. But there's another way of looking at splitting that seems to be the foundation…
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Posted inReligions Science Spiritual practice/meditation

Here I am, once again plugging my “Science, Spirit, and the Wisdom of Not-Knowing” essay

Half an hour ago I was planning to write a blog post about a new book I've started to read, Zen at the End of Religion: An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual But Not Religious. I'd planned to talk about a few subjects in the initial chapters that caught my eye. This included a mention of Traditionalism -- a rather esoteric branch of spirituality that I briefly threw myself into after an editor of a Traditionalism journal asked me to write an essay for his publication around 25 years ago, maybe even earlier. I wanted to…
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Posted inReligions Science

Can you ever prove that something never happens? Sometimes. Pretty much.

I often like to say on this blog, and elsewhere, "Nothing is absolutely certain." That's why science, our best means of understanding reality, is never 100% certain about anything. That remaining bit of uncertainty, which could be as small as .0001%, or even less, allows for the possibility of error in any and all scientific theories. Which permits science to progress by replacing old flawed knowledge with new less-flawed knowledge. Since nothing is absolutely certain, obviously this applies to medical knowledge. Today I read a Reuters story in our local newspaper, "CDC site adopts anti-vaccine views." Here's a PDF file…
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Posted inReligions Science

Evolution, like other laws of nature, is logical and largely mathematical

As I said in the title of a blog post about a month ago, biologist Mark Vellend has a Provocative idea: there are only two branches of science, physics and evolution. His book, Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More than We Think, from Proteins to Politics, is making good on that idea, now that I've been able to read about half of it. While Vellend is writing for a general audience, as well as scientists interested in looking at evolution through a broader lens than just biological evolution, which was Darwin's primary focus, his book still is fairly dense -- which…
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Posted inReality Religions Science

Maybe we humans are smart enough to ask ultimate questions, but not smart enough to answer them

Peter Zapffe was called "the bleakest philosopher of all time" in a Reddit post dealing with existentialism. That didn't make me eager to learn more about him. But I still wanted to, having come across several mentions of Zapffe in Robert Saltzman's book, Depending on no-thing. That title may sound depressing as well, but actually I feel energized when I read Saltzman's writings. While he rejects philosophical, metaphysical, and religious attempts to make life seem more appealing that it actually is, Saltzman's emphasis on direct experience of here and now is wonderfully simple. It's difficult, if not impossible, to question…
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Posted inDelusions Religions Universe

Our dog is more attuned to reality than religious believers are

I've become a big fan of Robert Saltzman. So much so, after reading his The Ten Thousand Things and The 21st Century Self, I ordered what must be his longest book, Depending on no-thing -- which is 607 pages long. But the 107 chapters are short, so I'm reading one a day. This morning I read "The Milky Way." Saltzman is interested in many of the same things I am, which made the chapter enjoyable. He started off with some mind-boggling about the size of the universe. Our solar system is about 25,000 light years from the center of our…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

If a religion tries to coerce you into staying, you’re in a cult, so run away from it!

Here's another right-on message from the person who shared thoughts with me that became a blog post, "A message for those thinking of leaving RSSB, Radha Soami Satsang Beas." It's on the same theme, though the focus now is on religions in general. I heartily agree with these sentiments. I'll explain why after the message. Letter from the outside world... Everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe. It is called freedom of religion. Nobody should be pressuring you, forcing you, coercing you, yelling at you, bullying you, or trying to influence or persuade or convince you,…
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Posted inReligions

I’m opposed to religions. But what really is “religion”?

During the 21 year lifespan of this blog, I've devoted many posts to criticizing religions and religiosity. I'm fine with exploring the Big Questions of Life. It just seems to me that there are much better ways of doing this than through a religion. Here's a bit of a complication, though. My wife, a fellow atheist, subscribes to the print edition of the Sunday New York Times. A few days ago she gave me a page from the Opinion section of the October 5 issue that contained The Problem Lurking Beneath Our Church-State Debates. That's a gift link, so everybody…
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Posted inReality Religions Science

Truth is so important, it must be defended with zeal (but not zealotry)

Today I had an interview with Ken Adams, the host of a show on KMUZ here in Salem, a community radio station. You can hear all about it in this link of the podcast, which appeared after the live broadcast was over. (Well, sort of live; Ken and I recorded it yesterday, because I don't function well at 8 am.) I'll also include the audio file directly, in case the link ever goes away. Our subject was the findings of an investigation into the misdeeds of the Salem Mayor, Julie Hoy. I filed a complaint with the Oregon Government Ethics…
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Posted inReligions

Why asking ‘Is it a cult?’ may not be the best approach

I'm pleased to share a guest blog post from Graeme Docherty. Recently Graeme emailed me with thoughts about a subject I'd been writing about, which led to us exchanging several messages. When he asked if I'd be interested in a post he'd like to write about Scientology, I said "sure." After all, I have no direct experience of Scientology. Here's what Graeme wrote. Below it I'll share my reaction to his essay. Why asking ‘Is it a cult?’ may not be the best approach When investigating the topic of cults, sects, and religious groups that are deemed to be separate…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

How the MAGA movement is like a messianic religion

Here's two messages that I found inspiring. Of course, if you love Donald Trump and hate Jimmy Kimmel, you might disagree. (1) An essay by anthropologist James B. Greenberg that appeared on my Facebook feed today, having been shared by someone I follow. Greenberg makes some good points about how the MAGA -- Make America Great Again -- movement is akin to a messianic religion where belief is held onto so strongly, it is almost impervious to facts and reason, having become part of a follower's identity. (2) After Greenberg's essay I've shared the monologue by Jimmy Kimmel last Tuesday…
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Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Just breath. Arising out of nothing. Returning to nothing.

Most religions say that the purpose of human life is to merge with God. Maybe not become God, but at least become really close to God. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism obviously differ in many respects. However, they all espouse achieving a closeness to the Almighty that expands the usual conception of what being a person is all about. The Eastern religion that I belonged to for 35 years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, had a similar teaching: the creative power of God extends throughout the creation. Through meditation and other spiritual practices, it is possible to first become self-realized as…
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Posted inDelusions Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

“The Enlightenment Trap” — a cautionary tale of spirituality gone bad

Today a friend gave me a book that he thought I'd like. He was right. We've known each other for a long time, so after he'd listened to the audio version of Scott Carney's The Enlightenment Trap: Obsession, Madness and Death on Diamond  Mountain, he correctly surmised that I'd find it interesting. I'm only up to page 32, but Carney's introductory "A Note for a New Edition" contains some strong hints of what the book's central themes are. Rather than thinking of this as a true-crime story that follows the downward spiral of a cultic community, this book is the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Religious communities have standards, because all communities do

In the course of reading Selfless: The Social Creation of "You" by Brian Lowery, I'm getting new insights into the India-based religious community I belonged to for 35 years -- Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). Those insights aren't limited to religious communities because they apply generally to all communities. Lowery, a Black Stanford professor and social psychologist, describes his experience with growing up with rap music in the 1980s and '90s. We are created in communities, so when our communities change, so do we. New relationships can produce new communities that confer identities that define selves. Take a benign example:…
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Posted inHappiness Religions

God gets credit for saving a girl, but not blame for over 49 flooding deaths

Giving God credit for good things but not blame for bad things in the aftermath of disasters is typical among religiously-minded people in the United States, who are usually Christians. Using a plane crash as an example, if one person survives, while 200 other people on board die, the sole survivor is held out as evidence of a miracle by God. But if God can save that person, God had the power to save the other 200.  Of course, hardly anyone expects religious belief to be rational or consistent. I certainly don't. Religions are constructed by humans to meet human…
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Posted inPolitics Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Why religious disillusionment can be more painful than political or work disillusionment

Today the Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted to move ahead with the investigation of a complaint against the Mayor of Salem and city councilors that I'd filed last March with the Commission. I wrote about this on my Salem Political Snark blog in "Ethics Commission approves investigation of my complaint against Mayor Hoy." That made me feel really good, as I'd put quite a bit of time and effort into researching and filing the complaint. I did this because it bothered me that Mayor Hoy appeared to have engaged in prohibited private "serial communications" with members of the City Council…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

Criticism of Israel, a nation, is not antisemitism since Judaism is a religion

Most people in the United States are Christian. This doesn't mean that anyone who criticizes the United States is anti-Christian. Likewise, most people in Israel are Jewish. This doesn't mean that anyone who criticizes Israel is anti-Jewish, or antisemitic (which means hatred of, or prejudice toward, Jews). Of course, it is possible to be anti-Christianity, anti-Judaism, or anti-religion in general. Being an atheist, I lean decidedly in that direction. But I'm equal opportunity in this regard: I find all religions ridiculous in my current state of unbelieving, though I'm attracted to Buddhism in its non-supernatural form.  Recently on my Salem…
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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 inAtheism Politics Religions

“Brainwashing” ignores the fact that everything alters the mind

I'm old enough to remember when brainwashing was a more commonly used word than it is now. An article by Nikhil Krishnan in the April 7 issue of The New Yorker, "It's Always the Other Side That's Been Brainwashed," reminded me of this. During the Korean War, American prisoners of war were subjected to brainwashing by Chinese authorities in a sometimes successful attempt to make the prisoners believe that the values of their country were less desirable than communism.  In 1962, my freshman year in high school, a fictional movie about this was released, The Manchurian Candidate.  The plot centers on…
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Posted inBuddhism India Religions

Classical Indian philosophy makes little sense to me

Well, I gave it a try. Today Google News, in its Picks For You section, presented me with a link to an Aeon article, "By the light of brahman: Ideas from classical Indian philosophy help illuminate the enigmas of selfhood, consciousness and the nature of reality." I decided to read the article, albeit quickly, because I hoped it would live up to the title by illuminating those enigmas. I did learn something: that classical Indian philosophy makes little sense to me. Of course, since this philosophy is the foundation of Hinduism, it isn't surprising that atheist me would find little…
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