Spiritual practice/meditation

Religion, spirituality, mysticism, philosophy, theology – all this stuff can be pretty damn complicated. So many beliefs, thoughts, concepts, dogmas, imaginings, speculations. I've enjoyed throwing myself into this complex stew, and have even contributed to thickening it through some books, my Church of the Churchless musings, and countless conversations. But more and more, the essence of my attitude toward the big questions of life is…less and less. By which I mean: one intuitive direct experience is coming to overshadow all of the other religio-spiritual contents of my psyche. It feels much more real and true than these other meanderings of…

I've been meditating every day for a long time. About thirty-eight years. It never gets old. There's always something fresh going on in my head, which is both a delight and a frustration. For most of my meditating life, I've approached it with a spirit of devotion. Or at least, semi-devotion. Meaning, I viewed meditation as a means of approaching what It's All About. I felt that maybe "It," "All," and "About" pointed to God. Maybe Nature. Maybe something else. Whatever, the act of opening myself up to it seemed deserving of a bit of reverence. So I got into…

That's a great question. I ask it of myself frequently. Even though I don't have a firm answer, I've continued on with using the words "spiritual" and "spirituality" a lot – in talking with people, in writing on this blog, in musings within my own mind. I used to think that spiritual was opposed to material, that it had something to do with an ethereal soul, an aspect of ourselves that is disconnected (potentially, at least) from physical reality. But this would mean that you'd have to leave this world to be genuinely spiritual. Since everyone on Earth is, obviously,…

I just came across a nice paean to doubt. Certainly, I like it.

I took part of the doubt quiz, then jumped to the study guide for “Doubt,” the play. The playwright, John Patrick Shanley, says:

Each of us is like a planet. There’s the crust, which seems eternal. We are confident about who we are. If you ask, we can readily describe our current state. I know my answers to so many questions, as do you. What was your father like? Do you believe in God? Who’s your best friend? What do you want?

Your answers are your current topography, seemingly permanent, but deceptively so. Because under that face of easy response, there is another You. And this wordless Being moves just as the instant moves; it presses upward without explanation, fluid and wordless, until the resisting consciousness has no choice but to give way.

Read on for more from Shanley about embracing tectonic shifts.

I used to go to an Indian mystic meditation group's version of "church" every Sunday to have my faith renewed. Well, sort of. Actually, what I enjoyed the most was getting together with friends after the service (a.k.a. satsang) was over. We'd go out for coffee and talk about all sorts of stuff, including how unsure we were about what we supposedly believed in. Now on Sundays I skip the service and head right for the coffee klatsch. But some days I still have a lingering longing for a revival. Problem is, I don't know what I'm trying to bring…

I was a true believing existentialist my sophomore year in college. I devoured Sartre, Camus, all those guys who I could picture sitting in a Parisian coffee house, smoking unfiltered cigarettes, sipping thick expresso, and waving their hands animatedly as they agreed, in so many ways, that Life, it is so totally fucked! (in a French accent and with more of a literary twist to the sentiment, naturally). That's just how I felt. So I got a tremendous amount of meaning out of all the meaninglessness that I absorbed from existentialist writings. That's what held me together through some pretty…

I meditated before I became a true believer. I meditated all during my faith-filled years. And I continue to meditate now that I'm in my churchless phase. For me, meditation is an opportunity to open myself up to…whatever. The motto of the X-Files (American TV show) was "The truth is out there." Also, in here: consciousness. Where you don't need anyone else – no preacher, guru, rabbi, priest – to show you the way. Nor do you need to go some place – a church, temple, mosque – to be on the way. Which might well be no way. I…

The worst thing about belief? In one way or another, it's always unbelievable. The best thing about belief? When the unbelievable is stripped away, you're likely to be pointed toward truth. So strippers – no, not that kind (sadly) – are all-important on a spiritual journey. Without them, religious or other sorts of dogma are accepted uncritically, leaving us wandering in a maze where every path leads anywhere you believe it will. The Indian guru I began to follow in 1971, Charan Singh, was fond of saying: "Critics are our best friends." His disciples would nod, seemingly taking the words…

On big religious days like Easter, the faithful get to hang out with other believers and enjoy a pleasing group validation of shared beliefs. Today our local newspaper had a story about how 70 Christians turned out for a sunrise service in the Oregon rain and cold. A woman was quoted: This is a good way to start Easter – with other believers. Sure, why not? If I could find 70 other people who agreed with whatever the heck it is I believe in – an amorphous faithless faith that changes frequently – I'd love to hear them tell me,…

Here's a good question for anyone who's been involved with a spiritual, mystical, or religious group for a long time. Do members of the group change and become better people, or do they get stuck at a certain level? In my experience – which consisted of thirty-five years of intimate contact with Radha Soami Satsang Beas disciples – I found that "stuck" was much more common than "change." I didn't expect this. When I got initiated by the organization's guru in 1971 (basically the equivalent of a Christian being born again and accepting Jesus as his savior), I looked upon…

I've learned a lot from dancing. Or, even after several years of lessons, what often feels more like attempting to dance. Regardless, it's a lot more like real dancing than I was capable of before. Just as I now feel like I'm better able to dance spiritually, having given up religious beliefs that kept me overly rigid. Rigidity and dancing – not a good mix. Sure, after just a few lessons it's natural to be unsure of yourself. You haven't gotten the steps down, so you earnestly try to move just right. And pretty soon you realize that this earnestness,…

Most people think that being spiritual or religious means holding on to something or someone. That's what they think faith means: clinging to unproven beliefs or an unsubstantiated savior. "Jesus died for our sins." "Guru is God." "There is no God but Allah." There's no end to religious dogma. An amazing variety of thoughts and world-views are contained in the minds of true believers. If you can conceive of it, likely someone has faith in it at this moment. So how is it possible to choose which of these countless belief systems is worthy of acceptance, given that they contradict…

Everybody's familiar with a face-off. It's a confrontation. Well, I'm challenging religious believers to something similar: a faith-off. Bring it on. Your best philosophical stuff. Let's see who can be reasonably considered to have the most faith – churchless me, and those who share my antipathy to dogmatism, fundamentalism, and other "ism's," or those who profess the traditional religious commitment to a belief in the reality of things unknown. In my utterly biased opinion, it's no contest. Those, like me, who proclaim a faithless faith are head and shoulders above the crowd of religious believers. For open-mindedness is a much…

Fairly often I'm told, "Brian, you think too much." Invariably this statement comes from someone who is thinking that I think too much. So this pot calling the kettle black sort of sentiment doesn't have much effect on me. I find it interesting, though, that almost always the person telling me I think too much is a religious devotee. Usually a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, my once chosen faith, because I still hang out with RSSB initiates – most of whom have no problem with my current churchlessness. But even when I was giving talks to the faithful…

I love metaphors. And I hate metaphors. Yes, a rose is a ruby reflection of ever-blossoming reality. And truer still, rose is a rose is a rose. When it comes to religion, just about all we're offered is metaphors. God is like… Fill in the dots. Our father, our mother, our lover. Heaven is like… Disneyland without the long lines. Everything good without the bad. More and more I want the real deal without the metaphorical wrappings. Either say it like it is, plain and simple, or admit that you're just a metaphor-monger. I still read a lot of philosophical,…

Thanks to my friend Randy, I got turned on to Tijn Touber's thoughtful piece, "D.I.Y. Guru." (For the acronym impaired, like me, D.I.Y. stands for "do it yourself"). I liked it. It fits with my understanding of how we should regard a guru – as someone begging to be fired. So it's time to fire our gurus (facts, truths, religious persuasions, principles, dogmas) so the guru in ourselves can emerge. It's time to become as great as the gurus we followed--just as authentic, unique and obstinate. This is not an act of aggression or disrespect. On the contrary, it is…

Who am I? Well, that depends. Yesterday I had an opinion piece published in our local newspaper. A few days ago an editorial page assistant phoned me and asked how I wanted to be described at the end of the piece. I said, "Retired writer, blogger, and land use activist would be fine." She must not have heard the "b" in "blogger" because I ended up as a "logger." Some readers must have wondered how an Oregon logger became such a strong supporter of an environment-friendly ballot measure. But what's in a name? I wasn't bothered. Heck, I have a…

Last night my wife and I saw "Into the Wild," a terrific movie that speaks to anyone (which means, almost everyone) who has harbored thoughts of chucking it all in and starting over – free of entanglements, material or mental. Fittingly, it was a pretty wild night for us. The movie started at 8:50 pm and it runs two and a half hours. Almost all of the people in line with us were young people for whom a Saturday night just starts to get going at midnight. For us, it's sleepy time. But with this being the "fall back" from…

I've read many of Ken Wilber's books. I've written an essay critiquing Wilber's misrepresentations of Plotinus' teachings. So I'm pretty familiar with his Integral philosophy. Intellectually, at least. I've pondered Wilber's quadrants until my head hurt. Which didn't take long. That's the problem I have with Wilber's hyper-analytical approach to making sense of the cosmos (oops, should have written Kosmos – Wilber's preferred spelling). It just seems like it reflects Wilber's mind a lot more than it reflects reality. I don't feel like I understand either the world or myself more when I read Wilber. I'm impressed with his breadth…

Back in my super-devoted Radha Soami Satsang Beas days, I used to love the Hindi word "sat." It means truth, with an additional connotation of perfection. In Sant Mat "sat" gets used a lot. Sant itself means "one who knows the truth," such as a saint. Then there's satguru (true and perfect guide), satsang (true company or association), sat nam (true name), and other sat-based terms. Sat, sat, sat. The sound of the word has a pleasing emphatic ring to it. It reminds me of the movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring." My bloggish review of it included: When the…