Posted inScience Spiritual practice/meditation

Digging into the hard problem of consciousness

Want to tackle one of the most intractable mysteries in science? You’ve got a hold on it right now: consciousness. Nobody knows what it is, though everybody uses it to think, “What is it?” Steven Pinker has a terrific article in this week’s TIME magazine, a special issue devoted to the mind and brain. In “The Mystery of Consciousness” he talks about the Easy Problem of consciousness, which basically concerns how mental processes function and are correlated with neural goings-on in the brain. Tough enough, certainly, but researchers are making good progress delving into this area. However, barely a scratch…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Stages of spiritual growth: skeptics top believers

I was prepared to scoff at M. Scott Peck’s levels of spiritual development . But when I scanned the four stages and saw that I’m definitely a “three” and probably a “four,” I became an instant believer. Somehow I’ve managed to never read any of Peck’s many books, he of “The Road Less Traveled” fame. He converted to Christianity after dalliances with Christian and Islamic mysticism, but I don’t hold that against him. Well, maybe a little. I did enjoy reading an abridged version of Peck’s analysis of the stages of spiritual growth after Bob, a Church of the Churchless…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Abandon hope, all ye who seek

Let’s turn Dante on his head. Hope isn’t abandoned at the entrance to hell, but at the entrance to paradise. I’m temped to say that I hope to convince you of this. Don’t want to descend into hell, though. Hope has been much on my mind lately. Two climbers are still missing on Mt. Hood, fairly near to where I live. Today on cable news I heard more expressions of hope that they’ll be found alive, even though it’s increasingly likely that they won’t. I’ve been trying to understand what grates on me every time somebody intones the platitude, “We’ve…
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Posted inMystics Spiritual practice/meditation

Keeping consciousness simple

It’s astounding, really. We all confidently say, “I think…,” “I believe…,” “I feel…,” “I see….” Yet we don’t know who or what the “I” is. So how confident should we be about all those statements we make, to others and to our own self, when the nature of the statement-making entity is a mystery? Last night I managed to watch about fifteen minutes of an interview with Deepak Chopra before this I-entity overdosed on New Age gobbledygook. Nonetheless, I did appreciate how Chopra focuses on unraveling the essence of consciousness. He believes that consciousness is foundational in the cosmos—a reversal…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Put up or shut up, supposedly enlightened ones

I readily admit that my reaction to the comment “doctor heal” left a few days ago on my “A thoughtful ‘no thanks’ to Radha Soami Satsang Beas” post wasn’t a sign of an enlightened being. But, then, I don’t make any claim to being such. The commenter, however, said: I hate to rain on your parade but the inner experiences are very real for us exp ONES>>>better luck next time around. At that point try to leave the intellect where it belongs. Behind. I assume “exp” means experienced. Meaning, those who have enjoyed the mystical sights and sounds that the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Flowing vs. forcing: why religion strips my screw

A few days ago, after much procrastinating, I finally put up a new towel rack in our upstairs bathroom. The screws were going into wood, not drywall. The pilot hole I drilled was a tad too small. Once I screwed the screw halfway, I felt a lot of resistance. I’ve stripped enough screw heads in my day to have learned a lesson: don’t force the situation. Yes, it may seem like it’d save time to try to muscle the screw the rest of the way in. But once you’ve screwed up a screw, it usually is a lot more work…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation Taoism/Tai Chi

Being a blockhead has its pluses

I’ve been thinking about becoming more of a blockhead. Now, the fact that I’m doing this, thinking, shows that I have a ways to go before achieving Blockhead Extraordinaire status. That honor, of course, belongs to Charlie Brown. Thanks to Lucy he’s been a blockhead ever since June 1958. I was nine at the time. I probably was a blockhead in training even back then, but I didn’t have a Lucy to tell me so. Forty-nine years later I’ve learned that life is my Lucy. It’s pulled the football away from me enough times to make me realize that whatever…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Watch out! The Discourager of Hesitancy is behind you

Thanks to Edward, a regular Church of the Churchless commenter, I learned about the Discourager of Hesitancy today. He’s a fearsome dude. I can feel him standing behind me right now, razor sharp weapon at the ready. He doesn’t like excessive deliberation. I feel the pressure to type what I want to say without undue cogitation. I’ve gotten more than a little attached to having my head and body, well, attached. “The Discourager of Hesitancy” is a short story by Frank Stockton, he of “The Lady and the Tiger” fame. If you went to high school in the United States,…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Humility is being in touch with reality

I don’t trust displays of humility. This folding of the hands with a bowed head, this uttering of “God (or guru) is everything; I am nothing,” this confession of sins, failings, and weaknesses—it’s all too contrived, too artificial, too calculated. This morning I re-read the chapter “On Humility” in Hubert Benoit’s The Supreme Doctrine: Psychological Studies in Zen Thought As noted in my “The Supreme Doctrine, thirty-six years overdue” post, this is the only library book that I’ve kept permanently. When I first read it back in college, I couldn’t bear to let it out of my hands. Where it…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Unlearning ventriloquism

I’m trying to learn how not to be a ventriloquist. As should we all. Isn’t one of “Me” (or “You”) enough? Why are there, like Edgar Bergen and his wooden sidekick Charlie McCarthy, two people performing on the mental stage where we play out our lives? Maybe more. I’m still trying to figure how many of me there are (or is) inside of my cranium. Seems like there should be only one, given that I go by the singular name of Brian. Yet that other guy, who I’ll call “Charlie” in honor of my ventriloquismistic Ed Sullivan show memories, sure…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Spiritual practice/meditation

Loud siren is a wake-up call

God, it’s said, works in mysterious ways. So I’m willing to believe that the siren on the side of our house that blared for ten minutes across our neighborhood yesterday evening was a divine message directed to me. My wife, too. And all of us, really. The message is universal: Be aware. Look. See. We were running late, per usual, for our weekly Tango class. There was going to be a guest instructor so I wanted us to be on time. I was ready a few minutes before Laurel, per usual. “We should leave the dog in,” she said, hurrying…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Religion as poetic expression

Before I jump into today’s subject, looking upon the practice of religion as an art, I’ve got to comment on Church of the Churchless comments to my posts. These offerings by other people are wonderful. Frequently I read them and think, “God, these are so much wiser and more meaningful than what I wrote.” Also, better written. I deeply appreciate these (almost) always thoughtful sharings. If you’re not reading the comments, you’re missing out on a big part of this blog. Flowing into this notion of religion as art, via these comments I love to see, or at least get…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Open presence meditation

The story in “On Buddhist meditation practice” about meditators not being startled by a tree trunk crashing or heavy hail falling reminded me of a chapter in Matthieu Ricard’s “Happiness.” Ricard is a long-time Buddhist. He’s participated in scientific studies concerning the neurological correlates of meditation. I suspect that the subject he’s talking about is himself. He says that the startle response is one of the body’s most primitive reflexes. It responds to activity in the brain stem and is usually not subject to voluntary control. “The stronger a person’s flinch, the more he is inclined to experience negative emotions.”…
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Posted inReality Spiritual practice/meditation

The best one-sentence metaphysics ever written

Here it is. My absolute favorite sentence. It’s wise. It’s profound. It’s deep. It’s practical. It’s spiritual. Best of all, it’s true. Drum roll, please. Pregnant pause for dramatic effect… A little longer…(don’t peek! don’t look below!) OK. I can’t stand the waiting, even though I know what I’m about to say. From Philip K. Dick’s “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978), ninth paragraph: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. Here’s the entire paragraph: It was always my hope, in writing novels and stories which asked…
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Posted inMystics Spiritual practice/meditation Wu Project

Adyashanti bursts my orgasmic bubble

Just as I predicted, I’ve been enjoying Adyashanti’s “Emptiness Dancing.” But I was disappointed when I read this morning that enlightenment isn’t going to be something like an infinitely extended orgasm. Well, to be more precise Adyashanti left open at least a slight possibility that this could be the case. So I won’t let my hopes die entirely. He did say, though, that orgasmic enlightenment wasn’t his experience. And since his breakthrough occurred after 15 years of Zen meditation, I’ll take him at his word. However, my experience of enlightenment was simply the demolition of everything that I thought it…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Yes, there are agnostics in dentist’s chairs

Most everyone has heard the expression, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” This assertion has been challenged by the Atheists in Foxholes organization, which points out that many in the armed forces identify themselves as “no religion.” This morning I proved a related assertion: there are agnostics in dentist’s chairs. Now, I’ll admit that having some crown/bridge work redone isn’t quite as dramatic as being in a Vietnam firefight, as this atheist in a foxhole was. Nonetheless, when the drilling starts and you don’t know how much pain there will be, you’re looking for support from somewhere. During my devotional…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Wings of love fly in two directions

This afternoon I rolled out of my nap bed, glanced at the pile of overly devotional books that I’ve culled from my bookcase, and decided to pick up the topmost title: “On Wings of Love,” by Madeleine. It was published in 1972 by Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) in South Africa. I’ve got the first (and likely only) edition, which constituted 1,000 numbered copies. Mine is #919. For that reason alone, this previously unread book is now a keeper. For another reason also: Madeleine, whose last name isn’t revealed, is a poetess of blunt words and intense passion. A foreword…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Turn on, tune in, or drop out?

I came of age in the 60’s, so “turn on, tune in, drop out” resonates with me. But now I’m more interested in exploring the spiritual, rather than psychedelic, implications of these words. It’s always dangerous to reduce complexities to dualities. But I’m always ready and eager to try. It seems to me that most spiritual seekers are either turn-on’ers or tune-in’ers. I belong to the latter camp, so if my description of these options seems to favor tuning, that’s the reason. Tune-in’ers are trying, obviously, to tune in to something. God. Spirit. Cosmic truth. Ultimate reality. Buddha nature. Tao.…
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Posted inMystics Spiritual practice/meditation Wu Project

The glory of being spiritually lost

If you feel like you’re spiritually lost, be thankful. Smile. Laugh. Dance. Your lucky star is shining brightly on you. You’re way closer to the mystery we call “God” than those who believe that they’re on a well-marked path to the divine. There’s no such thing. I’m not confident of much when it comes to religion and spirituality. But I’m quite sure that the road to God doesn’t have any white lines down the middle of it. You can’t see, feel, hear, smell, or touch it. The surest way to know if you’re off the track is to say, “Ah,…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Spiritual nomads

Over at the wonderfully named Ambivablog, amba is “Calling all spiritual nomads.” Her piece is well-written and thoughtful, as befits a blogger with an impressive literary resume. (I’d love to be able to say about myself, “wrote a lot of reviews for The New York Times Book Review.”) I was pleased to note that amba says that Church of the Churchless is a new favorite blog of hers. Same back at you, my churchless sister. I thoroughly enjoyed your spiritual nomad piece. Especially the musical chair analogy. Say “Religion” in this strange new world of ours, and I see a…
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