Posted inBuddhism Mindfulness Uncategorized

Being fully absorbed in an activity is enlightenment

Usually I hate to stop reading a book after I've started it. Unless it is really bad. I figure that even though I'm not enjoying the book very much, there will be something in pages to come that I'll learn or be entertained by. So I'll read more rapidly, less carefully, as I make my way further into the book. This just happened to me with Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time, by Dainin Katagiri. I go hot and cold with this book as Katagiri shifts from interesting practical advice about living to conceptual Buddhist…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Uncategorized

RSSB is hard

Below is another guest blog post from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. The clothes metaphor is a creative way of describing how various people can "try on" a religion like RSSB, and have markedly different reactions. RSSB IS HARD. They do tell you this, and many of the books do too. "It's a lofty path" and various similar comments. Yes. It is hard.…
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Posted inNeuroscience Reality Uncategorized

Reality is different from how we humans perceive reality

In my previous post about In Search of Now: The Science of the Present Moment by Jo Marchant, I focused on her totally scientific observation that according to Einstein's extremely well proven relativity theory, the past, present, and future are all the same -- in the sense that each is part of a single "block universe" in which every event, from the motion of a single particle to the movement of a gigantic galaxy, is captured in a four dimensional space-time continuum that simply is. Of course, this perspective is utterly unlike how the world, and our life, appears to…
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Posted inUncategorized

Some guidance for how to undertake a RSSB “diet” (not of food, but of dogma)

This is Part 3 of a three-part series of guest blog posts from “Anon,” an ex-RSSB initiate. Part 1 is “RSSB trauma is an example of spiritual abuse.” Part 2 is "Here's thirty-five RSSB trauma issues." RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a religious organization based in India and headed up by a guru that I belonged to for over three decades. I found a similar list a long time ago by ex Christians who struggled with their faith and left. Some of the struggles were relevant, as spiritual/religious trauma has some similar themes. The RSSB list is a…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Uncategorized

Here’s a description of RSSB’s “soul contract.” It sounds decidedly creepy.

Below is another interesting message from the anonymous person who reaches me via the Contact form of this blog. As with the previous messages, this person shares their skeptical view of Radha Soami  Satsang Beas (RSSB), the India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years. I also got a a short message from this person about why they won't be sending me additional thoughts about RSSB. It bothers me that they feel this way. This isn't the first time that I've heard from anonymous critics of RSSB and/or the guru who are afraid…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation Uncategorized

Meditating with eyes open seems to quiet my mind more than with eyes closed

I've meditated every day for about 55 years. I may have missed a few days over that long span of time, but it's been rare. But how I meditate has changed quite a bit. For the 35 years I was a member of an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru (Radha Soami Satsang Beas), I meditated for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours a day with eyes closed. The goal of that form of meditation was to "go within." Meaning, to leave the world behind and elevate one's consciousness to higher supernatural planes of reality by concentrating at…
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Posted inFree will Neuroscience Spiritual practice/meditation

“I’m spiritual but not religious” is a stepping stone to “I’m living but not spiritual”

As I've noted before, am noting now, and likely will note again, my life seems to be a reflection of the lyric in a Donavan song, "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is." Reportedly this was inspired by a Zen saying. The meaning it has for me is that the first 20 years of my life were marked by a feeling that this earthly existence is the only reality we'll ever know. Then, for 35 years, I embraced an Eastern religion (Radha Soami Satsang Beas) that taught the physical universe is the lowest realm…
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Posted inFree will Neuroscience Uncategorized

The motive of Charlie Kirk’s killer will never be known, because free will is an illusion

Here at the Church of the Churchless we examine issues related to current events that are almost universally ignored by others. Some would say that's because I write about stuff that is so far out-there, so metaphysical, so divorced from everyday reality, nobody cares about it except people who similarly have their heads in the clouds instead of grounded in practicality. Not surprisingly, I have a different take. Ever since Charlie Kirk, a well-known right-wing political activist here in the United States, was apparently killed by Tyler Robinson, who has been arrested, I've heard many commentators on news outlets speak…
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Posted inComments Personal/Stories Politics

Open respectful discussion of controversial issues is what the world needs now

Today, the first day that I've started posting on this WordPress version of Church of the Churchless after 21 years of blogging on the Typepad platform that is shutting down on September 30, a well-known 31 year old advocate of Republican and conservative policies, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated while speaking at a college in Utah. His death has thrown the United States into turmoil. We've had too many recent instances of politicians and political leaders on both the left and right killed in the name of some sort of twisted ideology. Or sometimes, for no discernible reason at all. Somehow,…
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Posted inUncategorized

Evidence that RSSB is an uncaring organization

I was busy yesterday so forgot to check Typepad's spam folder for this blog. I just discovered a comment on my "Another strange use of force at a RSSB meeting" post that was in the spam folder. Wow. This shows for sure that Radha Soami Satsang Beas is an uncaring organization, based on how horribly a man was treated who simply wanted to ask a question of the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.  Since the guru allows crap like this to happen, it's obvious that the guru is uncaring also. Makes me so glad I left this so-called "spiritual" group.…
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Posted inUncategorized

“Secret” video of Gurinder Singh Dhillon speaking in Punjabi

Someone sent me this video of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, speaking to some people. I haven't gotten a translation yet. Below is what the person told me. I used a photo of the guru as a thumbnail, since the video's images are so indistinct. If someone could translate the video into English, that'd be great. I'll then share the translation in an update to this post, if what Dhillon says is interesting. I'm curious what "the thing" is referred to below. A translation can be emailed to me, using the address in the right…
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Posted inUncategorized

Well stated criticism of RSSB guru and satsangi behavior

Here at the Church of the Churchless we love it when someone speaks their truth about how followers of a religion, or a religious leader, are acting badly.  So when I read a recent comment from "Miss Judy", I knew it deserved to be shared in a blog post. Which I've done. I've corrected a few typos. "Babi ji" refers to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization based in India. "Sindhis," according to Wikipedia, are a socio-ethnic group in India originating from Sindh, a province of modern-day Pakistan. "Satsangis" are members of RSSB.…
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Posted inUncategorized

Youthful vitality is mine now that I have the not-so-secret Five Rites

The cosmos must have a wonderful message for me. Or so I like to believe. Consider this chain of events, each of which appears completely normal, but which taken together leave me with the key to an ancient Tibetan practice of longevity. Cosmic message #1: I notice a book mentioned in a recent issue of New Scientist, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. Amazon offers next day delivery, so I get the book rapidly. Cosmic message #2: After a few days of reading Breath, and trying out some of the initial breathing exercises, I arrive…
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Posted inUncategorized

About Brian Hines

Contact Email Address: Email Me Website: https://www.brianhines.com Biography I'm a retired health policy analyst with a lifelong interest in philosophy, spirituality, and politics. I've got three blogs: Church of the Churchless, HinesSight, and Salem Political Snark. I live with my wife, Laurel, and two dogs, ZuZu and Mooka, on ten acres in rural south Salem, Oregon. This page shows the four books I've written, the most recent being Break Free of Dogma. Books I've Written Amazon listing for Break Free of Dogma   Amazon listing for Return to the One   Amazon listing for God's Whisper, Creation's Thunder   Science…
Posted inUncategorized

Three of my favorite mindfulness sayings

Last year I noted that "Mindfulness has become my meditation." That's been true for quite a few years. For a long time, over three decades, I was a believer in a mystical form of meditation aimed at detaching one's consciousness from materiality and letting it soar into non-physical spiritual regions of reality. Sounds good. But it was a fantasy. There's zero demonstrable evidence that supernatural domains even exist, with less than zero evidence (assuming that's possible) anyone has gained access to them.  But this world is real. Sure, there's valid doubts about how accurately the human brain is able to…
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Posted inUncategorized

Our ordinary life is way more important than our religious life

Looking at the title of this blog post after I wrote it, at first I wondered if "ordinary" is the right word for what I'm talking about here.  Namely, our everyday life. What we do that's personal, intimate, immediate, direct, experiential. How we spend most of our hours. What we honestly describe when someone close to us asks, "How was your day?"  On further reflection, ordinary seems like the right word.  Sure, often people have the notion that being ordinary isn't good enough. But this seems crazy. What's wrong with having an ordinary life that's mostly meaningful, satisfying, pleasurable?  And…
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Posted inUncategorized

Psilocybin points to the “snow globe” theory of shaken-up consciousness

When is it good to be shaken up? Not physically. Psychologically.  It seems that being all shook up typically is viewed as something to be avoided, since it means "greatly disturbed or upset." As in, watching that scary movie left me all shook up (shaken is the proper word, with shook being slang). But I've been reading Michael Pollan's new book about psychedelics, "How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Dying, Consciousness, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence." In it he speaks of how sometimes our overly rigid psyche needs to be shaken up like…
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Posted inUncategorized

Life demands some judicious denial of reality

Today I stopped for lunch at Lifesource Natural Foods here in Salem, Oregon -- where a fairly healthy slice of pesto pizza captured my stomach's attention.  There was only one table unoccupied in the eating area, so I grabbed it. Not long after, a woman appeared, lunch plate in hand, and asked if she could sit with me. Naturally I said, "sure." At first both of us started to look at our phones, the usual way to pass time these days, since simply eating without any distraction would be too damn boring. But then she glanced at my pizza slice…
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Posted inUncategorized

No, faith isn’t better than doubt. Here’s why.

When I saw the title of a New York Times opinion piece, "How Can I Possibly Believe That Faith Is Better Than Doubt?", I was pretty sure that I was going to disagree with it.  After reading what Peter Wehner wrote, I know that I disagree with him. Here's what rubbed me the wrong way in Wehner's essay. Let's start with this paragraph.But faith itself, while not the converse of reason, is still distinct from it. If it seems like that’s asking too much — if you think leaps of faith are for children rather than adults — consider this: Materialists,…
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Posted inUncategorized

Meditation is good for your genes. So, likely, is patting a dog.

I've meditated every day since 1970, with just a handful of exceptions. That's over forty years. During most of that time I thought I was engaged in a spiritual journey from illusion to enlightenment. Now, I don't believe much, if at all, in that possibility. But I still meditate. Every day. Along with doing Tai Chi at least three days a week, which is a form of moving meditation.  Meditation is good for the body and mind. So those who don't believe in soul or spirit can benefit from meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, mindfulness, and other ways of eliciting the…
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