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…
3
Posted inFree will Neuroscience

Thoughts and feelings arise on their own, so pride or shame in them isn’t justified

I'm a pretty good writer and speaker. Words are my thing. Or rather, one of my things. Musical and artistic ability -- that's decidedly not my thing. The same is true for all of us. Not in the same way as me, of course. We're all different, with unique strengths and weaknesses. But no matter what those may be -- what we're good at and what we're bad at -- there's good reason to believe that pride or shame isn't really justified when it comes to our thoughts, feelings, actions, and perceptions. In explaining why I feel this way, I'll…
3
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…
12
Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 50 (free speech for comments)

NOTE: Regarding comments in general, this new WordPress blog has a spam filter, just as my old Typepad blog did. In both cases, occasionally some valid comments are misidentified as spam, and I have to save them from the spam folder. I'm planning to check the spam folder twice a day, so if you submit a comment and it isn't published right away, it should be soon. If you're concerned about the comment, you can message me via the Contact form at the top of this page. Though I'm not sure about this, I believe that if you use the…
11
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…
5
Posted inNeuroscience

Manifesting makes sense, when it’s looked at scientifically

Last year I wrote a couple of blog posts about the scientific approach to manifesting: Mind Magic is a science-based book about manifesting what you want, and Manifesting comes in two varieties: scientific and New Age. I've just started reading another scientific book about manifesting. The author is a psychologist, Sabina Brennan, who wrote The Neuroscience of Manifesting. It'll probably cover much the same ground as Mind Magic, but the Introduction has an interesting perspective on the magical aspect of manifesting. Recently in a comment I mentioned how our conscious mind is just the tip of the mental iceberg, since…
2
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Anyone know how to contact Gurinder Singh, the RSSB guru?

I just received this message from someone who wants very much to get in touch with Gurinder Singh, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization. I told this person that I didn't have the guru's contact information, but I could ask on my blog if anyone else does. The person said I should do this. "Babaji" refers to Gurinder Singh. Use the Contact form at the top of the page to reach me if you have a way to reach Gurinder Singh, and I'll pass that information on to the person. Hi Brian, I’m from India…
14
Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

For me, the genuine spiritual path leads from religious fantasy to everyday reality

Recently I heard from someone who currently is a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years. This person described both what bothers them about their experience as a RSSB initiate, and also what they enjoy about their experience. Their message ended with what perhaps is the most important thing they said, at least to my eyes. Sant Mat is the philosophy underlying the RSSB teachings. Thanks for having the courage to set up the site and make your views known. I hope to be…
5
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…
15
Posted inIndia Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Flooding along India’s Beas River likely made worse by Radha Soami Satsang Beas

A few days ago I got a message, shared below, from someone about flooding caused by a religious organization. The Dera, in India's Punjab, is the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious group that I was an active member of for 35 years, and have written about quite a bit on this blog. Gurinder Singh Dhillon has been the RSSB guru since 1990 and now is sharing guru duties with another man, to my understanding. Hi Mr Hines, Greetings. As you know Punjab in India is devastated by floods. Though Dera chief Mr Dhillon is trying to…
13
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,…
8
Posted inKarma Neuroscience

Best to avoid magical thinking, even if you like magic

NOTE: I just checked, and it appears that the new WordPress version of my Salem Political Snark blog has gone live, thanks to the fine work by Glorywebs, the tech company that is handling the migration of my blogs to WordPress, since Typepad, my current blogging service, is shutting down on September 30. I've asked that Church of the Churchless be the next blog that they work on. If you want to see what this blog will look like fairly soon, check out the new and much improved Salem Political Snark. You click on the title of a post to…
12
Posted inBuddhism Neuroscience

“Myself” is a transient thought, like all other thoughts

Who am I? Who are you? Who is anybody? These questions, which all point in the same enigmatic direction, are central to many different fields. Psychology. Neuroscience. Spirituality. Philosophy. Sociology. Anthropology. Broadly speaking -- very broadly, really -- there seems to be two approaches to answering the Who am I? question. I'll sum them up as the Hidden Pearl and the Flowing River. Hinduism is an example of Hidden Pearl. There's a divine Self lurking within the human psyche, Atman, which, when recognized, is closely related to Brahman, the Supreme Being. Another way of putting it is the true Self…
9
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…
3
Posted inMiscellaneous Personal/Stories

Typepad is leaving me, but I’m not leaving you

Last Wednesday, August 27, Typepad -- my blogging platform -- announced that it was shutting down as of September 30. When I saw the email from Typepad I was shocked, though by no means totally surprised. For quite a while, rumors have been circulating of Typepad's demise. Last March I asked Typepad support if the rumors were accurate, as described in "Typepad told me they aren't going out of business. Hope that's true." Well, it wasn't true. Worse, Typepad only gave its remaining users (new customers haven't been accepted for several years) a bit more than a month to migrate…
8
Posted inAwareness Meaning of life Spiritual practice/meditation

Forget what some “saint” says about life and make your own way

In my previous two posts, I've shared quotations from Robert Saltzman's book, The 21st Century Self: Belief, Illusion, and the Machinery of Meaning. In this post I'm going to shift gears slightly and share some quotes from Saltzman's first book, The Ten Thousand Things, which is in the form of questions and answers. I ordered this book after reading some Amazon comments on The 21st Century Self that suggested starting with The Ten Thousand Things as it was a better overall description of how Saltzman sees things.  I'm liking it, just as I like his most recent book. As noted before, Saltzman says things that…
36
Posted inAwareness Spiritual practice/meditation

Seeing nothing in the mirror of the self, we get a hint of who we are

At the end of my previous post in which I shared a lengthy quotation from Robert Saltzman's book, The 21st Century Self: Belief, Illusion, and the Machinery of Meaning, I said "The Mirror chapter goes on. But I'll share that going-on another day." This is that day. I loved this chapter. Saltzman doesn't really say anything that I haven't heard before from other writers who also challenge the usual approach to spirituality, but he has a knack for speaking in a way that I find highly appealing. Enjoy. You might want to read that previous post first, which comprised the…
6
Posted inAwareness Spiritual practice/meditation

In mirroring ourselves, we lose naturalness in the name of spirituality

Today I read a chapter in Robert Saltzman's book, The 21st Century Self: Belief, Illusion, and the Machinery of Meaning, that ended up so filled with highlighting of passages that I admired, the chapter only had a few unhighlighted areas. That's how much I liked "The Mirror." It addressed a question that has been in the back of my mind (and sometimes in the front of my mind) since I embarked on a spiritual-but-not-religious path some twenty years ago after giving up an Eastern form of dogmatic religiosity. What I've been wondering is whether there's something seriously wrong with my…
7
Posted inHappiness Meaning of life Neuroscience

Happiness and meaning can trap us. Psychological richness, not so much.

A few days ago I wrote my first post about Shigehiro Oishi's book, Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life. For a thoughtful review of the book by Sebastiano Mancin, click here. Here's a second post about Oishi's call for adding psychological richness to the commonly heard dimensions of a full life, happiness and meaning. He argues that while we all crave happiness, this longing can be a trap. The happiness trap has two faces. First, there is the pressure to be happy, which makes feeling sadness, anger, and anguish seem undesirable and…
34
Posted inHappiness Meaning of life

In addition to happiness and meaning, there’s psychological richness

I got excited when I heard about Shigehiro Oishi's book, Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life. I can't remember how I learned about the book. I just recall ordering it from Amazon almost instantly. Though I just got the book, and have only been able to read a couple of chapters so far, my excitement at learning about a third dimension to life in addition to happiness and meaning seems to show that I'm prone to psychological richness.  This chart included in a Psychology Today article, "How to Live a Psychologically Rich…
6