Posted inMorality Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Religion is wrong, but it feels right to believers

So how is it that religious beliefs are almost certainly wrong, yet the vast majority of people in the world accept them? What makes religiosity so attractive?  A central theme of my previous post, New Scientist looks at the science of religion, is that belief in the supernatural comes naturally to humans. Early on in childhood development we understand that "agents" with desires, intentions, and a consciousness like our own exist even though we can't perceive these beings. It isn't much of a jump to divine unseen agents, gods and other entities. But after listening to a Point of Inquiry…
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Posted inReligions Science

New Scientist looks at the science of religion

Why do so many people believe in God or in other sorts of supernatural beings? Most religious folks would have no trouble answering that question. "Because God is real," they'd say.  Well, that's highly debatable. And I'm being generous to religion. That's ridiculous is closer to how I really feel. The most recent issue of New Scientist dives into these "Why believe?" waters. An editorial does a good job of summarizing core themes in the following articles. It ends with: Secularists would also do well to recognise the distinction between the "popular religion" that comes easily to people's minds and…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Nine essential qualities of mindfulness

Here's a good overview of what mindfulness is all about. Nine qualities are listed in the Psychology Today piece by psychologist Melanie Greenberg. Great advice for living. Read the whole article to feast on the full mindfulness meal. Focus on the Present Moment—When your thoughts get lost in thinking about the past or worrying about the future, you bring them back to what you are experiencing right now. Being Fully Present—You are spaciously aware of whatever you are experiencing in the present moment as you go through your daily life.  Openness to Experience—Rather than dreading and shutting out your own…
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Posted inBuddhism Mystics Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Mystical experiences. What’s the big deal with them?

Mystical experiences were on my mind today, after someone left a comment on a blog post inquiring about whether I'd gone inside while meditating or heard sacred sounds.   I replied. But then I thought, "What's the big deal with supposed mystical experiences?" Most religions, forms of spirituality, and philosophical systems don't pay much attention to them. Most Christians or Buddhists aren't out to see fantastical scenes of the astral plane, or bliss out on a supernatural light and sound show. Their goals are to become better people; to learn what reality is all about; to be of service to humanity;…
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Posted inReality Science

Einstein was right. Neutrinos don’t travel faster than light.

Love it. Another triumph of the scientific method. Which does so much better at revealing the secrets of reality than religions do. An experiment to repeat a test of the speed of subatomic particles known as neutrinos has found that they do not travel faster than light. Results announced in September suggested that neutrinos can exceed light speed, but were met with scepticism as that would upend Einstein's theory of relativity. A test run by a different group at the same laboratory has now clocked them travelling at precisely light speed. Now, this doesn't conclusively settle the question of whether…
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Posted inBuddhism

Update on my enlightenment (in brief: going great!)

About seven years ago I bloggishly announced, "My satori is near at hand." I seems time for an update on how my enlightenment is going, even though it should be obvious to anyone who regularly reads my Church of the Churchless musings. Great!  Thanks for reading. On to next subject... Ha-ha. Just kidding. Not about my enlightenment. About great! being all I have to say concerning it. What's the point of being enlightened if its kept secret? If I were a world-class pianist, would I be content with only playing by myself at home? In line with the Buddha's own…
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Posted inBuddhism

Being mindful of mindfulness: Zen crap, or enlightened wisdom?

Through the magic of my Twitter feed, where occasionally pearls can be found amidst the social media junk, I came across a "Thich Naht Hahn is wrong" post on Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen blog. I was attracted to the title because I've tried to read some of Hahn's writings, but they end up seeming too Buddhist'y preachy to my increasingly churchless mind. (Yeah, I'm becoming so turned off to religion, even godless Buddhism seems too doctrinaire to me.) At first, Warner's piece struck me as making some good points about mindfulness. Basically he doesn't agree with the notion that something…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Scientific news flash: People are different!

OK, this isn't a surprising discovery -- that "people differ so widely in their emotional responses to the ups and downs of life." So say psychologist Richard Davidson and science writer Sharon Begley in their recently published book, "The Emotional Life of Your Brain." But in the opening lines of their One Brain Does Not Fit All chapter, Davidson points out how there's a common assumption that people are predictable. If you believe most self-help books, pop-psychology articles, and television therapists, then you probably assume that how people respond to significant life events is pretty predictable.  Most of us, according…
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Posted inFree will Morality Science

Free will is a limiting, destructive belief

Free will. Who could be against this seemingly wonderful notion? The opposite idea seems to be a depressing downer: Unfree determinism.  After I'd read the first part of Sam Harris' new book, "Free Will," I shared my enthusiasm with my wife about giving up the belief that I can freely decide what I think, feel, or do. She wasn't nearly as enthused, perhaps because of her lengthy experience as a psychotherapist. "But wouldn't people then use I've got no free will as an excuse for doing whatever they want? And wouldn't this take away people's motivation to change, to improve…
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Posted inBooks Free will Science

The dizzying joy of being freed from “free will”

Free will is an illusion. We're full of wants, desires, thoughts, emotions, and such. But we can't want our wants, desire our desires, think our thoughts, emote our emotions, or freely choose anything. This is the convincing central message of Sam Harris' "Free Will," a short book that I read halfway through today and am enjoying as much as I thought I would. It's only 66 pages long. Yet it could have been even shorter, because Harris necessarily repeats his no free will theme in various ways -- getting his point across from different perspectives. I say "necessarily" since the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Unauthorized photo of Gurinder Singh Dhillon

Ah, this feels so deliciously tabloid'ish. I received a photo of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, from an utterly anonymous source. This wouldn't be newsworthy if the guru wasn't so camera-shy. To my knowledge there are only a few authorized photos of Gurinder Singh Dhillon (he's at the top left in the Google Images search). When I did security volunteering for RSSB in the 1990's, I was more than a little astonished to observe the guru waving "no, no!" at someone who was taking a photo of him in a public place from quite a ways…
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Posted inBooks Free will Science

Sam Harris’ “Free Will” arrives today

Ooh, ooh, I'm so excited! Amazon tells me my pre-ordered copy of "Free Will" by Sam Harris should be delivered today. Can't help my excitement. I have no free will. Harris gives away the plot line of his book in The Illusion of Free Will. In that short piece he ends with a great question: How can we make sense of our lives, and hold people accountable for their choices, given the unconscious origins of our conscious minds? His new book is just 96 pages long. Good. I want to learn Harris' answer.
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Posted inMiscellaneous

Aging is upward ascension of the human spirit

As an old geezer respected elder who now is on the Social Security gravy train, I'm always on the lookout for reasons to look upon age 60+ as the "golden years." Yes, right now I'm enjoying life. But at the beginning of the video below, Jane Fonda correctly says that our culture has tended to look upon aging as the downward cycle of a human lifespan. From middle-aged vigor, it's a steady slump into decrepitude. Fortunately, her central eleven minute message is a heck of a lot more positive. Bodies may decline in various ways, but the "spirit" (which I don't…
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Posted inPlotinus Radha Soami Satsang Beas

My letter to a supposed Godly guru

As noted in my previous post, devotees of various Indian "Sant Mat" movements believe that the gurus who head up these groups are GIHF -- God in human form. If such were true, Jesus is alive and well in various bearded, turbaned male bodies. Including that of Gurinder Singh, guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). I was an active member of RSSB for over thirty years. Near the end of my involvement with the organization I had quite a bit of personal contact with Gurinder Singh.  I had several private interviews with the guru, and met with him in…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Sant Rajinder Singh: “godman” revealed as ordinary guy

Christians might be surprised to know that Jesus is alive and well, right here on Earth. Not the historical Jesus who died on the cross several thousand years ago, but other humans who share Jesus' divinity, his "son of God" status. Such is the teaching of Sant Mat movements. They're based in India and have an affinity with Hinduism and Sikhism. A central Sant Mat tenet is that God-realization requires initiation ("baptism") by a perfect living guru who is considered to be God in human form. Just like Jesus! Which makes these Sant Mat movements appealing to people who want…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Jeff Bethke says “I hate religion,” but he loves organized Christianity

Not being clued in to the latest Christian YouTube trends, until I read the latest issue of TIME magazine last night I'd been unaware of the super-buzz surrounding Jeff Bethke -- whose Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus has gotten almost 20 million views. (The TIME article is only available online to subscribers, but here's an earlier piece about Bethke.) It's a slick video. So slick, it seems likely this wasn't solely produced by a Jesus-loving young guy whose only motivation was to draw people away from organized Christianity. But before I say more along this line, have a look…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Science

Doubt is the stepping stone to truth

I was so sure that I was right. It turned out that I was wrong. But after finding this out, I was able to get on the road to rightness. What got me facing in the right direction was doubt. Thank you, doubt! If it weren't for you, I'd have headed in the wrong direction for quite a bit longer. I'm not talking about a religious belief, though I could be. The lesson I learned last week is universal: don't be completely, absolutely, 100% sure about anything. Even when we're super confident that we're correct, it's important to leave open the…
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Posted inPolitics

Republicans want to establish a U.S. theocracy

I used to joke about the "American Taliban" -- fundamentalist Christians who say they want to make this country into a Bible-based theocracy. But now that every Republican presidential candidate has endorsed this crazy notion in one form or another, it isn't nearly as funny to me. Losing our constitutionally-guaranteed right of freedom from religion is a serious matter. And one worth fighting hard to prevent.  I've voted for Republicans in the past, and would consider doing so again if moderates of the sort we Oregonians used to elect came back into G.O.P. fashion. But nowadays Governor Tom McCall, Senator…
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Posted inReligions

Keep the good religious feeling. Discard the religion

Recently I had one of my marvelous enlightened insights. These occur regularly now that I've forsaken the confines of "thou shalt" religiosity. I'm not sure how much more enlightened and insightful I can become. Maybe infinitely. Can't be sure, since one of my core insights is that uncertainty and unknowing are part of the human condition. Mystery is us. Also, the cosmos. Anyway, My Big Insight (haven't copyrighted it, so feel free to share, steal, embrace) is this: If you've given up unfounded religious beliefs that you used to embrace, yet miss the pleasurable feelings those beliefs produced, keep the…
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Posted inBooks Taoism/Tai Chi

I’m loving “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Taoism”

Taoism is a way of life for fools. So when I bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism, I expected a good match between the usually informatively entertaining Idiot's Guide series, and my favorite philosophical approach. (I'm such a fool, I read the entire book through once, and now am re-reading it with a different colored highlighter in hand.) I was right. Brandon Toporov, writer, and Chad Hansen, Chinese scholar, teamed up to produce an overview of Taoism that is easy to read, inspiring, and practical, while also possessing intellectual rigor. I'm confident of that last assertion, since I searched out…
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