Posted inScience Spiritual practice/meditation

How is it that “I” have a “self”?

I've never met the other person who seemingly inhabits my head along with me. Have you? Yet everyday language, the way we talk to ourselves (there he is again!) and others, appears to point to the existence of someone other than "I" within our psyches. I dragged myself out of bed.I held myself back from hitting him.I was beside myself.You should take a good look at yourself.He's at war with himself over who to marry.Stop being so mean to yourself.I like myself.I need to be a better friend to myself.I was debating with myself whether to leave.I'm disappointed in myself.He's…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

If a God-man is just like us, what’s the point?

So what if God was one of us? That's a question Joan Osborne asked in the lyrics of her song, "One of us." That thought came to mind after I wrote about an Indian guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, bringing in over $250 million for himself and his family through insider transactions of Religare stock. Since the shares essentially were gifted to the guru and his sons (the 2006 purchase price was very low, about 1% of the current market value) by businessman relatives who also are disciples of Gurinder Singh, it can be argued that this is nothing unusual. It's…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru makes $254 million

Wow, it really pays to be an Indian guru with the right connections. Check out this story, "SEBI nod for Radha Soami Satsang Beas." (SEBI is the Securities and Exchange Board of India.) The capital market regulator has granted exemption to Logos Holding Company from making an open offer to the shareholders of Religare Enterprises for its acquisition of 19.53% stake in the company. Logos Holding is an investment arm of the Gurinder Singh Dhillon family.Gurinder Singh is the current head of one of India's largest religious sect – Radha Soami Satsang Beas. At Thursday's closing price of Rs 460.95,…
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Posted inDeath/Rebirth Science

Scientific quasi-remedies for a fear of death

I don't like the notion that I'll die one day. More than the notion, it's the reality of death that produces a sense of unease which varies from mild mostly unconscious anxiety to a strong fearful awareness of impending non-existence. So I wanted to provide a blog post addendum to my previous "This is it" ponderings. Not really a counterpoint; more like a therapeutic sidebar for those who, like me, enjoy life and don't relish the prospect of losing all trace of conscious existence for eternity. There's good reason to argue that I can't help myself. No one can. Such…
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Posted inReality

Live like this is your last moment (because it is)

Most of my life I've been searching for What Life is All About. A poem I wrote when I was thirteen is my earliest recorded pondering about the cosmos, but I'm sure my pre-teen mind also was looking for answer's to life's big questions. Having come to an age when my first Social Security payment is due to be deposited in our checking account this month, I can report that some fifty years of philosophical, religious, mystical, scientific, and spiritual inquiring has led me to a simple three word conclusion: This is it. You're free to disagree. I can understand…
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Posted inScience

Can one half of a brain achieve salvation?

Those who believe in the unity of consciousness or the oneness of "soul" need to watch a short You Tube video, "Split brain with one half atheist and one half theist." The neurologist making the presentation ends by saying If the person dies, does one hemisphere go to heaven and the other go to hell? I don't have the answer to that. Watch and see if you do.  
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Mindfulness is better than “spiritual” meditation

I used to believe that through meditation, I could realize ultimate reality/God. Now, having lowered my unrealistic expectations, I'd be happy if I could go through the rest of my life without losing another glove. A much-beloved glove, insofar as apparel can be loved. LIghtweight, waterproof, comfortable, thin. I'd been wearing it on rainy day dog walks here in Oregon (so I wore them a lot). Headed to the recycling center on a cold, wet, windy afternoon, I decided to take the gloves along. I walked to the car, tossed them on the front seat, and drove into town with…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Hallucinogens induce profound mystical experiences

Want a mystical experience? Got no time or inclination for meditation, austerities, guru-worship, or rituals? A shortcut is available: hallucinogens, such as psilocybin. This is no surprise to baby boomers like me who experimented with LSD, mescaline, and "magic mushrooms" back in the 60's. I was searching for the Meaning Of It All, so I was part of the flower children subset who looked upon hallucinogens not only as a good time, but as a doorway to higher consciousness. I figured that these trippy drugs had pretty much gone out of fashion. However, an article in the December 2010 issue…
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Posted inReality Science

Unconscious zombies and conscious thermostats

Comments on my previous post about David Chalmers' consciousness theories got me doing more pondering about zombies -- the philosophical variety. Personally, I resonate with Chalmers' notion that it is logically possible to conceive of beings who are identical to us down to the most minute subatomic particle, and behave exactly like us in even the most subtle fashion. The only difference betweeen zombie and human would be this: humans experience what it is like to be what we are; zombies don't. Admittedly this is a strange notion to wrap our minds around. For each of us, our entire life…
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Posted inGod

Talking trash with Almighty God

Ah, another enjoyable blasphemous Mark Morford column, "How to talk trash with Almighty God." I like the ending, after Morford blasts God for all the crap life continues to be filled with after many millenia of worship, reverence, bowing and scraping, and all that. But you know what? It doesn't seem to matter. Mock or no mock, praise or no praise, we get nailed, over and over again, no matter what. Sickened, crushed, bloodied, heartbroken, ruined, revived and rejuvenated, only to be ruined once again. We drop that damn ball, over and over again, every single day. So much for…
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Posted inReality Science

David Chalmer’s view of consciousness: naturalistic dualism

Consciousness. It's what we are and know, since reality doesn't exist for us if we can't experience it. Yet it's also the most mysterious thing in the cosmos. So mysterious, it can't really be called a "thing." Consciousness is utterly subjective. But without consciousness we wouldn't be aware of objective reality. So go figure... David Chalmers has done a lot of figuring on this subject. He's an Australian philosopher who specializes in the philosophy of mind/consciousness. I've had his book, "The Conscious Mind," sitting unread on my bookshelf for over a decade. A few days ago I picked it up,…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Pay attention to the world, not thoughts

I don't know why I didn't realize this a long time ago: The outside world is a lot more interesting than my thoughts about it. Well, I suppose I had realized it, since I find actually lying on a warm, sunny beach much more appealing than merely thinking about that prospect. Ditto with the pleasure of actually drinking coffee compared to pondering the notion of brewing a cup. But I've failed to pay attention to what I know. And that's a problem most of us have: paying attention in a proper way. The meaning of "proper," naturally, can be debated…
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Posted inComments Personal/Stories

Can’t resist some churchless thanksgiving’s

OK, I give up. I've tried my best to resist the onslaught of thankiness here in the United States. Today is Thanksgiving, a national holiday. It has something to do with being thankful (obviously), but even Wikipedia can't explain the origins of what often is called Turkey Day. For my wife and me, it's Wheat Gluten Day, as we're about to put a meatless Celebration Roast in the oven. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in a traditional fashion. However, there's nothing wrong with keeping "thanks" part of the day. So, that's what I'll do: say thanks to those who visit this…
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Posted inHumor Religions

Spiritual sadness and humor

Sad: a PBS video about the Devadasi practice in India -- religiously sanctioned prostitution. Funny: a graphic economic argument against the reality of supernatural phenomena. (thanks, Clare, for letting me know about these)
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Posted inReality Spiritual practice/meditation

Enlightenment made simple: it’s reality

Back in my true-believing religious days I looked upon enlightenment as something special, difficult to achieve, and rare. Now, I see it pretty much opposite: not unique, easy to attain, and commonplace. When you read descriptions of enlightenment in the world's spiritual, mystical, and philosophical literature -- and I've read lots of them -- some commonalities start to become apparent beneath all of the bewildering idiosyncratic descriptions. The basic one is this: loss or lessening of self-hood, egotism, sense of separateness. Supposedly enlightened people, such as the Buddha, talk about how "I-ness" isn't truly real. We humans aren't ego-encapsulated entities…
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Posted inBooks God

More bad arguments for the existence of God

Earlier this year I wrote a post about Rebecca Goldstein's book, "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction," citing several arguments that religiously-minded visitors to this blog often like to use. Each has flaws, which Goldstein points out clearly and entertainingly in an appendix to her book. They can be read here in their entirety. (Scroll down past the book excerpt.) I'd been slowly making my way through "36 Arguments," not finding the story all that engrossing. I liked the philosophical discussions, though, so decided to jump to the climactic debate between a religious skeptic and…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism

Stuff happens — meaning of life in two words

I'm not sure what I'd make of me if that wasn't who I am: me. But isn't that true of everyone, you included? (Who is the "me" to yourself, whereas I'm your "you.") By which I mean, if I saw myself from the outside rather than the inside, I'd likely think, "Wow, that dude is weird." That indeed is how I often look upon people, both dudes and dudettes. Yet to them, they're normal and it's other folks such as me who are strange. Today I sent off an email to a neighbor. I added some lines that had little…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Focus… focus… focus… Happy!

Happiness, it seems, lies on the other side of a wandering mind. To enjoy life it doesn't matter so much what we do, as how focused we are on whatever we're doing. This is one of the conclusions of research I blogged about yesterday in a HinesSight post, "When mind wanders, happiness departs." A New York Times story said: Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

A missionary’s deconversion by a “primitive” tribe

One of the most annoying aspects of Christianity is how this religion feels a necessity to try to convert people. Not every religion does. For example, by and large Judaism and Hinduism are content to let their faith speak for itself. So it's enjoyable when the tables are turned and a missionary finds himself deconverted by those who he sought to turn into Christians. Yesterday I learned about a You Tube video, "Christian missionary deconverted by tribe." (Thanks for the email, Clare.) Around the seven minute mark, Daniel Everett speaks of how his evangelizing to a South American tribe ended…
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