Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Is it possible to meditate and “go inside”?

For about thirty-five years I belonged to a spiritual group whose core teachings included the importance of "going inside." Not a house, or any other building, but one's self. When I was trying to do this by meditating several hours a day, I never gave much thought to what "going inside" really meant, or if it was possible. I simply accepted the notion on faith. Which entailed the belief that another realm of consciousness exists in addition to what we're already aware of. Supposedly a person could focus his or her attention solely on internal processes of the psyche and…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Thanking an unknown “God”

Neuroscientific researchers tell us that it's natural to personify impersonal phenomena. Our brains essentially are hard-wired for a "supersense" which discerns supernatural forces even when there is no evidence for them. As churchless as I am, and as science-loving as I am, I still find myself talking to the cosmos as if someone could hear me. (I also talk to our dog as if she could understand me, and when the #1 Oregon Ducks football team was gritting out a 15-13 victory last Saturday, I entreatied the television as if the players could hear me -- even weirder, I'd recorded…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Meditation makes your cells healthier

Good news for us long-time meditators: a study shows that meditation is linked to psychological well-being, which in turn is related to higher telomerase -- an enzyme that makes cells healthy. The study participants had one-third more teomerase in their white blood cells than controls. However, this was only after they spent three months in an intensive meditation workshop that entailed six hours of personal meditation a day plus a couple of group sessions. I have a feeling that this would drive me nuts, rather than healthy, but I could be wrong. Regardless, I'm hoping that my current 20-30 minutes…
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Posted inScience

Matter is as mysterious as spirit

Those who like to delve into the interface of science and spirituality should check out David and Andrea Lane's "Mysterium Tremendum." I haven't read it closely enough to be able to talk about the essay thoughtfully. But a quick look-through showed me that the Lanes' piece makes a lot of wise observations about the overwhelming mystery of matter. Often religiously inclined people think that science takes the magic, mystery, and wonder out of living. Not true. Attitudes like that simply show how little those folks know about modern science. Here's some excerpts from the the essay: Therefore, a very strong…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Politics

Why politics and fundamentalist Christianity shouldn’t mix

Here's a great example of why personal religious beliefs should be kept out of public policy debates: Illinois Congressman John Shimkus citing Genesis in support of his contention that global warming is nothing to worry about.   He's standing by his remarks, made in 2009, that everything will be fine because God promised He wouldn't destroy the Earth after Noah's flood. The Illinois Republican running for the powerful perch atop the House Energy and Commerce Committee told POLITICO on Wednesday that his understanding of the Bible reaffirms his belief that government shouldn't be in the business of trying to address…
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Posted inBuddhism

Killing the false Buddha, Gotama lives truly

As my churchlessness has evolved, I find myself interested in a steadily smaller portion of the spiritual landscape. I used to devour writings by (and about) Rumi, Meister Eckhart, St. John of the Cross, and various Hindu/Vedanta mystics. Now, I mostly nibble at Buddhist and Taoist teachings when I feel the need for some "what's life all about?" philosophizing that isn't annoyingly religious. Only problem is, even with these offerings I have to be careful what I put on my reading plate. In the Buddhism category of this blog I've written about what I like and don't like about Buddhist…
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Posted inReality

Instant enlightenment. Guaranteed. Just read this.

Before I proceed to enlighten you through a few well-chosen paragraphs, side-stepping all those ridiculous disciplines, such as meditation, that usually are regarded as necessary to achieve this elevated understanding, my inner attorney demands that I add some metaphorical fine print to the title of this blog post: First, you should indeed soon be enlightened as to the ultimate nature of the cosmos. However, don't expect that this will be, well, what you expect. Second, my guarantee is related to my just-mentioned "first." Have no doubt that my words will take you to the furthest reaches of reality. But if…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism Science

Reality is the only guru we need

After many years of searching for spiritual truth, about forty, most of which were spent following the teachings of a supposedly God-realized guru,  I finally feel like I know what this truth is. Reality. Which isn't spiritual at all. Nor otherworldly. Or supernatural, mystical, mysterious, secret, hidden from the unitiated. In other words, the big "spiritual truth" is that there isn't any. Everything we need to understand how we relate to the cosmos is right before our eyes: everyday life. Whatever you did today, and whatever you're doing right now, contains the wisdom of the ages. We just need to…
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Posted inMorality Religions

Agnostics and atheists are better than believers

Since I turned churchless, I've become a way better person. So I can testify to this truth that has been been revealed to me by the grace of absolutely nobody but myself: Agnostics and atheists are better people than believers, by and large. Note the "by and large," which protects my truth from being challenged by someone pointing out that agnostic/atheist human X is a world class asshole, while religious human Y is a marvelous example of what us Homo sapiens can become. I shall now engage in one of my favorite blogging activities -- demonstrating with impeccable logic and…
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Posted inBuddhism Science

Susan Blackmore’s Zen’ish theory of consciousness

Combine a Zen master and a psychologist interested in neuroscience. Bingo! You've created Susan Blackmore, or someone very much like her. I've finished reading her Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction. I'm fascinated by consciousness, because it's what I am. All I am, really, since whatever I'm not conscious of doesn't exist for me. So whatever consciousness is, or isn't, seemingly would tell me a lot about who I am, or aren't. I used to believe in supernatural notions of consciousness, but now I'm much more interested in scientific theories. After all, I'm a body with a brain. Or a brain…
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Posted inHumor

Another great Duhism

I'm a daily reader of Duhisms. Here's a recent one that I enjoyed. The proof of spiritual attainment is shown by transcending "I." Is anyone else made a wee bit suspicious that "I" believe this? Along this line, after I watched about half of The Advaita Trap cartoon I figured out that the dark brown creature must have written most of the books that I've bought about non-duality. Check it out. I confess that once I got to the five minute mark my head felt like it was going to explode, so I didn't watch the rest.  
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Posted inBooks Spiritual practice/meditation

I’ve stopped having spiritual experiences

I can't remember the last time I had a spiritual experience. Well, more accurately, the last time I had an experience that I called "spiritual." I used to have lots of them. I've been to India twice, each time spending several weeks at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas headquarters in the Punjab. Seeing the guru, who is considered to be God in human form, seemed deeply spiritual to me. Ditto with having a feeling that I should take I-205 rather than I-5 just before crossing the Columbia River into Oregon -- I was driving home after seeing the guru give…
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Posted inHumor

God doesn’t appear at Rally to Restore Sanity

Well, what a non-surprise. At today's Rally to Restore Sanity on the National Mall in Washington, DC, God didn't make an appearance -- despite the implorings of not-exactly a Father Guido Sarducci. I watched the first half of the rally on C-Span, so got to see Father Sarducci's benediction. It was appealingly comedic, though not without some fairly serious philosophising at the expense of true believers. Noting that there lots of religions in the world, each of which believes that it knows the truth about God while the rest are mistaken, Sarducci asked God to send a sign to the…
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Posted inBooks Morality

Exploring the moral landscape with Sam Harris

This morning I finished reading Sam Harris' newest book, "The Moral Landscape." After blogging favorably about the first two chapters, I continued to enjoy Harris' neuroscientific, yet eminently readable, take on how human wellbeing can be expanded via facts rather than faith. Events in the world, and the brain, affect how we experience life. If we study the relationship between those events and our experiences, we stand a good chance of being able to climb higher on the "moral landscape" (individually and collectively). Harris says: Throughout this book I make reference to a hypothetical space that I call "the moral…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Raptitude is an inspiring Buddhist’ish blog

When I scanned through the Twitter tweets put up by the people I follow, a few days ago I saw a link to "9 Mind-Bending Epiphanies That Turned My World Upside-Down." Great title. I had to see what that piece said. Reading it on the Raptitude site, I was introduced to some excellent writing by David Cain. Here he describes how Raptitude came to be. I am a regular guy who has beat up his biggest demon. To make a long story short, I used to find life very difficult and now I don’t. For a while I was having…
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Posted inMorality Reality

People aren’t free to believe

Here in the United States, you often hear "It's a free country, so...[I can do such and such.]" Reflecting this attitude, I frequently say on this blog that people are free to believe whatever they want to, so long as they don't try to force those beliefs on others. But Sam Harris has caused me to see the caveats in this. In his new book, The Moral Landscape, a section in the "Belief" chapter is called Do We Have Freedom of Belief? Short answer: No. If you ask me to raise a hand, I can choose either my right or…
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Posted inBuddhism Science Wu Project

We all may be living selflessly

Usually we consider that being "selfless" means acting altruistically. This casts the word in a moral sense, which is how most religions see it. We're supposed to put God and others before ourselves. But there's a scientific side to selflessness that I'm finding increasingly intriguing: the notion that nobody has a self, so we're all selfless -- including the greediest, most egotistical, and me-centered among us. Recently I wrote about a book where noted thinkers talk about what they believe, but cannot prove. I quoted psychologist Susan Blackmore: It is possible to live happily and morally without believing in free…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Sam Harris doesn’t really believe in God

Wow, that was scary for a moment. I open up Newsweek and find an article with the headline, "Sam Harris Believes in God." My churchless brain started to scream, Noooooooo! Sam, how could you become a believer?! After all, Harris wrote a couple of great anti-religious books, "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation." It would have been disappointing for me to find that he had gone over to the dark side of blind belief. Fortunately, the very first paragraph of the story started to relieve my anxiety. Sam Harris, a member of the tribe known as…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism

Buddhism’s consensual core isn’t supernatural

What is the essence of a religion? That is, how can we tell whether someone is a "real" Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or whatever? What degree of supposed heresy is beyond the bounds of a belief system? These are tough questions to answer, in part because they are religion-specific. Hinduism seems to be a lot more accomodating of alternative viewpoints than Christianity is. Yet Mormons usually are considered to be Christian, even though they stretch the gospel truth (so to speak) in some far-out directions. I got to thinking about this after having a comment interchange with Todd on…
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Posted inBooks Death/Rebirth

Here’s a tale from the afterlives

I'm hugely enjoying David Eagleman's "Sum: forty tales from the afterlives." This is a marvelously creative and thought-provoking book, unlike anything I've ever read before.

Sum is a work of fiction (maybe). The back cover says:

With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now.

There's no way to explain the book. So I'll simply share one of the tales that I especially enjoyed. Read on.

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