Posted inPersonal/Stories

Short cut to losing the ego

Been meditating for lots of years? Made pilgrimages to India? Devoted yourself to serving a church or other faith? And you still have a big ego? Don't worry. I've discovered another path to egolessness. No Zen master required. All you need is an inexpensive Flip Video and a free You Tube account. Then make some videos of yourself doing something that you think you can do, upload them, and experience the marvelous humility of seeing yourself from the outside rather than the inside. That's what I did yesterday on my other blog, with "Me doing Tai Chi." I mention this…
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Posted inScience

Brain damage = enlightenment?

Jill Bolte Taylor had what she calls a "stroke of insight." In her case it was an actual stroke – which produced a blood clot the size of a golf ball that pushed on her language centers in the left side of her brain. Watch the nineteen minute video of her talk about the experience. Or read the transcript. It's fascinating and moving. Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by…
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Posted inScience Vedanta/Advaita

Quantum and non-dual consciousness

Ah, intellectual and inspirational bliss. A free, downloadable, thoughtful, well-written "Course in Consciousness" that moves smoothly from down to earth quantum theory to soaring spirituality. This is my cup of reading tea. I've only been able to quickly browse through the 242 pages of Stanley Sobottka's writing, but I can tell that there's a lot to like here. Sobottka is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia, so obviously he knows his scientific stuff. His deep knowledge of, and appreciation for, Buddhist/Advaita teachings is more surprising – though he isn't the only physicist to wade into some…
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Posted inMiracles

Curse god freely. Then, laugh.

Praising god, what fun is there in that? But cursing god – or whatever higher power you don't believe in – this has a lot more entertainment value. Over on the terrific science blog Pharyngula ("Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal"), I ran across a post about a Indian man who volunteered to be put to death by a Tantrik magician. On live TV, no less. The laughing fellow on the left is Sanal Edamaruku, president of Rationalist International and atheist. The cranky old man in the robes on the right is Pandit Surinder Sharma, a…
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Posted inBooks

I abandon all hope in my book shelves

It's the only line from Dante's Divine Comedy that I know: "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." (one of various translations of what's inscribed on the gate of hell) For me, it's what I feel nowadays when I peruse the spiritual, mystical, metaphysical, and religious volumes in my book collection. I used to read these books voraciously, devouring them for insights into the Meaning of It All. I went through phases where I'd study a single subject for weeks or months. Sant Mat. Rumi. Meister Eckhart. Other medieval Christian mystics. The "desert fathers." Zen. Taoism. Plotinus. Emerson. To name…
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Posted inMiracles

Magicians, gurus, and magical thinking

Magic is so, well, magical. We see, but we can't believe our eyes. A rabbit comes out of a hat. But I saw the hat was empty! And nothing could have been put into it! Yet there's the rabbit, coming out of the hat. Go figure. Which most of us can't, because magic tricks usually are closely guarded secrets – from non-magicians, at least. Adam Gopnik wrote a fascinating piece for The New Yorker, "The Real Work," about the practice and philosophy of magic (the full story doesn't appear to be available online, just an abstract). About all an outsider…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Like what you believe, believe what you like

On big religious days like Easter, the faithful get to hang out with other believers and enjoy a pleasing group validation of shared beliefs. Today our local newspaper had a story about how 70 Christians turned out for a sunrise service in the Oregon rain and cold. A woman was quoted: This is a good way to start Easter – with other believers. Sure, why not? If I could find 70 other people who agreed with whatever the heck it is I believe in – an amorphous faithless faith that changes frequently – I'd love to hear them tell me,…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

What, it’s Easter?

After I bought a cup of coffee and some muffins this afternoon, the clerk said "Have a nice Easter." I thought, What, it's Easter? I'd completely lost track of what tomorrow was. I started to say, "I'd forgotten about it. Guess that shows how religious I am." But I decided to bite my tongue and simply say, "Thanks." Easter means absolutely nothing to me. Probably somebody in the world celebrates a memorable day in Zeus' existence. The two celebrations are equally senseless to my churchless self. Yet I realize that other people find religious rituals and holidays deeply meaningful. They're…
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Posted inUniverse

Brains vs. the universe

So who would come out on top in this contest? Might as well put it on pay per view, for more dramatic effect. Brains vs. the Universe – ultimate smackdown! My bet is on the universe. It's a lot bigger. And, when you think about it, smarter than brains. Because brains are part of the universe, and the universe is the whole deal (that's why it's called a universe). I got to pondering this in the course of leafing through a book I'd already read, "Creation Revisited" by Peter Atkins. Atkins is a chemistry professor at Oxford University. So his…
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Posted inPolitics

Obama paints a pleasing shade of religious gray

There's too much black and white in the world. Especially when it comes to religion. Believers adore crisp, clean demarcations between right and wrong, faith and faithlessness, truth and falsity, sacred and profane. Me, I'm increasingly into gray. Not that there's anything wrong with black and white. After all, their mixture produces the subtle shades that I like. Politicians, though, are under a lot of pressure to stake firm positions. "You're either with us, or against us" is a simplistic example. So this morning I was eager to read Barack Obama's speech on race and religion to see how he…
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Posted inGod

The Mystical Mind of God

Last week I got a present: an email from someone who attached a wonderfully written essay, "The Mystical Mind of God." I asked for permission to share it. Whatever you wish, came the reply, though please, if you do decide to do something, leave no footprints to my door. So the author is anonymous. Here's the piece in Word and PDF formats. It's thoughtful and well worth reading. Download the_mystical_mind_of_god.doc Download the_mystical_mind_of_god.pdf I enjoyed… --the emphasis on Western mystics and thinkers, who tend to get short shrift in mystically-inclined writings --how the author weaves together insights from theology, philosophy, psychology,…
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Posted inBooks

A critique of Ken Wilber and “Integral Spirituality”

I've got to keep my churchless credibility intact. I don't want to sound like I've become a Ken Wilber groupie after speaking favorably about his "Integral Spirituality" in some recent posts – here, here, and here. So now that I've finished the book, and visited (or re-visited) some web sites that criticize Wilber's Integral "theory of everything," I'll share what I don't like about Wilber's take on reality. Main objection: his complex theories about how everything in existence fits together strike me as much more reflective of the inside of Ken Wilber's head than of how the universe really works.…
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Posted inReligions

“How could you stop believing?”

I get asked that question a lot. Not often so explicitly, but implicitly. People wonder how, when I used to believe so strongly in certain religious teachings, now I don't. The implication is that my "losing faith" was a betrayal of some sort – that I discarded the spiritual system that I once clung to so tightly for no good reason, like a spouse dumping his or her partner on a whim. Well, what these people don't understand is that we all grow. Or at least, we should. Not in height and, disturbingly, girth, but in spiritual maturity. Which relates…
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Posted inHumor

RSSB cartoons show lighter side of Sant Mat

While perusing a Christian web site that pokes fun at evangelical fundamentalism, today I suddenly thought Cartoons! Back in 1999 I'd worked with a talented artist, Bart Goldman, on cartoons aimed at deflating the balloon of Radha Soami Satsang Beas seriousness (RSSB is a branch of Sant Mat). Bart and I both were RSSB initiates. We met at a RSSB bhandara (large get-together), introduced by a mutual friend: Victoria, also an artist. Several times Victoria leaned over to me and whispered, in a decided stage whisper, so Bart could hear, "He's very talented." Since spiritual cartooning ideas had been running…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

After meditating for 20 years, why no change?

Here's a good question for anyone who's been involved with a spiritual, mystical, or religious group for a long time. Do members of the group change and become better people, or do they get stuck at a certain level? In my experience – which consisted of thirty-five years of intimate contact with Radha Soami Satsang Beas disciples – I found that "stuck" was much more common than "change." I didn't expect this. When I got initiated by the organization's guru in 1971 (basically the equivalent of a Christian being born again and accepting Jesus as his savior), I looked upon…
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Posted inReality

Say “yes” to reality, denying nothing

I'm surprised to find myself saying yes! so enthusiastically to a book by Ken Wilber. Though I'm just four chapters into "Integral Spirituality," it's producing more positivity in me than irritation – a big change. If you aren't familiar with Ken Wilber, his life work is to figure out how everything fits together. And I do mean everything. His personal and institute web sites point to a dazzling intellectual and philosophical production. The guy is undeniably brilliant and creative. Also, provocative and full of himself. I've read quite a few of Wilber's previous books. I've written an article, "What Wilber…
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Posted inScience

Science unites, religion divides

I've enjoyed the big bang discussion that took off in the comments on my previous post. In the course of defending science and the scientific method against a man, Rhawn Joseph, who believes the big bang, evolution, relativity, and the laws of thermodynamics are all myths, I've had an opportunity to reflect on why science appeals so much to me. Pretty simple: it produces common ground on which we all can stand – reality. Religion divides people, because there's no agreement about the nature of what, if anything, lies beyond the physical universe. So dogmatic arguments over God, soul, life…
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Posted inReligions

Churchless on the rise in United States

Praise the non-Lord! The faithless are on the march! The ranks of the religiously unaffiliated have risen from 5-8% in the 1980s to 16.1% today. So says a survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life. This is great news. It shows that the Question Mark God, a.k.a. Who knows?, has a plan for America: ever-increasing uncertainty. A USA Today story on the Pew Forum report is titled, "Survey: Americans freely change, or drop, their religions." More good news. A new map of faith in the USA shows a nation constantly shifting amid religious choices,…
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Posted inScience

Starbucks coffee and the big bang

I don't know why drinking a latte at Starbucks makes me feel so cosmically strange. But here's what been happening recently. I sit down at a table, look at my cup, all festooned with the Starbucks logo and a quotation from somebody or other, and it just feels unbelievably weird. So freaking unlikely. That me, Brian, is existing right here and now, in an Oregon Starbucks, about to sip a warm caffeinated drink out of a cardboard container. What are the chances of this happening, given our 13.7 billion year old universe that sprang into existence from a speck of…
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Posted inScience

Physics ventures into the territory of mystics

I find scientific explanations of the universe much more satisfying than religious ones. Science grounds hypotheses in reality that can be observed, tested, and experimented upon. Religion constructs airy-fairy castles in the sky that are divorced from everyday experience. But there's a point, way out there, where observing, testing, and experimenting aren't possible – not even in theory. For example, much of the universe is forever beyond human knowledge because it is receding from us faster than the speed of light, so no signal will ever reach us from this domain. However, we can envision a possibility, remote as it…
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