Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Sink down to heaven

Rise up! Elevate your consciousness! Soar to the heavens! Spirituality usually is viewed as involving some sort of ascent. Earthly concerns supposedly hold us down, while divinity lies on a more ethereal plane of reality. I used to believe this. I've spent countless (almost) hours in meditation seeking to focus all of my attention at a point inside my forehead – the Third Eye, or eye center – after which, I was told, my soul consciousness would be transported into higher spiritual regions. Writing a book about Plotinus, a Greek mystic philosopher, helped move me to a different viewpoint. Plotinus…
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Posted inUniverse

What?! The universe isn’t all about me?!

Warning: if you're comfortable feeling that the cosmos is designed around you, or humanity in general, what you're about to read runs the risk of putting some leaks in your belief bubble. I'm not only speaking to the religious, even though theology and metaphysics is where you'll find the most egregious examples of Homo sapiens centeredness. The churchless also are prone to self-centered grandiosity. I know, because I am one. For me, faithlessness came down the track of my psyche long before humility. Understand, I'm not claiming any sort of ego-loss now. I'm still as full of myself as ever.…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

What else is there to say?

Once again, Edward nailed it (or rather, me) right on the head in a cogent comment. Regarding my previous musing, he said: Brian, reading this post I got the feeling that you won't have to write much longer, you are almost done... I like those words, almost done. Conjures up an image of being slowly cooked, like a roast pig turning on a spit. I've been feeling a non-Biblical apple in my mouth make me grin more. Doesn't seem like the churchless heat has been turned up all that high, but clearly it's been causing some changes. Anyway, you're right,…
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Posted inReligions

No problem, no religions

Life is full of problems. But is life itself a problem? At the moment I feel like my wife and I have more than our usual quota of difficulties to deal with. Our septic system is acting up, not draining as it should. The dog had diarrhea last night, with a result best left undescribed. Jury duty calls me tomorrow morning at a time much earlier than I usually function. My dentist gave me a referral to an endodontist for a possible gum graft, which hopefully sounds worse than it actually is. No doubt about it: life, at times, is…
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Posted inUniversism

Who needs useless Universism?

My frustrating involvement with Universism ended a few years ago when this supposed non-religion turned out to be as fundamentalist freaky as any other faith (if you click on that link, scroll down past this post to find the history of my Universist involvement). I hadn't thought about this naturalist philosophy, which foundered under the massive ego and administrative cluelessness of its founder, Ford Vox, until I received an email a few days ago from someone who wondered Why Universism? Good question. I've shared Alexander Szeto's message below. His list of humanist / naturalist organizations is a handy guide. I…
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Posted inPolitics

I’m praying that Sarah Palin never becomes V.P.

Though Sarah Palin's hotness makes her more appealing to look at, compared to the usual wrinkled right-wing religious white guys, her Christian zealotry is just as scarily ridiculous. Scary, because here's a God is on my side true believer who could, just possibly, heaven help us, be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Oh, wait! We already have a president like that. So what's the problem with another one? Lots. By comparison, Sarah Palin actually makes George Bush look minimally competent and well-informed. So her astounding fatuous cluelessness, when combined with her trite Christian fundamentalism, results in an exceptionally dangerous…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Craziness can be a dose of sanity

The older I get, the more appealing a little craziness appears to me. I'm not talking about whacked out psychosis, but something milder – in the immoral, illogical, illicit, or ill-understandable sphere of strangeness. Stuff that soothes a person's far out! soul, while making others question why he or she is marching out of the beat of the ordinary. I'm not religious. However, there are aspects of religiosity that fill the crazy bill. Of course, theologically every religion is certifiably nuts. Intellectual or conceptual craziness isn't a positive sort of far out-ness. On the other hand, when I watch TV…
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Posted inBuddhism

Best reason for why you don’t exist

Got to be fair. Can't play favorites. A few days ago I talked about the best reason why God doesn't exist. Now, here's the flip side: why you, and I, don't exist. This is a central Buddhist notion, anatta, no-self. But my big fat ego has resisted the notion, despite the many times I've read about it. Somehow I just seem so…I don't know…me. Last night, though, I heard myself talking as if I believed that there's no enduring central core to me. Laurel and I went out to dinner with some visiting relatives and two of their old college…
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Posted inReligions

Churchlessness is more godly than religion

How can people believe that giving up religiosity makes someone less spiritual, less loving, less humble, less of a truth seeker? Actually, becoming churchless brings one closer to God. (Let's define that term: "God," for me, is shorthand for "ultimate reality." It denotes mystery, not the known.) Here's why: You're religious if you believe… -- there's only one path to God, and you're on it-- God looks with special favor on the members of your faith-- after death, you're headed in a better direction than non-believers-- God likes certain thoughts and actions, and you know what those are-- aside from…
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Posted inGod

Best reason for why God doesn’t exist

Big topic: why God doesn't exist. And an uncomfortable one, for most people. So I'll ease into it, before doing my best to burst some believing bubbles. I experienced a quasi-miracle this morning. "Quasi," because it really wasn't one. But to someone religious what happened to me would be nothing short of miraculous. Aside from the fact that the miracle pointed to no-God. A few days ago I wrote about multiple universes and my newly founded Church of Holy Fuck! Because that's what I say when I ponder the notion of many me's (and you's) populating the infinite cosmos. I…
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Posted inScience

Join the Church of Holy Fuck!

There's nothing wrong with churches that some churchlessness won't fix. After all, that's what this blog is. This morning I was inspired to become the first member of another churchless church, that of Holy Fuck! In chartering this institution within my own psyche, my first decision was whether the exclamation point was necessary. Grammatically, it could be confusing – as in the title of this post. Does the ! go with the entire sentence, or just with Church of Holy Fuck! I've concluded that it's better to be confused than lackadaisical. Hence, I'm decreeing that an exclamation point shall always…
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Posted inGod

If God is one, there’s no place to go

Like most people, I've got an affinity for one. It just seems so much more, well, together than two. Plus, nobody chants "We're #2! We're #2!" Or intones, "May we all realize our twoness." Back when I was researching and writing a book about Plotinus, a Greek mystic philosopher, I spent a couple of years immersed in thoughts about oneness . After all, the title of the book is "Return to the One." So some new comments on a well-commented older post caught my eye today. Adam said: Tuscon,you wrongly write:"Philosophies like Sant Mat...are dualistic." Sant Mat states that the…
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Posted inTaoism/Tai Chi

Taoism’s cosmic melody

Music. Sound. Vibrations. Dance. These aren't just worldly night club notions. They're also at the root of some of the world's most profound mystical and spiritual traditions. Like, Taoism. Yesterday I left a comment on a post, responding to some thoughts from Adam . I said: Adam, I don't think it's accurate to say that the form of meditation practice you described differentiates RSSB/Sant Mat from all other faiths. Sant Mat likes to claim that the "sound current" is at the foundation of every deep mystical practice. This is an exaggeration, but I have quite a collection of books that…
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Posted inGod

Anti-Pascal’s wager bets on life

Pascal's Wager frequently is held up as a reason to believe in God. As I noted in a previous post ("You're religious, but are you right?"), Pascal argued that it's best to gamble on belief. There are four possible outcomes to the wager: (1) You believe in God and God exists, (2) You believe in God and God doesn't exist, (3) You don't believe in God and God exists, (4) You don't believe in God and God doesn't exist. Pascal held that the best and worst outcomes are (1) and (3) in which God exists. Then, a belief in God…
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Posted inReality

Reality offers plenty of mystery

It's baffling why people feel the need to fantasize about God and the supernatural when here-and-now reality is so full of bedazzlement. This is one of the reasons why I liked Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" so much. I resonated with her embracing science after discarding traditional religions and New Agey speculation. My morning meditation corner usually has a selection of books near at hand. I bounce back and forth between mystical/spiritual and scientific themes, because I find just as much inspiration in a down to earth discussion of material reality as in a soaring paean to soulful wonders.…
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Posted inBooks

“Letting go of God” – great churchless inspiration

After learning about Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" monologue several years ago, I wrote a post about her evolution from Christian believer to scientific skeptic – without having heard her entire take on the God thing. "Letting Go of God" has been sitting on my iPod, but until yesterday I'd hadn't gotten around to listening to all of it. A long car trip to central Oregon and back was the perfect opportunity to fill my questioning psyche with Sweeney's words. Which, it turned out, described a spiritual journey that bore considerable resemblance to mine. And, I'm sure, that of…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

The strange side of guru devotion

Today I got an email about the recent visit of an Indian guru, Gurinder Singh, to Petaluma, California. The guru's organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), has built a large center there. It's mainly used for gatherings of devotees during Gurinder Singh's periodic, and often unscheduled, visits. I found the following tale interesting, not least because I was an active member of RSSB for many years. Since most people who read this post won't be familiar with the group, or with a few Indian words, here's some background. "Seva" means service, volunteering. It takes on a special cast when done…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Churchless have more faith than believers

When you don't believe in religion or dogma any more, most people think you've become less spiritual – not as committed to fathoming the mystery of God. Actually, the opposite is true. Jack Haas says it well in his "The Way of Wonder." Faith, absolute faith, is the acceptance of walking with eyes fully open into the infinite darkness; faith is without expectation, hope, petition, or piety, or it is not faith, it is merely belief. Belief is a characteristic of concept, faith is a characteristic of mystery; for 'belief' is the acceptance of something we do not know, whereas…
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Posted inWu Project

Meaning of the universe may be meaninglessness

If a movie ever is made of my life, this coffee house moment has to be in it. In an intuitive flash, I got a glimpse into what the universe is all about. Nothing. None of the above. No answer. Nobody home. No way to know. A bunch of negatives. But the feeling I had was wonderfully positive. Unfortunately, it didn't last. While it did, though, I felt lighter, more joyful, the weight of a gigantic question mark having been lifted off of my inquiring psyche. Reading the first few pages of a book, "The Way of Wonder," preceded my…
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Posted inMiracles

Miracles are just the law of large numbers

If enough things happen, some will be "miraculous." That's a given, if a miracle is taken to mean something way out of the ordinary. Every time somebody wins a gigantic lottery prize, that's a miracle. What are the odds!? Hundreds of millions or more against those numbers being picked. Yet, some set of numbers necessarily had to be chosen. So the winner feels it was utterly unlikely he or she got the prize, while it was completely predictable that eventually the money would be won by somebody. In "Folk Numeracy and Middle Land" Michael Shermer discusses our inability to comprehend…
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