Posted inMeaning of life Personal/Stories

Oregon wildfires reflect the uncertain nature of reality

Religions are prone to all sorts of ridiculous errors, but one of the worst is believing that reality can be tamed. Meaning, eliminating uncertainty, chance, randomness, unpredictability. It's a psychological truism that we humans are uncomfortable with uncertainty. So we make up stories to fill the gap between what is known and what we have questions about where answers are lacking. How did existence come to be? Nobody knows. Science is content with leaving this question as a mystery. Religions, though, make up a tale about how God created the cosmos -- ignoring the obvious problem of how God came…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

“Mystical” experiences aren’t what meditation is about

Today someone asked me and someone else some questions about the meditation I did during the 35 years I was an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization headquartered in India.  Here's what Tony Wims said in a comment. Hey Brian or Osho. Just curious: Did either of you ever see the light or hear the sound during meditation? If you did, what stopped you from developing your perception further?If you didn't, I'm actually really surprised that you didn't and you were initiated. Were you following the precepts? ( If you didn't see/hear). Did you not start…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru’s finances investigated by Delhi Police

Here's a September 3 story in The Economic Times about an investigation by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police into financial transactions involving Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), and other members of the Dhillon family. lt's good to see that allegations made by Malvinder Singh, a relative of the guru, are being looked into. A RSSB book is titled "Honest Living." The Dhillon family tax returns and other documents requested by the Delhi Police will cast light on how honestly the guru has been living. Radha Soami Satsang Beas chief summoned by…
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Posted inBooks

The stories we tell ourselves can go awry

A few days ago I wrote about how amazing it is that fictional stories can seem so real. In that post I was speaking about stories told to us by others in the form of movies, TV shows, novels, and the like.  But we humans also tell stories to ourselves. Not just a little, but a lot.  After all, much, if not most, of our inner dialogue, that voice speaking inside the head of the vast majority of people (I've read that some individuals don't experience that inner speech) has to do with explaining to ourselves what did happen, is…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Religions

It’s amazing how fictional stories can seem so real

If you ever wonder how religious stories -- Adam and Eve, Krishna, Moses, so many others -- are believed by billions of people, go into a movie theater. (Or remember doing this, if theaters are closed where you are because of the Covid crisis.) If it's a horror film, likely you'll hear shrieks of terror. If a thriller, gasps of surprise. If a romance, tears being wiped away. We humans have no problem being drawn into a fictional story to such an extent it arouses much the same emotions as if the drama was happening to us in real life.…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Malvinder Singh provides proof of financial deals with RSSB guru

Here's two new stories in the Indian financial press about the fraudulent loan saga involving the Singh brothers and their relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. It sure looks like the guru wasn't being truthful when he reportedly said that he has never received money from anyone other than his parents, and also when he filed an affidavit saying he didn't owe money to Malvinder Singh. But I'm sure there will be more twists and turns in this seemingly never-ending scandal. If my calculation is correct, 1,743 crore rupees equals about $200 million in U.S.…
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Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 34 (free speech for comments)

Here's a new Open Thread. Remember, off-topic comments should go in an Open Thread.  If you don't see a recent comment, or comments, posted, it's because you've failed to follow the above rule. Keep to the subject of a blog post if you leave a comment on it. And if you want to use this blog as a "chat room," do that in an open thread. As noted before, it's good to have comments in a regular blog post related to its subject, and it's also good to have a place where almost anything goes in regard to sharing ideas, feelings, experiences, and such. That place is…
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Posted inBooks Buddhism

Buddhism’s non-dualistic view of meditation

It's usually rather simplistic to start off by saying "There are two kinds of...", because generally nature, or reality, doesn't come in two well-defined flavors -- like vanilla and chocolate. Instead, there are many flavors, many shades of gray between black and white. That said, in general I consider there are two views of meditation, dualistic and non-dualistic.  Dualistic approaches typically see us humans as being comprised of an immaterial soul and material body. The goal of meditation is to detach the soul from the body, which enables it to return to god, or merge with god, as in the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru’s personal life should be closely examined

Somebody sent me this screenshot from the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) web site. The message says that RSSB devotees shouldn't pay attention to the personal life of the RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, nor his private family matters. I disagree, for reasons I'll share below. Dhillon is a public figure. He is the leader of a religious organization with millions of followers. He is shown in You Tube videos that are viewed by many. And Dhillon also has been the subject of many stories in the Indian financial press regarding the involvement of the guru, his family, and close…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru vents his anger, but says no one else should

Ah, the hypocrisy of so-called "spiritual" leaders. The rules don't apply to them, only to everybody else. I love pointing out how absurd this is. Here's an example. The guru of an India-based religious organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), is featured in You Tube videos where his devotees ask questions and get answers. Not good answers. Not reasonable answers. But answers, which sometimes are wildly hypocritical. I don't watch the videos, since I don't enjoy being exposed to religious mumbo-jumbo. However, a commenter on one of my blog posts recently shared a link to a video where the RSSB…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus

Here’s a compelling story of how someone deconverted from Christianity

I love reading deconversion stories. It's hugely more interesting to learn how someone came to reject a religion, than how they embraced it. Here's a message I got from a person who used to be a devout Christian until they saw the light of rationality. What's fascinating is how they used the Bible to come to a conviction that Christianity didn't make sense. I also liked how they discovered what happened after they deconverted. Nothing bad, though this is what preachers claimed would happen. Actually, this person says they are happier now in a number of ways.  So don't hesitate…
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Posted inBuddhism Science Spiritual practice/meditation

Don’t be proud of losing your self. You never had one.

Today I heard Sam Harris say something interesting, yet rather obvious, in a dialog with Loch Kelly on Harris' Waking Up app. Basically, Harris said that no one should feel proud of having become selfless through their meditation, because they never had a self to begin with. The self is a mirage. So teaches Buddhism, and so teaches modern neuroscience. It's akin to the illusion of seeing water ahead on a hot desert road. When you get closer, you realize there's no water there at all. It's a mirage. I've written quite a bit about the illusion of a self.…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru back in Singh brothers financial scandal spotlight

Here's a hot-off-the-press (August 13) story from The Economic Times about the latest turn of events involving the Singh brothers and their relative, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). Dhillon has been accused by Malvinder Singh of using his influence as a trusted spiritual guide and family advisor to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars from a company once controlled by Malvinder. Fraudulent "loans" allegedly funneled money into the pockets of the guru and his family via shell companies headed up by directors associated with the Dhillon family and RSSB. I've boldfaced portions of…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

Live as if you could die at any moment

A few days ago I tried to explain my relationship with reality. Given how meaty, or in my case, tofuy, that subject is, I necessarily had to leave out some of the maxims that currently guide my life. The title of this blog post is another one: live as if you could die at any moment.  Practically speaking, i really mean live as much as possible as if you could die at any moment, because likely it would be counterproductive to always have a sensation that death could come in the next instant. Or, maybe not. I'm unsure about this.…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Why are beliefs so important?

Here's a guest post from Osho Robbins, who emailed what follows to me. He points out the difference between the beliefs held by devotees of a particular India-based religious organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and the reality of what the current leader of the organization, a guru (Gurinder Singh Dhillon) says the RSSB teachings are. Why are beliefs so important? What do you think of a person who still believes that the earth is flat?  Or someone who knows it's a sphere, but believes it is the centre of the universe and that the sun rotates around the earth? What…
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Posted inReality

I try to explain my relationship with reality

Periodically I like to ponder my relationship with reality. Like, now. Hey, movie theaters aren't open here in Oregon. My wife and I aren't eager to test our COVID luck by going to a gym or restaurant. My Tai Chi classes are on hold, though this week we started meeting on Wednesday afternoon in a park. So I've had some extra time to contemplate ways reality and I can improve how we get along. Of course, the first thing I realized is that the burden of improving the quality of our relationship falls on me, not reality, since I'm the…
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Posted inConsciousness

“Consciousness” might be a meaningless word

Below you can read a letter in New Scientist that raises a question I've pondered. Is there really such a thing as consciousness?  It's clear that, along with other living beings, we humans are aware of both our external surroundings and internal states like hunger, thirst, fear, sexual attraction, thoughts, and such. However, since that awareness is the brain in action when neurons reach a certain level of complexity, is it necessary to call that brain activity by a special name? Perhaps. Perhaps not.  As the letter writer notes, at one point people thought that there must be some medium…
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Posted inHumor

Magic fairies, like God, don’t exist. But we do.

Comic strips can say a lot in just a few words and pictures. Here's one in yesterday's Sunday paper that I like a lot. Wouldn't it be great if everybody worked to make the world a better place without resorting to supplications to imaginary beings like gods and fairies?  (Of course, John Lennon wrote a song along that line.)
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Posted inCoronavirus Science

The coronavirus doesn’t care what people think of it

Philosophically, the coronavirus (novel coronavirus, actually, since COVID is a new version) has some interesting aspects. Most obviously, the virus is teaching us something important. It doesn't give a shit what people think of it. It just does what it is designed to do by evolution -- spread between individuals whenever it has a chance.  You can't pray your way out of getting it. You can't wish your way out of getting it. You can't positive-think your way out of getting it. The only way to protect yourself is to avoid contact with the virus. Wear a mask. Physically distance…
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