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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Posted inBooks Spiritual practice/meditation

Know when to step back, to reassess, to go in a different direction

As I make my way through Maria Konnikova's book about learning poker, "The Biggest Bluff," I keep my eye out for insights by this Ph.D. psychologist that pertain to a churchless way of life. Below are some passages I read this morning that are pertinent to those who are wondering whether they should stick with a religion, spiritual path, or mystical teaching that no longer seems to make sense. Konnikova speaks of the sunk cost fallacy. Basically, it means that you keep on doing something because you're invested in it. The investment could be money, but it also could be…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru asks good question: “How do you know I’m not a fraud?”

Back in 2006 I wrote a post called "Who is the guru?" In it I said this about the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), Gurinder Singh Dhillon. Gurinder Singh is fond of saying, “How do you know that I’m not a fraud?” and “Maybe I just have the gift of gab.” Devotees consider statements like these to be Zen-like pointers toward his divinity. But who knows? Maybe he’s pointing toward his humanity without being able to explicitly speak of who he directly knows himself to be. I don't know if the guru has continued to say those words.…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Let everything be just as it is

Here's part of what Sam Harris said yesterday in a guided meditation on his Waking Up app that I listen to most mornings, along with a guided meditation by Tamara Levitt on my Calm iPhone app. What would this moment be like if there truly was nothing missing, and nothing to do? Nothing to improve. Nothing to wait for. What if this is it? Is there any sign that it is insufficient? Is there any sign of its imperfection? Is there something you’re trying to accomplish? Simply relinquish all effort to try to improve experience in this moment. Let everything…
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Posted inPlotinus Radha Soami Satsang Beas

My talk about the One at a RSSB National Satsang Weekend

It's a discovery! Not of buried treasure, unfortunately, but of a post I wrote for my HinesSight blog a few months before I started this Church of the Churchless blog.  I came across a link to it while looking through early churchless posts to include in a second book of post compilations. Since there has been recent discussion about oneness on this blog, I figured it would be good to share this May 2004 post. Since I'd written a book about Plotinus' teachings, Return to the One, it was easy for me to talk on this subject. Not lost in…
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Posted inReality

Blind belief feels good, but isn’t a reliable guide to truth

Here's a nice "guest blog post" from Osho Robbins, who emailed it to me yesterday. I like what he has to say. I"m continually amazed at how people can believe crazy stuff that has no basis in fact, reason, or demonstrable evidence.  They've just heard it from somewhere and embrace it because it feels like it could be true. That's incredibly lazy. It also is why there are so many defenders of Trump's countless lies, so many people who feel that masks aren't effective in combating the spread of the coronavirus, so many deniers of the reality of human-caused global…
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Posted inCoronavirus Science

Dalai Lama says, “We must listen to scientists.”

Hey, I can dream. It'd be great if our science-denying president, Donald Trump, and his fact-phobic Republican colleagues would pay attention to what the Dalai Lama said in the most recent issue of TIME magazine. Oh, plus religious people who embrace prayer and faith over positive action and reason. The Dalai Lama is speaking to them also. I've boldfaced the parts of what he said that I particularly liked.  These are timely sentiments from the Daiai Lama, since the United States is experiencing the highest levels of COVID cases since the pandemic began, and Trump, along with some clueless Republican…
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Posted inComments

Do you think this person likes me? Hard to tell.

It's sometimes said that love can masquerade as hate. If so, whoever wrote this comment on one of my blog posts really loves me. Oh, so sweet. Makes my day. (But I decided not to publish the comment, since it goes against the blog's commenting guidelines.) Shame poor Brian defending his pathetic flock of denial driven derelict delinquency. You are the miserable little coward you dumb little asshole creep. No wonder your blog site has steadily degenerated into a pathetic little ass wipe between your godforsaken psychophant collection of irrelevant disgruntled groupie goons, and anyone who has the guts and…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh Dhillon says we already are One

Here's a message that Osho Robbins sent me. He said it'd be fine to share it as a blog post. Since I wrote a book called Return to the One, naturally I'm interested in notions of the One -- which appeal to me more than dualistic religious teachings. Hi Brian Finally a Q&A session that makes it clear - there is no journey - we are already ONE. 4 mins 30 secs in there is a 2.5 minute clear exposition in which Gurinder Singh Dhillon says:   1. We feel separated from the father - but the separation is not…
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Posted inUncategorized

Youthful vitality is mine now that I have the not-so-secret Five Rites

The cosmos must have a wonderful message for me. Or so I like to believe. Consider this chain of events, each of which appears completely normal, but which taken together leave me with the key to an ancient Tibetan practice of longevity. Cosmic message #1: I notice a book mentioned in a recent issue of New Scientist, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. Amazon offers next day delivery, so I get the book rapidly. Cosmic message #2: After a few days of reading Breath, and trying out some of the initial breathing exercises, I arrive…
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Posted inBooks Taoism/Tai Chi

Flow is key to poker, and also to life

I'm reading a fascinating book about poker, "The Biggest Bluff." The author, Maria Konnikova, has a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton after graduating from Harvard. So she's obviously smart. But she knew nothing about poker until she decided to learn the game under the guidance of Erik Seidel, a poker champion with tens of millions of dollars in earnings. That would make for interesting reading all by itself. What makes this book much more intriguing is how Konnikova's background in behavioral science enables her to discover important life lessons as she starts to play poker with the goal of entering…
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Posted inCoronavirus

One death is unbearably sad — 132,218 is beyond imagining

How the United States has managed, and mismanaged, our Covid crisis response occupies a lot of attention. Just about every conversation includes some variation of "How are you coping?" It's the most frequent topic on cable TV. Also, local television news. Yet I worry that we're ignoring what to me is a vital thing to focus on: the infinite treasure that is life. Which has a flip side: the unbearable sadness of death. Naturally I look upon this from my own perspective. A 71 year old man. An atheist. Someone who doesn't like the idea of his own inevitable death…
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