Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh completely upends Sant Mat dogma

It's decidedly weird that... (1) Many commenters on this blog are devotees of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization headed by a guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon; and (2) these same commenters refuse to believe that Gurinder Singh has completely changed the traditional RSSB teachings that they defend so strongly. Hopefully the following will change some minds. Today this message was emailed to me by Osho Robbins, who has previously shared his take on what can be called Sant Mat v. 2.0 and v. 3.0, to distinguish the new RSSB teachings being promulgated by Gurinder Singh from the…
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Posted inComments

Blog commenters have different styles of making their point

People are different. This is a truism that bears repeating, because we all tend to think that other people think like us. After all, the only mind we're directly acquainted with is our own. And even that mind we know only imperfectly, since most of what goes on in our cranium happens subconsciously, with only the tip of the iceberg of our psyche rising into conscious awareness. After fifteen years of blogging, which has entailed reading many thousands of comments on my posts, I continue to be intrigued by the various ways people use to make a point about something.…
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Posted inSpiritual practice/meditation

Embrace beautiful imperfection. Push away judgement.

Today's Daily Calm guided meditation on my iPhone app was called "Beautiful Imperfection." Below is a transcript I made of how it ended. I really liked the call for less judgement and more connection.This is tough enough to do in real life. It's considerably more difficult on the Internet, where we form judgements about people without having even seen them, much less understood them. That's why I thought what follows is a good reminder that while informed judgement often makes some sense, uninformed judgement should be engaged in cautiously, if at all. It's so often that our mind falls into…
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Posted inGod

Why God is a psychological illusion

Billions of people believe that God is real, even though there is zero demonstrable evidence of God's existence. So there must be something in the human mind that produces the illusion of God. In his engrossing book, "Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even if the Universe Doesn't," psychiatrist Ralph Lewis quotes evolutionary psychologist Jesse Bering on why people are so prone to supernatural beliefs.  Theory of mind is mentioned in the quotes below. Heres's how Lewis succinctly describes what this is. Part of people's belief in a higher power stems from our ability to form a…
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Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 15 (free speech for comments)

Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. Though I haven't been doing too well on this, I'll try to remember to always have an Open Thread showing in the Recent Posts section in the right sidebar. If one isn't showing, I've added an Open Threads category in, naturally, the Categories section. You can always find an Open Thread that way. So if you're a believer in some form of religion, mysticism, or spirituality, this is where you can put your "praise God," "praise Guru," or "praise _______" comments. (Take note, commenter who goes by…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

The RSSB guru likes to see naked women on the beach

Well, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and I have something in common: we both enjoy looking at naked women. But the difference between us is that Gurinder Singh is the Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru, so supposedly is "God in human form," and I'm just ordinary me. Here's an email message I received from a woman who found Gurinder Singh's behavior at "satsang" (a spiritual meeting) in India to be appalling. Again, it isn't unusual to hear men talk in this fashion. However, one expects something different from a guru who is purported to have elevated his consciousness to an enlightened level.…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

The Singh brothers are in deep trouble, which involves Gurinder Singh Dhillon

It looks like the financial misdeeds of Shivinder and Malvinder Singh, nephews of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, are catching up to them. This morning someone emailed me a link to this India Business Today story, "Delhi High Court summons Singh brothers for first time in Daiichi case."  Here's some excerpts: According to The Business Standard, the high court asked the Singh brothers to personally appear in the court on August 10 to explain the reasons for discrepancies in their statements over their holdings in FHL. The court wants to understand that whether the Singh brothers…
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Posted inGod Humor

Thanks to Ariana Grande, I now believe God is a woman

Hey, I've become a believer. In God. Who is a woman. The lyrics explain this profound theology: You, you love it how I move youYou love it how I touch youMy one, when all is said and doneYou'll believe God is a womanAnd I, I feel it after midnightA feeling that you can't fightMy one, it lingers when we're doneYou'll believe God is a woman I don't wanna waste no time, yeahYou ain't got a one-track mind, yeahHave it any way you like, yeahAnd I can tell that you know I know how I want itAin't nobody else can relateBoy,…
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Posted inDelusions God

Why God is an illusion, along with other supernatural stuff

Here's a perplexing question: Why are so many people convinced that they've had an experience of God, or some other supernatural entity, when there is no demonstrable proof that these things exist? Are these people lying? Some probably are, but not all. So the most likely explanation is that they've fooled themselves into believing that their divine experience was real. How this happens is one of the subjects psychiatrist Ralph Lewis discusses in his fascinating book, "Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even if the Universe Doesn't."  I've just started reading this book,  but can tell that…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories

I’ve got a new non-religious “mantra”

I don't believe in mantras any more, having found the wisdom to deconvert from an Indian philosophy that espoused repeating some supposedly holy words silently in one's head not only during meditation, but as much as possible throughout the day. Looking back, this was a ridiculous thing to do.  A mantra essentially mesmerizes the brain, distracting the repeater of a mantra from being fully aware of what is happening both in the world outside and inside of them.  It's a way of denying reality. Often a mantra is believed to have some sort of supernatural power, which of course is…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Thoughts about enlightenment from a Church of the Churchless visitor

I like to hear from people who read my blog posts -- especially when what they say is supportive of my churchless un-preaching. Here's an email message that I got today from John. After I asked if I could share his message, he said "sure." I like John's perspective on things. He and I carry on a fairly regular correspondence.  Hey Brian.  Wow.  I really enjoyed reading your latest post on enlightenment!  To me, that is so freeing!  I’ve pretty much come to the same conclusion. There is a lot of pressure involved in trying to become “enlightened”.  You know…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

“Enlightenment” is a meaningless concept

Over on this post of mine there's been a comment conversation about enlightenment. "JB" left this cogent comment, which I agree with. Tim Rimmer said: "Wasn't that the nature of the Buddha’s realisation? - All is Dukkha, yet ‘one’ is able to remove/get past it?" That one is able to remove/get past suffering is unadulterated mythology. The hero, the savior, the enlightened person- these are all variations on a theme. This is the mythical theme that has encapsulated humankind's greatest hope. It is a dead giveaway that the "enlightened masters" are all from the ancient past. Those that claim to…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

“Teaching is impossible.” An excerpt from The Wooden Bowl book.

People often make spirituality into something complex, argumentative, esoteric. They consider there's a right and wrong way to meditate, to worship, to live life.  I used to be one of those people. I'm a lot less dogmatic now.  Recently, like today, which is pretty damn recent, I've been both entertained and bemused by a rash of comments on this blog where people have been arguing about this and that.  I enjoy those sorts of interchanges. Except when I don't.  In those latter times, I try to remind myself of how simple spirituality can be. And how it really isn't necessary…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Autosuggestion plays a role in mystical experiences

There's a well-known Carl Sagan saying, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." So if someone makes a claim about having experienced a supernatural realm of reality, that extraordinary claim obviously requires extraordinary evidence in order for it to be believable. And a related requirement is that other explanations for the supposed mystical experience should be seriously considered, since most likely an extraordinary claim actually is the result of something quite ordinary.  To give a mundane example, when I was a young child I recall waking up in the middle of the night and seeing an intruder standing at the foot of…
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Posted inComments

Tips for my Typepad blog visitors who are having a problem with comments

Some visitors to this Church of the Churchless blog have problems with leaving a comment on a post. Usually this is due to the comment being identified by Typepad, my blogging service, as "spam." When this happens, I need to approve the comment after checking the spam section of the blog's comment file. I try to remember to do this daily, and when possible, several times a day. Just realize that sometimes I'm away from my computer for quite a while, so I'm unable to check the spam section. And sometimes I forget to do this, being busy with other…
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Posted inBuddhism Spiritual practice/meditation

Nice quotes from “Confession of a Buddhist Atheist”

I'm a big fan of Stephen Bachelor, who writes about Buddhism from a pleasingly non-religious, non-supernatural perspective. I didn't like "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist" as much as his other books, but some quotations from this book that someone emailed to me resonated with my psyche.  Here they are. The boldfacing was added by the person who sent me the quotes. To be conscious of what is happening in the present requires training in mindfulness, which Gotama described as “the one way” to achieve the kind of focused presence and responsiveness needed to function optimally on a groundless ground. Indeed,…
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Posted inMystics Reality

Why I don’t believe in anyone’s supposed supernatural experience

Today I got an email from someone who said: Well, here in your blog itself, you have all of these people sharing their experiences.  Huge voluminous paragraphs detailing all kinds of dramatic experiences, with stars and moons and spatial flight and GIHFs [God In Human Form] popping up with personal guidance and what-have-you.  My question is : Why do you ignore them now, now that you do see these experiences spoken of, quite plainly? This was my response.----------------------------As you might expect, I consider that people who say they’ve had experiences of a supernatural reality are either deluding themselves, or other…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh’s billionaire nephew rumored to succeed him as RSSB guru

This morning someone emailed me a link to a juicy story, "Brothers Singh and the squandering of a business empire." The brothers referred to are Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the nephews of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) guru Gurinder Singh. RSSB is headquartered in India, but has a worldwide reach. I used to belong to this spiritual organization whose guru is considered to be God in Human Form by true-believing devotees.  I say "true-believing," because Gurinder Singh, shown above, has been promulgating revised versions of the RSSB teachings, so it is unclear whether the guru himself believes in v.1.0, v2.0,…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Reality

“Existence is entirely futile.” A brave essay on the human condition.

With the author's permission, here's a highly thoughtful, well-reasoned, nicely-written email message I received recently that presents a stark, but persuasive, perspective on the human condition.  I enjoyed reading about what led this person to change from a hopeful spiritual person to a nihilistic atheist. The message ended with an invitation to me to comment on it, which I was pleased to do -- which led to some further thoughts from the message sender. I've shared an edited version of our interchange after the essay itself. Enjoy. And I mean that word, enjoy, because even though what follows will strike…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

I got mail…

Well, not really mail (who writes personal letters these days?), but an email. I always like to hear from people who feel supported by what I write on this blog. I enjoy speaking truth and exposing the falsities of religion. Here's part of what an emailer who has recently deconverted from the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) belief system, also known as Sant Mat, said: I related to a lot of what you wrote about Sant Mat.  In fact, I didn’t find anything I disagreed with! It seemed you had many of the same thoughts I did – the same…
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