What makes life meaningful? How is it that we can wake up in the morning and feel like jumping out of bed, rather than hiding beneath the covers?
A sense of purpose. Our life seems like it has a direction. We have a reason for being. Goals, intentions, to-do's.
In the' [...]
It's Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. Almost everybody is into thankfulness, whether sincere or feigned.
Myself, I'm thankful that I was able to get a HP wireless printer working with my wife's new iMac this afternoon. It was touch and go for a while but I finally figured it' [...]
Back in my true believing days, I used to enjoy feeling that what I was doing was an act of service to my guru.
This, of course, is a decidedly Eastern perspective. Western religions don't have living perfect masters, who often are considered to God in human form.
But Christians seem' [...]
Religion isn't all bad.
That was the not-so-surprising consensus at the monthly meeting of the Salon discussion group that my wife and I helped start up here in Salem about seventeen years ago.
The members are almost all godless Prius-driving, expresso-sipping, organic food-eating progressives like us.
Religiosity comes in for' [...]
You'd think that an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and/or omnibenevolent being would leave some evident trace, given all this omni'ness.
Yet God, whether considered from an impersonal Eastern perspective or a personal Western viewpoint, has left no demonstrable signs of his/her/it's existence.
Why?
A theologian would answer, "It isn't possible to know'" [...]
Einstein showed that we live in spacetime, a continuum comprised of the familiar three dimensions of space and the much more mysterious dimension of time.
Nobody knows what time is really all about. Not scientists, not philosophers, not mystics. And certainly not theologians.
We have a sense of it [...]
I've got a love-hate thing going with Ken Wilber, a prolific writer and creative thinker who relentlessly preaches the marvels of an Integral approach to understanding reality.
Sometimes I like what Wilber says (see here and here). Sometimes I don't (see here and here).
His misunderstanding [...]
When I ponder what line spoken by a character in a movie has inspired me the most, here's my answer (share yours in a comment, if you like).
Jodie Foster, playing Ellie Arroway, a scientist searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence, in Contact -- a movie based on Carl Sagan's novel.
Strapped [...]
Don't like facts? Hate science? There's a handy four-step guide to generating your very own scientific controversy. I think some religiously-minded commenters on this blog already know #3.
When people point out that the facts don’t back up your claim, ignore them. As those people get angry and shouty at' [...]
The natural world doesn't come with names attached.
Look up at the full moon. Do you see a label on it, "moon"? (Leaving aside the question of what language that word would be written in.)
Both religion and science make the mistake of confusing human thoughts about what is real with' [...]
Recently I got an email message from someone who wanted to know why I felt so special when I was an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a Sant Mat organization headquartered in India.
In your posts, you often make mention of having felt special when you were [...]
People are fond of saying to someone they disagree with, "get real!" It's a put down to be told that you're living an illusion.
So when Eastern religions tell us that this physical existence is maya, not really real reality, it's natural to feel concerned.
Even though life seems pleasant' [...]
I started to practice yoga and meditation when I was 20 years old. Forty-one years later, I'm still at it: trying to find the real me and the truth at the heart of the cosmos.
Along the way, in 1990, I married a woman who has taught me as much, or' [...]
It's a burden to believe that you're special.
Especially when it isn't true. Feeling special places you in a starring role. You're at the center of a script that has a marvelous ending -- with you at center stage taking bows.
Religions appeal to people because dogma leads them to feel' [...]
Well, I've got to start off my Halloween cheering with a big shout-out to the Oregon Ducks football team, who crushed fifth-ranked USC tonight in Eugene -- an hour's drive away from Church of the Churchless headquarters here in south Salem.
Next, praise' [...]
