Church of the Churchless

Great candidate for my last word: "Yes"

The older I get -- which, sadly, seems to be happening continuously -- the more I ponder the not-so-cheery question, "What should my last word be?"

Now, usually we hear talk of last words, not word. But since I'm such a wordy guy, in writing at least, I figure I should do something surprising and limit myself to a single Last Word.

(An aside: I enjoyed reading the "ironical sense of words said before a disaster" in the Wikipedia Last words article. These are so great, they almost -- but not quite -- made me want to do the last words thing.)

• "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" General John Sedgwick at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House immediately before being killed by enemy fire.
• "Let all brave Prussians follow me!" Field Marshal Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin at the Battle of Prague, immediately before getting hit in the head by a cannonball.
• "Don't worry about it ... look, the clip is not even in it." Terry Kath of the band Chicago, just before putting a pistol to his temple and pulling the trigger.

I don't know whether my last word would be uttered aloud, so someone else could hear it, or silently inside my head, where it would be known only to me. 

Thus I want a word that does a damn fine job of (1) summing up my philosophy of life, so I remain true to myself in my last moment; (2) is positive, so anyone around me gets a feeling that my imminent death is going as well as possible; and (3) resonates pleasingly within my own fading psyche, so I end up on as high a note as possible in my swan song. 

I might change my mind, but currently the Last Word Winner is...

YES. 

Which conveys such extra multiple-word meanings as:

Yes, this is happening. I accept it. 
Yes, it is what it is. Dude.
Yes, thanks to the cosmos that made saying "yes" possible.
Yes, I accept the reality of all this, right here, right now.

This isn't the first time I've written about the appeal of YES. Well, more accurately Yes, Yes, Yes. 

In 2oo7, I wrote "Beyond religion's No to Yes, Yes, Yes."

One of my enduring memories of the marvelously '60's ish Oregon Country Fair outside of Eugene is a banner strung high between two trees that simply said, "Yes…Yes…Yes." (though the fair does have some dos and don'ts)

When I saw it, I thought…Yes.

There's so much in that one word. Everything, really. What more could we want if we have Yes? It's the negative side of life that is so disenchanting.

Nobody likes to be told "No!" Not children, not anybody. We're Yes seeking creatures who long for affirmation, positivity, acceptance.

And in 2014, I blogged, "'Yes, yes, yes' is an appealing philosophy of life" (based on a column I wrote for our town's alternative paper).

I don’t mean to sound Pollyannaish, excessively optimistic. Life can suck. It can be painful, depressing, disappointing, tragic. 

But saying yes to all that is a lot better than denying it. Kudos to the folks in Salem who organized the Stories from the Dark Side series at the Grand Theatre (last Thursday, May and June). Great idea, inviting people to share tales from the darker side of themselves.

Recently I came across one of those wise Twitter epigrams that say so much in 140 characters or less: “Self hate lives in the gap of what you think you should be and what you actually are.”

Yes. This is what you are. This is what I am. Yet also more, because of Yes, and Yes, and Yes… without end.

So even if my last word turns out to be NO! -- there's a Yes behind that also. What is, is yes. Which doesn't leave anything out. 

Preparing for certain future events vs. being prepared for anything

This afternoon, during some part of my all-important senior citizen nap time, I had another of my Aha! moments where everything in the cosmos becomes crystal clear for a brief moment of intuitive comprehensibility.

And this time, astoundingly, I wasn't even under the influence of a psycho-active substance. Aside from my brain, which now and then approaches a genuine psychologically "active" state of being. As I felt it did today.

I was mulling over some of the things I needed to do in the realm of my retired-person civic activism.

For example, I'm engaged in a fight against a wastefully expensive bond measure in my town. I started to think about arguments I needed to write before the November election, debating points that would sway voters, how I'd respond if this or that happened. 

Then a Flash Realization burst into my mulling-mind. 

Instead of preparing for various sorts of imaginary futures that almost certainly would never come to be -- especially in a manner anywhere close to what I was thinking could happen -- I should be focused on being prepared to flexibly and capably respond to whatever is going to happen. 

Now, I realize that this last sentence where I tried to describe my Aha! moment may seem to be akin to the psychedelic experience I described in "Mini-secret of universe revealed."

Back in the late 1960’s, illicit pharmacology brought me regularly to marvelous “Aha!” insights into the ultimate nature of the universe. The reason I currently neither have a Nobel prize in physics, nor am I recognized as a great spiritual sage, is that the insights were only insightful while in my artificially altered state of consciousness.

They could be shared, though, which lent them more validity than they probably deserved. One moonless night in 1968 a friend and I were rolling rocks off the edge of a ravine in the Santa Cruz mountains, marveling at how long they took to noisily reach the bottom. Moving on to deeper questions, we then stood in the darkness, trying to grok with our mescaline-fueled minds what everything was all about.

We could feel it so clearly. But what was it that we were feeling? We struggled for words to express the plenitude of this psychedelic experience. “The universe is…” I’d say. “Yes, the universe is…” my companion would respond. We almost had it! One more try! “The universe is…” I said again. And then—I swear to god this is true—we simultaneously proclaimed: “a paper bag turned inside out!”

It was so right, so true, so perfect. What a relief! Finally, all the searching was over. No more pouring over the Tibetan Book of the Dead for clues to what lies beyond this veil of maya. It is the other side of this paper bag of a universe! In the morning, none of this made a whit of sense to either of us. Oh well, that’s cool.

Still, I feel that today's mini-revelation has more staying power. For one thing, it fits with what I've been learning and experiencing since I started taking Tai Chi classes about 12 years ago. 

You can never know exactly (or often, even close to) what someone else is going to do. The best thing is to be sensitively aware to what is happening around you, then respond appropriately in a centered, composed, calm fashion. This is one of the favorite sayings of my Tai Chi instructor, who, when asked what the martial arts application of a particular move or posture is, tells us "It depends." 

Meaning, it is impossible to anticipate what needs to be done until the moment of doing arises. Life is unpredictable. So are fighting, attacks, self-defense. 

My intuition today echoed this sentiment. I'd often, or usually, be better off not trying to predict exactly what I need to do in the days, hours, minutes, or even seconds to come. I've already realized this in the religious sphere, since, for example, I no longer worry about an imaginary afterlife.

If it happens, I'll deal with it then. For now, I'm solely occupied with this life. 

There was a moment of peace that came with my "be prepared for anything, rather than some particular thing" naptime realization.

Relaxing, awareness of the present moment, being ready to handle whatever comes along as gracefully as possible -- this frame of mind struck me as way more beneficial than trying to prepare for all sorts of future events that either won't happen at all, or not anywhere close to how I was visualizing them.

Works for me. Until it doesn't. The nice thing about cosmic realizations is that there's no end of them. 

Government shouldn't be guided by irrational religious concepts

It's a pleasure to share a churchless opinion piece by my wife, Laurel. It was published yesterday in our town's alternative paper, Salem Weekly. 

Laurel was impelled to write this after going into the belly of the beast -- attending a large Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) religious rally at the state capitol grounds here in Salem. 

Government shouldn't be guided by irrational concepts
by Laurel Hines

Recently evangelist Franklin Graham visited Salem to urge Christians to vote their “Christian values.” But does basing government on religious beliefs supported by a book written in pre-modern times make sense?

The Bible condones slavery and raiding other tribes, killing their children, raping their women. The Bible contains no modern knowledge about disease, the universe, or the world. Instead, it is based on the culture and knowledge of those who wrote it long ago. Further, Bible stories were re-told and re-translated many times.

None of the miraculous claims in the Bible holdup to modern scientific or anthropological scrutiny. Noah’s Ark is just one example.

Wouldn’t it be better to vote for policies that make sense for a modern world, based on critical thinking and current scientific knowledge, founded on evidence and not mere hopeful or fear-based religious belief?

Most Americans think Muslims are archaic for wanting to use Sharia law based on the Koran in governmental policies. But isn’t basing law on Christian beliefs the same?

Just because many people share a belief, doesn’t make it true. Most once wrongly believed that the earth was flat and the center of the universe.

Shared religious belief often causes clouding of critical thinking and over-stimulation of emotional brain centers. People grasp onto faith-based tenets of a religion while ignoring the fact that these aren’t based on any demonstrable evidence.

Some think religion is needed for morals, but why do predominantly atheist countries have the lowest crime rates (Japan, for example), and many mostly non-believing countries have the highest happiness index?

As a mental health therapist, I helped people examine irrational thinking patterns that moved them to anger, resentment, fears, anxiety, and depression. I helped them think more critically about wrongly-held assumptions that made no rational sense and impaired their functioning.

We all hold onto irrational beliefs at some time. Most of us believed in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy as children. Luckily, we evolved into critical thinking about those beliefs, but usually fail to examine the religious ones we are programmed to accept and taught not to doubt.

Our country was established as a secular nation, not a theocracy. There is supposed to be separation of church and state. Critical thinking, reason, humane treatment of all, and the greater good are better guides on how to vote than religious belief.

So I ask the Christians who flocked to hear Franklin Graham:

Do you think critically for yourself or blindly accept how your religious leaders tell you to vote?  Certainty in one’s morals and beliefs can lead to problems in societies; doubt can be healthy and promote wise consideration of alternative understandings.

Perhaps judging less, learning more, and voting based on critical thinking, fairness, science, and reason would lead to a better government and society.

Do you allow yourself to doubt parts of your religious beliefs that seem absurd, or do you have a thinking blind spot when it comes to your chosen faith?

Laurel Hines is the leader of a growing group of Freethinking Atheists in Salem.

The Satanic Temple is a positive force for good. Praise Satan!

Satan, the Devil, is a religious myth. So I like how The Satanic Temple has taken this bit of dogmatic ridiculousness and made it into a way of promoting rationalism and free inquiry. 

From their FAQs:

DO YOU WORSHIP SATAN?

It is the position of The Satanic Temple that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. The Satanist should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.

Hard to argue with that.

Unless you're a believer in the sort of supernaturalism that created the notion of Satan. Here's what happened at a Pensacola, Florida City Council meeting when a Satanist tried to deliver the invocation, having gotten the right to do this by none other than the Constitution of the United States.

 

The sight of Christians trying to drown him out at first, waving their hands in prayerful gestures, scared to high heaven (so to speak) by the devilish words they thought he was going to speak (but didn't) -- wonderful. 

This video dramatizes the absurdity of religious belief, how it can turn some people into rigid, frightened caricatures of what a normal human being should be.

One can ask, of course, why members of The Satanic Temple should be able to give an invocation when the group is so critical of religiosity. There's a FAQ for that:

IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE SUPERNATURAL, HOW IS TST A RELIGION?

The idea that religion belongs to supernaturalists is ignorant, backward, and offensive. The metaphorical Satanic construct is no more arbitrary to us than are the deeply held beliefs that we actively advocate for. Are we supposed to believe that those who pledge submission to an ethereal supernatural deity hold to their values more deeply than we? Are we supposed to concede that only the superstitious are proper recipients of religious exemption and privilege? In fact, Satanism provides us all that a religion should, without a compulsory attachment to untenable items of faith-based belief: It provides a narrative structure by which we contextualize our lives and works. It provides a body of symbolism and religious practice — a sense of identity, culture, community, and shared values.

Another great activity of The Satanic Temple is After School Satan, which is a counterweight to Christian after-school religious brainwashing. My wife and I ordered a copy of "The Satanic Children's Big Book of Activities." I can hardly wait to read it with my nine year old granddaughter.

Not surprisingly, After School Satan is a bit controversial. Check out a Washington Post story, "An After School Satan Club could be coming to your kid's elementary school." 

The Satanic Temple — which has been offering tongue-in-cheek support for the fallen angel in public arenas that have embraced prayer and parochial ceremonies — is bringing its fight over constitutional separation of church and state to the nation’s schools.

But the group’s plan for public schoolchildren isn’t actually about promoting worship of the devil. The Satanic Temple doesn’t espouse a belief in the existence of a supernatural being that other religions identify solemnly as Satan, or Lucifer, or Beelzebub. The Temple rejects all forms of supernaturalism and is committed to the view that scientific rationality provides the best measure of reality.

According to Mesner, who goes by the professional name of Lucien Greaves, “Satan” is just a “metaphorical construct” intended to represent the rejection of all forms of tyranny over the human mind.

The curriculum for the proposed after-school clubs emphasizes the development of reasoning and social skills. The group says meetings will include a healthful snack, literature lesson, creative learning activities, a science lesson, puzzle solving and an art project. Every child will receive a membership card and must have a signed parental­ permission slip to attend.

“We think it’s important for kids to be able to see multiple points of view, to reason things through, to have empathy and feelings of benevolence for their fellow human beings,” said the Satanic Temple’s Utah chapter head, who goes by the name Chalice Blythe.

Sounds good to me. Sign me up for a Satanic Temple t-shirt.

Free will is a meaningless expression

Here's another episode in my so-far never-ending quest to convince readers of this blog that free will, as normally understood, is an illusion. (For previous attempts, type "free will" in the Google search box in the right sidebar.)

Below is a letter to the editor in the July 30 issue of New Scientist, a British publication. Which explains the weird spelling of "randomize" and "recognize." Damn, can't those Britons speak English correctly, like us Americans do?

Anyway, I digress. 

I thought Carpenter's last paragraph was right-on. Along with reflexes, intuitions seem to be another example of unconsicous brain processes that we aren't aware of being prepared in advance. 

With rational, conscious, deliberative step-by-step thinking, by contrast, we are aware of how the brain is going through the process of making a decision. But awareness of a mechanistic process doesn't make it any less mechanical. 

If the hood (or bonnet) of a car is closed, the existence of an engine isn't obvious. With the hood open, it becomes clearer that when the car moves, it is because of the engine. Closed or open, though, the same mechanical processes are making the car move.

Not a perfect analogy to the brain and our illusory feeling of free will, but sort of close. Here's the letter:

We can see brains randomising choice
From Roger Carpenter

Nial Wareing speculates that the brain might make its decisions probabilistically, and that in some circumstances it might deliberately randomise its actions (Letters, 2 July). It has long been known that this is what it does.

Recordings show that neurons in the brain encode probability and run races with each other to make decisions. A good deal of randomness is gratuitously injected into this process. To an outside observer, the resultant unpredictable responses look like “free will”, and would indeed be highly desirable in predator/prey interactions.

To the owner of the brain, the crucial difference between those responses that we recognise as unconscious – like reflexes – and those that we think we have “willed”, is that we experience the latter being prepared in advance, but not the former. But both are equally mechanistic. Free will is a pretty meaningless expression.

Cambridge, UK

Break the habit of separating body and mind

Almost always, it is best for our body and mind to be in sync. Meaning, whatever our body is doing, the mind should be focused on that activity. 

This is a key conclusion I've reached after becoming churchless following several decades of believing the opposite: that mind was a separate entity from body, and it was desirable to view the contents of consciousness as distinct from bodily goings-on. 

Back in those dualistic days, when I embraced an Eastern "leave this world and find a better one" meditation approach, my guru taught that a mantra should be repeated as much as possible during waking hours. So if, for example, I was washing the dishes, the mantra should be silently spoken over and over within my mind. 

Body washing dishes. Mind repeating mantra. Again, dualistic, divided, disassociated. 

This practice was supposed to assist in withdrawal of one's attention from the physical world during closed-eyed, seated meditation. Eventually supernatural soul-consciousness would be realized as distinct from ordinary everyday awareness of the physical world.

Now, this strikes me as both untrue and undesirable.

Scientific evidence strongly points to the mind being the brain-in-action. Thus both mind and brain are material, part of the physical body. This is a pleasingly unitary perspective. My thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and everything else that is part of my awareness is made of the same stuff the rest of the world is: atoms, quantum fields. 

So when I meditate these days, I focus on my breathing and other bodily sensations. Because my intention isn't to do anything other than sit quietly in my meditation chair for twenty minutes or so, I just need to be aware of what my body is quietly doing and feeling. 

Sure, I get to thinking about what I've done in the past, and what I need to do in the future. But I try to keep in mind that those past and future actions are connected with a body in a different time and space. 

For instance, while I'm meditating I might start thinking about an email I need to send later in the day. I'm not sitting in front of my laptop, though. There's no way I can write the email while sitting with my eyes closed in my meditation room. My body and mind are disconnected, out of sync, not in harmony. 

Likewise, when I'm riding my much-beloved StreetStrider, an outdoor elliptical bike, I'll find myself similarly divided when my legs and arms are striding along while thoughts of something else meander in my mind. 

These aren't productive thoughts, because -- as noted before -- there's no way I can put them into action while I'm on my bike in the middle of Salem's thousand acre Minto Brown Island Park. So I remind myself, "Keep your mind aware of what your body is doing, Brian," and go back to fully enjoying my bike ride.

I used to be skeptical of the notion that mind and body should usually be doing the same thing.

That was in my dualistic philosophical phase. Again, I believed that mind and soul were separable from the body. This always happened after death, and it could also happen while alive if someone meditated in a certain fashion. Now, though, I realize that I'm most fulfilled and happiest when I embrace a unified view of life.

Body isn't separate from mind. Thoughts mostly should be in accord with where my body is, and what it is engaged in.

If my fingers are resting on a computer keyboard, as they are right now, it makes sense to be thinking about what I want to say in a blog post. But when I'm lying in bed with my eyes closed, ready to go to sleep, thoughts of a time and place different from the present moment really aren't productive.

Or in tune with reality.