Church of the Churchless

How meditation helped Yuval Harari write "Sapiens," a terrific book

I absolutely loved Sapiens, a book by a historian that was like no history book I'd ever read before. It was filled with wonderfully fresh insights -- Big Astounding Ideas rather than little boring facts.

My blog posts about the book will give you a feel for what the author, Yuhal Harari, wrought. 

"Religion is just one of many stories humans have imagined"
"Imagined orders -- like religions -- depend on shaky myths"

Given how much I admired Sapiens, when I saw the title of a post by Ezra Klein on the Vox site, I knew that I had to read "Yuval Harari, author of Sapiens, on how meditation made him a better historian."

Since I also have embraced a meditation practice that's centered on following my breath, I was pleased to see Harari does pretty much the same thing. Except, he engages in a 60-day silent meditation retreat once a year, and I just meditate for 20 minutes once a day.

Here's some excerpts from the Vox piece.

Ezra Klein

You told the Guardian that without meditation, you'd still be researching medieval military history — but not the Neanderthals or cyborgs. What changes has meditation brought to your work as a historian?

Yuval Hariri

Two things, mainly. First of all, it's the ability to focus. When you train the mind to focus on something like the breath, it also gives you the discipline to focus on much bigger things and to really tell the difference between what's important and everything else. This is a discipline that I have brought to my scientific career as well. It's so difficult, especially when you deal with long-term history, to get bogged down in the small details or to be distracted by a million different tiny stories and concerns. It's so difficult to keep reminding yourself what is really the most important thing that has happened in history or what is the most important thing that is happening now in the world. The discipline to have this focus I really got from the meditation.

The other major contribution, I think, is that the entire exercise of Vipassana meditation is to learn the difference between fiction and reality, what is real and what is just stories that we invent and construct in our own minds. Almost 99 percent you realize is just stories in our minds. This is also true of history. Most people, they just get overwhelmed by the religious stories, by the nationalist stories, by the economic stories of the day, and they take these stories to be the reality.

My main ambition as a historian is to be able to tell the difference between what's really happening in the world and what are the fictions that humans have been creating for thousands of years in order to explain or in order to control what's happening in the world.

----------------------

Ezra Klein

Before we leave the topic of meditation, I read that you do routinely 60-day retreats. That is an experience that I cannot imagine, so I would love to hear what those are like for you and what role they serve in your life.

Yuval Hariri

First of all, it's very difficult. You don't have any distractions, you don't have television, you don't have emails, no phones, no books. You don't write. You just have every moment to focus on what is really happening right now, on what is reality. You come across the things you don't like about yourself, things that you don't like about the world, that you spend so much time ignoring or suppressing.

You start with the most basic bodily sensations of the breath coming in and out, of sensations in your stomach, in your legs, and as you connect to that, you gain the ability to really observe what's happening. You get clarity with regard to what's happening in your mind. You cannot really observe anger or fear or boredom if you cannot observe your breath. Your breath is so much easier than observing your anger or your fear.

People want to understand their anger, to understand their fear. But they think that observing the breath, oh, this is not important at all. But if you can't observe something as obvious and as simple as the breath coming in and out, you have absolutely no chance of really observing your anger, which is far more stormy and far more difficult.

What happens along the 60 days is that as your mind becomes more focused and more clear, you go deeper and deeper, and you start seeing the sources of where all this anger is coming from, where all this fear is coming from, and you just observe. You don't try to do anything. You don't tell any stories about your anger. You don't try to fight it. Just observe. What is anger? What is boredom? You live sometimes for years and years and years experiencing anger and fear and boredom every day, and you never really observe, how does it actually feel to be angry? Because you're too caught up in the angry.

The 60 days of meditation, they give you the opportunity. You can have a wave of anger, and sometimes it can last for days and you just, for days, you do nothing. You just observe. What is anger? How does it actually feel in the body? What is actually happening in my mind when I am angry? This is the most amazing thing that I've ever observed, is really to observe these internal phenomena.

 

Looks like God in Human Form isn't more powerful than a VCAT member

Here's a Radha Soami Satsang Beas related newspaper story that came to my attention via someone's Twitter feed that I follow: "Opponents to religious group Radha Soami Satsang Beas' worship centre in Green Wedge at Carrum Downs score win at VCAT."

(VCAT stands for Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal)

A religious group’s plan for a large worship centre in Carrum Downs has been scuttled after opponents had a stunning win at VCAT.

In a decision handed down yesterday, VCAT member Michael Deidun overturned Frankston Council’s approval of a permit for the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) group’s new Australian headquarters in green wedge land.

Defenders of the South East Green Wedge secretary Barry Ross, who appealed council’s decision at VCAT, said he was rapt with the result.

Interestingly, the story says that the ruling hinged on whether RSSB actually is a religious organization. The guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas is considered to be God in Human Form by devotees, yet RSSB also claims that it is more of a spiritual science than a religion.

So this seems to put RSSB in a tough spot, legally. Here's another excerpt from the story.

In his written decision, Mr Deidun said RSSB was “not a religion, nor is it aligned with one particular religion”.

He added: “A clear indication ... that RSSB is not a religion is the absence of any unique sacred texts or set of values and belief systems regarding the person and divinity of God and man’s relationship to God.

“RSSB Australia is not a religion and therefore does not conduct religious activities.

“As such it cannot be regarded as proposing a place of worship for the site.”

Mr Deidun said based on his finding that RSSB was not a religion, its proposal was actually for a “place of assembly, particularly a place where philosophical or spiritual meetings and instruction can take place”.

Gurinder Singh, RSSB guru, "hale and hearty" after medical tests

Having been a member for many years of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a mystical/meditation-based spiritual organization headquartered in India, I'm still somewhat interested in going-on regarding the group's current guru, Gurinder Singh.

So when someone I follow on Twitter shared a link to "Radha Soami Sect Chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon returns from Singapore hale and hearty," I was curious to read this Punjab News Express story. Note: Dera refers to the main RSSB center in the Punjab; "lac" is a hundred thousand.

Punjab News Express/Jagmohan Singh 
AMRITSAR: Radha Soami Sect Chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon today who had flown to Singapore following the advice of Fortis Hospital while cancelling his all schedules last week on Feb 10 arrived at the sect head quarter Beas.

Confirming his arrival today dera official said, he arrived last evening after being declared fit and fine by the team of doctors at Singapore.

During his weeklong stay in Singapore Dhillon underwent complete body scan and all related medical tests by the team of doctors.

Today Dhillon appeared before his devotees, looking fresh. He also held meeting with the dera officials with regard to dera functioning and other arrangements. Since this time, two days after on Sunday a heavy crowd of Radha Soami followers expected to be thronged at Beas. Dera volunteers have been asked to take all possible measure for regular and uninterrupted of vehicular traffic flow. This time dera officials expected the gathering above two lacs devotees, since followers are curious to have the glimpse of sect chief after his return from Singapore.

On Sunday there is religious congregation at Beas headquarter nearly forty five kilometres from the city of Golden Temple Amritsar.

Dhillon had flown to Singapore on Feb 10, after the team of Fortis Escort hospital referred him to move immediately to Singapore for complete medical check up. Dhillon was suffering some gastritis problem but can’t take any medicine without consulting the doctors at Singapore where he was already getting treatment.

It may be added here two years ago Dhillon was diagnosed Throat Cancer, got regular treatment from one of the famous hospital in Singapore. During treatment he was administrated chemotherapy causing hair shedding besides impact on voice box but after few months everything was normalised. He also underwent time to time PET (positron emission tomography) scan test which had indicated that all infected cancer cells were cleared in the body. 

Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K Advani, Congress vice President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are also follower of Radha Soami visit at Beas headquarter time to time besides meeting with him at Delhi when Dhillon’s schedule is fixed for Delhi.

Dhillon has been given Z-Plus Security Cover and his security was enhanced significantly when ADGP Security of Punjab Government visited the Dera Radha Soami Beas town to review the security arrangements. 

Dera Radha Soami also known as Dera Baba Jaimal Singh at Beas town nearly 45 kilometers away from the Amritsar city being headed by the sect chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon having large number of followers across the nation.

Earlier in July 2010, an attempt to kill the Dhillon was foiled well in time by the police in Vienna, Austria with the arrest of four persons carrying explosives with them; thereafter his security here in India was enhanced significantly.

Basically, this is an account of how an Indian man has been dealing with health problems, including a bout with throat cancer. However, Gurinder Singh is regarded as God in Human Form by his devotees, so I have little doubt that there's been much speculation about what these illnesses mean in the great cosmic scheme of things.

My view is, nothing more than what they are: fairly common health problems. 

But likely some RSSB devotees consider that Gurinder Singh's ailments are a sign of the guru taking on the karma of his disciples, much as Jesus supposedly did when he "died for our sins." 

I also find it interesting that God in Human Form needs so much security. From one point of view this makes good sense, because the Punjab is home to serious political conflicts, some violent, that are rooted in religious beliefs. Yet if someone possesses divine powers, would they need armed guards to protect them?

(I have no answer to this question, since I no longer believe in divine powers.)

Rejoice in the glorious indifference of the universe

I'm no Carl Sagan, but after coming up with the thought expressed in the title of this blog post I did some Googling to find an image to share which expressed that sentiment.

So Carl Sagan and I are on the same indifferent wavelength, the difference regarding our realization of indifference perhaps being that I find this worthy of rejoicing in the gloriousness of it.

Which is a decidedly minority opinion, because most people fall into these Belief Camps, which are not mutually exclusive:

(1) Believing in a God who loves us, cares for us, watches out for us. Usually only if we follow the tenets of some religion, though.
(2) Believing in a Devil or negative force that leads us astray, punishes us, wishes bad things for us.
(3) Believing that the Universe often, or always, has a message for us.
(4) Believing that karma, fate, destiny, or some other cosmic power directs our actions in certain ways.
(5) Believing in psychic connections between us and other people, animals, angelic beings, nature, or whatever.

I understand the appeal of these sorts of beliefs, because I used to embrace most of them myself. It made me feel warm and protected to believe that I wasn't an isolated blip of consciousness in a universe that not only didn't care about me, it wasn't even aware of me -- aside from the relatively few other isolated blips of consciousness I came into contact with (friends, dog, wife, squirrels, etc.).

Now, though, I realize the downside of believing in a universe that has an interest in me, whether this be benign or hostile, as Sagan put it. 

For one thing, and this really is the most important thing, that belief is almost certainly false. There is no demonstrable evidence that the universe or cosmos as a whole possesses a consciousness that could care about me, nor that it actually does. I've come to the point that I'd rather embrace reality as it is, rather than as how I would like it to be. 

Such strikes me as the most courageous and honest way to live what almost certainly is my one and only life.

Also, I now see how much misguided energy and effort I used to put into trying to figure out what I was supposed to do and why this or that was happening to me. Actions and events in my life weren't just whatever they were. They also had some mysterious subtext to them, some cosmic meaning that I was sure was there, but never could quite figure out.

How does one please God? How does one please the universe? It's tough enough just to please myself, my loved ones, my friends, all the other obviously existent entities I come in contact with. Trying to please a nonexistent, but supposedly real, conscious entity like "God" or "Universe" was wearing. I didn't realize how exhausting it was at the time, but now I do.

Lastly, accepting that the universe is indifferent toward me is a pointer toward the marvelous realization that whatever meaning I find in my life is going to come from moi, not anybody or anything else. There's no need to worry about whether I'm living up to some cosmic, divine, or universal standard. The measuring stick against which I assess the meaningfulness of my life is within my own psyche, not anywhere outside.

So yes, let's rejoice in the glorious indifference of the universe.  

Trump is trying to turn United States into a theocracy. Resist!

There are lots of reasons to dislike what President Trump (I hate writing those two words) is doing to our country. He's out to wreck the environment, trash human rights, destroy our relations with international allies, further enrich the already wealthy, and make women into second-class citizens. 

But now there's another big reason to Resist The Idiot: news that Trump is out to make our constitutional democracy into a Christian theocracy. 

When I woke up this morning the first outrage to appear on my laptop was "Trump Vows to 'Destroy' Law Banning Political Activity by Churches."

President Trump vowed Thursday to overturn a law restricting political speech by tax-exempt churches, a potentially huge victory for the religious right and a gesture to his political base.

Mr. Trump said his administration would “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches from engaging in political activity at the risk of losing their tax-exempt status.

Repealing the law would require approval by Congress. Certain tax-exempt organizations — in this case, churches — are not allowed to openly endorse or campaign for political candidates. If they do, under existing law, they risk losing the benefits of their tax-exempt status.

So basically Trump wants to turn churches into PACs, Political Action Committees. People still would be able to claim donations they put in a collection plate as a charitable contribution, but then a church could use that money to try to get certain political candidates elected.

It's bad enough that the IRS hasn't been enforcing the ban on political speech from the pulpit. Now Trump wants churches to be able to spend money on political campaigns, which is totally against the intent and purpose of why certain organizations get designated as non-profit.

Currently tax-exempt non-profit organizations like churches can't engage in political activity.  

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.

Look, I'm all for free speech.

But if churches and other religious groups want to speak freely about political issues, and financially support political candidates, then they need to give up their tax-exempt non-profit status. It's wrong for them to get the IRS benefits given to groups that serve a broad community purpose, and then use money donated to them for narrow political ends. 

I came across outrage #2 later today: "Leaked Draft of Trump's Religious Freedom Order Reveals Sweeping Plans to Legalize Discrimination."

The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women’s access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act.

... The breadth of the draft order, which legal experts described as “sweeping” and “staggering,” may exceed the authority of the executive branch if enacted. It also, by extending some of its protections to one particular set of religious beliefs, would risk violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

“This executive order would appear to require agencies to provide extensive exemptions from a staggering number of federal laws—without regard to whether such laws substantially burden religious exercise,” said Marty Lederman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an expert on church-state separation and religious freedom.

Well, as I've blogged about many times, it's crazy to allow anyone to be exempt from federal laws just because they have a religious belief that is at odds with a law. (See here, here, here, and here.)

A belief is a belief. It shouldn't matter whether someone's subjective belief rests on a religious foundation, or on some other foundation. Either beliefs are irrelevant to whether a law needs to be obeyed, or beliefs allow us to claim an "opt-out" from any law we choose -- in which case laws are pretty much ineffectual. 

Let's say that someone has a firmly held belief that getting drunk and driving at high speeds is a deep religious experience that demonstrates their faith in God's ability to protect the faithful, sort of like when true believers handle poisonous snakes, or forego medical treatment.

Should this person be able to tell a police officer, "You can't arrest me because I was acting in accord with my religious belief." This would be absurd, right? 

So how is any less absurd that someone should be able to fire an employee who is gay, transgender, or found out to have had an abortion? Is it OK for a business to be able to discriminate against people because the owner has some weird religious belief? How is this different from an individual discriminating simply because they hate gays, blacks, jews, or whoever?

It seems clear that Trump and his wacko band of supporters are determined to make the United States into a right-wing theocracy, like a Christian Taliban.

The Constitution should make this impossible, but given Republican control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, Trump has the ability to go a long way toward fulfilling his theocratic fantasy through Supreme Court appointments, rewriting of laws, and so on.

So we must resist. With all our strength. Because the United States is too wonderful a country to lose to a bigoted, hate-filled idiot.