Compendium of Church of the Churchless posts

A compendium magisterium of my blogistic compositions
(in other words, all my blog postings in one place)

--currently up to November 2007--

Categories: Introductory, Books, Buddhism, Christianity, Death, Fundamentalism, God, Humor, Miracles, Miscellaneous, Morality, Mystics, Personal/stories, Politics, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Reality, Religions, Science, Spiritual practice/meditation, Taoism, Universism, Vedanta, Wu Project

The posts are in chronological order within each category, earliest first.

Introductory
Welcome to the Church of the Churchless
Spiritual non-practice
Just have faith
How do I join?
Church symbol
Our creedless creed
Discussion group

Books
Five books to support the churchless 
Plotinus: Vision
"The Supreme Doctrine," thirty-six years overdue
I'm becoming my favorite book
Be a spiritual rebel!
German translation reflects my transformation
"God Laughs and Plays" but doesn't go to church
Churchless books and sites to explore
Recommended spiritual reading lists
Be your own book
Finding my Way in the Bodhi Tree bookstore
"Wholly Spirit" searches for a plausible God
Spiritual reading list -- new and improved
First atheist author: Baron d'Holbach

Buddhism
Centering in on "The Supreme Doctrine"
Western religions holding back stem cell research
Being religious without a religion
Going with the flow
Wave relaxing into ocean. Ahhhh... .
Buddha enlightens Jesus about the self
On Buddhist meditation practice
Open presence meditation
Dalai Lama is on Maui too. Is compassion contagious?
Rocks in the thought-stream are natural too
Finding my original face in packing for a weekend trip

Christianity
Eckhart: Detachment
Brother of Jesus ossuary hoax
Why I'm not a Christian
The Cloud of Unknowing: Devotion
Helping out the Second Coming
Jesus' resurrection--does it matter if it happened?
Jesus wasn't a Christian
Talking with a churchless Christian
How does Jesus save?
The Chronicles of Narnia: a myth about a myth
God is born in everybody, not just Jesus
Limbo on the way out
The greatest heretic of all
Losing faith in the fiction of Jesus
Gospel of Judas casts heresy in a new light
I'm arming for the War on Easter
Dear devout Christian, thanks for the offer but...
Bible and The Da Vinci Code are both fiction
"Be Still and Know that I am God" DVD--not still enough for me
Emerson's sacrilegious Divinity School address
The Pope isn't infallible. Oh my God!
Jesus camp: turning kids into Christian soldiers
Sam Harris shakes up a Christian nation. And, me.
Struggling to comprehend the Christian mind
Don't spam God
Almost time to celebrate the Christianity meme
"The Pagan Christ" looks at Christmas differently
I condemn myself to hell. For a free DVD.
Lost Tomb of Jesus story shows shakiness of Christianity
Unbelievers should want the Bible taught in public school
Pope says hellfire is real and eternal
Christians admit their religion is based on hate
Creation Museum displays Christian credulity
Is it negative to be anti-Christian?
Mother Teresa's crisis of faith

Death
"The Big If," a kindred weblog
Maui musings on the Pope's passing
The gift of a classmate's death
Assisted suicide is moral, Scalia isn't
Death and the primal fear of non-existence
More thoughts about the fear of non-existence
Rumi, love, and non-existence
Living in the now
Keeping it real: facing death without God
Coping with death and the fear of non-existence
"Body Worlds 3" helps death lose some of its sting
Salvation isn't so serious to me anymore
Death no big deal to most over 50

Fundamentalism
How to talk to a fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is religious racism
Christians say God punished New Orleans
Cartoons of Muhammad create huge uproar
Amazing! I agree with William Bennett.
Eastern fundamentalism
Mel Gibson's passion of drunken anti-Semitism
Not seeing is believing
My oven's "Sabbath Feature" shows idiocy of keeping kosher
Swarm theory supports spiritual independence
Religion's dangerous certainty
"God's Christian Warriors" shows crazy side of religion

God
Start worrying about your religion if...
Prayer is irreverent
Flee from the fear of God
The paradox of prayer
The loving "I" of god
A churchless song: "When God Made Me"
If God is mysterious, so are we
Nirguna and saguna, two visions of God
God, go to hell
Is God really watching me?
A personal relationship with God, good or bad?
Mine disaster shows absurdity of prayer
What are the chances you're right about God?
God calls me a fool. I agree.
Does God play favorites? I doubt it.
How can you be sure there is no God?
With God, from "I believe" to "I know" is a huge step
Possible and impossible gods
What's up with worship?
We are all atheists
Hey, God, shut up! No more conversations
God wants to be forsaken
Letting go of God. And Uncle Fred.
When the gods stopped speaking to us
I'm accused of being God
Prayer can be criticized
Eliminate the middleman between you and God
Does God exist? Science says no.
God-shaped hole is as big as our beliefs
Is God real?
Atheists crush Christians at "Does God Exist?" debate
Spinoza's God is Einstein's God. And, mine.
Fifty proofs that God is imaginary
Embracing God in my brain

Humor
I announce my impending satori
Search for self called off
Become a religion of one
Prize for proof of superior religion
Unusual churches. We're one of them!
Kissing Hank's ass, the essence of religion
I establish a new religion, Galobet. Believe!
Take your dose of Daily Afflictions
Get your Armor of God PJs
Proofs that God exists
Stephen Colbert's Ecu-Menace sermon
Blasphemy Challenge video proof
Demotivation heals my overly positive soul
Puppetji gives a YouTube socksang
Online confessions -- ideal for the churchless
Flying Spaghetti Monster gaining religious credibility   

Miracles
O, Miracles, where art thou?
Pray for me, I need a Mini Cooper
Atheists in foxholes do exist
Million dollars says there's no evidence of the supernatural

Miscellaneous
Truth
Comment housekeeping
I get mail
A British churchless blogger
Evolution. Further.
Marcel the medium takes on Julia the atheist
Be natural
I make some new web friends
My blogistic compendium magisterium
Invitation to write a churchless "sermon"
Here's how to follow a comment conversation

Morality
Evil: made by man or God?
Thumbs down to the new Pope's moral absolutism
Be loyal to yourself, not a group
Animal lovers don't eat meat
In defense of uncertainty
On deciding for oneself
A Playboy moral lesson
Revel in your selfishness
The virtue of a Playboy philosophy of life
Morality comes from nature, not God
Morality isn't what God wants
Life is fair. Here's why.
When it isn't good to do good
True culture of life has to be godless
Morality has nothing to do with religion
Finding my inner self in a light beer
Grace & mercy or cause & effect?
--

Mystics
Mystery is omnipresent
The Neoplatonic Church
Kabir, a patron saint of spiritual independence
The nothingness we fear is the everything we are
Simple spirituality
Plotinus and I make so much sense

Personal/stories
A Christmas memory of my mother
Touching the void
Live your own life
Sunset over Spring Lake
Mystical dreams and experiences
Consistency is foolish
The boots at the top of the stairs
Hitting all my conversational buttons
In praise of divorce
An old koan rises from my past
Dance to your own music
I meet a true guru
Breaking free of family influences
I'm alive. Wow!
I get a glimpse of Tango Zen
Musings on the Metolius
Soul is still lost, but I've found my keys
Nice to belong with those who don't belong
I go to a Hollywood medium, Marcel Cairo
Dancing free, not to a pattern
Skepticism, cynicism, and science
Loud siren is a wake-up call
What makes for a nice day?
Thank you, Church of the Churchless visitors
Silent snow has a lot to say
The metaphysics of a really shitty job
Evidence of my steadily declining divinity
"Nobody is going to come." So I killed him.
Finding our energetic groove
Me talk Spinoza on BlogTalkRadio today
Balanced between belief and doubt
Thanks for the chlorine gas, Mom (cough, cough)
Help expand recognition of my divinity

Politics
Religious values have no place in politics
Lincoln, Bush, and God's will
"God's Politics" a timely book
Religious zealots run amok in Terri Schiavo case
Jeb Bush's neurologist has no credibility
More about Terri Schiavo
Unitarian Jihad needs to get rolling
Take a stand, don't go to church tomorrow
John Roberts' religious faith matters
Keep religion, individual morality out of lawmaking
One nation under God?
Beware of the Christianists
"Thou shalt doubt," the first commandment
Bush's stem cell veto harkens back to the Middle Ages
Texas governor says non-Christians are going to hell
Christopher Hitchens rips on Rev. Falwell -- and religion
"Wall of Separation" looks like an American history con job
God-o-Meter rates religious candidates' religiosity
Blind belief in religion and politics: bad, bad, bad
--

Radha Soami Satsang Beas
God's here, but I've got to go
What's in a name?
Religious questioning is natural
Lighter shades of ego
A particular Way isn't the only Way
Did I see God in first class?
Wise beyond her years
Cults, religion, and science
"I" is a humble word
More criticism of Radha Soami Satsang Beas
An honest embrace of faith
Become one to know the One
My religious unconversion
I've been fired
Do you need to kill the Buddha?
How writing a book rewrote me
Gurus and disciples--masters and slaves
Another soul says "RSSB not for me"
Become spiritually stronger, not weaker
Sant Mat, version 2.0
Religion should make us more humane, not less
Who is the guru?
Go ahead and believe
More skepticism about Sant Mat
Theology vs. reality in the RSSB teachings
I don't go to satsang, yet I do
Another perspective on Sant Mat, version 2.0
God-man or Asshole? The guru conundrum.
The downside of guru bhakti
Going beyond religious concepts
A nasty truth, naked and rough
How I wrote a holy book
Saying "the end" to Sant Mat fairy tales
Top ten signs you're a fundamentalist satsangi
Who's afraid of this big bad blog?
Believers, I'm even more deluded than you think
Gaining an ear for religious disharmonies
Balancing Sant Mat faith and doubt
A thoughtful "no thanks" to Radha Soami Satsang Beas
Another RSSB initiate sees the light
Churchless doesn't mean anti-church
Put up or shut up, supposedly enlightened ones
A memory of Roland deVries, the man who churched me
J.R. Puri commits plagiarism in a RSSB book
Shabd is a power, not a person
Blind obedience a hallmark of cultish religion
How would Jesus have us pee?
Sant Mat looks like a religion
Some South African Sant Mat questioning
Servitude, sand, and satguru
Is Sant Mat a non-dual spiritual practice?
Sant Mat doesn't make much sense to me anymore
Why I'm justified in complaining about Sant Mat
A message from an agnostic satsangi
Some Radhasoami UK Facebook excerpts
Ridiculing my own religious fundamentalism
I return to church. And sit through a sermon.
Sant Mat's "five holy names" aren't so holy
A koan for all guru-based faiths
Spirituality: following fences or bursting barriers?
Some darn good advice
Faith or falsehood? "I can't wait to die"
RSSB's strange fear of praise
When the old sermon doesn't soar anymore
Thanks to thankfulness on Thanksgiving
Another RSSB initiate bites the dust
Liberalists vs. fundamentalists in Sant Mat
--

Reality
Reality is shades of gray
Best religion: reality. Worst religion: faith
Secret of the universe
Existence exists. Amazing!
Filtering reality
Truth comes in two guises
Something's happening here: Existence
Reasons why "you" don't exist
What if this is all there is?
The best one-sentence metaphysics ever written
Let skepticism blossom
Humility is being in touch with reality
Reality or belief: which are you seeking?
The changing face of faith
Hope is the present moment
Reality is a terrible thing to waste (on religion)
Deepening the mystery of existence
World picture puts a frame around reality
What is reality?
Maybe the meaning of life is...life
Getting down to rock-bottom reality
The positivity of unbelief
--

Religions
You're religious, but are you right?
Religion should unite, not divide
Hell joke's serious side
Reason unites, faith divides
Why don't religions evolve?
No religion in National Spelling Bee
Why I embrace unorganized religion
We all believe in jihad
Religious Americans: tolerant but gullible
Religion is bad for societal health
What are the odds?
Barbara Walters special may be closest I'm getting to heaven
Throwing stones at the devil--idiotic!
Jesus says, "Beware of religion"
Tuning in to religion-less religion
Yoism, an open source religion
On being spiritually lost
Are you religious or spiritual? Take the test.
If a religion can't be wrong, it surely is
Americans see four faces of God
Religion as poetic expression
Sam Harris makes "The Case Against Faith"
Hard-wired for religion
Being fuzzy is fine
Virginia Tech killer compared himself to Jesus. Crazy?
Viewing life through a narrow bandwidth of ideology
Going beyond "I am a (fill in the faith)"
What's the favorite "religion" of the religion-less?
Religions aren't alike. I think I know why.
On getting rid of those little men in your TV set
What's wrong with me is wrong with religion
Scrupulosity, a religious mental illness
Krishna consciousness isn't churchless
Religion as an art form
Religion, watch out for a grizzly bear with an EEG!
Religion's desperate search for causes
Religion needs to dance - freely
What is religion?
--

Science
Reality is the best religion 
Scale of the universe
Creationism is blasphemy
Big bang stretches the mind
Knowledge, belief, and feathered dinosaurs
A witty rebuke to creationism
Science is flexible, religion is rigid
Embracing the oddness of everything
The Vatican gets it right (for once)
Intelligent design is creeping me out
Doubt differentiates science and religion
Evolution triumphs over intelligent design
Compared to the cosmos, you're nothing
Prayer doesn't work. It's a fact.
Worshipping at the altar of science
Poised on the pivot point of uncertainty
Wisdom from Carl Sagan: A pale blue dot
Evolution is sacred, religion is profane
Intelligent design believers settle for second-rate God
Science shows God does not exist
God vs. Science: guess who wins?
Digging into the hard problem of consciousness
Global warming and God's will
Science is more spiritual than religion
Christian quantum gobbledygook
Science takes the honest path
Science keeps painting religion into a corner
Boltzmann brains can blow your mind
What reality is really made of
Arousal and quiescence in the mystical brain
Paul Davies' "Cosmic Jackpot" comes up empty
--

Spiritual practice/meditation
Feeling close to God 
All masters but one are false
Meditating like an extra-terrestrial
Lessons in living from the Moken people
Spiritual diversification, a sound salvation strategy
Spiritual investing takes nothing
What's wrong with faith?
God, can you hear me now?
Celebrate your spiritual independence
Support for the churchless
Uncertainty: Be sure of it
What's your God experiment?
Seeing clearly now
Don't believe, just have faith
Bursting belief bubbles
I reveal my mystical experiences
Dismantling the golem project
Mantra meditation: does God make it better?
Mantra meditation: what's in a word?
Mantra meditation: it's all about melting
Meditation strengthens the brain
The joy of uncertainty
Don't just do something, stand there!
Meditation and space-time diagrams
Tell yourself your spiritual secrets
Meditation isn't dog training
On becoming the person you warned yourself about
Trust your gut, not your thought
As the steps disappear behind you
Start erasing your spiritual blackboard
Freeing ourselves from religious fantasy
Mantra meditation: wax on or wax off?
Let go. Then let go of letting go.
Spiritual nomads
Turn on, tune in, or drop out?
Wings of love fly in two directions
Yes, there are agnostics in dentist's chairs
Adyashanti bursts my orgasmic bubble
Unlearning ventriloquism
Watch out! The Discourager of Hesitancy is behind you
Flowing vs. forcing: why religion strips my screw
Keeping consciousness simple
Abandon hope, all ye who seek
Stages of spiritual growth: skeptics top believers
Meditation teaches the brain new tricks
My review of "The Secret" DVD points to a super-secret
Meaningful meaningless meditation
U-turns often lead to a better direction
Flowing with waves while sitting on the beach
Turn back, if you're on the wrong road
Meditation is waking up to life
David James Duncan's "In Praise of No Guide"
Seeking the truth is better than finding it
Skepticism is the fruit of knowledge
Blink! Don't think. "Religion is..."
Wanting. Do I want it?
Ceaseless prayer: Christian vs. Sant Mat
Better to be truly real than falsely perfect
Ken Wilber's "Integral Life Practice Kit" looks like a scam
"Into the Wild" an inspiration for churchless roamers
Loosening the bounds of "I am"
Time to fire our gurus
Don't be a metaphor of yourself
--

Taoism
The Rambling Taoist
Wu chi, empty fullness
Kung fu meditating
The journey between two steps
Three laughers at the tiger ravine
Believing in problems may be our only problem
Taoism--a philosophy for fools
Taoism's Secret of the Golden Flower
Being a blockhead has its pluses
Comic strip and a Chinese sage both say: "Do it!"
Beneath buckets of thought, a formless thinking pool
When pushing hands, or minds, relax the tension
Seven secret sayings of God
Wine, women, and enlightenment
It takes two to Tao (and Tango)
Taoism's "Mysterious Pass." You're in it, now!
Taoism wants us to be holey, not holy
Taoism's empty hub vs. religion's transcendent seal
Beyond religion's No to Yes, Yes, Yes
Taoism and the Trinity
--

Universe
Who should I thank on Thanksgiving?
Consider a cosmos with no consciousness
Consider a cosmos that is only consciousness
Hubble photo of deep space is naturally divine
No beginning. No end. The universe simply is.
--

Universism
Universism, a kindred unfaith
Salem Universists
Plunging deeper into Universism
Greetings to Salem churchless and churched
Salem Universists meet, noisily
Our churchless discussion group
Universism makes front page of LA Times
Salem Universists fail to answer life's big questions
Herding cats, Universism's challenge
A friendly critique of the Universist movement
I abandon Universism
Death of a religion: Universism's strange demise

Vedanta
Vivekananda: Strength 
Ramana: Simplicity
Spirituality in one word
Gangaji, Eli, and Neo-Advaita hypocrisy
Worship at your own doorstep
Surrendering to nothing outside myself

Wu Project
The Wu Project
Wu or Mu? I talk with a cow fancier.
Tracking the trajectory of my Wu Project
Best answer often is "None of the above"
Spiritual emptiness: it's a good thing
I'm working on my Wu
Religious knowledge totals exactly zero
The glory of being spiritually lost
To find God, get off the mind road
St. John of the Cross: "nothing," "nothing," "nothing"
The joy of nihilism
Wu is the way
When nothing is something: God
Boundless existence -- the backdrop to life's meaning
My quest for the meaninglessness of life
Honoring the mystery that is me (and you)
You're a strange loop (and that's OK)
If I'm not an "I," what am I?
Soul is superfluous
Me finding myself. And Van Morrison.
Sheer absence of soul reveals its nature
Wu t-shirt leads to philosophical conversations
Ibn 'Arabi on the impossibility of becoming nothing
Absolute unitary being -- nothing that's really something
Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to become
--