Tag Archives: Hinduism

Is Atheist Sam Harris Sexy? Nagarjuna’s Opinion–And Thomas Aquinas’

Sam Harris is sexy, right? Perhaps you agree. But think again. How you answer this question says a lot about your orientation. Not your sexual orientation. Or at least not just your sexual orientation. It reveals something about how you … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Practicing Angry

Hmm.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Penguin Withdraws and Destroys Scholarly Work on Hinduism

A pretty disturbing incident of censorship is taking place right now in India. A retired school teacher has been campaigning for the banning of a book, and Penguin is relenting, pulping its remaining copies. You can read the whole sorry … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 20 Comments

The Religion Tree: A Poem

THE RELIGION TREE I. The leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree, and we are all leaves on the same tree, and will take our leave from here. II. The yellow leaf signals fall, the green leaf, pride before the fall. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Incarnation of Shiva

_________

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The New Hitler Youth of India

With India’s rise on the global stage, it would seem valuable to know the attitudes of its most elite educated teenagers, and Dilip D’Sousa at the Daily Beast reports that a not inconsiderable number of them harbor fascist sentiments: My … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Saintly Ramana Maharshi

The real deal (mostly): _____ And: _____ And here is the book containing Ramana Maharshi’s talks that you might find interesting.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are You the Crab Eye of God Turned Back to Gaze on Your Own Creation?

A striking quote from John Jeremiah Sullivan (paraphrasing botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque): If we are conscious, as our species seems to have become, then nature is conscious. Nature became conscious in us, perhaps in order to observe itself. It may … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baloney Detector

How well does a belief that you currently subscribe to hold up under these 10 questions? Do I have any actual evidence for the thing I say I believe, and what is the extent and quality of that evidence? If … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Religion Tree

Using the metaphor of a tree, in the following poem I try to boil down the essence of the human predicament (which I take to be suffering, change, and death) and the response of each major religion to it (including the atheist … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If You’re Angry, And Words Fail

Don’t shoot! Try gesture:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          . Or, how about this? (Buddhist equanimity.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       . The above painting is from a Laotian monastery. It’s an image of the Buddha leading monks through a treacherous path. He is silent and calm, walking through … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together: The New York Times Says 8 Weeks of Meditation, 30 Minutes a Day, May Change the Brain

More study is needed (obviously), but the New York Times, in its Health section, has a startling article on meditation’s apparent ability to literally change how the brain wires itself up, and that after only 8 weeks of very modest (30 minutes a day) meditation … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The Internet: Where Religions Come to Die?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Talking about Love Some More

It seems to me that George Harrison’s song, “Within You, Without You,” says a lot of true things in a short space. Here are the lyrics: We were talking about the space between us all, and the people who hide … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Swami for a Sunday

Swami Satchidananda is my all-time favorite Hindu guru. His name consists of a combination of three terms that, taken together, sum up rather nicely the Hindu spiritual quest:  that which is (sat); that which is consciousness (chid); that which is bliss (ananda). … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Saudi Woman Links to International Have a Meal with a Muslim Day (Sept 17, 2010)

At her Twitter feed, the brave Saudi feminist, Eman Al Nafjan, who blogs at SaudiWoman, linked to International Have a Meal with a Muslim Day, which I take as an endorsement. And I’ve also been informed that an imam in Baltimore … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Herderian Religious Cleansing, 1930s style, in Malaysia and the United States

Here’s an image of a book burning in Berlin, May 10, 1933: And here’s an image of a burned out synagogue after Krisallnacht (November, 1938): These two images are what anti-Enlightenment Herderian political action so readily devolves into. And now here … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Maybe God Wants to Be Left Alone

Here’s a little double bind to contemplate: if we do not know the will of God, or whether he exists, and yet we nevertheless seek to discover answers to these questions, we might be annoying God. Why? Because God may not like people … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why We Should Build Human Solidarity on Reason, Not Race, Faith, or Nation

Reason, to my mind, is a human universal (though some do it far better than others). In other words, barring intellectual disability or brain injury, human beings have a universal capacity for reasoning with others: we can deduct, induct, experiment, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The Tortoise Shell, the Umbrella, and Hindu Meditation

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna (Barbara Miller’s translation, pt. 2 stanzas 55-58): When he [the yogi] gives up desires in his mind, is content with the self within himself, then he is said to be a man whose insight … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment