What is or isn't good? We all evaluate this. Keep in mind your own take on this as I share mine. I'll briefly share the basis for my take on what is good as a way of considering recent violations, domestically and internationally, of what I deem good. What is good is at the core of my unusual humanistic, naturalistic, deistic religion, this website, and our times. If you're not interested in such philosophy, skip this first section. Those who read the sidebar here at…
From Texas to Tehran, societies scurry to placate the power of those posing as pious – instead of affirming and advancing inherent intelligence and integrity. Modernity fears its own success. Instead of claiming and furthering the steady progress of science and the Enlightenment, it falls prey to those resentful of both. Fundamentalist advices to “have faith” or to “submit” turn us from knowledge, freedom, and responsibility, towards gullibility and obeisance. Decent souls, questing for what is good, flock to church and mosque only to be…
Have you noticed that the three great monotheistic religions of the world are also the three great problem makers in the world? Is God the problem? Does God want these vast forces to wage war with the others? We’re told lately that society has gotten too secular, too wayward, and that we should return to our religions and have more faith. But should we? Haven’t religions often been the source of problems – from stifling knowledge to torturing non-believers? Haven’t religions insisted on preposterous claims…
When I met Shri Bhagwan Rajneesh in a posh hotel in Bombay I wanted to punch him in the nose. I had gone to India sick of the west’s view of earth as merely a place for a divine drama that leads to an afterlife. In India I found its counterpart: a yearning for an instead-of life. Rajneesh sported a Rolex as he knocked the communists for wanting worldly improvements. He assured us the body isn’t real and neither is this world; they’re merely…
I have a small scar on my hip, a little reminder: “You can’t toy with the ocean.” I was body surfing in Laguna Beach, riding the big waves in, using my chest as if a surfboard. I had a wonderful day. What fun! I wanted it to go on. The waves seemed to be changing, as if to say, “Go in,” but I was greedy for one more ride. I got that ride and then some. A huge wave sped me towards shore, but it…