Proposed addition to the United Nations System
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3 episodes with world parliament
2 episodes with world parliament
2 episodes with world parliament
2 episodes with world parliament
2 episodes with world parliament
Consciousness Unveiled with Swami Sarvapriyananda Swami Sarvapriyananda is the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York. He has played a prominent role in organizing and participating in various interfaith panels and seminars, including speaking at the World Parliament of Religions in Toronto in 2018, and at the United Nations Headquarters in … Continue reading "Consciousness Unveiled with Swami Sarvapriyananda"
Andrew Strauss, Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law, and a graduate of Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs discusses why setting up a global parliament, perhaps initially by a core group of 20-30 countries, would significantly strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the system that underpins our mechanisms of international cooperation. It could be a powerful antidote to the world-wide spread of ethno-nationalist-authoritarianism and be a catalyst for strengthening a “holistic planetary consciousness, sensitive to the practical urgency of human unity.”Learn more on GlobalGovernanceForum.org
The push for world-global government continues. The World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum and the United Nations each have aggressive agendas where national sovereignty isn't part of their plans. There's the push for a central bank digital currency, digital I.D verification systems, vaccination passports, increased surveillance camera use, along with the use of artificial intelligence. --It's also worth noting that the meeting of the World Parliament of Religions took place where every religion was welcome, but there was special scorn for Evangelical Christianity.--Gary Kah has been monitoring these kinds of issues, and he returned to Crosstalk with a critical update. Gary is founder and director of Hope for the World. He is editor of Hope for the World Update, an author and former Europe and Middle East Trade Specialist for the Indiana State Government.--Gary began by noting that it doesn't matter if you're looking at it financially, politically, culturally or spiritually, we're coming undone as a nation. He did note that there's a -silver lining- in that people are starting to wake up. Common sense people know something isn't right and Gary believes there's an agenda driving it all. --So where's all this headed and why-- Gary told listeners that nearly every power center of our federal government is under the control of a godless majority. He sees this as part of a demonic worldview that's taken shape to push us into a situation of global governance with top-down control where we would eventually lose all freedoms.
The push for world-global government continues. The World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum and the United Nations each have aggressive agendas where national sovereignty isn't part of their plans. There's the push for a central bank digital currency, digital I.D verification systems, vaccination passports, increased surveillance camera use, along with the use of artificial intelligence. --It's also worth noting that the meeting of the World Parliament of Religions took place where every religion was welcome, but there was special scorn for Evangelical Christianity.--Gary Kah has been monitoring these kinds of issues, and he returned to Crosstalk with a critical update. Gary is founder and director of Hope for the World. He is editor of Hope for the World Update, an author and former Europe and Middle East Trade Specialist for the Indiana State Government.--Gary began by noting that it doesn't matter if you're looking at it financially, politically, culturally or spiritually, we're coming undone as a nation. He did note that there's a -silver lining- in that people are starting to wake up. Common sense people know something isn't right and Gary believes there's an agenda driving it all. --So where's all this headed and why-- Gary told listeners that nearly every power center of our federal government is under the control of a godless majority. He sees this as part of a demonic worldview that's taken shape to push us into a situation of global governance with top-down control where we would eventually lose all freedoms.
Rebecca Shoot heads the Citizens for Global Solutions in the US. Andreas Bummel heads Democracy Beyond Borders, and Alexandre MacIsaac heads World Federalist Movement - Canada. We discuss ongoing steps toward holding nations and their leaders accountable for adherence to international law (especially against aggression) and ideas for developing a democratic World Parliament. For the video, audio podcast, transcript, summary, and public comments: https://tosavetheworld.ca/episode-563-next-global-governance/
The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Kobo.com: https://www.kobo.com/au/en/audiobook/dharma-the The Dharma or The Religion of Enlightenment By Paul Carus Narrated by Denis Daly Paul Carus (1852-1919) was a scholar, translator and researcher into comparative religion. He was a prolific author, producing works on philosophy, mathematics and science as well as translations of major Chinese and Japanese spiritual classics. Carus was a pioneer in the promotion of inter-religious dialogue, and was a speaker at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, in 1893. Although he refused to ally himself with a specific religious denomination, Carus had a particular reverence for Buddhism, and in 1896, published this succinct guide to the basic doctrines of the religion.
If you are one of the 40 million people in the United States who practice yoga, or if you have ever meditated, you have a forgotten Indian monk named Swami Vivekananda to thank. Few thinkers have had so enduring an impact on both Eastern and Western life as him, the Indian monk who inspired the likes of Freud, Gandhi, and Tagore. Blending science, religion, and politics, Vivekananda introduced Westerners to yoga and the universalist school of Hinduism called Vedanta. His teachings fostered a more tolerant form of mainstream spirituality in Europe and North America and forever changed the Western relationship to meditation and spirituality.Today's guest is Ruth Harris, author of Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda. She traces his transformation from son of a Calcutta-based attorney into saffron-robed ascetic. At the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he fascinated audiences with teachings from Hinduism, Western esoteric spirituality, physics, and the sciences of the mind, in the process advocating a more inclusive conception of religion and expounding the evils of colonialism. Vivekananda won many disciples, most prominently the Irish activist Margaret Noble, who disseminated his ideas in the face of much disdain for the wisdom of a “subject race.” At home, he challenged the notion that religion was antithetical to nationalist goals, arguing that Hinduism was intimately connected with Indian identity.The iconic monk emerges as a counterargument to Orientalist critiques, which interpret East–West interactions as primarily instances of Western borrowing. As Vivekananda demonstrates, we must not underestimate Eastern agency in the global circulation of ideas.
Shaun Parry is a Broadway Performer, Director, Choreographer, and the President of Promethean Spark International, a nonprofit organization that does life coaching for impoverished youth. He has spent years of his life teaching life skills to youth in leprosy colonies, prisons, slums, and sex trafficking shelters worldwide. Shaun is on the Council for the World United and was the Artistic Director for the World Parliament on Spirituality. He is also the author of the book, “Auditioning For Life - Success Strategies Learned From Broadway Auditions”. In this episode, Shaun shares how he was the consultant and coach for the first Broadway musical in Egypt; the intense experience of being a civilian first-responder at ground zero after 9/11; and the power of understanding this mantra: “we learn by listening; we become by doing.” Enjoy the show!
For the second in my FEMININE RISING series, and I speak to creator of the Divine Feminine App, Caryn MacGrandle! Caryn's app is an online community that has been connecting women (all genders) since 2016 with Circles, events and resources. Caryn has participated in numerous online and location events such as the World Parliament of Religions in September of 2021 in which she presented a workshop on Embodying the Goddess: Creating Rituals with Mind, Body and Soul, a webinar/panel with Dale Allen presenting Dale's Indie film award winning “In Our Right Minds: Leading Women to Strength as Leaders and Men to Strength without Armor” and many more. Each and every day, Caryn (aka Karen Moon) works tirelessly towards her belief that the most important area to first find equality and balance is the divinity found within yourself. We talk about the incredible power and importance of sitting in circles, how they ebb and flow, how we work with our own control freaky nature when creating them, and what divine feminine teaches us about coming together (including the synchronistic mysteries, our own reflections, our own growth and the magic of it all.) In Caryn's words, it is all about “holding the rim and letting everything fall into place.” For 180 days of member access to add featured events, profile and resources go to: http://thedivinefeminineapp.com/ and enter the code jenniferwai Download the app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1097093166 And here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TheDFApp.womenscircle&pli=1 On Instagram @thedivinefeminineapp. https://www.instagram.com/thedivinefeminineapp/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sGnjKPeD83A Review, rate and subscribe! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-self-consciousness-podcast/id1584654195 I'm Baaaack. On Instagram @hathorcommunications https://www.instagram.com/hathorcommunications/ Get your complimentary Who the F*ck Am I Guide: https://www.jenniferwai.com/ Music: Phiescope by Muziq One Voice by The Wailing Jennys --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/selfconsciousnesspodcast/message
For the second in my FEMININE RISING series, and I speak to creator of the Divine Feminine App, Caryn MacGrandle! Caryn's app is an online community that has been connecting women (all genders) since 2016 with Circles, events and resources. Caryn has participated in numerous online and location events such as the World Parliament of Religions in September of 2021 in which she presented a workshop on Embodying the Goddess: Creating Rituals with Mind, Body and Soul, a webinar/panel with Dale Allen presenting Dale's Indie film award winning “In Our Right Minds: Leading Women to Strength as Leaders and Men to Strength without Armor” and many more. Each and every day, Caryn (aka Karen Moon) works tirelessly towards her belief that the most important area to first find equality and balance is the divinity found within yourself. We talk about the incredible power and importance of sitting in circles, how they ebb and flow, how we work with our own control freaky nature when creating them, and what divine feminine teaches us about coming together (including the synchronistic mysteries, our own reflections, our own growth and the magic of it all.) In Caryn's words, it is all about “holding the rim and letting everything fall into place.” For 180 days of member access to add featured events, profile and resources go to: http://thedivinefeminineapp.com/ and enter the code jenniferwai Download the app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1097093166 And here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TheDFApp.womenscircle&pli=1 On Instagram @thedivinefeminineapp. https://www.instagram.com/thedivinefeminineapp/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sGnjKPeD83A Review, rate and subscribe! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-self-consciousness-podcast/id1584654195 I'm Baaaack. On Instagram @hathorcommunications https://www.instagram.com/hathorcommunications/ Get your complimentary Who the F*ck Am I Guide: https://www.jenniferwai.com/ Music: Phiescope by Muziq One Voice by The Wailing Jennys --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/selfconsciousnesspodcast/message
Last October I was on a panel discussion at the World Parliament of Religions. I presented a paper called, "Is God a Psychopath?" In today's episode, I present a longer version of that paper. I consider the classical theistic claim that God does not literally have empathy and compassion. I argued that this entails that God is a psychopath. This is a bad thing because it goes against standard accounts of the emotional profile of beings with perfect moral goodness. Credits Host: R.T. Mullins (PhD, University of St Andrews) is a senior fellow at the Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. Scientific Adviser and Show Manager: Ema Sani (PhD, University of Glasgow) is a postdoctoral fellow in biology at the University of Edinburgh. Music by Rockandmetal_domination – Raising-questions. Brand of Sacrifice--Life Blood. Empathy Test--Monsters. rtmullins.com Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=66431474 https://ko-fi.com/rtmullins
In 1893, World Parliament of Religions was called with the singular purpose of establishing Christianity as the foremost religion. That it failed specularly was because of Swami Vivekananda, who single handedly established the inclusivity of Advaita Vedanta over the exclusivist Abrahamic religions. Today is his 159th Jayanti. Sanjay Dixit discusses his 5 key ideas - Strength, Self-confidence, Concentration, High Goal, The Yogic harmony.
By Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar Swami Vivekananda always stood for harmony of religions. He spoke about acceptance of all religions as true and appealed to religious and spiritual leaders to shun all forms of religious fanaticism, persecution, and violence – this he said in a speech at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago 125 years ago, and it is urgently needed even today. Swami ji believed that Hinduism is a way of life and in no way related to any political ideology. He also said that we need to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas nor the Bible nor the Quran, yet this has to be done by harmonising the Vedas, the Bible and the Quran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but varied expressions of religion that is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best. In his concluding speech in Chicago, he said that the Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist nor a Hindu or Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others in his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.The doctrine of road map of Swami Vivekananda was laid down by his spiritual master, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who espoused the doctrine of ‘Jato Mat, Tato Path', recognising the potential of all religions to act as means of attaining spiritual enlightenment, and ‘Ekm sad vipraha bahuda vadanti', there is only one truth and learned person call it by many names.Swami Vivekananda also narrated the story of ‘Kupa Manduka' – frog in the well, to explain the closed minds of religious bigots. His central message was that holiness, purity and charity are not exclusive mansions of any particular religion and that every religion has produced men and women of the most exalted character. To those who dream of the exclusive survival of their own religion and destruction of the others, he said: “I pity them from the bottom of my heart and point out to them that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written ‘in spite of resistance, help and not fight, assimilation and not destruction, harmony and peace and not dissension.'”Swami Vivekananda turned the universalist philosophy of Vedanta into a driver of social change. True religion taught people to recognise the divinity of man and woman and to be of service to the poor – Daridra Narayan Seva. He raised money for the construction of Belur Math to feed the famine hit in Mushirabad in 1897 and again in 1898, to serve plague victims in Calcutta. Belur Math temple incorporates the architectural style associated with the places of worship of each religion. There are monks in the Ramakrishna order who are Muslim, Christians, Jews and Hindus, and they live together in the service of humanity.Swami ji believed that there never was “my religion or yours, my national religion or your national religion”, there is only one infinite religion that has existed all through eternity and will ever exist. When purity and spirituality disappear, leaving the soul dry, quarrels begin and not before. Therefore, he said, “Follow one and respect“Follow one and respect all.” The essence of religion is God-consciousness. To Swami Vivekananda, our watchword should be acceptance and not exclusion.(The writer is head, Judah Hyam Synagogue, New Delhi) Today is Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary.
Amongst the many,there is only one true Way:the natural Zen!* * *“Dhyanayana: a Practical Guide Among the Ways Of Zen,” the first chapter in “Mokurai,” our collection of Matsuoka Roshi's later talks, is unusually long. I suspect it was given to a large audience, such as at a university or symposium, rather than as a weekly address at the temple, which typically ran to 15 or 20 minutes. Owing to its length and detail, we will devote three segments to touching on its highlights.It begins with the historical introduction of Zen to America:In 1893, Rinzai Zen Master, Soyen Shaku journeyed to Chicago to attend the World Parliament of Religions. His presence and presentation sparked an immediate interest in Zen among some of the Americans attending the Parliament. As historical records have it, that was the first formal contact between Zen teaching and America. Much has transpired in the almost 100 years since Shaku Roshi came to America. Now, as more and more Americans are taking up the practice of Zen as a way of life, I would like to address a few words of advice to you about the right approach to the study of Zen.Pretty straightforward and not much need for comment, other than that Shaku Roshi was of the Rinzai sect, as was his disciple Sokei-an, who would later establish a famous center in New York in the 1930s, the same decade that Sensei came to America.He then touches on the inchoate Americanization of Zen:Zen first gained a popular foothold in the cultural life of the United States a half-century after Soyen Shaku's visit. Among some of the intellectuals of that time, among the circle of beat poets and authors, Zen became something of a philosophical fancy. It was portrayed in Jack Kerouac's book, On the Road, as a philosophical motif in the dialogue of a group of itinerants touring across America) against a backdrop of their personal drama and social commentary. For the beat generation of the fifties, Zen was used as nothing more than a justification for new or non-conventional behavior. This was called “Beat Zen.” It was never really a school of Zen as are Rinzai and Soto, which are both founded in a tradition of serious practice. Nonetheless, “Beat Zen” did much to focus popular and literary attention toward Zen, just as the writings of Dr. Daisetsu Suzuki, a disciple of Soyen Shaku Roshi, did much to focus academic attention toward Zen. And so, from the popular discussion of Zen without direct experience that ensued, Americans created a mystique around Zen from all they had heard.He then goes into an exhaustive list of all the terms and concepts associated with Zen from that period — such as “complete freedom,” “enlightenment,” “satori,” “insight,” “awakening,” “kensho,” and “liberation,” “nirvana,” “shunyata,” “emptiness” — which fill an entire paragraph. I take this as an example of his extensive research into the record of Zen in a second language, and an alien culture, the USA.He summarizes his introduction:These are all names used in connection with the culture of Zen. Most of them come from their origins in India, China and Japan. What they may mean depends on who explained them to you, or whether you learned them directly from your own experience and found a word to describe it later. I don't want even to attempt to explain them all now, but I do want to shed some light on the practice of the three modern Zen sects — Rinzai, Obaku and Soto — that are practiced in America now. My hope is that my advice might serve as a practical guide in your choice of following one of the Zen paths. Further, I hope that it will confirm your own practice of Zen, and encourage you to renew your efforts.This is vintage Matsuoka — basing your understanding on your own experience first, and finding words to describe it later — along with his intention to help us — you — in the assimilation of Zen in America, by emphasizing the traditional, but radical, Soto approach to direct experience. This is not a scholarly essay, but an exhortation to practice, Sensei's manifestation of the Bodhisattva vow in action:The way to study Zen is through your own direct experience in meditation. That is the primary path and essential characteristic of all the schools of Zen. Zen means meditation. The original Sanskrit word for meditation was “Dhyana,” translated into Chinese as “Chan,” then translated into Japanese as “Zen.” All of these words refer to the meditation school of Buddhism which began with the historical Buddha, Gautama Shakyamuni's practice of meditation as the means to complete realization of the meaning of his life and of all life. The practice of zazen, or sitting meditation, is the necessary way of cultivation.So there we have it. The manifesto of Dogen's Zen in America is the same as his mission in the Japan of the 13th century: the promulgation and propagation of the simple, but difficult, meditation of Buddha.Then he uses zazen to illustrate some critical differences between the existing sects of Zen itself:The Zen sects differ as to the purpose of zazen in that Rinzai views zazen as a means to enlightenment; whereas Soto views zazen as the expression of enlightenment. Nonetheless, the Rinzai, Obaku and Soto sects all agree on the prime importance of zazen. Secondly, all the Zen sects agree that it is important to study with an authentic teacher or Zen master. It is through a living interchange between master and disciple that a disciple comes to a mastery of Zen in his or her own right. This interchange, called heart to heart transmission, whether long or short in time duration, is only effective if the Zen student has prepared him or herself adequately through the assiduous practice of zazen.A clear and compelling exposition of the connection between zazen, the teacher-student relationship in Zen, and the often mystified transmission from heart to heart of the lineage going back to Buddha. In five brief but dense paragraphs, Matsuoka Roshi encapsulates the essential history of Zen, and its advent in the USA.In what follows, Sensei covers some of the highlights of the historical transmission as recorded in writing, including Bodhidharma, Hui Neng and Hung Jen, the sixth and fifth ancestors in China, jumping to Hakuin in the 18th century, and the connection of the five houses of Zen in the Tang era to the later sects in contemporary Japan. Alternating with history, he drives home certain salient and eternal points:For most of us, the chaos of this age of industrial progress — global economic and military turbulence; likely nuclear disaster from power plants or bombs; rapid erosion of the earth's resources; the unbalancing of environmental patterns, unbalancing in its turn terrestrial life; and, finally, blinding, rapid social change — is too much for us to handle in a balanced way. Our minds and emotions are not simple, but rather are most confused, conditioned, and cluttered not only by our common human condition, but more so by all the accelerated turmoil of our time.The only point of history, from Sensei's perspective, is to learn from it and apply its lessons to the present. He compares and contrasts our current causes and conditions, contextualizing the masters of the past, while admonishing those of us in the present to recognize our advantages, as well as what we are lacking in pursuing Zen as a lifestyle:From a statistical point of View, by far the largest group of Zen practitioners are those who begin the practice of Zen, and then because of a lack of conviction, initial difficulties or a lack of self discipline, discontinue their practice. Most of the Zen Temples in the United States are populated by this latter group. And really, the Zen sanghas of historic and modern India, China, Japan, Korea and Viet Nam are, and were, probably very similar. It is very easy to see when observing this group of Zen practitioners who start, then stop, that there is no LIVING enlightenment in them. Surely, some of these people, depending upon their abilities, their consistency, their intensity and their duration of practice have differing degrees of insight into various parts of their lives; and this is a good, and important, effect.Zen, however, does not radiate through them body, mind, and moment. They do not continually remember their own original nature, and act freely out of it and through it. That is a pity. I suppose that it is also the law of averages. Like anything effective on planet earth, Zen teachers from Shakyamuni Buddha to today have had to adapt the teaching as pointed at by Bodhidharma to the culture, language and status of those students of the Zen way that they seek to lead. They have also had to adapt their teaching to the level of gifts and to the level of intensity of their Zen disciples.The historically earlier teachers of Zen talked of two things: the essence of Zen, and the means to transmit this understanding. Teaching methods were referred to as “upaya” in Sanskrit; sometimes translated as “artificial means.” The teaching ways were sometimes called “upayakausalya” or skillful means. These were the ways that Zen masters used to charm, disarm, disprove, disagree, disengage, dissuade, dismember, or disabuse the disciple's limiting habits and views so that he or she could become free to see with the eye of enlightenment.I have always thought that all I need is a better class of student; thank you, Sensei. Seriously, though, it is still amazing to me every time I re-read his talks, how contemporary his message, how consistently he hits upon this note of unflinching dedication to zazen as what is missing in most people's practice. I am also stuck by the difficulty of skipping over any part of that message, and can only encourage you to follow up with your own reading of these excellent teachings. He will return to the idea of upaya, and Soto Zen's emphasis on meditation, as the upaya for our times.He touches on his personal history:Dr. D. T. Suzuki, who was my teacher at Columbia University, classified the Zen teaching methods as verbal and direct. Verbal methods involve paradox, transcending opposites, contradiction, affirmation, repetition and exclamation. Direct teaching involves shouting, beating, creating art works, practicing martial arts, or exhibiting some form of unorthodox behavior intended to show a student the Way. Ultimately, what form the upaya take are the conjunction of a particular teacher, and all that he or she is, with a particular student or group of students and all that they are. In the free flow of Zen the teaching will teach itself as long as the teacher doesn't interfere, and as long as the student is receptive. Of course, as long as the student resists at all, the teaching is poured out to awaken her or him until it is successful, or until the student quits or the teacher dies. I am not even sure in those cases if the teaching really does stop.Note how Sensei expands the concept of “teaching” and learning Zen to include following others who are not necessarily in your lineage, as well as non-verbal and unorthodox approaches. The statement that, “In the free flow of Zen the teaching will teach itself as long Zen's method to its ultimate foundation — following the natural revelation of the truth, rather than having to force it. Let this guide our approach.We will have to leave it here for now. In the next segment, we will begin with the conclusion that Matsuoka Roshi draws from the above. A real Zen cliffhanger. Tune in next time.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell
Wonderful conversation with Deborah Levine about her life and how she overcame the obstacles of multiple health issues, being a single mother, and building a life that is truly inspiring.Although this episode does not cover much about bulimia, other than a couple of stories that were relatable, it is an inspirational one with hope resilience.More about Deborah:DEBORAH LEVINE is Founder/Editor-in-Chief of the American Diversity Report, an award-winning author of 15 books, and Forbes Magazine Diversity And Inclusion Trailblazer. Despite a near-death experience working in Uzbekistan, Deborah has 33 years of experience as a change-maker in challenging times, a legacy that goes back generations. Her grandfather is one of Bermuda's Founding 400 and she's part of the only Jewish family on the island for 4 generations. Her father was a US intelligence officer during World War II, trained at Fort Ritchie to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. Her mother was a special education pioneer in the 1940s. Deborah is a Designer of Cognitive Diversity using emotion metrics, neuro-communication, and decision-optimization. With her considerable experience in program planning, community interface, teaching, and management, she designs DEI projects that boost inclusion efforts on multiple levels. Over 3 decades, Deborah developed programs to empower women. She served on the all-female executive committee of the Oklahoma Say No to Hate Coalition, founded Chattanooga's Women's Council of Diversity, and created the Women GroundBreakers Storytelling public event for Women's History Month. She has received awards from the Women's Federation for World Peace and Nation of Women. Deborah is also a pioneer in religious diversity beginning with coordinating the 1990 National Workshop on Christians and Jews, speaking at the 100th anniversary of World Parliament of Religions, and serving as consultant to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She founded the DuPage/ Chicago Interfaith Resource Network (DIRN) and has published award-winning books on religious diversity, one of which was taken to the Vatican as a gift for Pope Francis. Her book, When Hate Groups March Down Main Street: Engaging a Community Response, is the culmination of decades of work counteracting hate groups including her experience with neo-Nazis during her tenure at Tulsa's Jewish Federation after the Oklahoma City bombing. Giving others a voice has been her mission and for the past 15 years, the American Diversity Report has published more than 1,000 articles from writers around the world. A blogger before the term existed, Deborah has always been a pioneer online. She studied computer programming in the 1960s and became an office IT manager in the 1980s. She is both a futurist and a historian.New Release Kindle or Signed Copy! How To Have Your Cake & Not Eat It All Too - A Guide To Adult Bulimia RecoveryBE A GUEST/FIND A GUEST Start for Free! PODMATCH is innovative, provides easy communication and dashboard scheduling! My pick of the month!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show
Eric speaks with historian Tal Howard about Tal's new book, The Faith of Others: A History of Interreligious Dialogue (Yale University Press, 2021). They cover Tal's background with the study of history and then embark on the book's three main case studies of interreligious dialogue: Chicago's World Parliament of Religions in 1893, London's Conference on Some Living Religions within the Empire in 1924, and Vatican II's Nostra Aetate in 1965. Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard is Professor of Humanities and History and holder of the Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University, where he is affiliated with Christ College, Valparaiso's interdisciplinary honors college. He also serves as Senior Fellow for the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Pope and the Professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the Quandary of the Modern Age (Oxford, 2017). As an additional recommended reading with upper House connections, see Charles Cohen's The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020). Chuck spoke about his book at Upper House in February 2020. The audio for that talk is available here. As always we invite you to leave us a rating on your favorite podcast app or send us a comment at podcast@slbrownfoundation.org. Credits: music by Micah Behr, audio engineering by Andy Johnson, graphic design by Madeline Ramsey.
9/11 is not known just for the WTC attack by Al Qaeda, but also for the soul stirring address to the World Parliament of Religion in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda. Sanjay Dixit contrasts the two events and anchors the future of the world with Sanatana values.
Hear what you can do to end hate and foster inclusivity Deborah Levine is an amazing woman. How excited I was to share her story with our listeners. Many people today are talking about the need to build a more accepting, diverse and inclusive society, not just in their business but all around them in their communities. How do you do that? And how can you make the value of diversity become a cultural norm that is embraced? Listen to Deborah tell you about her own journey, and how that has caused her to focus on these themes in her personal and professional life. Here is your chance to learn from a true star in the growing movement to transform our society and our culture so we can build better lives together. Watch and listen to our conversation here Some of the topics Deborah and I discuss include: WOMEN LEADERS: Lessons from a Personal Journey. Deborah is deeply involved in the movement to help women overcome the obstacles in their pathways. Hear how her efforts to increase awareness of things like unconscious bias and the invisibility factor help women and the world we live in break through the hurdles and build a better society. How to FOSTER INCLUSION and UPEND HATE. We dig deep into ways people can counteract hate in their communities and in the workplace. Deborah suggests creating anti-hate councils that would use a 3-step sequential process to build skills that counteract hate. This process is especially relevant today, given the omnipresence of hate groups online, their ability to influence cultural norms, and their negative impact on diverse communities which are targeted by these groups. More about Deborah Levine Founder/Editor-in-Chief of the American Diversity Report, an award-winning author of 15 books, a Forbes Magazine Diversity And Inclusion Trailblazer, and a Designer of Cognitive Diversity using emotion metrics, neuro-communication and decision-optimization, Deborah Levine has an amazing story of a life dedicated to empowering women and giving them a voice. Despite a near-death experience working in Uzbekistan, Deborah has 33 years' experience as a changemaker in challenging times. These efforts include creating a women's sub-committee of the DuPage Interfaith Resource Network, serving on the all-female executive committee of the Oklahoma Say No to Hate Coalition, founding the Women's Council of Diversity, and creating the Women GroundBreakers Storytelling public event for Women's History Month. She is also highly revered for her innovative Matrix Model Management System, an interactive tool kit which increases emotional intelligence around race, ethnicity, gender, generation and religion. A pioneer in the field of religious diversity, Deborah coordinated the 1990 National Workshop on Christians and Jews, spoke at the 100th anniversary of World Parliament of Religions, and served as consultant to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She has also served as executive director for Jewish Federations in Illinois and Tennessee and director of community relations for the Tulsa Jewish Federation after the Oklahoma City bombing. Her published books include Religious Diversity in our Schools, Religious Diversity at Work and When Hate Groups March Down Main Street: Engaging a Community Response. Deborah's grandfather was one of Bermuda's Founding 400 and she is part of the only Jewish family on the island for four generations. You can connect with Deborah through LinkedIn, Twitter, the American Diversity Report website and her website DeborahLevine.com, or you can email her at deborah@americandiversityreport.com. To learn more about achieving equity in our society, check out these podcasts: Johanna Zeilstra—Let's All Build Companies That Make Gender Fair Maureen Berkner Boyt—Diversity and Inclusion: Let's Go Beyond Hoping and Make Inclusion Really Happen Andie Kramer and Al Harris—Bringing Gender Equity To The Workforce Want to join the movement for equity in the workplace? Plan to attend the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) third Annual Summit: Empowering Through Gender and Diversity, Sept. 21st and 22nd. A powerhouse lineup from the WBC Community will discuss topics ranging from building equity and diversity to increasing the number of women-led institutional funds, share how men are aligning with women to support the changing workplace, and demonstrate how women are succeeding in the technology sector. Details and registration here.
In this special Ramadan khutbah, Ustadha Chaplain Maryam Sharrieff joins us from the East Coast to deliver her inspiring khutbah on "Healing A Hurt Heart," in honor of her late mentor and teacher Chaplain Imam Sohaib Sultan, who recently passed away. Her message is filled with helpful advice for how we can rely on the power of the Qur'an to restore our spirits during difficult times and beyond. Bio: Ustadha Maryam Sharrieff is an educator, filmmaker, lecturer, linguist, researcher and student of the development of Islam in America. Her recent research projects have examined the African-American Shi'i Muslim Community, Latino Converts to Islam in America, the Legacy of Female Scholarship in Islam and Gender & Its Linguistic Implications in the Qur'an and Torah. Maryam's research interests also include the Muslim Contribution to Sicilian Society, the Representation of Faith In (& On) film, Homosexuality in Canonical Texts, American Muslim Women's Leadership, Fundamentalism Across Faiths and America's Founding Father's Interactions with the Muslim World. Maryam has studied and conducted research in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Italy, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Most recently she presented on Muslim women's leadership at the World Parliament of Religion's conference in Sydney, Australia, Salt Lake City and at the annual international Shaykafest. From 2012-2014 she was a Muslim fellow for Hebrew College's and Andover Newton Theological School's CIRCLE (Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education) program. Recently, she presented on Muslim Women's Comic Book Heroes at the United Kingdom's University of Derby's Muslim Women's Activism conference. Ustadha Maryam teaches for rabata.org and serves as an adjunct professor. She is dedicated to building and contributing to institutions conducive to the pursuit of human excellence. Sharrieff received her Bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern Studies/Italian/TV & Film from Rutgers University and obtained her Master's in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. She currently resides in the Boston area and serves as a University Muslim Chaplain.
Ramadan #HistoricMuslimah #28: "Tayyibah Taylor" by Ustadha Chaplain Maryam Sharrieff | Today, our Khateebah Ustadha Chaplain Maryam Sharrieff tells us about a recent historical Muslimah figure: Tayyibah Taylor, the graceful Afro-Caribbean creator of Azizah Magazine -- a high quality magazine for Muslim women, by Muslim women -- whose work was unprecedented during her time. M O R E F R O M U S T A D H A C H A P L A I N M A R Y A M S H A R R I E F F Watch the entire jumma'a on "Healing A Hurt Heart" Khutbah by Chaplain Ustadha Maryam Sharrieff here: https://youtu.be/H6N04K6VOiw D O N A T E The Women's Mosque of America needs your help! Make a contribution of any amount today to help us continue our work to uplift the entire Muslim community by empowering Muslim women and girls. Donate here today: womensmosque.com/donate B I O Ustadha Chaplain Maryam Sharrieff is an educator, filmmaker, lecturer, linguist, researcher, and student of the development of Islam in America. Her recent research projects have examined the African-American Shi'i Muslim Community, Latino Converts to Islam in America, the Legacy of Female Scholarship in Islam, and Gender & its Linguistic Implications in the Qur'an and Torah. Ustadha Maryam's research interests also include the Muslim Contribution to Sicilian Society, the Representation of Faith In (& On) Film, Homosexuality in Canonical Texts, American Muslim Women's Leadership, Fundamentalism Across Faiths, and America's Founding Fathers' Interactions with the Muslim World. Maryam has studied and has conducted research in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Italy, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. Most recently, she presented on Muslim women's leadership at the World Parliament of Religion's conference in Sydney, Australia, Salt Lake City, and at the annual international Shaykafest. From 2012-2014, she was a Muslim fellow for Hebrew College's and Andover Newton Theological School's CIRCLE (Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education) program. Recently, she presented on Muslim Women's Comic Book Heroes at the United Kingdom's University of Derby's Muslim Women's Activism conference. Ustadha Maryam teaches for Rabata.org and serves as an adjunct professor. She is dedicated to building and contributing to institutions conducive to the pursuit of human excellence. Sharrieff received her Bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern Studies/Italian/TV & Film from Rutgers University and obtained her Master's in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. She currently resides in the Boston area and serves as a University Muslim Chaplain. S T A Y C O N N E C T E D Do you want to find out about The Women's Mosque of America's upcoming women-led & co-ed events? Sign up for our newsletter here: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/home... A B O U T The Women's Mosque of America is the nation's first women-led Muslim house of worship and a registered 501(c)3 non-profit. The Women's Mosque of America strives to uplift the entire Muslim community by empowering Muslim women and girls through more direct access to Islamic scholarship and leadership. The Women's Mosque of America provides a safe space for women to feel welcome, respected, and actively engaged within the Muslim Ummah. It complements existing mosques, offering opportunities for women to grow, learn, and gain inspiration to spread throughout their respective communities. The Women's Mosque of America provides women-led Friday jumma'a services for women and children (including boys 12 and under) once a month in Southern California. In addition, The Women's Mosque of America provides programming, events, and classes open to both men and women that aim to increase community access to female Muslim scholars and female perspectives on Islamic knowledge and spirituality. F O L L O W U S Instagram: @womensmosque Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomensMosque Twitter: @womensmosque
Episode Notes Hi there! Thanks for tuning into this episode with us. We are so excited to be joined by our good friend, old roommate, and incredible individual - Shaun Parry! In this episode, we chat about how our lives are like an ongoing audition. It matters whether and how we show up and the efforts we make. Our discussion is about how to truly be present in your life despite your relationship status. Here is a little about our wonderful guest: Shaun Parry is an actor, singer, dancer, director, choreographer, international public speaker, composer, author, and much, much more. Shaun is the President and Founder of Promethean Spark International, an amazing non-profit organization to bring life coaching skills to impoverished youth all over the world. He is the Founder & Artistic Director of the LifeDance Troupe, Artistic Director for the World Parliament on Spirituality, and Partner at Meditation of Christ Photographic Art Series. He is even the designer and CEO of his own apparel company, Parry Apparel! This incredible and multi-faceted man is not just talented and learned, but also a devoted Disciple of Christ and an amazing human being. He recently published his first book, under the same name as this episode, AUDITIONING FOR LIFE. How to Contact Shaun Parry: LinkedIn: linkedin.com Shaun's Website: shaunparry.com Shaun's Instagram: instagram.com/the_shaunparry Promethean Spark(Shaun's Non-profit): prometheanspark.org Parry Apparel: www.parryapparel.com Mentioned Items in Podcast: AUDITIONING FOR LIFE BOOK See you next time! -Briahnna & Jerry Scott Support Single to Sealed by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/single-to-sealed This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
The 75th anniversary of the UN Charter in 2020 unleashed broad- ranging debates about the future of an organization that rose from the chaos and destruction brought about by World War II and was meant to establish a basis for peace, security and prosperity, for a world weary of violence and bloodshed. Despite some achievements, the UN is struggling to find relevance in the 21st century, amidst a plethora of impeding global crises, some of them posing existential threats to our future. In this episode Andreas Bummel, the co-founder of Democracy Without Borders, sits down with our host Augusto Lopez-Claros to discuss the formation of a collective identity, the world federalist movement, UN democratic legitimacy, the role that a World Parliamentary Assembly could play in revitalizing a process of long-needed reforms and more.For more information about this episode and the Global Governance Forum visit GlobalGovernanceForum.org
This special episode of IF Podcasts on National Youth Day features an address by Shri Ram Madhav on "Youth and Nation Building". The talk was originally delivered as a part of a Webinar to commemorate the 127th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda's speech at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, to an audience of youth from UAE and other Middle Eastern Countries.
Are you always waiting for signs before you take action? Pay attention! Amelía shares why you should never lose your discernment when dealing with synchronicities. She also shares what she was presenting at the 3rd World Parliament on Spirituality, the 4 stages of your soul mission.Satya says this is a juicy episode as it's packed with a lot of wisdom nuggets.If you enjoy it, please share it with your friends.You can check out the 3rd World Parliament on Spirituality here: https://theworldunited.org/ (https://theworldunited.org/)And if you are looking to discover your soul mission check out Amelía's Mystery School here: http://knowtheself.com/aym (http://knowtheself.com/aym)The Mantra I shared in this episode, "Your foundation needs to be as big as your destiny" was passed on to me by my former student, Melissa White, it was given to her, by her mother. IG @councilofmothers
Shaun Parry, known as Spider-Man during the 9/11 rescue because he could twist and turn his body like no other to help find survivors. Shaun is a performing artist from New York City. He has taught, performed, choreographed, or directed in countries all around the world. A few highlights from credits include; Phantom of the Opera, CATS, AIDA, A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden), Beowulf (Off-Broadway), The First Emperor (Metropolitan Opera), New York Theatre Ballet, Martha Graham Dance, Ballroom National Championships, 2002 Olympics and MTV Made to name a few.Shaun is the president and founder of Promethean Spark International, a nonprofit organization that does life coaching with extremely impoverished youth worldwide. Shaun is also the CEO and designer of the clothing brand Parry Apparel and the Artistic Director for the World Parliament on Spirituality. His first book, Auditioning for Life will be coming out in early 2021. Tune in to hear his amazing story. #shaunpower #love #light #enegry #spiritualitiy #help #artist #performer #inspirtation #spiderman #beliefcast #tsinspires
Roslyn Heights, NY, July 6, 2020—There are currently 5.8 million people in the U.S. today suffering from Alzheimer’s – a number that is expected to double by the middle of the century. Is it possible to stop or slow down this disease? Award-winning physician, scientist and author, Dr. Shuvendu Sen, says “Yes! It can be reversed, and even stopped altogether.” Dr. Sen shares expert advice and discusses the success being achieved through yoga, meditation and dancing/music therapy in Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer's: A Holistic Treatment Approach through Meditation, Yoga and the Arts. As the population of Americans with this disease continues to increase, so does the burden of caring for them. The cost of Alzheimer’s is staggering! This year alone, the cost for healthcare, long-term care and hospice services for those age 65 and older with dementia are estimated to be around $305 billion. Researchers in top institutions around the country indicate that the contributing factors to the disease (stress/hypertension) can be improved with holistic approaches, such as yoga, meditation, music and virtual reality therapy. We need an innovative breakthrough in order to make a difference; Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer’s is the guide that can help make these necessary, far-reaching changes in medical care. “How can meditation and yoga stop or even reverse Alzheimer's?” he asks. “They set the mind on an inward journey, built on a novel microenvironment where stress and its damaging inflict are permanently thwarted. This bridging of the old and new creates an imperative paradigm shift in our perspective toward managing this disease.” Listed in the US Top Physician’s list, Dr. Sen is the author of the bestselling book, A Doctor's Diary, and is the recipient of the Nautilus Book Award, Men of Distinction Award from the New York State Senate, the Oscar Edwards Award from the American College of Physicians, and has been thrice nominated for the Pushcart Award for his columns and other works of fiction. He has been an invited speaker to address United Nations officials, the New Jersey Senate, the Indian Consulate in New York, the World Book Fair, City University of New York, Harvard University and World Parliament of Religions. He has also been featured on many major television and radio stations. To learn more about Dr. Sen and Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer's, pleas
Abigail Perry and Nico Oscoff, Executive/Creative Producer of Good Day Film, discuss the instrumental impact Swami Vivekananda had on the yoga mindset in the eastern and western cultures, and how–in our very beings–we are free. Listen to this episode to learn about the amazing hero’s journey of Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk and chief discipline of the 19th-century mystic, and how this yogi’s influence impacted and changed not only Nico’s life–but the union of the eastern and western cultures, including how he influenced, if not initiated, the Indian Independence movement. Embrace Nico’s wisdom and the great homage he pays spiritual masters like Vivekananda by sharing these important stories. Email Abigail at abigailkperry [AT] gmail [DOT] com to continue the conversation. *****Interested in other high points discussed in this podcast? Explore these resources for your own creative journey. Good Day Film: Learn more about Nico and the team at Good Day Film–and all their fantastic productions!Do you want to learn more about Swami Vivekananda? Learn more about his famous speech delivered at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 on Rajya Sabha TV.Indian Independence movement – Read more about the Indian Independence movement and how, over 90 years, major influencers like Swami Vivekananda led to India’s freedom from the British Empire. Swami Vivekananda: Learn more about Swami Vivekananda’s influence and life. Intro Music: “Open Those Bright Eyes” by Kevin MacLeod, edited for this podcast’s intro and closing. License: Creative Commons
Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019. From climate change to tax evasion, humanity’s biggest challenges are increasingly global. Many of those frustrated by our lack of progress on these issues argue for some form of world government. If the United Nations, or some similar body, had real power over national governments, global agreements could be made and enforced. But others argue that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for seven billion people to hold a world government to account. Indeed, many find the idea of a world government sinister. Nevertheless, can we really solve our global problems without global political institutions? Speakers include: ANDREAS BUMMEL executive director, Democracy without Borders; co-author, A World Parliament: governance and democracy in the 21ST century IAN CRAWFORD professor of planetary science and astrobiology, Birkbeck College, University of London MARY KALDOR emeritus professor of global governance, LSE; director, Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit, LSE; author, Global Security Cultures, Global Civil Society DR TARA MCCORMACK lecturer, international politics, University of Leicester CHAIR: ROB LYONSscience and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum Produced by Ian Crawford and Rob Lyons
Andreas Bummel discusses the historical idea of world government and how existential civilizational threats such as climate change, thermonuclear war, and systemic global financial collapse necessitate the creation of a world parliament. We discuss numerous aspects of the movement, the role of regional unions, a global currency, and criticisms which include the threat of the […]
Andreas Bummel discusses the historical idea of world government and how existential civilizational threats such as climate change, thermonuclear war, and systemic global financial collapse necessitate the creation of a world parliament. We discuss numerous aspects of the movement, the role of regional unions, a global currency, and criticisms which include the threat of the […]
Today's talk story highlights: Evolution Biology, Circular Economy, 5G Wireless, Is It Safe? and the 100 Resilient Cities Initiative. In the past year, I have read about these, listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos & Netflix shows to learn as much as I can to catch up with the Sustainable Movement locally and globally. For those doing the same or just starting out, this podcast with Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris will be very educational. My goal for this talk story was to address these topics so those "green" to green could grasp the complex thought, theories and advances people are making in the world of sustainability. We will also dive deeper into the hurdles we are facing with our Sustainable Initiatives and address some potential solutions for our future. Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist, futurist, author, business consultant and speaker. Citizen of the USA and Greece, she lives in Spain, where she works with Mallorca Goes Green toward sustainable local economy. Fellow of the World Business Academy and member of the World Wisdom Council, her post-doctoral fellowship tenure was at the American Museum of Natural History in New York; she taught at MIT and the University of Massachusetts, was a UN Consultant on indigenous peoples, a science writer for the NOVA-HORIZON TV series, taught in a sustainable business MBA program and organized the Hokkaido Foundations of Science Symposium in 2008 and another in Kuala Lumpur in 2009. Her books include EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution, A Walk Through Time: from Stardust to Us and Biology Revisioned, w. Willis Harman. Dr. Sahtouris ever updates her model for a living universe integrating physics, biology and spirituality. She sees solutions to our social and economic crises in the evolution of Earth's ecosystems and works passionately for the health and well-being of our global family. Her venues have included top government agencies in Australia, New Zealand, Brasil and the Netherlands, The World Bank, UN, UNESCO, EPA, Digital Earth Society, Boeing, Siemens, Tokyo Dome Stadium, Sao Paulo's leading business schools, State of the World Forums (NY & San Francisco), First Rand Bank Group S.Africa, World Parliament of Religions, and many more. Website: www.sahtouris.com email: elisabet@sahtouris.com Helpful links: 5G Explained here at two different websites: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/ or https://youtu.be/GEx_d0SjvS0 Evolution Biology: https://youtu.be/qrfPRju8hxg You can reach Smart Living Hawaii at: www.SmartLivingHi.com Instagram: @smart_living_hawaii Facebook: @SmartLivingHawaii
Sound Healer, drum circle goddess, international public speaker, mother of four, and so much more, Katie Jo is a personal powerhouse that has devoted her life journey to knowing who you truly are. After being catapulted from single mom to keynote speaker at the World Parliament of Religions, and giving her speech completely unscripted, Katie Jo showed the world that she means business. Now, she is here today to help share her eternal light and compassionate spirit. If you have ever been curious about the spiritual healing power of a drum circle, how to use religion as a tool to master your own divinity, or are looking for guidance for yourself or others, Katie Jo is here for you. An advocate of being completely open and vulnerable, Katie Jo is pointing the way for other women to be who they really are. By putting away your agenda and being open to holding hands with those who believe differently than you, you can open yourself up to enlightenment. We are all magnificent beings alike, and Katie Jo is here to help you stay open, humble and clear with your intentions. Have you felt the potential of a drum circle? Let us know in the comments section. In This Episode Finding your own path before finding your soulmate What it is like to go from a single mom to the keynote speaker at the World Parliament of Religions Truly accepting your divinity and knowing you are enough How millennials are embracing spirituality in favor of religion Exposing corruption by standing in the light of who you are Quotes “It wasn’t until I really felt like I could be on my own two feet, and be strong and be completely whole and completely satisfied of my life regardless of what happened single.” (5:35) “With every thought and action, we define who we truly are.” (11:05) “Drum circles are about unity and love and nondenominational connection for all people.” (17:30) “It’s not me, its God. And I am his child. And to me, that is a higher law than any religion.” (34:36) “When you talk about soul sovereignty, it’s not about being on the stage, it’s not about having an audience, it’s the daily rituals we live in.” (42:52) Links Find Katie online Follow Katie on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest Check out the full episode page here Find Cherie online Follow Cherie on Facebook
In his recent book, Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Steven E. Kemper examines the Sinhala layman Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and argues that this figure has been misunderstood by both Sinhala nationalists, who have appropriated him for their own political ends, and scholars, who have portrayed Dharmapala primarily as a social reformer and a Sinhala chauvinist. Making extensive use of theJournal of the Mahabodhi Society,effectively a forum for the expression of Dharmapala’s own opinions, and the entirety of Dharmapala’s meticulous diaries, which cover a forty-year period, Kemper asserts that Dharmapala was above all a religious seeker–a world renouncer who at times sought to emulate the life of the Buddha. Central to Kemper’s study of Dharmapala are the diametrically opposed themes of universalism and nationalism.While Dharmapala was realistic in so far as he understood that the various Buddhist sects and orders could not be united due to sectarian, ethnic, and caste and class-related divisions, his Buddhist identity was in no way based on his own Sinhala identity, and his life was organized around three universalisms: an Asian Buddhist universalism, the universalism of Theosophy, and the universalism of the British imperium.He spent most of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka and at various times imagined and hoped to be reborn in India, Japan, Switzerland, and England. Dharmapala devoted much of his life to establishing Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, which had been the legal property of a Saivite monastic order since the early eighteenth century and had since come to be thoroughly incorporated into a Hindu pilgrimage route. His interest in the temple was in part a result of his own efforts to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, but was also his attempt to establish a geographical point of focus for Buddhists–a Buddhist Mecca, if you will–around which Buddhists could rally and come together. He looked to many sources of potential support, including the Bengali elite, Japan, the Thai royal family, and British government officials in India, but in the end failed to achieve his aim. In contrast to previous depictions of Dharmapala as a Protestant Buddhist who encouraged the laicization of Buddhism, Kemper shows that Dharmapala was if anything an ascetic at heart who believed celibacy was a prerequisite for soteriological progress and participation in Buddhist work (sasana), who emphasized meditation, and whose spiritual aspirations are visible from a very early age.Kemper also shows that the influence of Theosophy on Dharmapala’s interpretation of Buddhism and thought more broadly did not end with his formal break with the American Colonel Olcott and the Theosophical Society in 1905, but continued to the end of his life, a fact obscured by Sinhala nationalistic portrayals of him. At some 500 pages,Rescued from the Nationincludes detailed discussions of many contemporaneous figures, movements, and trends. These include Japanese institutional interest in India, Japanese nationalism, and the struggles of Japanese Buddhism in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration; the World Parliament of Religions that took place in Chicago in 1893 and the emergence of the category of “world religion”; the Bengali Renaissance and associated figures such as Swami Vivekananda; Western interest in Buddhism and Indian religion; and South Asian resistance to British colonial governance. In this way, this book will be of great value to those interested in Asian religions and modernity, Buddhist and Hindu revival movements, Asian nationalisms, and Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In his recent book, Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Steven E. Kemper examines the Sinhala layman Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and argues that this figure has been misunderstood by both Sinhala nationalists, who have appropriated him for their own political ends, and scholars, who have portrayed Dharmapala primarily as a social reformer and a Sinhala chauvinist. Making extensive use of theJournal of the Mahabodhi Society,effectively a forum for the expression of Dharmapala’s own opinions, and the entirety of Dharmapala’s meticulous diaries, which cover a forty-year period, Kemper asserts that Dharmapala was above all a religious seeker–a world renouncer who at times sought to emulate the life of the Buddha. Central to Kemper’s study of Dharmapala are the diametrically opposed themes of universalism and nationalism.While Dharmapala was realistic in so far as he understood that the various Buddhist sects and orders could not be united due to sectarian, ethnic, and caste and class-related divisions, his Buddhist identity was in no way based on his own Sinhala identity, and his life was organized around three universalisms: an Asian Buddhist universalism, the universalism of Theosophy, and the universalism of the British imperium.He spent most of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka and at various times imagined and hoped to be reborn in India, Japan, Switzerland, and England. Dharmapala devoted much of his life to establishing Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, which had been the legal property of a Saivite monastic order since the early eighteenth century and had since come to be thoroughly incorporated into a Hindu pilgrimage route. His interest in the temple was in part a result of his own efforts to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, but was also his attempt to establish a geographical point of focus for Buddhists–a Buddhist Mecca, if you will–around which Buddhists could rally and come together. He looked to many sources of potential support, including the Bengali elite, Japan, the Thai royal family, and British government officials in India, but in the end failed to achieve his aim. In contrast to previous depictions of Dharmapala as a Protestant Buddhist who encouraged the laicization of Buddhism, Kemper shows that Dharmapala was if anything an ascetic at heart who believed celibacy was a prerequisite for soteriological progress and participation in Buddhist work (sasana), who emphasized meditation, and whose spiritual aspirations are visible from a very early age.Kemper also shows that the influence of Theosophy on Dharmapala’s interpretation of Buddhism and thought more broadly did not end with his formal break with the American Colonel Olcott and the Theosophical Society in 1905, but continued to the end of his life, a fact obscured by Sinhala nationalistic portrayals of him. At some 500 pages,Rescued from the Nationincludes detailed discussions of many contemporaneous figures, movements, and trends. These include Japanese institutional interest in India, Japanese nationalism, and the struggles of Japanese Buddhism in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration; the World Parliament of Religions that took place in Chicago in 1893 and the emergence of the category of “world religion”; the Bengali Renaissance and associated figures such as Swami Vivekananda; Western interest in Buddhism and Indian religion; and South Asian resistance to British colonial governance. In this way, this book will be of great value to those interested in Asian religions and modernity, Buddhist and Hindu revival movements, Asian nationalisms, and Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In his recent book, Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Steven E. Kemper examines the Sinhala layman Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and argues that this figure has been misunderstood by both Sinhala nationalists, who have appropriated him for their own political ends, and scholars, who have portrayed Dharmapala primarily as a social reformer and a Sinhala chauvinist. Making extensive use of theJournal of the Mahabodhi Society,effectively a forum for the expression of Dharmapala’s own opinions, and the entirety of Dharmapala’s meticulous diaries, which cover a forty-year period, Kemper asserts that Dharmapala was above all a religious seeker–a world renouncer who at times sought to emulate the life of the Buddha. Central to Kemper’s study of Dharmapala are the diametrically opposed themes of universalism and nationalism.While Dharmapala was realistic in so far as he understood that the various Buddhist sects and orders could not be united due to sectarian, ethnic, and caste and class-related divisions, his Buddhist identity was in no way based on his own Sinhala identity, and his life was organized around three universalisms: an Asian Buddhist universalism, the universalism of Theosophy, and the universalism of the British imperium.He spent most of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka and at various times imagined and hoped to be reborn in India, Japan, Switzerland, and England. Dharmapala devoted much of his life to establishing Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, which had been the legal property of a Saivite monastic order since the early eighteenth century and had since come to be thoroughly incorporated into a Hindu pilgrimage route. His interest in the temple was in part a result of his own efforts to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, but was also his attempt to establish a geographical point of focus for Buddhists–a Buddhist Mecca, if you will–around which Buddhists could rally and come together. He looked to many sources of potential support, including the Bengali elite, Japan, the Thai royal family, and British government officials in India, but in the end failed to achieve his aim. In contrast to previous depictions of Dharmapala as a Protestant Buddhist who encouraged the laicization of Buddhism, Kemper shows that Dharmapala was if anything an ascetic at heart who believed celibacy was a prerequisite for soteriological progress and participation in Buddhist work (sasana), who emphasized meditation, and whose spiritual aspirations are visible from a very early age.Kemper also shows that the influence of Theosophy on Dharmapala’s interpretation of Buddhism and thought more broadly did not end with his formal break with the American Colonel Olcott and the Theosophical Society in 1905, but continued to the end of his life, a fact obscured by Sinhala nationalistic portrayals of him. At some 500 pages,Rescued from the Nationincludes detailed discussions of many contemporaneous figures, movements, and trends. These include Japanese institutional interest in India, Japanese nationalism, and the struggles of Japanese Buddhism in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration; the World Parliament of Religions that took place in Chicago in 1893 and the emergence of the category of “world religion”; the Bengali Renaissance and associated figures such as Swami Vivekananda; Western interest in Buddhism and Indian religion; and South Asian resistance to British colonial governance. In this way, this book will be of great value to those interested in Asian religions and modernity, Buddhist and Hindu revival movements, Asian nationalisms, and Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In his recent book, Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Steven E. Kemper examines the Sinhala layman Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and argues that this figure has been misunderstood by both Sinhala nationalists, who have appropriated him for their own political ends, and scholars, who have portrayed Dharmapala primarily as a social reformer and a Sinhala chauvinist. Making extensive use of theJournal of the Mahabodhi Society,effectively a forum for the expression of Dharmapala’s own opinions, and the entirety of Dharmapala’s meticulous diaries, which cover a forty-year period, Kemper asserts that Dharmapala was above all a religious seeker–a world renouncer who at times sought to emulate the life of the Buddha. Central to Kemper’s study of Dharmapala are the diametrically opposed themes of universalism and nationalism.While Dharmapala was realistic in so far as he understood that the various Buddhist sects and orders could not be united due to sectarian, ethnic, and caste and class-related divisions, his Buddhist identity was in no way based on his own Sinhala identity, and his life was organized around three universalisms: an Asian Buddhist universalism, the universalism of Theosophy, and the universalism of the British imperium.He spent most of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka and at various times imagined and hoped to be reborn in India, Japan, Switzerland, and England. Dharmapala devoted much of his life to establishing Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, which had been the legal property of a Saivite monastic order since the early eighteenth century and had since come to be thoroughly incorporated into a Hindu pilgrimage route. His interest in the temple was in part a result of his own efforts to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, but was also his attempt to establish a geographical point of focus for Buddhists–a Buddhist Mecca, if you will–around which Buddhists could rally and come together. He looked to many sources of potential support, including the Bengali elite, Japan, the Thai royal family, and British government officials in India, but in the end failed to achieve his aim. In contrast to previous depictions of Dharmapala as a Protestant Buddhist who encouraged the laicization of Buddhism, Kemper shows that Dharmapala was if anything an ascetic at heart who believed celibacy was a prerequisite for soteriological progress and participation in Buddhist work (sasana), who emphasized meditation, and whose spiritual aspirations are visible from a very early age.Kemper also shows that the influence of Theosophy on Dharmapala’s interpretation of Buddhism and thought more broadly did not end with his formal break with the American Colonel Olcott and the Theosophical Society in 1905, but continued to the end of his life, a fact obscured by Sinhala nationalistic portrayals of him. At some 500 pages,Rescued from the Nationincludes detailed discussions of many contemporaneous figures, movements, and trends. These include Japanese institutional interest in India, Japanese nationalism, and the struggles of Japanese Buddhism in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration; the World Parliament of Religions that took place in Chicago in 1893 and the emergence of the category of “world religion”; the Bengali Renaissance and associated figures such as Swami Vivekananda; Western interest in Buddhism and Indian religion; and South Asian resistance to British colonial governance. In this way, this book will be of great value to those interested in Asian religions and modernity, Buddhist and Hindu revival movements, Asian nationalisms, and Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In his recent book, Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Steven E. Kemper examines the Sinhala layman Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and argues that this figure has been misunderstood by both Sinhala nationalists, who have appropriated him for their own political ends, and scholars, who have portrayed Dharmapala primarily as a social reformer and a Sinhala chauvinist. Making extensive use of theJournal of the Mahabodhi Society,effectively a forum for the expression of Dharmapala’s own opinions, and the entirety of Dharmapala’s meticulous diaries, which cover a forty-year period, Kemper asserts that Dharmapala was above all a religious seeker–a world renouncer who at times sought to emulate the life of the Buddha. Central to Kemper’s study of Dharmapala are the diametrically opposed themes of universalism and nationalism.While Dharmapala was realistic in so far as he understood that the various Buddhist sects and orders could not be united due to sectarian, ethnic, and caste and class-related divisions, his Buddhist identity was in no way based on his own Sinhala identity, and his life was organized around three universalisms: an Asian Buddhist universalism, the universalism of Theosophy, and the universalism of the British imperium.He spent most of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka and at various times imagined and hoped to be reborn in India, Japan, Switzerland, and England. Dharmapala devoted much of his life to establishing Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, which had been the legal property of a Saivite monastic order since the early eighteenth century and had since come to be thoroughly incorporated into a Hindu pilgrimage route. His interest in the temple was in part a result of his own efforts to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, but was also his attempt to establish a geographical point of focus for Buddhists–a Buddhist Mecca, if you will–around which Buddhists could rally and come together. He looked to many sources of potential support, including the Bengali elite, Japan, the Thai royal family, and British government officials in India, but in the end failed to achieve his aim. In contrast to previous depictions of Dharmapala as a Protestant Buddhist who encouraged the laicization of Buddhism, Kemper shows that Dharmapala was if anything an ascetic at heart who believed celibacy was a prerequisite for soteriological progress and participation in Buddhist work (sasana), who emphasized meditation, and whose spiritual aspirations are visible from a very early age.Kemper also shows that the influence of Theosophy on Dharmapala’s interpretation of Buddhism and thought more broadly did not end with his formal break with the American Colonel Olcott and the Theosophical Society in 1905, but continued to the end of his life, a fact obscured by Sinhala nationalistic portrayals of him. At some 500 pages,Rescued from the Nationincludes detailed discussions of many contemporaneous figures, movements, and trends. These include Japanese institutional interest in India, Japanese nationalism, and the struggles of Japanese Buddhism in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration; the World Parliament of Religions that took place in Chicago in 1893 and the emergence of the category of “world religion”; the Bengali Renaissance and associated figures such as Swami Vivekananda; Western interest in Buddhism and Indian religion; and South Asian resistance to British colonial governance. In this way, this book will be of great value to those interested in Asian religions and modernity, Buddhist and Hindu revival movements, Asian nationalisms, and Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I once participated in a twenty-three-day wilderness program in the mountains of Colorado. If the purpose of this course was to expose students to dangerous lightning and half the world’s mosquitoes, it was fulfilled on the first day. What was in essence a forced march through hundreds of miles of backcountry culminated in a ritual known as “the solo,” where we were finally permitted to rest—alone, on the outskirts of a gorgeous alpine lake—for three days of fasting and contemplation. I had just turned sixteen, and this was my first taste of true solitude since exiting my mother’s womb. It proved a sufficient provocation. After a long nap and a glance at the icy waters of the lake, the promising young man I imagined myself to be was quickly cut down by loneliness and boredom. I filled the pages of my journal not with the insights of a budding naturalist, philosopher, or mystic but with a list of the foods on which I intended to gorge myself the instant I returned to civilization. Judging from the state of my consciousness at the time, millions of years of hominid evolution had produced nothing more transcendent than a craving for a cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake. I found the experience of sitting undisturbed for three days amid pristine breezes and starlight, with nothing to do but contemplate the mystery of my existence, to be a source of perfect misery—for which I could see not so much as a glimmer of my own contribution. My letters home, in their plaintiveness and self-pity, rivaled any written at Shiloh or Gallipoli. So I was more than a little surprised when several members of our party, most of whom were a decade older than I, described their days and nights of solitude in positive, even transformational terms. I simply didn’t know what to make of their claims to happiness. How could someone’s happiness increase when all the material sources of pleasure and distraction had been removed? At that age, the nature of my own mind did not interest me—only my life did. And I was utterly oblivious to how different life would be if the quality of my mind were to change. Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others. This might not be obvious, especially when there are aspects of your life that seem in need of improvement—when your goals are unrealized, or you are struggling to find a career, or you have relationships that need repairing. But it’s the truth. Every experience you have ever had has been shaped by your mind. Every relationship is as good or as bad as it is because of the minds involved. If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won’t matter how successful you become or who is in your life—you won’t enjoy any of it. Most of us could easily compile a list of goals we want to achieve or personal problems that need to be solved. But what is the real significance of every item on such a list? Everything we want to accomplish—to paint the house, learn a new language, find a better job—is something that promises that, if done, it would allow us to finally relax and enjoy our lives in the present. Generally speaking, this is a false hope. I’m not denying the importance of achieving one’s goals, maintaining one’s health, or keeping one’s children clothed and fed—but most of us spend our time seeking happiness and security without acknowledging the underlying purpose of our search. Each of us is looking for a path back to the present: We are trying to find good enough reasons to be satisfied now. Acknowledging that this is the structure of the game we are playing allows us to play it differently. How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives. Mystics and contemplatives have made this claim for ages—but a growing body of scientific research now bears it out. A few years after my first painful encounter with solitude, in the winter of 1987, I took the drug 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as Ecstasy, and my sense of the human mind’s potential shifted profoundly. Although MDMA would become ubiquitous at dance clubs and “raves” in the 1990s, at that time I didn’t know anyone of my generation who had tried it. One evening, a few months before my twentieth birthday, a close friend and I decided to take the drug. The setting of our experiment bore little resemblance to the conditions of Dionysian abandon under which MDMA is now often consumed. We were alone in a house, seated across from each other on opposite ends of a couch, and engaged in quiet conversation as the chemical worked its way into our heads. Unlike other drugs with which we were by then familiar (marijuana and alcohol), MDMA produced no feeling of distortion in our senses. Our minds seemed completely clear. In the midst of this ordinariness, however, I was suddenly struck by the knowledge that I loved my friend. This shouldn’t have surprised me—he was, after all, one of my best friends. However, at that age I was not in the habit of dwelling on how much I loved the men in my life. Now I could feel that I loved him, and this feeling had ethical implications that suddenly seemed as profound as they now sound pedestrian on the page: I wanted him to be happy. That conviction came crashing down with such force that something seemed to give way inside me. In fact, the insight appeared to restructure my mind. My capacity for envy, for instance—the sense of being diminished by the happiness or success of another person—seemed like a symptom of mental illness that had vanished without a trace. I could no more have felt envy at that moment than I could have wanted to poke out my own eyes. What did I care if my friend was better looking or a better athlete than I was? If I could have bestowed those gifts on him, I would have. Truly wanting him to be happy made his happiness my own. A certain euphoria was creeping into these reflections, perhaps, but the general feeling remained one of absolute sobriety—and of moral and emotional clarity unlike any I had ever known. It would not be too strong to say that I felt sane for the first time in my life. And yet the change in my consciousness seemed entirely straightforward. I was simply talking to my friend—about what, I don’t recall—and realized that I had ceased to be concerned about myself. I was no longer anxious, self-critical, guarded by irony, in competition, avoiding embarrassment, ruminating about the past and future, or making any other gesture of thought or attention that separated me from him. I was no longer watching myself through another person’s eyes. And then came the insight that irrevocably transformed my sense of how good human life could be. I was feeling boundless love for one of my best friends, and I suddenly realized that if a stranger had walked through the door at that moment, he or she would have been fully included in this love. Love was at bottom impersonal—and deeper than any personal history could justify. Indeed, a transactional form of love—I love you because…—now made no sense at all. The interesting thing about this final shift in perspective was that it was not driven by any change in the way I felt. I was not overwhelmed by a new feeling of love. The insight had more the character of a geometric proof: It was as if, having glimpsed the properties of one set of parallel lines, I suddenly understood what must be common to them all. The moment I could find a voice with which to speak, I discovered that this epiphany about the universality of love could be readily communicated. My friend got the point at once: All I had to do was ask him how he would feel in the presence of a total stranger at that moment, and the same door opened in his mind. It was simply obvious that love, compassion, and joy in the joy of others extended without limit. The experience was not of love growing but of its being no longer obscured. Love was—as advertised by mystics and crackpots through the ages—a state of being. How had we not seen this before? And how could we overlook it ever again? It would take me many years to put this experience into context. Until that moment, I had viewed organized religion as merely a monument to the ignorance and superstition of our ancestors. But I now knew that Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and the other saints and sages of history had not all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds. I still considered the world’s religions to be mere intellectual ruins, maintained at enormous economic and social cost, but I now understood that important psychological truths could be found in the rubble. Twenty percent of Americans describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Although the claim seems to annoy believers and atheists equally, separating spirituality from religion is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It is to assert two important truths simultaneously: Our world is dangerously riven by religious doctrines that all educated people should condemn, and yet there is more to understanding the human condition than science and secular culture generally admit. One purpose of this book is to give both these convictions intellectual and empirical support. Before going any further, I should address the animosity that many readers feel toward the term spiritual. Whenever I use the word, as in referring to meditation as a “spiritual practice,” I hear from fellow skeptics and atheists who think that I have committed a grievous error.The word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, which is a translation of the Greek pneuma, meaning “breath.” Around the thirteenth century, the term became entangled with beliefs about immaterial souls, supernatural beings, ghosts, and so forth. It acquired other meanings as well: We speak of the spirit of a thing as its most essential principle or of certain volatile substances and liquors as spirits. Nevertheless, many nonbelievers now consider all things “spiritual” to be contaminated by medieval superstition. I do not share their semantic concerns.[1] Yes, to walk the aisles of any “spiritual” bookstore is to confront the yearning and credulity of our species by the yard, but there is no other term—apart from the even more problematic mystical or the more restrictive contemplative—with which to discuss the efforts people make, through meditation, psychedelics, or other means, to fully bring their minds into the present or to induce nonordinary states of consciousness. And no other word links this spectrum of experience to our ethical lives. Throughout this book, I discuss certain classically spiritual phenomena, concepts, and practices in the context of our modern understanding of the human mind—and I cannot do this while restricting myself to the terminology of ordinary experience. So I will use spiritual, mystical, contemplative, and transcendent without further apology. However, I will be precise in describing the experiences and methods that merit these terms. For many years, I have been a vocal critic of religion, and I won’t ride the same hobbyhorse here. I hope that I have been sufficiently energetic on this front that even my most skeptical readers will trust that my bullshit detector remains well calibrated as we advance over this new terrain. Perhaps the following assurance can suffice for the moment: Nothing in this book needs to be accepted on faith. Although my focus is on human subjectivity—I am, after all, talking about the nature of experience itself—all my assertions can be tested in the laboratory of your own life. In fact, my goal is to encourage you to do just that. Authors who attempt to build a bridge between science and spirituality tend to make one of two mistakes: Scientists generally start with an impoverished view of spiritual experience, assuming that it must be a grandiose way of describing ordinary states of mind—parental love, artistic inspiration, awe at the beauty of the night sky. In this vein, one finds Einstein’s amazement at the intelligibility of Nature’s laws described as though it were a kind of mystical insight. New Age thinkers usually enter the ditch on the other side of the road: They idealize altered states of consciousness and draw specious connections between subjective experience and the spookier theories at the frontiers of physics. Here we are told that the Buddha and other contemplatives anticipated modern cosmology or quantum mechanics and that by transcending the sense of self, a person can realize his identity with the One Mind that gave birth to the cosmos. In the end, we are left to choose between pseudo-spirituality and pseudo-science. Few scientists and philosophers have developed strong skills of introspection—in fact, most doubt that such abilities even exist. Conversely, many of the greatest contemplatives know nothing about science. But there is a connection between scientific fact and spiritual wisdom, and it is more direct than most people suppose. Although the insights we can have in meditation tell us nothing about the origins of the universe, they do confirm some well-established truths about the human mind: Our conventional sense of self is an illusion; positive emotions, such as compassion and patience, are teachable skills; and the way we think directly influences our experience of the world. There is now a large literature on the psychological benefits of meditation. Different techniques produce long-lasting changes in attention, emotion, cognition, and pain perception, and these correlate with both structural and functional changes in the brain. This field of research is quickly growing, as is our understanding of self-awareness and related mental phenomena. Given recent advances in neuroimaging technology, we no longer face a practical impediment to investigating spiritual insights in the context of science. Spirituality must be distinguished from religion—because people of every faith, and of none, have had the same sorts of spiritual experiences. While these states of mind are usually interpreted through the lens of one or another religious doctrine, we know that this is a mistake. Nothing that a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu can experience—self-transcending love, ecstasy, bliss, inner light—constitutes evidence in support of their traditional beliefs, because their beliefs are logically incompatible with one another. A deeper principle must be at work. That principle is the subject of this book: The feeling that we call “I” is an illusion. There is no discrete self or ego living like a Minotaur in the labyrinth of the brain. And the feeling that there is—the sense of being perched somewhere behind your eyes, looking out at a world that is separate from yourself—can be altered or entirely extinguished. Although such experiences of “self-transcendence” are generally thought about in religious terms, there is nothing, in principle, irrational about them. From both a scientific and a philosophical point of view, they represent a clearer understanding of the way things are. Deepening that understanding, and repeatedly cutting through the illusion of the self, is what is meant by “spirituality” in the context of this book. Confusion and suffering may be our birthright, but wisdom and happiness are available. The landscape of human experience includes deeply transformative insights about the nature of one’s own consciousness, and yet it is obvious that these psychological states must be understood in the context of neuroscience, psychology, and related fields. I am often asked what will replace organized religion. The answer, I believe, is nothing and everything. Nothing need replace its ludicrous and divisive doctrines—such as the idea that Jesus will return to earth and hurl unbelievers into a lake of fire, or that death in defense of Islam is the highest good. These are terrifying and debasing fictions. But what about love, compassion, moral goodness, and self-transcendence? Many people still imagine that religion is the true repository of these virtues. To change this, we must talk about the full range of human experience in a way that is as free of dogma as the best science already is. This book is by turns a seeker’s memoir, an introduction to the brain, a manual of contemplative instruction, and a philosophical unraveling of what most people consider to be the center of their inner lives: the feeling of self we call “I.” I have not set out to describe all the traditional approaches to spirituality and to weigh their strengths and weaknesses. Rather, my goal is to pluck the diamond from the dunghill of esoteric religion. There is a diamond there, and I have devoted a fair amount of my life to contemplating it, but getting it in hand requires that we remain true to the deepest principles of scientific skepticism and make no obeisance to tradition. Where I do discuss specific teachings, such as those of Buddhism or Advaita Vedanta, it isn’t my purpose to provide anything like a comprehensive account. Readers who are loyal to any one spiritual tradition or who specialize in the academic study of religion, may view my approach as the quintessence of arrogance. I consider it, rather, a symptom of impatience. There is barely time enough in a book—or in a life—to get to the point. Just as a modern treatise on weaponry would omit the casting of spells and would very likely ignore the slingshot and the boomerang, I will focus on what I consider the most promising lines of spiritual inquiry. My hope is that my personal experience will help readers to see the nature of their own minds in a new light. A rational approach to spirituality seems to be what is missing from secularism and from the lives of most of the people I meet. The purpose of this book is to offer readers a clear view of the problem, along with some tools to help them solve it for themselves. THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS One day, you will find yourself outside this world which is like a mother’s womb. You will leave this earth to enter, while you are yet in the body, a vast expanse, and know that the words, “God’s earth is vast,” name this region from which the saints have come. Jalal-ud-Din Rumi I share the concern, expressed by many atheists, that the terms spiritual and mystical are often used to make claims not merely about the quality of certain experiences but about reality at large. Far too often, these words are invoked in support of religious beliefs that are morally and intellectually grotesque. Consequently, many of my fellow atheists consider all talk of spirituality to be a sign of mental illness, conscious imposture, or self-deception. This is a problem, because millions of people have had experiences for which spiritual and mystical seem the only terms available. Many of the beliefs people form on the basis of these experiences are false. But the fact that most atheists will view a statement like Rumi’s above as a symptom of the man’s derangement grants a kernel of truth to the rantings of even our least rational opponents. The human mind does, in fact, contain vast expanses that few of us ever discover. And there is something degraded and degrading about many of our habits of attention as we shop, gossip, argue, and ruminate our way to the grave. Perhaps I should speak only for myself here: It seems to me that I spend much of my waking life in a neurotic trance. My experiences in meditation suggest, however, that an alternative exists. It is possible to stand free of the juggernaut of self, if only for moments at a time. Most cultures have produced men and women who have found that certain deliberate uses of attention—meditation, yoga, prayer—can transform their perception of the world. Their efforts generally begin with the realization that even in the best of circumstances, happiness is elusive. We seek pleasant sights, sounds, tastes, sensations, and moods. We satisfy our intellectual curiosity. We surround ourselves with friends and loved ones. We become connoisseurs of art, music, or food. But our pleasures are, by their very nature, fleeting. If we enjoy some great professional success, our feelings of accomplishment remain vivid and intoxicating for an hour, or perhaps a day, but then they subside. And the search goes on. The effort required to keep boredom and other unpleasantness at bay must continue, moment to moment. Ceaseless change is an unreliable basis for lasting fulfillment. Realizing this, many people begin to wonder whether a deeper source of well-being exists. Is there a form of happiness beyond the mere repetition of pleasure and avoidance of pain? Is there a happiness that does not depend upon having one’s favorite foods available, or friends and loved ones within arm’s reach, or good books to read, or something to look forward to on the weekend? Is it possible to be happy before anything happens, before one’s desires are gratified, in spite of life’s difficulties, in the very midst of physical pain, old age, disease, and death? We are all, in some sense, living our answer to this question—and most of us are living as though the answer were “no.” No, nothing is more profound than repeating one’s pleasures and avoiding one’s pains; nothing is more profound than seeking satisfaction—sensory, emotional, and intellectual—moment after moment. Just keep your foot on the gas until you run out of road. Certain people, however, come to suspect that human existence might encompass more than this. Many of them are led to suspect this by religion—by the claims of the Buddha or Jesus or some other celebrated figure. And such people often begin to practice various disciplines of attention as a means of examining their experience closely enough to see whether a deeper source of well-being exists. They may even sequester themselves in caves or monasteries for months or years at a time to facilitate this process. Why would a person do this? No doubt there are many motives for retreating from the world, and some of them are psychologically unhealthy. In its wisest form, however, the exercise amounts to a very simple experiment. Here is its logic: If there exists a source of psychological well-being that does not depend upon merely gratifying one’s desires, then it should be present even when all the usual sources of pleasure have been removed. Such happiness should be available to a person who has declined to marry her high school sweetheart, renounced her career and material possessions, and gone off to a cave or some other spot that is inhospitable to ordinary aspirations. One clue to how daunting most people would find such a project is the fact that solitary confinement—which is essentially what we are talking about—is considered a punishment inside a maximum-security prison. Even when forced to live among murderers and rapists, most people still prefer the company of others to spending any significant amount of time alone in a room. And yet contemplatives in many traditions claim to experience extraordinary depths of psychological well-being while living in isolation for vast stretches of time. How should we interpret this? Either the contemplative literature is a catalogue of religious delusion, psychopathology, and deliberate fraud, or people have been having liberating insights under the name of “spirituality” and “mysticism” for millennia. Unlike many atheists, I have spent much of my life seeking experiences of the kind that gave rise to the world’s religions. Despite the painful results of my first few days alone in the mountains of Colorado, I later studied with a wide range of monks, lamas, yogis, and other contemplatives, some of whom had lived for decades in seclusion doing nothing but meditating. In the process, I spent two years on silent retreat myself (in increments of one week to three months), practicing various techniques of meditation for twelve to eighteen hours a day. I can attest that when one goes into silence and meditates for weeks or months at a time, doing nothing else—not speaking, reading, or writing, just making a moment-to-moment effort to observe the contents of consciousness—one has experiences that are generally unavailable to people who have not undertaken a similar practice. I believe that such states of mind have a lot to say about the nature of consciousness and the possibilities of human well-being. Leaving aside the metaphysics, mythology, and sectarian dogma, what contemplatives throughout history have discovered is that there is an alternative to being continuously spellbound by the conversation we are having with ourselves; there is an alternative to simply identifying with the next thought that pops into consciousness. And glimpsing this alternative dispels the conventional illusion of the self. Most traditions of spirituality also suggest a connection between self-transcendence and living ethically. Not all good feelings have an ethical valence, and pathological forms of ecstasy surely exist. I have no doubt, for instance, that many suicide bombers feel extraordinarily good just before they detonate themselves in a crowd. But there are also forms of mental pleasure that are intrinsically ethical. As I indicated earlier, for some states of consciousness, a phrase like “boundless love” does not seem overblown. It is decidedly inconvenient for the forces of reason and secularism that if someone wakes up tomorrow feeling boundless love for all sentient beings, the only people likely to acknowledge the legitimacy of his experience will be representatives of one or another Iron Age religion or New Age cult. Most of us are far wiser than we may appear to be. We know how to keep our relationships in order, to use our time well, to improve our health, to lose weight, to learn valuable skills, and to solve many other riddles of existence. But following even the straight and open path to happiness is hard. If your best friend were to ask how she could live a better life, you would probably find many useful things to say, and yet you might not live that way yourself. On one level, wisdom is nothing more profound than an ability to follow one’s own advice. However, there are deeper insights to be had about the nature of our minds. Unfortunately, they have been discussed entirely in the context of religion and, therefore, have been shrouded in fallacy and superstition for all of human history. The problem of finding happiness in this world arrives with our first breath—and our needs and desires seem to multiply by the hour. To spend any time in the presence of a young child is to witness a mind ceaselessly buffeted by joy and sorrow. As we grow older, our laughter and tears become less gratuitous, perhaps, but the same process of change continues: One roiling complex of thought and emotion is followed by the next, like waves in the ocean. Seeking, finding, maintaining, and safeguarding our well-being is the great project to which we all are devoted, whether or not we choose to think in these terms. This is not to say that we want mere pleasure or the easiest possible life. Many things require extraordinary effort to accomplish, and some of us learn to enjoy the struggle. Any athlete knows that certain kinds of pain can be exquisitely pleasurable. The burn of lifting weights, for instance, would be excruciating if it were a symptom of terminal illness. But because it is associated with health and fitness, most people find it enjoyable. Here we see that cognition and emotion are not separate. The way we think about experience can completely determine how we feel about it. And we always face tensions and trade-offs. In some moments we crave excitement and in others rest. We might love the taste of wine and chocolate, but rarely for breakfast. Whatever the context, our minds are perpetually moving—generally toward pleasure (or its imagined source) and away from pain. I am not the first person to have noticed this. Our struggle to navigate the space of possible pains and pleasures produces most of human culture. Medical science attempts to prolong our health and to reduce the suffering associated with illness, aging, and death. All forms of media cater to our thirst for information and entertainment. Political and economic institutions seek to ensure our peaceful collaboration with one another—and the police or the military is summoned when they fail. Beyond ensuring our survival, civilization is a vast machine invented by the human mind to regulate its states. We are ever in the process of creating and repairing a world that our minds want to be in. And wherever we look, we see the evidence of our successes and our failures. Unfortunately, failure enjoys a natural advantage. Wrong answers to any problem outnumber right ones by a wide margin, and it seems that it will always be easier to break things than to fix them. Despite the beauty of our world and the scope of human accomplishment, it is hard not to worry that the forces of chaos will triumph—not merely in the end but in every moment. Our pleasures, however refined or easily acquired, are by their very nature fleeting. They begin to subside the instant they arise, only to be replaced by fresh desires or feelings of discomfort. You can’t get enough of your favorite meal until, in the next moment, you find you are so stuffed as to nearly require the attention of a surgeon—and yet, by some quirk of physics, you still have room for dessert. The pleasure of dessert lasts a few seconds, and then the lingering taste in your mouth must be banished by a drink of water. The warmth of the sun feels wonderful on your skin, but soon it becomes too much of a good thing. A move to the shade brings immediate relief, but after a minute or two, the breeze is just a little too cold. Do you have a sweater in the car? Let’s take a look. Yes, there it is. You’re warm now, but you notice that your sweater has seen better days. Does it make you look carefree or disheveled? Perhaps it is time to go shopping for something new. And so it goes. We seem to do little more than lurch between wanting and not wanting. Thus, the question naturally arises: Is there more to life than this? Might it be possible to feel much better (in every sense of better) than one tends to feel? Is it possible to find lasting fulfillment despite the inevitability of change? Spiritual life begins with a suspicion that the answer to such questions could well be “yes.” And a true spiritual practitioner is someone who has discovered that it is possible to be at ease in the world for no reason, if only for a few moments at a time, and that such ease is synonymous with transcending the apparent boundaries of the self. Those who have never tasted such peace of mind might view these assertions as highly suspect. Nevertheless, it is a fact that a condition of selfless well-being is there to be glimpsed in each moment. Of course, I’m not claiming to have experienced all such states, but I meet many people who appear to have experienced none of them—and these people often profess to have no interest in spiritual life. This is not surprising. The phenomenon of self-transcendence is generally sought and interpreted in a religious context, and it is precisely the sort of experience that tends to increase a person’s faith. How many Christians, having once felt their hearts grow as wide as the world, will decide to ditch Christianity and proclaim their atheism? Not many, I suspect. How many people who have never felt anything of the kind become atheists? I don’t know, but there is little doubt that these mental states act as a kind of filter: The faithful count them in support of ancient dogma, and their absence gives nonbelievers further reason to reject religion. This is a difficult problem for me to address in the context of a book, because many readers will have no idea what I’m talking about when I describe certain spiritual experiences and might assume that the assertions I’m making must be accepted on faith. Religious readers present a different challenge: They may think they know exactly what I’m describing, but only insofar as it aligns with one or another religious doctrine. It seems to me that both these attitudes present impressive obstacles to understanding spirituality in the way that I intend. I can only hope that, whatever your background, you will approach the exercises presented in this book with an open mind. RELIGION, EAST AND WEST We are often encouraged to believe that all religions are the same: All teach the same ethical principles; all urge their followers to contemplate the same divine reality; all are equally wise, compassionate, and true within their sphere—or equally divisive and false, depending on one’s view. No serious adherents of any faith can believe these things, because most religions make claims about reality that are mutually incompatible. Exceptions to this rule exist, but they provide little relief from what is essentially a zero-sum contest of all against all. The polytheism of Hinduism allows it to digest parts of many other faiths: If Christians insist that Jesus Christ is the son of God, for instance, Hindus can make him yet another avatar of Vishnu without losing any sleep. But this spirit of inclusiveness points in one direction only, and even it has its limits. Hindus are committed to specific metaphysical ideas—the law of karma and rebirth, a multiplicity of gods—that almost every other major religion decries. It is impossible for any faith, no matter how elastic, to fully honor the truth claims of another. Devout Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that theirs is the one true and complete revelation—because that is what their holy books say of themselves. Only secularists and New Age dabblers can mistake the modern tactic of “interfaith dialogue” for an underlying unity of all religions. I have long argued that confusion about the unity of religions is an artifact of language. Religion is a term like sports: Some sports are peaceful but spectacularly dangerous (“free solo” rock climbing); some are safer but synonymous with violence (mixed martial arts); and some entail little more risk of injury than standing in the shower (bowling). To speak of sports as a generic activity makes it impossible to discuss what athletes actually do or the physical attributes required to do it. What do all sports have in common apart from breathing? Not much. The term religion is hardly more useful. The same could be said of spirituality. The esoteric doctrines found within every religious tradition are not all derived from the same insights. Nor are they equally empirical, logical, parsimonious, or wise. They don’t always point to the same underlying reality—and when they do, they don’t do it equally well. Nor are all these teachings equally suited for export beyond the cultures that first conceived them. Making distinctions of this kind, however, is deeply unfashionable in intellectual circles. In my experience, people do not want to hear that Islam supports violence in a way that Jainism doesn’t, or that Buddhism offers a truly sophisticated, empirical approach to understanding the human mind, whereas Christianity presents an almost perfect impediment to such understanding. In many circles, to make invidious comparisons of this kind is to stand convicted of bigotry. In one sense, all religions and spiritual practices must address the same reality—because people of all faiths have glimpsed many of the same truths. Any view of consciousness and the cosmos that is available to the human mind can, in principle, be appreciated by anyone. It is not surprising, therefore, that individual Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists have given voice to some of the same insights and intuitions. This merely indicates that human cognition and emotion run deeper than religion. (But we knew that, didn’t we?) It does not suggest that all religions understand our spiritual possibilities equally well. One way of missing this point is to declare that all spiritual teachings are inflections of the same “Perennial Philosophy.” The writer Aldous Huxley brought this idea into prominence by publishing an anthology by that title. Here is how he justified the idea: Philosophia perennis—the phrase was coined by Leibniz; but the thing—the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being—the thing is immemorial and universal. Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions. A version of this Highest Common Factor in all preceding and subsequent theologies was first committed to writing more than twenty-five centuries ago, and since that time the inexhaustible theme has been treated again and again, from the standpoint of every religious tradition and in all the principal languages of Asia and Europe.[2] Although Huxley was being reasonably cautious in his wording, this notion of a “highest common factor” uniting all religions begins to break apart the moment one presses for details. For instance, the Abrahamic religions are incorrigibly dualistic and faith-based: In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the human soul is conceived as genuinely separate from the divine reality of God. The appropriate attitude for a creature that finds itself in this circumstance is some combination of terror, shame, and awe. In the best case, notions of God’s love and grace provide some relief—but the central message of these faiths is that each of us is separate from, and in relationship to, a divine authority who will punish anyone who harbors the slightest doubt about His supremacy. The Eastern tradition presents a very different picture of reality. And its highest teachings—found within the various schools of Buddhism and the nominally Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedanta—explicitly transcend dualism. By their lights, consciousness itself is identical to the very reality that one might otherwise mistake for God. While these teachings make metaphysical claims that any serious student of science should find incredible, they center on a range of experiences that the doctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam rule out-of-bounds. Of course, it is true that specific Jewish, Christian, and Muslim mystics have had experiences similar to those that motivate Buddhism and Advaita, but these contemplative insights are not exemplary of their faith. Rather, they are anomalies that Western mystics have always struggled to understand and to honor, often at considerable personal risk. Given their proper weight, these experiences produce heterodoxies for which Jews, Christians, and Muslims have been regularly exiled or killed. Like Huxley, anyone determined to find a happy synthesis among spiritual traditions will notice that the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260–ca. 1327) often sounded very much like a Buddhist: “The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God, as if He stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge.” But he also sounded like a man bound to be excommunicated by his church—as he was. Had Eckhart lived a little longer, it seems certain that he would have been dragged into the street and burned alive for these expansive ideas. That is a telling difference between Christianity and Buddhism. In the same vein, it is misleading to hold up the Sufi mystic Al-Hallaj (858–922) as a representative of Islam. He was a Muslim, yes, but he suffered the most grisly death imaginable at the hands of his coreligionists for presuming to be one with God. Both Eckhart and Al-Hallaj gave voice to an experience of self-transcendence that any human being can, in principle, enjoy. However, their views were not consistent with the central teachings of their faiths. The Indian tradition is comparatively free of problems of this kind. Although the teachings of Buddhism and Advaita are embedded in more or less conventional religions, they contain empirical insights about the nature of consciousness that do not depend upon faith. One can practice most techniques of Buddhist meditation or the method of self-inquiry of Advaita and experience the advertised changes in one’s consciousness without ever believing in the law of karma or in the miracles attributed to Indian mystics. To get started as a Christian, however, one must first accept a dozen implausible things about the life of Jesus and the origins of the Bible—and the same can be said, minus a few unimportant details, about Judaism and Islam. If one should happen to discover that the sense of being an individual soul is an illusion, one will be guilty of blasphemy everywhere west of the Indus. There is no question that many religious disciplines can produce interesting experiences in suitable minds. It should be clear, however, that engaging a faith-based (and probably delusional) practice, whatever its effects, isn’t the same as investigating the nature of one’s mind absent any doctrinal assumptions. Statements of this kind may seem starkly antagonistic toward Abrahamic religions, but they are nonetheless true: One can speak about Buddhism shorn of its miracles and irrational assumptions. The same cannot be said of Christianity or Islam.[3] Western engagement with Eastern spirituality dates back at least as far as Alexander’s campaign in India, where the young conqueror and his pet philosophers encountered naked ascetics whom they called “gymnosophists.” It is often said that the thinking of these yogis greatly influenced the philosopher Pyrrho, the father of Greek skepticism. This seems a credible claim, because Pyrrho’s teachings had much in common with Buddhism. But his contemplative insights and methods never became part of any system of thought in the West. Serious study of Eastern thought by outsiders did not begin until the late eighteenth century. The first translation of a Sanskrit text into a Western language appears to have been Sir Charles Wilkins’s rendering of the Bhagavad Gita, a cornerstone text of Hinduism, in 1785. The Buddhist canon would not attract the attention of Western scholars for another hundred years.[4] The conversation between East and West started in earnest, albeit inauspiciously, with the birth of the Theosophical Society, that golem of spiritual hunger and self-deception brought into this world almost single-handedly by the incomparable Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875. Everything about Blavatsky seemed to defy earthly logic: She was an enormously fat woman who was said to have wandered alone and undetected for seven years in the mountains of Tibet. She was also thought to have survived shipwrecks, gunshot wounds, and sword fights. Even less persuasively, she claimed to be in psychic contact with members of the “Great White Brotherhood” of ascended masters—a collection of immortals responsible for the evolution and maintenance of the entire cosmos. Their leader hailed from the planet Venus but lived in the mythical kingdom of Shambhala, which Blavatsky placed somewhere in the vicinity of the Gobi Desert. With the suspiciously bureaucratic name “the Lord of the World,” he supervised the work of other adepts, including the Buddha, Maitreya, Maha Chohan, and one Koot Hoomi, who appears to have had nothing better to do on behalf of the cosmos than to impart its secrets to Blavatsky. [5] It is always surprising when a person attracts legions of followers and builds a large organization on their largesse while peddling penny-arcade mythology of this kind. But perhaps this was less remarkable in a time when even the best-educated people were still struggling to come to terms with electricity, evolution, and the existence of other planets. We can easily forget how suddenly the world had shrunk and the cosmos expanded as the nineteenth century came to a close. The geographical barriers between distant cultures had been stripped away by trade and conquest (one could now order a gin and tonic almost everywhere on earth), and yet the reality of unseen forces and alien worlds was a daily focus of the most careful scientific research. Inevitably, cross-cultural and scientific discoveries were mingled in the popular imagination with religious dogma and traditional occultism. In fact, this had been happening at the highest level of human thought for more than a century: It is always instructive to recall that the father of modern physics, Isaac Newton, squandered a considerable portion of his genius on the study of theology, biblical prophecy, and alchemy. The inability to distinguish the strange but true from the merely strange was common enough in Blavatsky’s time—as it is in our own. Blavatsky’s contemporary Joseph Smith, a libidinous con man and crackpot, was able to found a new religion on the claim that he had unearthed the final revelations of God in the hallowed precincts of Manchester, New York, written in “reformed Egyptian” on golden plates. He decoded this text with the aid of magical “seer stones,” which, whether by magic or not, allowed Smith to produce an English version of God’s Word that was an embarrassing pastiche of plagiarisms from the Bible and silly lies about Jesus’s life in America. And yet the resulting edifice of nonsense and taboo survives to this day. A more modern cult, Scientology, leverages human credulity to an even greater degree: Adherents believe that human beings are possessed by the souls of extraterrestrials who were condemned to planet Earth 75 million years ago by the galactic overlord Xenu. How was their exile accomplished? The old-fashioned way: These aliens were shuttled by the billions to our humble planet aboard a spacecraft that resembled a DC-8. They were then imprisoned in a volcano and blasted to bits with hydrogen bombs. Their souls survived, however, and disentangling them from our own can be the work of a lifetime. It is also expensive.[6] Despite the imponderables in her philosophy, Blavatsky was among the first people to announce in Western circles that there was such a thing as the “wisdom of the East.” This wisdom began to trickle westward once Swami Vivekananda introduced the teachings of Vedanta at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Again, Buddhism lagged behind: A few Western monks living on the island of Sri Lanka were beginning to translate the Pali Canon, which remains the most authoritative record of the teachings of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. However, the practice of Buddhist meditation wouldn’t actually be taught in the West for another half century. It is easy enough to find fault with romantic ideas about Eastern wisdom, and a tradition of such criticism sprang up almost the instant the first Western seeker sat cross-legged and attempted to meditate. In the late 1950s, the author and journalist Arthur Koestler traveled to India and Japan in search of wisdom and summarized his pilgrimage thus: “I started my journey in sackcloth and ashes, and came back rather proud of being a European.”[7] In The Lotus and the Robot, Koestler gives some of his reasons for being less than awed by his journey to the East. Consider, for example, the ancient discipline of hatha yoga. While now generally viewed as a system of physical exercises designed to increase a person’s strength and flexibility, in its traditional context hatha yoga is part of a larger effort to manipulate “subtle” features of the body unknown to anatomists. No doubt much of this subtlety corresponds to experiences that yogis actually have—but many of the beliefs formed on the basis of these experiences are patently absurd, and certain of the associated practices are both silly and injurious. Koestler reports that the aspiring yogi is traditionally encouraged to lengthen his tongue—even going so far as to cut the frenulum (the membrane that anchors the tongue to the floor of the mouth) and stretch the soft palate. What is the purpose of these modifications? They enable our hero to insert his tongue into his nasopharynx, thereby blocking the flow of air through the nostrils. His anatomy thus improved, a yogi can then imbibe subtle liquors believed to emanate directly from his brain. These substances—imagined, by recourse to further subtleties, to be connected to the retention of semen—are said to confer not only spiritual wisdom but immortality. This technique of drinking mucus is known as khechari mudra, and it is thought to be one of the crowning achievements of yoga. I’m more than happy to score a point for Koestler here. Needless to say, no defense of such practices will be found in this book. Criticism of Eastern wisdom can seem especially pertinent when coming from Easterners themselves. There is indeed something preposterous about well-educated Westerners racing East in search of spiritual enlightenment while Easterners make the opposite pilgrimage seeking education and economic opportunities. I have a friend whose own adventures may have marked a high point in this global comedy. He made his first trip to India immediately after graduating from college, having already acquired several yogic affectations: He had the requisite beads and long hair, but he was also in the habit of writing the name of the Hindu god Ram in Devanagari script over and over in a journal. On the flight to the motherland, he had the good fortune to be seated next to an Indian businessman. This weary traveler thought he had witnessed every species of human folly—until he caught sight of my friend’s scribbling. The spectacle of a Western-born Stanford graduate, of working age, holding degrees in both economics and history, devoting himself to the graphomaniacal worship of an imaginary deity in a language he could neither read nor understand was more than this man could abide in a confined space at 30,000 feet. After a testy exchange, the two travelers could only stare at each other in mutual incomprehension and pity—and they had ten hours yet to fly. There really are two sides to such a conversation, but I concede that only one of them can be made to look ridiculous. We can also grant that Eastern wisdom has not produced societies or political institutions that are any better than their Western counterparts; in fact, one could argue that India has survived as the world’s largest democracy only because of institutions that were built under British rule. Nor has the East led the world in scientific discovery. Nevertheless, there is something to the notion of uniquely Eastern wisdom, and most of it has been concentrated in or derived from the tradition of Buddhism. Buddhism has been of special interest to Western scientists for reasons already hinted at. It isn’t primarily a faith-based religion, and its central teachings are entirely empirical. Despite the superstitions that many Buddhists cherish, the doctrine has a practical and logical core that does not require any unwarranted assumptions. Many Westerners have recognized this and have been relieved to find a spiritual alternative to faith-based worship. It is no accident that most of the scientific research now done on meditation focuses primarily on Buddhist techniques. Another reason for Buddhism’s prominence among scientists has been the intellectual engagement of one of its most visible representatives: Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama. Of course, the Dalai Lama is not without his critics. My late friend Christopher Hitchens meted out justice to “his holiness” on several occasions. He also castigated Western students of Buddhism for the “widely and lazily held belief that ‘Oriental’ religion is different from other faiths: less dogmatic, more contemplative, more . . . Transcendental,” and for the “blissful, thoughtless exceptionalism” with which Buddhism is regarded by many.[8] Hitch did have a point. In his capacity as the head of one of the four branches of Tibetan Buddhism and as the former leader of the Tibetan government in exile, the Dalai Lama has made some questionable claims and formed some embarrassing alliances. Although his engagement with science is far-reaching and surely sincere, the man is not above consulting an astrologer or “oracle” when making important decisions. I will have something to say in this book about many of the things that might have justified Hitch’s opprobrium, but the general thrust of his commentary here was all wrong. Several Eastern traditions are exceptionally empirical and exceptionally wise, and therefore merit the exceptionalism claimed by their adherents. Buddhism in particular possesses a literature on the nature of the mind that has no peer in Western religion or Western science. Some of these teachings are cluttered with metaphysical assumptions that should provoke our doubts, but many aren’t. And when engaged as a set of hypotheses by which to investigate the mind and deepen one’s ethical life, Buddhism can be an entirely rational enterprise. Unlike the doctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the teachings of Buddhism are not considered by their adherents to be the product of infallible revelation. They are, rather, empirical instructions: If you do X, you will experience Y. Although many Buddhists have a superstitious and cultic attachment to the historical Buddha, the teachings of Buddhism present him as an ordinary human being who succeeded in understanding the nature of his own mind. Buddha means “awakened one”—and Siddhartha Gautama was merely a man who woke up from the dream of being a separate self. Compare this with the Christian view of Jesus, who is imagined to be the son of the creator of the universe. This is a very different proposition, and it renders Christianity, no matter how fully divested of metaphysical baggage, all but irrelevant to a scientific discussion about the human condition. The teachings of Buddhism, and of Eastern spirituality generally, focus on the primacy of the mind. There are dangers in this way of viewing the world, to be sure. Focusing on training the mind to the exclusion of all else can lead to political quietism and hive-like conformity. The fact that your mind is all you have and that it is possible to be at peace even in difficult circumstances can become an argument for ignoring obvious societal problems. But it is not a compelling one. The world is in desperate need of improvement—in global terms, freedom and prosperity remain the exception—and yet this doesn’t mean we need to be miserable while we work for the common good. In fact, the teachings of Buddhism emphasize a connection between ethical and spiritual life. Making progress in one domain lays a foundation for progress in the other. One can, for instance, spend long periods of time in contemplative solitude for the purpose of becoming a better person in the world—having better relationships, being more honest and compassionate and, therefore, more helpful to one’s fellow human beings. Being wisely selfish and being selfless can amount to very much the same thing. There are centuries of anecdotal testimony on this point—and, as we will see, the scientific study of the mind has begun to bear it out. There is now little question that how one uses one’s attention, moment to moment, largely determines what kind of person one becomes. Our minds—and lives—are largely shaped by how we use them. Although the experience of self-transcendence is, in principle, available to everyone, this possibility is only weakly attested to in the religious and philosophical literature of the West. Only Buddhists and students of Advaita Vedanta (which appears to have been heavily influenced by Buddhism) have been absolutely clear in asserting that spiritual life consists in overcoming the illusion of the self by paying close attention to our experience in the present moment.[9] As I wrote in my first book, The End of Faith, the disparity between Eastern and Western spirituality resembles that found between Eastern and Western medicine—with the arrow of embarrassment pointing in the opposite direction. Humanity did not understand the biology of cancer, develop antibiotics and vaccines, or sequence the human genome under an Eastern sun. Consequently, real medicine is almost entirely a product of Western science. Insofar as specific techniques of Eastern medicine actually work, they must conform, whether by design or by happenstance, to the principles of biology as we have come to know them in the West. This is not to say that Western medicine is complete. In a few decades, many of our current practices will seem barbaric. One need only ponder the list of side effects that accompany most medications to appreciate that these are terribly blunt instruments. Nevertheless, most of our knowledge about the human body—and about the physical universe generally—emerged in the West. The rest is instinct, folklore, bewilderment, and untimely death. An honest comparison of spiritual traditions, Eastern and Western, proves equally invidious. As manuals for contemplative understanding, the Bible and the Koran are worse than useless. Whatever wisdom can be found in their pages is never best found there, and it is subverted, time and again, by ancient savagery and superstition. Again, one must deploy the necessary caveats: I am not saying that most Buddhists or Hindus have been sophisticated contemplatives. Their traditions have spawned many of the same pathologies we see elsewhere among the faithful: dogmatism, anti-intellectualism, tribalism, otherworldliness. However, the empirical difference between the central teachings of Buddhism and Advaita and those of Western monotheism is difficult to overstate. One can traverse the Eastern paths simply by becoming interested in the nature of one’s own mind—especially in the immediate causes of psychological suffering—and by paying closer attention to one’s experience in every present moment. There is, in truth, nothing one need believe. The teachings of Buddhism and Advaita are best viewed as lab manuals and explorers’ logs detailing the results of empirical research on the nature of human consciousness. Nearly every geographical or linguistic barrier to the free exchange of ideas has now fallen away. It seems to me, therefore, that educated people no longer have a right to any form of spiritual provincialism. The truths of Eastern spirituality are now no more Eastern than the truths of Western science are Western. We are merely talking about human consciousness and its possible states. My purpose in writing this book is to encourage you to investigate certain contemplative insights for yourself, without accepting the metaphysical ideas that they inspired in ignorant and isolated peoples of the past. A final word of caution: Nothing I say here is intended as a denial of the fact that psychological well-being requires a healthy “sense of self”—with all the capacities that this vague phrase implies. Children need to become autonomous, confident, and self-aware in order to form healthy relationships. And they must acquire a host of other cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal skills in the process of becoming sane and productive adults. Which is to say that there is a time and a place for everything—unless, of course, there isn’t. No doubt there are psychological conditions, such as schizophrenia, for which practices of the sort I recommend in this book might be inappropriate. Some people find the experience of an extended, silent retreat psychologically destabilizing.[10] Again, an analogy to physical training seems apropos: Not everyone is suited to running a six-minute mile or bench-pressing his own body weight. But many quite ordinary people are capable of these feats, and there are better and worse ways to accomplish them. What is more, the same principles of fitness generally apply even to people whose abilities are limited by illness or injury. So I want to make it clear that the instructions in this book are intended for readers who are adults (more or less) and free from any psychological or medical conditions that could be exacerbated by meditation or other techniques of sustained introspection. If paying attention to your breath, to bodily sensations, to the flow of thoughts, or to the nature of consciousness itself seems likely to cause you clinically significant anguish, please check with a psychologist or a psychiatrist before engaging in the practices I describe. MINDFULNESS It is always now. This might sound trite, but it is the truth. It’s not quite true as a matter of neurology, because our minds are built upon layers of inputs whose timing we know must be different. [11] But it is true as a matter of conscious experience. The reality of your life is always now. And to realize this, we will see, is liberating. In fact, I think there is nothing more important to understand if you want to be happy in this world. But we spend most of our lives forgetting this truth—overlooking it, fleeing it, repudiating it. And the horror is that we succeed. We manage to avoid being happy while struggling to become happy, fulfilling one desire after the next, banishing our fears, grasping at pleasure, recoiling from pain—and thinking, interminably, about how best to keep the whole works up and running. As a consequence, we spend our lives being far less content than we might otherwise be. We often fail to appreciate what we have until we have lost it. We crave experiences, objects, relationships, only to grow bored with them. And yet the craving persists. I speak from experience, of course. As a remedy for this predicament, many spiritual teachings ask us to entertain unfounded ideas about the nature of reality—or at the very least to develop a fondness for the iconography and rituals of one or another religion. But not all paths traverse the same rough ground. There are methods of meditation that do not require any artifice or unwarranted assumptions at all. For beginners, I usually recommend a technique called vipassana (Pali for “insight”), which comes from the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. One of the advantages of vipassana is that it can be taught in an entirely secular way. Experts in this practice generally acquire their training in a Buddhist context, and most retreat centers in the United States and Europe teach its associated Buddhist philosophy. Nevertheless, this method of introspection can be brought into any secular or scientific context without embarrassment. (The same cannot be said for the practice of chanting to Lord Krishna while banging a drum.) That is why vipassana is now being widely studied and adopted by psychologists and neuroscientists. The quality of mind cultivated in vipassana is almost always referred to as “mindfulness,” and the literature on its psychological benefits is now substantial. There is nothing spooky about mindfulness. It is simply a state of clear, nonjudgmental, and undistracted attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Cultivating this quality of mind has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression; improve cognitive function; and even produce changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain related to learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.[12] We will look more closely at the neurophysiology of mindfulness in a later chapter. Mindfulness is a translation of the Pali word sati. The term has several meanings in the Buddhist literature, but for our purposes the most important is “clear awareness.”
On January 12, 2013, people all over the world will begin a yearlong celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Prasannatmananda from the Vedanta Society in Berkeley will join Yogacharya O'Brian for an inspired glimpse into the person of Swami Vivekananda and the principles he taught. Swami Vivekananda's speech and spiritual presence at the first World Parliament of Religions in 1893 is credited with opening the door to interreligious dialogue and interest in Vedanta in the West. Still today, his voice and spirit ring out around the world!
Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)
--{ The Ancient Plan -- World Parliament of Man: No Going Back, Old Agenda's on Track: "First Came the Plunder by Money Institutions, Then Antithesis of Activists, Social Revolutions, The Synthesis to Be Amalgam of These Two Under Smiley-Face UN, Ruled by the Few, World Socialism for All, Like It or Not, Followers Surprised to See What They Got, Wise Men Rule All Sides to Guide Each Force Into Predestined, Planned Brain-Stormed Course, All Agendas Can Be Found Under United Nations, A World Order Where All Accept Their Stations, Equal Austerity for Peace International, Led By New-Age Gurus Deceiving the Rational, Followers in Green on Knees Give Thanks For This Equality, Ruled by World Banks Beautiful Charter, Nice Constitution, Intelligentsia in Charge of All Vital Distribution" © Alan Watt }-- Cultural and Social Revolutions - International Socialism, Planned Society - GB Shaw, Service to the State, Killing off the "Unfit" - Club of Rome et al, Creation of Scary Scenarios to Unite the Planet, Global Warming etc. would Fit the Bill - Tax Money Funding Must-Be Climate/Sustainability Agenda - Banking Gangsters Rewarded by Gov. - Campaign for UN World Parliament - Social Activists Issue International Manifesto for "Global Democracy" - Yuri Bezmenov, Liberalization/Sovietization Process - Ignorant Youth Used for Socialist Utopic Movements - French Revolution, Bankers' Funding, Napoleon - Ready-Made Shopping Mall of Religions - Reinterpretation of Laws - Old System Morphed into New System - Limited Government. (See http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com for article links.) *Title/Poem and Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Oct. 18, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)
Media Gives Topics to Discuss - Truth is First Casualty of War - Wartime Powers - Terrorism, Law Enforcement, Safety, Predictability, Loss of Freedom. Public Safety Act, Department of Public Safety - British Democracy, Crown - Anti-Terrorism - Denmark, Royal Danish Consulate. New World Order, George Bush Sr. speeches on Sept. 11, 2000 and 2001. Great Pyramid, Capstone, Eye of Lucifer, Number 8 - Eagle, Manasseh, Olive Branches and Arrows - U.S. Great Seal - Rothschild Coat of Arms. Overloading with Sports, Trivia - Outlets for Tribal Instincts. Rome: U.N. of its day, Tax Base for Elite Luxury, Bureaucracy, Plebeians, Dole. 12 Main Symbols of Zodiac (parts of plan), Greek Mythology, 13th (Sun) - Houses, Tribes - Brand New Sun, King of World - Hindu Ages - 144,000. Arthur C. Clarke - 2010, Amalgamation of Americas - 2012, U.N. World Parliament. 12 Banking Families - Land Development, Pioneers - Real Estate. Courtroom (Masonic Temple) - Evidence, Photos, Video - "Enemy of the State" movie. Trinities - IC, ICC (I See 3) - PO, PU, Lowest forms of Life. Tobacco, Smoking, Nicotine, Tar, Aerial Spraying - Anti-Smoking Laws, Fines - U.N. War on Smoking, Obesity. Global Mind, Brain-Chipping - Aldous Huxley - Universal Consciousness - BORG (Original Bee). (ARTICLE: "Man convicted in absentia for terror hoax" by Mark Hume, Globe and Mail, Oct. 4, 2007). *Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Oct. 5, 2007 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)
WIG, Cervical Cancer Vaccine, MERCK the Messenger, Monsanto GMO, NGO, Carl Jung, Carroll Quigley CFR, World Parliament, De-programming, Rosicrucians, Great Zodiac, Sumer, Akadia/Acadia, Piltdown Man
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