Posted inOpen Threads

Open Thread 51 (free speech for comments)

Here’s a new Open Thread. Remember, off-topic comments should go in an Open Thread or they may be deleted.  Off-topic comments have been proliferating in posts on this blog. It’s good to have comments in a regular blog post related to its subject, and it’s also good to have a place where almost anything goes in regard to sharing ideas, feelings, experiences, and such. That place is an Open Thread. Leave a comment on this post about anything you want to talk about. And keep comments on other posts related to the topic.
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB: How to handle this — as an ex-RSSB member

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. RSSB: HOW TO HANDLE THIS - AS AN EX-RSSB MEMBER This is a sister post to RSSB: THE PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP I am going to try to be helpful here, based on what I have seen of others at RSSB. The truth is, I simply don't have answers…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Reality

Truth is the most important spiritual virtue

In my previous post, "Get your Billionaire Guru Halloween costume (perfect for RSSB devotees)," I referred to truth in a paragraph that got me thinking about how important truth is to genuine spirituality. Or more generally, to life, because I'm no longer a fan of the words spiritual and spirituality since they connote something separate from everyday life. Humor is a wonderful thing. I love how stand-up comics make fun of themselves, other people, and life in general. Most of us take ourselves too seriously. And for sure, religions take their leaders way too seriously. I enjoy picturing the RSSB…
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Posted inHumor Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Get your Billionaire Guru Halloween costume! (perfect for RSSB devotees)

Just in time for Halloween, today somebody let me know about the Billionaire Guru costume. It struck me as just what devotees of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas would want to wear -- since the image on the package bears a lot of resemblance to Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru. Well, let's make that an awful lot of resemblance. Humor is a wonderful thing. I love how stand-up comics make fun of themselves, other people, and life in general. Most of us take ourselves too seriously. And for sure, religions take their leaders way too seriously. I enjoy picturing…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB: Parasocial relationship

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon mentions me in the post as an example of someone who substituted a relationship with the RSSB guru for a family relationship. I edited that part to correct some factual errors. I left in a mention of how my relationship with the guru took over other…
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Posted inChristianity/Jesus Politics Uncategorized

Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shows hypocrisy of a Christian questioner

Here in the United States we have a midterm election coming up on November 3, 2026, just two weeks away. Control of the House and Senate is up for grabs, with Democrats heavily favored to gain a majority in the House and are less heavily favored to gain a majority in the Senate. The state of Michigan has a hotly contested Senate race where the Democratic candidate is Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim physician. An interaction between El-Sayed and Tommy, a questioner at a campaign event, has gotten a lot of attention. A video is below. You'll probably have to deal…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Guru Sawan’s Prophecy: White RSSB 

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon makes an interesting point here. With most religions, it isn't a big deal if the leader of the religion says things that aren't true. Nobody's perfect, after all. Everybody makes mistakes. But RSSB is a special religion, because its leader, the guru, is considered to be…
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Posted inHappiness Neuroscience

There’s nothing wrong with negative emotions and bad feelings. Evolution gave them a purpose.

I used to be inspired by religious/spiritual books that pointed to a reality beyond everyday life. Now I'm inspired by scientific/worldly books about the life that surrounds each of us, right here, right now. My new favorite book is The Opposite of Happiness: How Bad Feelings Make and Break Us by George Loewenstein. Lowenstein is noted for his work in behavioral economics. He says that to economists, he is too psychologically oriented, and to psychologists, he is too economically oriented. Which is fine with me. I enjoy creative minds who aren't confined to traditional boxes. I'm just 47 pages into…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Listen to my interview with a journalist about RSSB and the Singh Brothers financial scandal

UPDATE: Since some people (I'm one of them) prefer reading to listening, I had Claude AI prepare a transcript of the 50 minute interview. Here's a PDF file. I've looked it over and made some minor edits, but I didn't change anything meaningful. RSSB Interview Transcript A few years ago I spoke with a journalist from India about some interesting topics, including: How I became a member of RSSB (Radha Soami Satsang Beas); why I grew disillusioned with this Eastern religion headed up by a guru, currently Gurinder Singh Dhillon; what I've learned about Dhillon's connections with Malvinder and Shivinder…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB ABCD: American Born Confused Desi

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. What follows is an interesting perspective regarding how a culture, in the case Indian, can be viewed quite differently by an older and younger generation -- which affects the ability of a religion founded in that culture to continue to appeal to people. Gill refers to Jasdeep…
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Posted inReligions

Why there never will be a religious Consumer Reports

My wife and I are long-time subscribers to Consumer Reports. Now we mainly consult its recommendations online, but we also get the monthly paper publication. Of course, we use other sources of product ratings and reviews. Amazon's reviews can be very helpful in learning what purchasers of a product like and dislike about it. Claude, ChatGPT, and GoogleAI provide useful information by searching the internet for sources. After the Oxo induction-ready fry pan lost much of its non-stickiness due to how often I use it for Little Links at breakfast, Hodo tofu burger at lunch, and sometimes stir fry/rice at…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB: my bottom line

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. RSSB: my bottom line I've written many emails here which Brian has amazingly honoured, read, and posted. I am so grateful for this. It was Brian's idea to make these blog posts. I'm also stunned and humbled Brian put together an archive of these. I never thought…
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Posted inArtificial intelligence Consciousness

If AIs are conscious, how would we ever know this?

Consciousness is a great mystery. Maybe. I could be wrong about this (I'm wrong about lots of stuff), but there's a distinct possibility that how we currently view consciousness will end up being overturned by wiser minds in the not-too-distant future. And those minds may not be human. For AIs, artificial intelligences, are rapidly gaining power. Not only may AIs be able to explain the nature of consciousness at some point, they may also become conscious and so be able to describe consciousness as a subjective phenomenon, just as we humans do. Yesterday my wife clued me in to a…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB: The Godman Moment

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Anon makes some excellent points in this post. The Beatles went to India in 1968 to studyTranscendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In "My strange RSSB initiation story," I speak of the tenor of those times and how I became involved in 1969 with a crazed Greek…
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Posted inMindfulness Spiritual practice/meditation

Meditation Is less about concentration and more about open awareness

Meditation isn't one thing. It is many things, because there are many ways to meditate, and it's impossible to say that any is the best. Or worst. It just depends on what someone feels works for them. Which is no different than eating ice cream. There's no best flavor. Some people prefer vanilla. Others prefer chocolate. Still others prefer a different flavor. Each to their own. For many years, decades really, I practiced a form of meditation based on a mantra and the goal of withdrawing one's attention from the outside world and focusing it "within." I put that word…
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Posted inHumor Radha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB guru featured in satirical Christmas movie posters

Here's 12 satirical Christmas movie posters featuring the main RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, and the guru designate, Jasdeep Singh Gill. They're really clever and expertly prepared by the person who sent them to me -- who, not surprisingly, prefers to remain anonymous. Humor is wonderful. Most of us tend to take ourselves too seriously, and we also tend to take our chosen form of religion and politics too seriously. These posters are a suggestion to lighten up a bit more.
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB: the “selfless service” paradox

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Seva means volunteer service. Here's a couple of previous blog posts dealing with selfless service: Is seva, selfless service, possible? Why direct it toward God? What is seva in the RSSB organization? RSSB: the "selfless service" paradox RSSB teaching says that the guru never leaves you and…
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Posted inScience Universe

What came before the big bang? A question that shows limit of both science and religion

Usually I put new issues of New Scientist and Scientific American at the bottom of a pile of science magazines that I try to read in order, oldest first. But when the October 2026 issue of Scientific American came with a provocative cover story that pushed my philosophical button, I had to read several of the Impossible Questions right away. I started with "What Is Consciousness, Really?" by Tim Bayne. It was disappointing, though. The main point of the article was that there's no general agreement about what the word consciousness refers to. So the title of the article referred…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB discounts

Below is another in a series of guest blog posts from Anon, an ex-RSSB initiate. RSSB stands for Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years, which explains my interest in sharing criticisms of the faith that I also found lacking. Seva means volunteer service. RSSB discounts This is kind of the sister post to "RSSB hoover tactics". I'd say this is another hoover tactic. When I was in the process of leaving RSSB - I was told many different things from many different people. This came from…
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Posted inArtificial intelligence Radha Soami Satsang Beas

AI points us toward an obvious fact: super-intelligence is useless if it can’t do things in the world

I first heard about David Chapman in 2011, when I wrote "David Chapman's dizzying writings on Meaningness and Buddhism." That post starts with: I don't often use the word "dizzying." Especially in the title of a blog post. Here, I mean it as a compliment, in the sense of… giddy, bewildering. Those are good things when it comes to writings that attempt to get at What Life is All About. Because if we think we understand what life is all about, we don't. Today someone sent me an email. "Wanted to make sure you've seen this one: http://meaningness.wordpress.com as he…
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