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Love, Life, Meaning, Zen, and Science, by Norm Bearrentine

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Review of Sam Harris’s Waking Up

September 12, 2014 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Sam did a great job of dealing with the complexities of free will in his book by that name, but in Waking Up he is writing about consciousness and the self, which are altogether more difficult subjects, and he flounders. Like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2014 Tagged With: brain, Buddhism, consciousness, Eckhart Tolle, free will, Jean Klein, Sam Harris, self, the present moment

Let’s Get Real; Clinging to “Impermanence”

March 4, 2008 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Originally posted on 05-18-07: When I was 17, I read a book by Philip Wylie that changed my life. Why an adolescent would be attracted to a book named, An Essay on Morals, is a little mysterious, and how such a book came to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2008 Tagged With: Buddhism, clinging, desires, Gil Fronsdal, impermanence, morals, Nirvana, Philip "Wylie, Roko Sherry Chayat, Theravada, Tibet, Tricycle, Tulku Thubten Rinpoche, Zen

Love, Love, Love: The Need and Evolution

March 4, 2008 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Originally posted on 05-16-07: At some point I'll talk about the importance of daily routines, but for now I'll just note that I read something every morning to remind me of the nature of reality as I understand it. These … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2008 Tagged With: Amma, brain, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, David Harp, decisions, Hindu, hormone, meditation, neurotransmitter, science, suffering, thoughts, Tricycle

Who’s in charge? Facing Reality

March 4, 2008 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Originally posted on 05-15-07: A few days ago I talked about Clark Strand's article in the Fall, 2006, issue of Tricycle. He's writing about his take on a variety of Buddhism called "Pure Land," whose adherents recognize … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2008 Tagged With: AA, awe, brain, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, decisions, intention, motivation, Naturalism, powerless, Pure Land, responsibility, self, surrender, thoughts, Tricycle, Zen

The Beauty of Things as They Are; Reality vs. Fantasy

March 4, 2008 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Originally posted on 05-12-07: I'm just getting around to the Fall, 2006 issue of Tricycle, and I find two articles with apparently similar but actually opposing views. One is called "Letting Go," by Judy Lief—a worthwhile … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2008 Tagged With: acceptance, anxiety, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, fantasy, happiness, imagination, insecurity, pot, reality, Tricycle

What This Site Is About

When I realized that the idea of god was a joke, I thought that was the end of the story. Later I found that Christianity had shaped my values, and while some were worth keeping, many had lost their foundation—the meaning of life, for example. Something similar happened when I realized that the idea of free will was a joke, and I’ve spent the decades since both those realizations discovering and editing what Julia Galef calls the “orphan beliefs” they left behind. It’s a tricky business, and this blog has been a chronicle of my efforts to puzzle it all out, including reviews of related books. I hope you find it helpful.

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