The Short Version

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

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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

What Knows? The Brain and the Self

March 4, 2008 by Norm Bearrentine Leave a Comment

Originally posted on 05-13-07 In the post on 05/11, I talked about the brain being a decision-making mechanism. An interesting thing about that is that the brain doesn't know how it makes decisions, any more than it knows … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2008 Tagged With: Antonio Damasio, brain, decisions, vision

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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