Jay Forrest On Natural Buddhism show

Jay Forrest On Natural Buddhism

Summary: Secular Buddhism is Buddhism without karma, rebirth, or other metaphysical claims. It is about awakening, transformation, and flourishing in this one life.

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Podcasts:

 009 Understanding Nonattachment | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:37

Attachment is clinging to or grasping unto something or someone. Nonattachment is not clinging to or grasping unto something or someone. It is not detachment, which separates and closes off a person from reality. It is about staying connected to reality but not clinging to it. We can be connected to someone without being attached to them.

 008 Two Kinds of Religion | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 26:58

The sociology of religion focuses on the social aspects of religion. Emile Durkheim is a good example of this. There are two basic structures for religion, a disciple centered religion and a community centered religion. Christianity, as well as Daoism, began as a teacher disciple centered religion and evolved into a community centered religion. Stoicism stayed a disciple centered religion until it died out.

 007 Phenomenology | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 20:13

Phenomenology is the study of phenomena. Not a very insightful definition. My own definition is that phenomenology is the study of subjective experience. Edmund Husserl is considered the father of phenomenology. This is true in the West, but the study of subjective experience has a long history in India and china. Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre are probable the best know phenomenologists.

 006 Stoicism 101 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:32

This is an introduction to Stoicism. Stoicism was started by Zeno of Citium in about 300 BCE, in the city of Athens. Zeno was originally a student of the Cynic Crates, who was a student of Diogenes, who was a student of Antisthenes, who was a student of Socrates. Stoicism has a direct line of decent from Socrates.

 005 Daoism 101 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:02

This is an introduction to Daoism (Taoism). Daoism is a philosophy and religion of China that arose in the 5th century BCE. The Daode Jing and Zhuangzi are two of the best known works of classical Daoism. The Dao is the way of nature, its rhythm and flow. Daoism emphasizes a return to nature, naturalness, and the simple life.

 004 Buddhism 101 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 32:45

This is an introduction to Buddhism, the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Noble Path. The Four Noble Truths are the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering being thirst, the noble truth of the ending of suffering, and the noble truth of the way leading to the end of suffering, which is the Eightfold Noble Path (right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration). References Buddha, The. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000. p. 1844

 003 Nontheistic Religion | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:30

Religion is a belief and value system with a way of life and spiritual practices for awakening, transformation, and flourishing, aiming to find meaning and significance in relation to the sacred. Religion two flavors: Theistic and Nontheistic, and two spheres: Communal and Personal.

 002 Naturalistic Spirituality | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:50

Can spirituality be defined naturalistically? I believe that it can and must be so defined. In Christianity, spirituality is about cultivating an awareness of one's connection with God. In Buddhism, and other naturalistic religions, spirituality is about cultivating a deeper and wider awareness of one's connection with reality.

 001 The Importance of Skepticism | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:19

If you care about the truth, skepticism is the tool to discover it. "A skeptic," writes Paul Kurtz, "is one who is willing to question any claim to truth, asking for clarity in definition, consistency in logic, and adequacy of evidence." Skepticism is great as a tool, but destructive as a worldview. Nobody can live skepticism.

 010 The Pros and Cons of Agnosticism | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4:47

What are the pros and cons of agnosticism? Agnosticism literally means, “without knowledge,” usually in reference to the existence of God. Strong agnosticism says, “God’s existence cannot be known.” Weak agnosticism says, “God’s existence is currently not known.” Sometimes people will say, “I don't know” or “I’m undecided” concerning God’s existence. In either case, the main claim is that there is not enough evidence to make a decision. The problem is that agnosticism is unlivable. You must live as if God exists or as if God does not exist. There is no neutrality. You are either a theist or an atheist, at least in practical life.

 009 The Pros and Cons of Atheism | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:18

What are the pros and cons of atheism? Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. It holds that there are no good reasons to think that God exists. Without rational justification, it is wrong to accept a claim. Atheists value science, evidence, and reason. But atheism answers only one question, should we believe in God. It offers to comprehensive worldview and therefore is not humanly satisfying. Humankind needs an overall perspective from which to see and interpret the world. Atheism does not offer that.

 008 How to Know the Truth | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:32

How can we know the truth? How can we know that what we believe is true? Truth is the correspondence between thought and reality. When what you think matches with what reality really is, you have truth. Beliefs come in systems, these systems are known as worldviews. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, a worldview is “the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.” So how know your worldview is correct? The truest worldview, and the truest claim, is the one that is empirically based, logically consistent, sufficiently com­prehensive, and pragmatically verified, and is, within this framework, humanly relevant.

 007 The Convergence of Science and Spirituality | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:01

The convergence of Science and Spirituality is the joining of the mind and heart, the thoughts and emotions, the objective empirical world with the subjective emotional response to it. It merges them into a union that is personally satisfying, emotionally uplifting, and completely complimentary. Although uniting the science and spirituality, it clearly distinguishes them, for science tells us what exists and how it works, but spirituality tells us what it means, its value, and our emotional connection to it. From this viewpoint, the universe, as revealed by science, is sacred and worthy of our deepest respect.

 006 Why I Left Christianity | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:20

I was saved in July of 1983. I was educated at Central Bible college, Berean University, Trinity Evangelical Christian University. I was involved in the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, Primitive Methodist, Liberal Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Church. I share my struggles with the Bible, Church History, and Gnosticism. I came to see Jesus as just a man, and just a teacher. For me, the Buddha was the better teacher. But Buddhism has problems, such as reincarnation, karma, heavens and hell. Mediation. I then turned to Atheism and Humanism.

 005 Difficult Transitions | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5:55

Going from belief to disbelief is a difficult journey and the transition is difficult. We begin with belief and certainty, then transition into a stage of doubt and questioning, and finally begin to reject the faith we were raised in. In each area of transition we experience what is called cognitive dissonance. It is that uneasy feeling of mental stress because we have inconsistent thoughts and beliefs. After we leave the faith we enter a transition where we lose our moral equilibrium. We now have the freedom to sin. In order to regain our moral equilibrium, we can study worldviews that are atheistic, such as Greek and Roman philosophers, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and especially Humanism. Humanism means means living our lives to foster human well-being in harmony with nature.

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