Integral Options Cafe

Monday, September 17, 2007

Daily Om: Underneath The Noise

Today's Daily Om reminds us to listen to that still small voice, the voice our souls.

Underneath The Noise
Hearing The Whisper

You may have noticed that if you want to speak to someone in a noisy, crowded room, the best thing to do is lean close and whisper. Yelling in an attempt to be louder than the room’s noise generally only hurts your throat and adds to the chaos. Similarly, that still, small voice within each of us does not try to compete with the mental chatter on the surface of our minds, nor does it attempt to overpower the volume of the raucous world outside. If we want to hear it, no matter what is going on around us or even inside us, we can always tune in to that soft voice underneath the surrounding noise.

It is generally true that the more insistent voices in our heads delivering messages that make us feel panicky or afraid are of questionable authority. They may be voices we internalized from childhood or from the culture, and as such they possess only half-truths. Their urgency stems from their disconnectedness from the center of our being, and their urgency is what catches our attention. The other voice that whispers reassurances that everything is fundamentally okay simply delivers its message with quiet confidence. Once we hear it, we know it speaks the truth. Generally, once we have heard what it has to say, a powerful sense of calm settles over our entire being, and the other voices and sounds, once so dominant, fade into the background, suddenly seeming small and far away.

We may find that our own communications in the world begin to be influenced by the quiet certainty of this voice. We may be less inclined to indulge in idle chatter as we become more interested in maintaining our connection to the whisper of truth that broadcasts its message like the sound of the wind shaking the leaves of a tree. As we align ourselves more with this quiet confidence, we become an extension of the whisper, penetrating the noise of the world and creating more peace, trust, and confidence.

Eddie Vedder - Hard Sun (Official Video -- Into the Wild)

This is the first video from Eddie Vedder's soundtrack to the new Sean Penn film, Into the Wild, about the life and death of Chris McCandless, the young Virginia man who starved to death in the Alaska wilderness two years after giving his life savings to charity and severing all ties with his family. The song features Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker on harmony vocals.

Here is an LA Times story about Vedder's work on the film, which is his first solo album.

The soundtrack to Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" is Eddie Vedder's first solo album, but he can't take all the credit. True, he played most of the instruments, sings nearly every note and wrote nine of the album's 11 songs. But when he tries to remember where the songs came from, he draws a blank.

"I don't remember a damn thing about it," he says over coffee and cigarettes at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film recently had its world premiere. "It just kind of flew out. It felt like other things were at work. Things came through, musically and lyrically, that I really didn't have to do too much work on. It felt more like just grabbing sparks around my head and putting them on the fire."

What began with Penn's request for a handful of songs to fit into his nearly complete film grew almost by accident into a brief but cohesive album that recapitulates the movie's journey in miniature.

"Into the Wild" is based on the true story of Chris McCandless, the young Virginia man who starved to death in the Alaska wilderness two years after giving his life savings to charity and severing all ties with his family. Although the Pearl Jam frontman more often retreats to the surf than the wilderness, he connected deeply with McCandless' prickly idealism. On "Long Nights," he channels McCandless' Thoreau-inspired desire to exile himself from the evils of the world, singing, "Have no fear, for when I'm alone, I'll be better off than I was before."

Read the whole article.

Here is the trailer for the film, which I am really looking forward to seeing. McCandless did something I really wanted to do when I was about 20 -- just give up everything and move to the wilderness. I probably would have fared about as well as he did.

Speedlinking 9/17/07

Quote of the day:

"If God had really intended men to fly, he'd make it easier to get to the airport."
~ George Winters

Image of the day:

BODY
~ Diet plays a big role in colon cancer survival - "A recent article in The Journal of the American Medical Association has picked up national attention, saying that colon cancer survivors who eat red meats, sugary foods and refined grains were 3.5 times more likely to die as a result of recurrence of colon cancer when compared to those who ate the least amounts of those foods."
~ Maximum Recruitment Training II -- "You got the introduction to MRT last week, now here's the meat. If you've got limited time but want maximum results, this is your baby. The cool thing? The workouts won't take you much longer than 30 minutes."
~ Exercise and Fat Loss Plateaus -- "Frequent exercise can actually DECREASE calorie burning leading to fat loss plateaus. Here are five ways incorrect exercise programming could actually reduce metabolism or caloric expenditure."
~ Why You Should Always Do The Exercises You Hate -- "The truth is the exercises you hate, are the exercises you should do the most."
~ Supplement users better nourished than non-users -- "Older men and women who take nutritional supplements are more likely to get adequate amounts of several vitamins and minerals than their peers who don't use supplements, a new study shows." This is essential for everyone. Bad agricultural practices have depleted the soil, so we get far fewer nutrients from out foods than we need.
~ Most American Women Don't Know Their Cholesterol Level -- "80 per cent of women in the US between 18 and 44 don't know their cholesterol level, despite the fact that cholesterol is a major risk factor for the biggest killer of American women, heart disease."
~ Health Tip: When Acupuncture May Help -- "Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese procedure in which points on the body are stimulated using a number of very fine needles. Here are conditions and symptoms that may benefit from acupuncture, courtesy of the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine...."
~ The skinny on red wine and magnesium -- "Most scientists have come to believe that many human diseases, from congestive heart failure to cancer, are caused by free radicals, vile chemicals that attack healthy cell membranes through oxidation."

PSYCHE/SELF
~ MIT: Brain's Messengers Could Be Regulated--Potential For Better Understanding Of Schizophrenia -- "MIT researchers report that tiny, spontaneous releases of the brain's primary chemical messengers could be regulated, potentially giving scientists unprecedented control over how the brain is wired. The work, to be published in the Sept. 16 early online edition of Nature Neuroscience, could lead to a better understanding of neurological diseases like schizophrenia.:
~ The Ability To Step Into The Minds Of Storybook Characters Starts Very Young -- "A large part of enjoying a good book is getting immersed in the life of a character, especially a character's thoughts and feelings. A new University of Waterloo psychology study shows that preschoolers can already perform this impressive perspective-taking feat and get into the minds of story characters." This is one of the many reasons that kids should be encouraged to read -- being able to take other perspectives is crucial to critical thinking, compassion, and empathy.
~ Situationism, Virtues, and Control -- "Radical situationism is, of course, too extreme. But even if stable cross-situational character plays some role in our behavior, if that role is limited and much more derives from situation than from character, a moral psychology focusing on personal virtue may seem to miss the psychological reality."
~ Who Am I Today? The Importance of Roles -- "If you’re anything like me, life keeps you pretty busy. Sometimes — more often than I’d like, actually — it’s hard just to keep straight what day it is, let alone where I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to be doing."
~ Lucid dreaming in art and science -- "The New York Times has a short article on the recent upsurge of interest in both the arts and sciences on lucid dreaming - a form of reflective self-awareness in which you realise you're dreaming when it occurs."
~ How thousands have learned to transform their lives -- "Simple ways of discovering the hidden, inner drivers that twist and control your life."
~ Judith Beck: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person -- "Brain Fitness doesn't require the use of expensive equipment. Your brain is enough. Today we are honored to interview Dr. Judith Beck on how cognitive techniques can be applied to develop a number of important mental skills. The latest application of these?. Losing weight."

CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Clinton Calls for Universal Health Care -- "Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called for universal health care on Monday, plunging back into the bruising political battle she famously waged and lost as first lady on an issue that looms large in the 2008 presidential race...."
~ Iraq Government Bans Blackwater -- "BBC News reports: Iraq has cancelled the licence of the private security firm, Blackwater USA, after it was involved in a gunfight in which at least eight civilians died."
~ Keeping Literary Magazines in Libraries: Susan Thomas Has a Suggestion -- "Throughout the country, public and academic librarians are eliminating periodials from shelves, partly to free up shelf and storage space, but mostly because of a budget squeeze. Scientific journals are expensive (subscriptions can run a hundred dollars or more). As a sort of collatoral damage, literary publications, which are much less expensive and in some cases impossible to duplicate in digital form, are disappearing, too."
~ Gold and the U.S. Dollar -- "Should the budget deficit make you buy gold as a hedge against a collapse of the dollar?"
~ Editors: Judging Mukasey -- "Complimentary statements about Mukasey from Sen. Charles Schumer and other prominent liberals have aroused some conservative suspicions. Schumer has described Mukasey as a conservative lawyer committed to the rule of law."
~ Gay Activists Push for Bias Ban -- "Gay rights advocates expect Congress will soon move closer to approving a federal ban on job discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender workers."
~ Saggy Pants Fad Finds Crackdowns -- "It's a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle - low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law." This will surely be struck down as unconstitutional.

HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Mercury concentrations in fish respond quickly to increased deposition -- "A joint Canadian-American research team have, for the first time, demonstrated that mercury concentrations in fish respond directly to changes in atmospheric deposition of the chemical. The international team`s research began in 2001 at the Experimental Lakes in Northern Ontario and is featured in this week`s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
~ Researchers shed new light on hybrid animals -- "What began more than 50 years ago as a way to improve fishing bait in California has led a University of Tennessee researcher to a significant finding about how animal species interact and that raises important questions about conservation."
~ Georgia Tech Takes Comprehensive Biofuels Approach -- "We feel it at the pump. Fuel prices are at record highs and so is the demand for alternative fuels. But major scientific and technological advances are still required before economically viable alternative fuels become a significant part of the U.S. energy supply."
~ Research overturns accepted notion of neutron's electrical properties -- "For two generations of physicists, it has been a standard belief that the neutron, an electrically neutral elementary particle and a primary component of an atom, actually carries a positive charge at its center and an offsetting negative charge at its outer edge." Wow! And we thought we knew what a neutron was.
~ New Method of Studying Ancient Fossils Points to Carbon Dioxide As a Driver of Global Warming -- "A team of American and Canadian scientists has devised a new way to study Earth's past climate by analyzing the chemical composition of ancient marine fossils. The first published tests with the method further support the view that atmospheric CO2 has contributed to dramatic climate variations in the past, and strengthen projections that human CO2 emissions could cause global warming."
~ The Eco-Nutrition Label -- "How do chic snobs judge the classy versus the trashy? With designer labels. For green shoppers, the equivalent is eco-labels. We have the US Energy Star and the EU Flower instead of Gucci and Prada, but green consumers have already shown themselves to be highly targeted, brand-conscious buyers."
~ Nanoscale computer memory retrieves data 1,000 times faster -- "Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanowires capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving that data a thousand times faster than existing portable memory devices such as Flash memory and micro-drives, all using less power and space than current memory technologies."

INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Coupling Human And Natural Systems For A Sustainable Future And Quality Of Life -- "No one says marriage is easy -- but an international group of 16 natural scientists and social scientists, including three from Michigan State University, are saying the wedding of natural sciences and social sciences is called for." In integralese, this means joining the interior (social sciences) with the exterior (natural sciences). Cool.
~ New Blog -- Progressive Buddhism, a group blog -- Free enquiry and faith: What a Kalama-ty -- "The Kalama Sutra is sometimes referred to as 'a charter for free enquiry' by many western Buddhists. This factor is often presented as what makes Buddhism stand out from other religions as being different from most other religions and more compatible with the modern mindset. I, like many others I'm sure, was drawn to Buddhism in part because of this apparent open-minded call for pragmatic empiricism."
~ Dan Millman on Integral Naked: The Peaceful Warrior’s Way - Part 1 -- "Many of us are familiar with Dan's first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior—which has at least 2 million copies sold, and probably 6-7 million readers. But what many people often miss is that Dan has spent the twenty-five years since Peaceful Warrior’s publication writing 12 more books, and it is in these books where Dan lays out how you can actually take the inspiring impact of Peaceful Warrior and put it into practice."
~ Robb Smith, CEO of I-I, responds -- "Robb responded to the “Reinvention of I-I” thread, an encouraging sign."
~ Buddhist Geeks 37: Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Naropa University -- "In this episode, Ryan chats with Troy Omafray and Cory Leistikow, two of his fellow classmates in Naropa University’s MA Indo-Tibetan Studies program. They discuss the nature of the courses, their personal experience, and what to expect if you decide to pursue the program."
~ Walking through walls -- "Below is a guided meditation that I was first taught by one of my teachers Gen Loden Jampa (we have very similar names)."
~ WHY INTEGRAL? -- "TO WRAP UP this initial series of posts I will deal with the challenge of identifying an integral philosophy of creative music, one that is multi-directional and multi-dimensional, that explores a holistic integration of the personal (intuitive), technical (material), social (systemic) and cultural (intersubjective) aspects of individual and ensemble performance as well as the various historical modes of music making as they relate to the integral worldview."
~ An Unreduced Mind -- "A confluence brings my attention to the reductionistic approaches to understanding our minds tonight."
~ An Integral rant -- "The problem with the Integral Movement is that its foundation is not spirituality or enlightened revelation, but both a religion based on Wilber worship, and an intellectualism based on Wilber books, and some Westernised Buddhism thrown in (Buddhism is pretty much the only spirituality they can handle, because it is intellectual and pragmatic, and does not involve metaphysics or radical practices such as Surrender to the Supreme; you can be a physicalist and still be a practicing Buddhist! It is ideally set up for the secular Western mindset), as well as some Californian Lifestyle choices marketed as "Spiritual Cross-Training"."
~ You Should Quit Your Job on Monday -- "I’m in semi-retirement right now and I’m twenty-six. Back in my college town, eating Carolina Mud Pies (double-fudge pie w/fudge on top, á la mode), getting hit on by pizza delivery men and, to anyone but me, perhaps, living the good life. If this is retirement, I’m planning to come out of it."

Author of "Political Brain" Study Responds

I've posted a couple of pieces regarding the "political brain" study that has been in the news lately (here and here). The best look at the study came not from the political pundits who know nothing about neuroscience and conducting research (though they'll still write as though they do), but from one of the neuroscience blogs, The Neurocritic.

It's not too surprising then that the author of the study, Dr. David Amodio, chose to respond in a venue where his work is understood and not distorted for political motives.

I like your blog – it’s important to a have a critical voice out there. However, given how this study has been misconstrued and sensationalized in the media, as well as among science bloggers, it’s important to address the criticisms directly. Though I’ve generally not worried about the “lay” coverage (how can you argue science with pundits?), it might be worthwhile to respond to a blog that is read by neuroscientists (including myself from time to time).

He goes on to address five criticisms of the study. The Neurocritic also adds his own response to Amodio's comments.

Read the whole post.

The Genius of Rothko

I found this cool video exploring the work of Mark Rothko over at Andrew Sullivan's site. A very cool video.

Daily Dharma: Being Here

Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle and yesterday's Chogyam Trungpa quote seem to go together quite well -- both are about being absolutely present in our lives. No easy task.

The Hallmark of the Enlightenment Process

The hallmark of the enlightenment process is in being "here" and not "there." Indeed, the focal point of continuity is in being here at all times. The famous message of Ram Dass to "Be here now" is what results when one is adept in this practice. It is laborious in that it requires great perseverance -- we are up against lifelong patterns -- but it is a major enlightenment practice because it can break through our basic conditioning.

The secret of success in continuity practice is to eliminate any sense of failure. From the moment we begin, we are successful. The only measure of success is this moment, right now. Are we here? If we are here, our practice is perfect.

The fact that we have just returned from out yonder, or that we might take off again in a few seconds, is not relevant. Without this practice, we would always be spaced out. We would rarely experience being here. Thus, each moment we are able to break the pattern, we have succeeded.

~ David A. Cooper, Silence, Simplicity and Solitude; from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith.

And here is the Trungpa quote:

LIVING ON THE RAZOR'S EDGE

Nowness is the sense that we are attuned to what is happening. The past is fiction and the future is a dream, and we are just living on the edge of a razor blade. It is extraordinarily sharp, extraordinarily tentative and quivering. We try to establish ground but the ground is not solid enough, because it is too sharp. We are quivering between that and this....This razor-blade quality is something more than psychological irritation. Life as a whole becomes penetratingly sharp -- unavoidable and at the same time cutting. We could say that is the living description of the truth that life contains pain. According to Buddhism, life or existence is defined according to the truth of suffering, which is the razor blade.

~ From "The Razor's Edge," in Orderly Chaos: The Mandala Principle, pages 18 to 19.

Being totally present in our lives is maybe the most difficult thing we can do -- it requires that we be able live with ambiguity and discomfort. It's easy to see why Trungpa refers to it as the razor's edge.

But the more we sit, and become accustomed to that feeling during our meditation practice, the more able we are to live that way in the world as well. I've still got a long way to go, but I can see the process working.

Humor: Should Americans Return To A Simpler, Stone Age Lifestyle?

A video news report from The Onion:

via videosift.com

Satire: Science Fiction Writer Admits Unstoppable Killing Machine Based On Mother

From The Onion:

Science Fiction Writer Admits Unstoppable Killing Machine Based On Mother
September 17, 2007 | Issue 43•38
SEATTLE—At a book signing Tuesday, science fiction writer Ryan Lowell shocked fans when he confessed that the 300-ton, multi-tentacled, indestructible killer robot in his debut novel, Mind Games, was actually modeled on his own mother, 56-year-old Margaret Lowell of Wichita, KS.

"I drew heavily on my mom for a few chapters, including the initial invasion that leaves thousands smothered to death in downtown New York, and the destructive rampage on Washington that takes place during Christmas morning," said Lowell, 28, of the book's "cold, emotionless" main character. "Also, that thing about the robot drawing power from the synthesized blood of its human victims—that's based on her as well."
Lowell said that he did take a number of artistic freedoms while writing his tale, especially with the ending, in which the unstoppable killing machine is "totally encouraging and supportive of the novel's protagonist, Brian, an aspiring writer and only child."

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Gratitude 9/16/07

Some things I am grateful for today:

1) I dragged my arse out of bed early this morning and hiked into Bear Creek Canyon. There was quite a bit of water and it was nice to get my feet wet, sit on a big rock, and breathe the cool morning air.

2) Football, even though my Seahawks lost to Arizona on a last second field goal.

3) Naps. I have no idea what I was thinking as a kid when I never wanted to take a nap.

What are you grateful for today?

I'm an Atheist, Sort of

Any time writers use the word "god," even in a creative piece, they do so at their own risk. God is such a loaded word in this culture, especially with the recent rise of atheism in the media, as embodied by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens, among a handful of other less vocal voices.

I posted a poem last week in which I used the word "god,'" and it prompted a regular reader to express some confusion about a Buddhist referring to god. As a Western Buddhist, I don't believe in demons, gods, or any kind of supernatural beings. So I can see the confusion that might arise when I mention god in a poem, or anywhere else.

The god that the atheists are railing against can best be summed up in this famous image from the Sistine Chapel:

Many people do believe that God is a being who created humans in his own image. But that is a mythic belief that is pre-rational. The atheists have a good point in dismissing this point of view.

When I use the word god in any sense, what I am really pointing toward is the Spirit that informs the entire universe, from which all things arise and toward which all things are evolving. This is how Ken Wilber defines it:

Spirit is the summit of being, the highest rung on the ladder of evolution. But it is also true that Spirit is the wood out of which the entire ladder and all its rungs are made. Spirit is the suchness, the isness, the essence of each and every thing that exists.

The first aspect, the highest-rung aspect, is the transcendental nature of Spirit--it far surpasses any "worldly" or creaturely or finite things. The entire earth (or even universe) could be destroyed, and Spirit would remain. The second aspect, the wood aspect, is the immanent nature of Spirit--Spirit is equally and totally present in all manifest things and events, in nature, in culture, in heaven and on earth, with no partiality. From this angle, no phenomenon whatsoever is closer to Spirit than another, for all are equally "made of" Spirit. Thus, Spirit is both the highest goal of all development and evolution, and the ground of the entire sequence, as present fully at the beginning as at the end. Spirit is prior to this world, but not other to this world.

I suspect that the atheists would also dismiss this viewpoint as irrational. But I think that rather than being a pre-rational assumption based on mythic belief, this is a viewpoint that is post-rational and based on the experience of a great many explorers of non-dual consciousness. Nearly every mystical tradition presents some variation of this viewpoint, albeit in different language depending upon the faith tradition from which it rises.

So, if this is to be considered some form of belief in god, then I am not really an atheist. But I don't really see Spirit as a god-type force or entity. Spirit has no interest in individual human beings beyond the fact that each person (each everything) is an embodiment of spirit.

From a Buddhist perspective, this belief is not out of line. We might easily equate Spirit with Buddha-nature:

Nagarjuna, the founder of Madhyamaka, presents a view that states that Buddha-nature is Shunyata (empty). The primary sutras on Buddha-nature maintain that what the Buddha-nature is empty of is not its own ever-enduring reality but impermanence, impurity, moral defects, and suffering - in other words, the painful constrictions and imperfections of samsara.

Spirit is non-dual, empty of anything we might recognize as human. When Buddhism seeks emptiness, it seeks Spirit.

It's important to note, for those who see faith as a serious problem, as do Harris and Dawkins, that I have not yet experienced non-duality. I take it as a matter faith, based on the experience of those who have attained this experience, that it is real. Those who have reached this level of consciousness have laid out the paths that can lead others to the same experience. If we follow the protocols, we too can transcend samsara.

It is also important to note that in the Dzogchen tradition of Buddhism, we are all already enlightened -- which is to say that we are all already capable of experiencing non-duality because (and they use different words) we are all Spirit in our essence -- it is only our conditioning that convinces us we are separate from Spirit.

Our ultimate nature is said to be pure, all-encompassing, primordial awareness. This 'intrinsic awareness' has no form of its own and yet is capable of perceiving, experiencing, reflecting, or expressing all form. It does so without being affected by those forms in any ultimate, permanent way.

How similar does this sound to what Wilber said above? It's fair to note that Wilber has been practicing Dzogchen Buddhism for very many years, but this view is not too different from Vedanta Hinduism, either.

So back to my original point -- when I refer to god in any way on this blog, what I mean is Spirit, or Buddha-nature. I know it will confuse those who are not regular readers of this blog, but that's OK -- I can live with that.

TED Talks - Jeff Skoll: Making movies that make change

This is an interesting TED Talk, even if it is a bit older.

Jeff Skoll made his fortune as the first president of eBay. Now he's spending it at the movies. His company, Participant Productions, makes entertaining, issues-driven films that inspire real change -- Murderball, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth ... Here, he talks about the people who've inspired him to do good, and about some upcoming films that will open your eyes.

Atheism in the Washington Post

According to the WaPo, atheists are rising up in growing numbers. Hmmm. . . . Can four really loud guys constitute a movement? If their numbers are correct, five million atheists equals about 1.5% of the population.

Oh yeah, calling atheists "the godless" may be accurate, but in this culture it is equivalent to calling them evil. Sounds a little biased to me. Not to mention using the word "legion" along with "the godless;" makes it sound like the legions of hell are coming to get good, god-fearing Americans.

A legion of the godless is rising up against the forces of religiosity in American society.
"People who were ashamed to say there is no God now say, 'Wow, there are others out there who think like me, and it feels damned good,' " said Margaret Downey, president of the Atheist Alliance International, whose membership has almost doubled in the past year to 5,200. It has a 500-person waiting list for its convention in Crystal City later this month.
Focusing fresh attention on atheism in the United States was the publication last week of a book about Mother Teresa that lays out her secret struggle with her doubts about God. "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" has led some high-profile atheists to say that her spiritual wavering was actually atheism.
"She couldn't bring herself to believe in God, but she wished she could," said Christopher Hitchens, a Washington-based columnist and author of "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," the latest atheist bestseller.
In the past two years, five books touting atheism have hit the bestseller lists, outselling such religious tomes as Pope Benedict XVI's book on Jesus, and popular Christian novelist Tim LaHaye's latest book, "Kingdom Come," according to Nielsen BookScan.
Representatives of atheist and humanist groups say the books probably haven't converted many religious people. But, said Lori Lipman Brown, a lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for America, which represents eight atheist or humanist organizations, the books "tremendously increase the visibility of nontheist rights."
Nontheist is another term for atheist, or someone who does not believe in a supreme being.
A study released in June by the Barna Group, a religious polling firm, found that about 5 million adults in the United States call themselves atheists. The number rises to about 20 million -- about one in every 11 Americans -- if people who say they have no religious faith or are agnostic (they doubt the existence of a God or a supreme deity) are included.
They tend to be more educated, more affluent and more likely to be male and unmarried than those with active faith, according to the Barna study. Only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith.

Read the whole article.

I have a hard time with atheists like Hitchens claiming that Mother Teresa's crisis of faith was indicative of her lack of faith. That's foolish. It is proof of her faith that in the face of such doubts she continued to believe and to work in the name of her faith. She experienced a "dark night of the soul," but that does not bring her faith into question.

Radiohead - High and Dry

One of my favorite Radiohead songs.

via videosift.com

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Sunday, September 16, 2007