My Soapbox

My Soapbox

By John CrossSociety & Culture
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My Soapbox episodes

  • 78. The Experience of Consciousness
    In this episode I reflect on a conversation Sam Harris had with Rupert Spira entitled "The Nature of Awareness" on Sam's "Waking Up" app.  I reflect on my strong agreement with Rupert Spira that consciousness is the true nature of reality, and that reality is single, non-dual, and whole.  I also reflect on some of Sam Harris' disagreement with Rupert on this point, and ponder why it is scientists so stubbornly cling to their materialist-only philosophy, and express why such a staunch commitment to the assumption of materialism will never allow scientists to ever uncover the mystery of conscsiousness.  I praise Rupert Spira's crisicism of those who would ridicule people who would call consciousness fundamental. I also express why I agree with Rupert Spira that a materialist view of consciousness being derived from matter is no different than conventional religious belief that a God created the universe magically out of nowhere. When one examines both the claims of religion and the claim of materialist scientists with intellectual honesty, one sees they are the same claims to the belief in "magic." 
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    26 min
  • 77. Truth and Belief
    In this episode I delve into the idea of whether we believe in something because the claim scales to the evidence, or just because it seems “fun” or “feels good,” regardless of whether or not it is true.
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    22 min
  • 76. The Futility of the Utility Argument
    In today's episode, I relate some thoughts on today's sermon in which the interim pastor at the church where I work talked about the transformative power of religious faith, citing the story about the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac in which the demon or demons are exorcised out of the man and into a herd of pigs, causing the swine to run down a hill into a lake and drown themselves.  In this episide I touch on some of the ethical issues with this story, as well as the problem of conflating the utility or "usefulness" of something with its supposed "truth." Just because something is useful, comforting, or otherwise "helpful" does not necessarily mean it is true or factual. I also talk again about the problem with conflating ones' religious faith with fact. 
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    24 min
  • 75. Field of Dreams
    In this episode, I reflect on some of the profound messages within the movie "Field of Dreams." This is a film I saw in its entirety for the first time with my lady friend at Sox Park in Chicago, and I reflect on its profound impact on me, the way this film brilliantly reflects on what we value and why, as well as reflections on my dad and my childhood memories with him and baseball.
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    35 min
  • 74. How Far Can We Go?
    During this episode, I reflect on the latest "Making Sense" podcast episode of Sam Harris, who in this episode entitled "Journey Into Wokeness," interviews the writer Caitlin Flanagan, who has many fascinating things to say about the whole "woke" phenomenon, political correctness, the contradictions within feminism, the #MeToo movement, etc.  I reflect mostly on the "have it both ways" phenomenon in which people seem to want several matters of sexuality on their terms, the problems with "hook up" culture and the many entanglements this can bring, and my own logical conclusion that when it comes to simple, casual sex, paid relationships seem much safer than hooking up with strangers since the very nature of the paid relationship can be seen as a kind of "liability insurance," allowing men and women to avoid the issues and hassles with hidden ego and emotional agendas which when not met, can turn the sexes against one another in a negative way. 
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    39 min
  • 73. It's "Just a Theory?"
    In this episode I begin with a reflection on Dave's excellent commentary on Episode 71 of the podcast, "Absolute Certainty?" In his commentary, Dave describes the difference between the scientific, logical, rational path towards knowledge and religious assertions which can be defiantly persistent even in the face of overwhelming and innumerable confirmations that the religious model of the cosmos is mistaken.  In this episode I reflect again on probability, and as Dave suggests that while we can never have "absolute certainty," in order to further our understanding of the cosmos, we must nevertheless go down the paths of highest probability.  I also describe some of why science and religion will always be in conflict since both attempt to explain reality, but do so in entirely different ways, with science relying on evidence and sound reasoning, while religion relies on non-falisifiable, and therefore meaningless assertions and claims to "revelation," "special transcendent knowledge," "divine books," and other such nonsense.  I also describe why the "it's just a theory" argument against scientific thinking is weak, incorrect, and disingenuous, and why the mistaken conflation that the "faith" of the scientist is the same as the faith of the religious-minded is flat out false.  
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    23 min
  • 72. Why Believe?
    In this episode, I reflect on a conversation I had this past Saturday with one of my uncles at a surprise birthday party for another one of my uncles about God, faith, and some reasons why some people believe in God.  In this episide, I reflect on the issue of "believing" just because we are afraid of death, and reflect on my dad's death and his expressed emotions before he died, as well my hopes for myself to face death courageously and without illusion or wishful thinking when my time comes.  
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    18 min
  • 71. Absolute Certainty?

    In this episode I reflect a bit on the book by Carolo Rovelli, "Reality is Not What It Seems," and particularly the last chapter of this book, entitled "Mystery." While I acknowledge mystery and the fact we cannot have "absolute certainty" about everything, I do believe there are some things that are not going to change no matter how much we discover about reality, because there are at bottom, brute facts about oneness and the cosmos we must therefore accept if we are going to have any basis from which to speak of anything reasonably certain, and will not necessarily be able to give a "why" answer for. In this episode, I also explore physicist Sean Carrol's bold, yet I believe correct claim we need not be agnostic about the question of "life after death" since as Carrol says, "there is no reason to be agnostic about ideas that are dramatically incompatible with everything we know about modern science." 

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    36 min
  • 70. Accepting Reality

    This episode consists of two recordings - the first made July 18, 2019, and the second July 31, 2019. Both are reflections on my sometimes negative attitudes with respect to my work situation, my difficulty with accepting the reality of work, and the painful realization of how badly my failure to often accept reality contradicts one of my most passionately held goals of this podcast - to observe and acccept reality as it is without prejudice. In this episode I also ponder the selfishness and childishness of the attitude things "should be" as I wish them to be, and how my continual complaints about how many things are, particularly with respect to my work is a testament to my disturbingly narcissistic attitude. I also talk about how mindfulness can help with negative attifudes and emotions, as well as my struggle to remain mindful and accepting even in the midst of great difficulty and unpleasantness.  

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    30 min
  • 69. Reflections on Existence

    In this episode I reflect a bit on my conversation with Dave in the previous podcast episode, and respond to some of his insightful comments he sent me after the podcast recording via text.  I primarily reflect in this episode on the question of existence, and how and why existence is not true since existence is the very concept of separation, which contradicts the fact and the truth that all is ultimetely, one.  

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    16 min

About My Soapbox

From the publisher's feed

The "My Soapbox" podcast is a place where I can think out loud on several topics, including religion and spirituality, logic, reason, epistemology, science, critical thinking, politics, culture,…