Showing results by author "David Christopher Lane" in All Categories

Since Yogananda’s Autobiography is now in the public domain and freely available on the Internet for download, I thought it might be very helpful to skeptically analyze a number of the more extraordinary stories within the text. This book takes a hard look at Yogananda's Autobiography from a critical perspective. Also included are three helpful appendices.

I am fortunate to be able to publish Baba Faqir Chand's satsangs as presented to Harjit Singh Sandhu and skillfully translated by Pulkit Bose. First as a series in Sach Khand: The Journal of Radhasoami Studies and now in book form. These talks that were given in London, England, in 1980 are genuinely remarkable for their utmost clarity and penetrating insights into the nature of spirituality. Baba Faqir Chand is unique amongst masters, since he was exceptionally honest about his experiences and what he learned from them over the course of his long life.

In this partially autobiographical book, Professor David Christopher Lane, PhD., a long-time skeptic of religion and the paranormal, explains why he meditates and why he believes it is extremely beneficial to human well-being. Includes a detailed section on how to meditate using an ancient technique called shabd yoga (listening to the inner sound) without resorting to mythological concepts or overlays.

Presents a critical overview of guru succession in the Radhasoami tradition from its inception in the mid-1850s up until early 1991. Provides vital information for anyone interested in the politics behind guru succession in general. Includes extensive notes and an exhaustive bibliography.

This book provides a wide overview of Darwin's views on a variety of subjects. It also draws out some of the implications of his groundbreaking work on psychology and philosophy.

Faqir Chand was a remarkable Indian sage who spent over 75 years practicing an ancient meditation technique, popularly known today as surat shabd yoga, which attempts to induce a consciously controlled near-death experience. This book contains Faqir Chand's unique autobiography which was dictated shortly before his death in Urdu and translated during his lifetime into English. It also includes a seasoned selection of Faqir Chand's radical teachings.

Surprisingly, one of the more lucid insights on the philosophy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead comes from a Hindu mystic, named Baba Faqir Chand, who apparently was not familiar with the original Tibetan text or its English translation. Although Faqir was not conversant with the Bardo Thotrol, he was nevertheless steeped in its philosophy as taught to him by his guru, Shiv Brat Lal of Gopiganj. Faqir Chand, like his lama counterparts, spent much of his life in meditation, attempting to consciously go through the dying process in order to prepare himself for his final exit.

I first encountered the mystical logic of Nicholas of Cusa when I read S.L. Frank's magnificent (and underappreciated) volume, The Unknowable. I was both mesmerized and haunted by Cusa's koan-like summation of his philosophy when he wrote, "The unattainable is attained by its unattainment." As Socrates and other mystic-philosophers before him, Nicholas of Cusa had realized through mathematics and geometry that infinity cannot be comprehended by that which is finite.

This small, illustrated book focuses on how virtual reality technology is a progressive tool for understanding the mystery of consciousness. It utilizes the insights of David Chalmers and Nick Bostrom to elaborate on how our brains are really virtual reality rendering machines that give us in-sourcing options before out-sourcing them to a Darwinian world of eat or be eaten.

This is a book focusing on ecstatic states of consciousness, with a special focus on the work of Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, and the notion of cosmic consciousness....

This audiobook explores various agnostic ideas and statements from such luminous thinkers are Bertrand Russell, Clarence Darrow, Thomas Henry Huxley, Joseph McCabe, etc. With contributions by professors Andrea Diem-Lane and David Christopher Lane. From the Foreword: "When Spencer Tracy, playing Clarence Darrow in the movie Inherit the Wind, takes the Bible in one hand and On Origin of Species in the other and clasps them together side by side to illustrate how science and religion can work together, one is led to assume that Darrow was indeed a theist evolutionist".

These two distinct books touch on surfing, bodysurfing, wave mechanics, and being fully aware when riding waves. The Yoga of Bodysurfing: What is much less known is how yoga, shorn of its theological overlays and spiritual ultimacies, is similar in many ways to the art of bodysurfing. It is clear that a bodysurfer adept at riding waves actually employs yoga’s four-fold technique. The Psychic Surfer: Using surfing as a key and guiding metaphor, this audiobook explores why being "psychic" has nothing to do with paranormal abilities.

This audiobook contains a series of essays that provide arguments for a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. We have included several chapters from books published in the 19th century which shows that the idea of a non-meat diet is not new in America, even if it has never been widely adopted. Keep in mind that these earlier writings didn’t have the scientific knowledge at their disposal that we have today.

This is a series of essays penned by Professor David Christopher Lane which were first published on the Integral World website in Europe. Each article emphasizes why focusing on a materialist science is actually helpful for anyone interested in a trans-rational worldview. Professor Lane provides a critical analysis of John White, Brad Reynolds, Ken Wilber, and others concerning the nature of science and its relationship with spirituality.

This collection contains short essays, each written by different authors, on the following agnostic thinkers: Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Lynn Margulis, Leo Szilard, Isaiah Berlin, Thomas Kuhn, Enrico Fermi, Herbert Spencer, David Hume, G.E. Moore, Karl R. Popper, Bertrand Russell, Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Thomas Henry Huxley. The long introduction is by David Christopher Lane, Professor of Philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College. The appendix is a famous essay on agnosticism by the famed trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow. The entire book has been edited by Roberto Allende.

This book contains a critical essay/preface on the cultic nature of censorship in Roman Catholicism by David Christopher Lane, professor of philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College. The main body of the book is on the Roman Catholic Index of Forbidden Books, which banned such texts as Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and all books by David Hume. This text includes a list of banned books up to 1966. This is a fascinating glimpse into Catholic apologetics about how they justified censorsing books that are now considered classics.

This small book contains the essence of the "Yoga of Unknowing" which is the realization that as humans we will always have limited knowledge and following the lead of Nicholas of Cusa we should learn to be cognizant of our ignorance and thereby become more enlightened in the process. Also included is the essay "The Mystery of the Eight Realms" which touches upon how virtual reality technology is our own technological Plato's Cave and how understanding VR, MR, and AR can help us better understand consciousness.

This small book focuses on why understanding neuroscience and evolution can be helpful in understanding why thoughts arise (as virtual simulators) during meditation. Includes a pointed discussion on the importance of science in mapping our interior quests of consciousness.

This small audiobook contains the remarkable recollections of Kehr Singh who was the first person from India to bring the teachings of Radhasoami Satsang Beas to America in the early part of the 20th century. Because of his influence, the Great Master, Sawan Singh, became known and hundreds and eventually thousands came to be initiated into surat shabd yoga. Also contained within this audiobook are excerpts from Professor Andrea Diem-Lane's pioneering work on the early history of Radhasoami and Sant Mat in America and how it influenced several new religions.

This small book explores how the Radhasoami tradition via three distinctive branches (Agra, Beas, and Hoshiarpur) view science. Includes a close examination of the life and work of Rai Salig Ram, Jaimal Singh, and Faqir Chand.