Tag Archives: introspective

The many paths to felicity

Monday, March 1, 2010

I’m currently taking a class on the 13th century Andalusian Islamic poet-mystic-philosopher-theologian Ibn `Arabī, whose worldview is tremendously fascinating and worth studying in depth (if only we had lifetimes enough!). One of the assigned books for the class, William Chittick’s Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-`Arabī and the Problem of Religious Diversity, closes with two passages from [...]

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In Search of the True Self

Thursday, February 11, 2010

There is much discussion in Hindu literature about the true nature of the Self. Hindu philosophy is itself divided into multiple schools of thought (e.g. advaita, dvaita, vishishtadvaita), all of which have differing views on the relation of atman (Self) to brahman (Whole). One particularly interesting quote on self-identity is due to Adi Shankaracharya:
Just as [...]

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Why unselfishness?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Swami Vivekananda, in Karma Yoga, enjoins us to “work for work’s sake” (source). He writes:
“There are some who are really the salt of the earth in every country and who work for work’s sake, who do not care for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven. They work just because good will come of [...]

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