Equality
Western political philosophy developed the idea of equality. That all men, and eventually women and children, have equal rights under the state. This is an important milestone, moving away from the idea that our circumstances …
Category: Philosophy
Yoga, A Bigger Picture
About two and a half years ago, I went to a Day of the Dead event. It turned out to be hosted by a Toastmasters club. As I give occasional talks and interviews, I knew …
The Seven Aspects of Life to be Realized
Chapter 8 of the Bhagavad Gita opens with Prince Arjuna asking Krishna questions, based on his statements at the close of the prior chapter. Krishna responds with 7 definitions that are the aspects of life …
Interfaith Bot
As regulars here know, last year I added a search bot to this site, hosted by ServiceSpace. This helps search through the over 2,300 articles here to answer questions with a conversational-style response. Recently, ServiceSpace …
Why Trauma?
By the title, I mean why the sudden interest in the topic here on the blog. There are several reasons for this. 1: healing has a key role in spiritual development. When I learned to …
Levels of Nothing
I’ve discussed the difference between emptiness, a quality of space within consciousness, and nothingness, in nirguna (quality-less) Brahman. Recently, I ran into a clip discussing nine “Levels of Nothing” by Robert Lawrence Kuhn. It was …
Aristotle’s Virtues
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived during the Classical period of Greece, about 300 years before Jesus. In his work Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle listed 12 Virtues. They were the ideals, living the mean between …
The Legend of Annapurna
This story is reminiscent of the shift from dominant rajas guna where world is seen as an illusion, to dominant sattva guna where world is known as the Divine play, Lila. D
Blessings
We cannot underestimate the value of a spiritual practice. Preparing the ground so the physiology can support higher stages of development is key. This benefits both this life and those that follow as development of …
A Philosophy of Consciousness
Recently, I ran into the below talk by Swami Sarvapriyananda of Vedanta NY on the philosophy of consciousness found in Eastern thought. He reviews the major unsolved problems in modern Western philosophy and how most …
Higher and Lower Knowledge
Shaunaka, a great householder, once approached Angiras in the prescribed manner and asked, “My Lord, what is that, knowing which, everything becomes known?” Angiras then said to him, “Two kinds of knowledge are to be …
Peace of Body-Mind
“Peace of mind and physical well-being are closely related. Some years ago, a scientist at Emory University told me that continuous anger, fear and suspicion tend to eat into our immune system. Besides, peace of …