Volunteering for True Change
Author: Trishya ScrewvalaSeptember 23, 2016
Winston Churchill famously said, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give”. When we speak of volunteering today, we often think of people who have “more”, an abundance of knowledge or resources, sharing with those who we consider to have “less”. However, if we look at volunteering merely from this exoteric perspective, we miss out on the very essence of what [...]
Education: To What End?
Author: Archana SamarthSeptember 23, 2016
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and [...]
In Search of Unity
Author: Yaron BarzilaySeptember 23, 2016
By investigating some ancient traditions from various places and various historical periods, it appears that the suggested path of man’s development is synonymous with the principle of Unity. The search for Truth, a higher reality, has often been presented as an ability to overcome the illusion of separation which causes man to act in contradiction with his own true nature as an integral part [...]
Soil, Soul, Society – Rendezvous with Satish Kumar
Author: Manjula NanavatiSeptember 23, 2016
Activist, Author, Academic. Environmentalist, Humanist, Visionary. Satish Kumar believes that the spiritual aspect of our ecosystem has been lost in modern environmental debates, and has been replaced by systemic violence; towards the land, animals, mankind, and even towards ourselves. He maintains that reverence for nature is the only thread that can mend and weave together the fabric of [...]
Philosophy in Ancient Egypt
Author: Julian ScottSeptember 7, 2016
It is a commonly held view that ‘the Egyptians had no philosophy’ and that philosophy began with the ancient Greeks. However, some of the major Greek philosophers, including Thales, Pythagoras and Plato, recognised their huge debt to the sages of Egypt for their knowledge and ideas. Plato, for example, spent 13 years studying with the Egyptian priests at Heliopolis. The difficulty [...]
Know Your Virtues Unwrapping the Personality
Author: Nirit KremerAugust 23, 2016
Personal Note - Unwrapping the Personality I remember that when my dear father passed away, I went to my native place to participate in the ceremonies and spent precious time with my family and friends who came to console us. A lot of people came, shared their positive experiences with my father and their good memories of him. People were also sharing their own stories of the demise of their [...]
A New Philosophy of Life and Death
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaAugust 22, 2016
Philosophy means "love of wisdom or knowledge". It is a route illuminated by the sun of truth. Anything which does not respond to this essential characteristic is not philosophy, but mere speculation and alternative repetitions of what others have said, taking as much advantage of the old teachings as a spoon takes nourishment from and enjoys the soup in which it is dipped. Life and death are [...]
Gaia (Gaea), Mother Earth
Author: Pinar AkhanAugust 22, 2016
In many cultures, the concept of Mother Earth, the Great Mother existed and was worshipped in various ways. In Egypt she was represented as Isis nursing Horus, in Mesopotamia as Cybele, a seated figure with a lion on each side and large breasts symbolising the fertility and protection of the harvest and grain; while in Rome, as Tellus or Terra Mater, she was known as Mother Earth. In Greek [...]
The Myth of the Cave
Author: Miha KosirAugust 3, 2016
In one of Plato’s most well known works - The Republic - we find a short story known as the Myth of the Cave. Socrates asks his listeners to imagine a world under the ground where people live in chains, facing the end wall of a cave. Because they are chained they can’t move or turn around to see the objects behind their backs or the fire which projects shadows onto the wall in front of them. [...]
Saying it Right – Doing it Right
Author: Michael LassmanJuly 30, 2016
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” was a little ditty chanted in the school playgrounds of the 1960s as a retort from one child to another after being teased or taunted. In truth, it should have been “…but words will really hurt me” – why? Because they can and they do! Used well, words can heal, offer gentle care, understanding, show empathy and [...]
Renaissance Art and the Enigmatic Genius of Giorgione
Author: Agostino DominiciJuly 25, 2016
The Royal Academy of Arts has recently put together an excellent exhibition presenting some of the greatest painters of the high Renaissance (c. 1490-1530) in a single show. The main intent of the exhibition was to revisit in particular the enigmatic figure of Giorgione, considered by many to be the founder of Venetian painting of the 16th century. After breaking away from the more [...]
Gobekli Tepe – A New Look at Ancient Civilisation
Author: Florimond KrinsJune 16, 2016
A German archaeologist called Klaus Schmidt found the ancient site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey in the early 1990s. It took Schmidt almost two decades of digging to unravel only a small part of the site, which is huge (around 30 times larger than Stonehenge). It is composed of large circles of T-shaped columns, most of which weigh between 15 and 20 tons, and some up to 60 tons. But what make [...]