Showing 254 articles

Understanding Gandhi: An Exchange with Dr. Tridip Suhrud

Author: Harianto H Mehta and Manjula Nanavati

January 13, 2019

As the architect of a non-violent civil disobedience movement that led to the independence of a nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been hailed as a spirited activist, a courageous freedom fighter, and an astute politician. For his own deeply ascetic lifestyle, uncompromising ethical code, and strict adherence to human values, he won the veneration of [...]

Grace

Author: Tarini Vaidya

January 13, 2019

Grace has become an old fashioned word, graciousness and courtesy have become old world values, almost valueless in today’s environment. The world has gone über brash. Billboards extoll the ‘virtue’ of Attitude, with a capital A: “Wear your Attitude,” screams one, as though attitude were an aspirational achievement! A young generation has grown up with [...]

Impact of an Idealist: Ela Bhatt

Author: Manjula Nanavati

September 30, 2018

One could attempt to describe Ela Bhatt with adjectives: soft-spoken, tenacious, compassionate, dedicated, principled, self-effacing. Or one could use nouns: lawyer, labor-leader, social activist, banker, author, philanthropist. But all these words together still do not comprehensively encompass her visionary foresight, her inexhaustible energy, her unbending strength of purpose, and her [...]

Solitude of the Leader

Author: Rahil Mehta

September 30, 2018

“It’s lonely at the top,” said a school-friend in jest on the eve of a school election for which I was nominated. And although I do not know to whom this titbit of wisdom is attributed, I have often contemplated the truth behind these words. In aspiring for the post or role of a leader, [...]

In the Light of Truth

Author: Yaron Barzilay

September 30, 2018

Our recent times are characterized by a phenomenon due to which we may refer to it as a Post Truth Era. Not only are the differences between the real and unreal fewer, and less clear, but they are regarded as irrelevant. This seems to be yet another inevitable step downward in postmodernist thinking, and it [...]

Altruism and the Bottom Line

Author: Kurush Dordi

September 30, 2018

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” – Albert Einstein Today organizations are under more pressure to perform than they have perhaps ever been before. There are pressures from all stakeholders who incessantly demand increasing profitability every year, while at the same [...]

How Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism shaped Chinese Culture

Author: Julian Scott

September 14, 2018

In the beginning, so the Chinese legends say, there was only chaos and from this chaos emerged Yin and Yang, two primordial opposing forces which, when they interacted with one another, brought forth the universe. The continuing interaction of these two opposites produced the constant change that characterizes life. For Chinese thought, it is necessary [...]

The Magic of Thoth-Hermes

Author: Agostino Dominici

September 14, 2018

The Western esoteric tradition has its roots deeply embedded in a distant past. An important part of this ‘tradition’ has been preserved in the so-called Hermetic teachings also known as Hermeticism. In this article I am going to highlight some basic aspects of the Hermetic teachings focusing especially on its magical aspect. The main sources [...]

Kant and the Kingdom of Ends

Author: Nataliya Petlevych

September 14, 2018

In the second half of the 18th century Immanuel Kant formulated a new a golden standard for human relations: “Act in such a way as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of anyone else, always as an end and never merely as a means.” This maxim has influenced numerous other [...]

Brushed by God’s Presence

Author: Kurush Dordi

August 1, 2018

For millennia, specific locations around the world have been regarded with fascination and sacredness. Despite all the materialistic opulence and grandeur of some of the most recent human architectural achievements, there remains something awe inspiring about many ancient structures that have stood their ground for thousands of years. For many, even the most grandiose five-star [...]

Pilgrimage to Canterbury

Author: Nataliya Petlevych

June 3, 2018

There is a certain magic in a journey, especially when one does it with an awareness of the world around and within. It gives an opportunity to get out of the ordinary rhythm of life and open up to new experiences. If a journey has a spiritual meaning, it adds a whole new level of [...]

Rome and its Esoteric Origins – Part I

Author: Agostino Dominici

June 3, 2018

Many historians have highlighted the immense legacy that the Romans left to ‘modern’ man. With a bit of exaggeration, we could even say that mentally, politically, administratively, legally and artistically we Westerners are all pretty much Romans. This legacy, contrary to the still current ‘theories’, which portray the ancient Romans as a rough, warmongering people, [...]