Showing 263 articles
In Conversation with Geshe Lhakdor
Author: Yaron BarzilayOctober 7, 2015
During their grueling journey across the Himalayas, Tibetan refugees carried hundreds of manuscripts into India, often guarding them with their lives. Many of these precious texts were offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who founded the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala (India), dedicated to preserve and promote the Tibetan heritage. Today [...]
No offence, please, but we need more integrity
Author: Sabine LeitnerSeptember 1, 2015
No offence, please, but we need more integrity I assume that most people don’t want to offend anyone. Most people also prefer to avoid conflict. But is it actually possible never to offend anyone? And would it be a good thing? Here a quote from the American TV series Ladies Man: “Now, political correctness is [...]
Into the Matrix – Pt. 1
Author: Gilad SommerAugust 12, 2015
Part I – The Human Being or the Machine? The technological advances of the last decades have drastically changed our lifestyle, so much that it is hard to recall how life used to be in the past. What Did human beings do with their time before Youtube, Facebook, Twitter? How did people live before status [...]
The Best Changes Start With Ourselves
Author: Delia Steinberg GuzmánJune 13, 2015
There is no point in compiling yet again a list of the situations afflicting everyone all over the world, because the media have already taken it upon themselves to broadcast them, and because, by repeating them, we only make the evils bigger without finding solutions. What is most striking is the general way of approaching [...]
Culture Creatives and the Wisdom Culture
Author: Agostino DominiciJune 6, 2015
Many recent thinkers have spoken of the troubled times our world is going through and the picture that is emerging resembles more and more the central piece of Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Last Judgment. In it we see in vibrant colors the chaotic scenes of anarchy and depravation while society dances and sings to the beat of [...]
Philosophical Activism: For Best Results Start at the Root
Author: Gilad SommerMarch 4, 2015
Many of us feel the need to take concrete action, with the hope that our children may have a better place to live in. However, without contemplating the deeper reasons for our problems, activism can become a Sisyphean task – acting repeatedly, without making any real change. Wangari Maathai, the late Kenyan Nobel prize winner, [...]
Tolerance and Fundamentalism
Author: Julian ScottFebruary 1, 2015
It seems strange that fundamentalism and fanaticism should be growing stronger in the 21st century when, according to past predictions, we should be entering an age of enlightened progress and rational understanding. But the rise of fundamentalism is due in part to the failure of rationalism to cater for humanity’s deeper spiritual needs. Fundamentalists have always existed. In [...]
City of Purification – Elephanta
Author: Harianto MehtaJanuary 29, 2015
Just a few kilometers off the Mumbai Harbor, nestled on an island, amidst basalt rock mounds, lay a mysterious complex of exquisite cave temples that whisper a silent homage to the region’s spiritual past. It’s tune inaudible to the nearby metropolis teeming with ambitious commerce, and ceaseless traffic, here the temple walls echo a stark [...]
Do We Need Tradition?
Author: Gilad SommerDecember 3, 2014
The word ‘tradition’ comes from the Latin trans + dare: deliver, give across. It refers to the transmission of experience which lies at the base of every established civilization. Today, however, tradition has become a synonym of something which is old-fashioned and obsolete, nothing more than an interesting relic of the past to be put [...]
A Traditional Tale of India
Author: AnonymousNovember 21, 2014
Once a greengrocer and a potter jointly hired a camel and each filled one side of the pannier with his goods. The camel as he went along the road took a mouthful every now and then, as he had a chance, from the greengrocer’s bag of vegetables. This provoked a laugh from the potter, who [...]
Proposals for a Better World
Author: Georgios Alvarado PlanasOctober 4, 2014
No one can ignore the fact that we are living in a world in crisis, a world of great changes on the ecological, social, economic and even cosmic levels. On the ecological level, this can be seen in the excessive, irrational and selfish exploitation of the natural resources of our planet Earth. Some of the [...]
Why Can’t We Communicate Our Feelings and Thoughts?
Author: Delia Steinberg GuzmánOctober 4, 2014
One of the many paradoxes in life is that in our age of mass and instant communication, human beings find it increasingly difficult to communicate with each other. Today we can know in just a few hours, or sometimes even in minutes, what is happening on the other side of the world. News reaches us [...]