Beginner’s Mind
The odd thing
Is that every Westerner
Approaches the practice of meditation
With a goal in mind
Without exception
The even odder thing
Is that from an Eastern point of view
[Particularly Daoist/Zen Buddhist
Which are very related and symbiotic…
Divination in the I Ching
Divination, omens, portents etc. was a common practice throughout all of the ancient world in fact. As already mentioned we see the practice, and its relationship with the priestly class not only in ancient Greece but most certainly ancient…
Stoic Philosophy in Antiquity: Its Origins, Metaphysics and Ethical Principles
Introduction
Consistent across all of the Hellenistic philosophical schools was the importance of the Soul, the distinction of the human soul as having the capability to reason (what came to be known as logos, a very important term in early…
What is Vedanta?
Introduction
The ancient Indo-Aryan civilization sprung forth in the Indus valley region in modern day India and Pakistan (to the ancients Eastern Persia), and was the source of the “Vedas”, some of the oldest extant literature of mankind.…
Mapping the Mind: Freud vs. Jung
A Brief History of Psychology: The Study of the Soul
It must be understood that psychology as a discipline, at least how we think of it today, did exist in antiquity. There were fairly well thought systems of belief however that framed psychology,…
Buddhism 101
Origins of Buddhism
Buddhism originated out of the Hindu and Vedic culture just as Christianity emerged out of and in reaction to orthodox Judaism. The historical figure we know today as Buddha was raised on the northern Indian/Nepal border…
Quantum Mechanics: The Death of Local Realism
From Pantheism to Monotheism
Charlie had covered a lot of ground by this point. He’d started in the age of mythology, at the dawn of civilization, looking at the cultural and socio-political forces that underpinned and supported the local…
Pythagorean theology: Truth in numbers
In their quest for the ultimate symbols to represent reality the Greeks developed a theological system that although was analogous to the pantheistic tradition within which it coexisted, was relatively independent from it and was perceived to…
Middle Platonism: Greek Philosophic Adolescence
Despite the emergence of metaphysics as we know it today in classical Greece, seen most clearly in the (interpretation of) the dialogues of Plato and then more clearly elucidated in the work of Aristotle, a product of Plato’s Academy, and…
Einstein and Spacetime: It’s all Relative
At this point, Charlie had enough material and had performed enough research to establish the core part of his thesis no doubt, illustrating what at least from his perspective seemed the clear borrowing and synthesis of various religious and…