Siri Hustvedt, the prizewinning writer and scholar, describes the meaning of life in her vigor for work, the joy she finds in the creative impulse and the urgency to write driven by it. She recounts her life being a woman writer in men’s world, married to the well-known writer Paul Auster and describes her remedies to overcome the challenges of the “writing self”. Her deep knowledge of psychoanalysis, art and neuroscience is woven in her stories where the human condition is playing up real and tangible. She insightfully draws answers to the question “what are we ?” Here …
Category: Philosophy
Victor Hugo, the irreplaceable writer reflects on his life and works “ For half a century I have been writing thoughts in prose, verse, history, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode and song…but I feel I have not said a thousandth part of that which is within me. “ And that renders the abundant creative power of the writer as reflected in the invaluable and timeless works of Victor Hugo. His insightful saying “ a writer is a world trapped in a person ” is beautifully captured in Auguste Rodin’s sculpture. From writing, sculpture, and painting to the enchantment of …
The impact of our perceptual patterns on the way we navigate the “self” has always been a cornerstone in understanding human behavior. Long before neuroscience started thought experiments on the nature reality, W. James put forward “ our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to perceive ” and that, in effect, shapes the world around us. C. Jung, firmly believing “ unconscious is our great guide ”, he proclaimed that the information stored in the unconscious plays up in decoding the world, and the manifestation of the self out there. It happens in daily …
“ The world is sown with good but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good. The desire and will to work is optimism itself. ” Helen Keller (June 27, 1880–June 1, 1968), the outstanding woman who grew up without sight or hearing, in her quest for knowing she not only became learned in philosophy, history, math, science and world matters, but also became an intellectual activist, a “doer” for the good of humankind, and the society at large. She recounts the transforming experience …
How the Medicinal Herbs Grew in the Temple of Solomon — the Farther Mosque which Solomon visited daily for devotion and to guide the devotees During his prophecy, David received a Divine order which ordained that his son, Solomon should build a temple. Set out to fulfill this order, Solomon began constructing the temple which would be renowned as the Temple of Solomon. Also later known as the Farther Mosque, it would preserve its unprecedented standing in history. Rumi recounts the blissful story of Solomon’s Temple in his Mathnawi, and says that plentiful stones needed in the construction were fetched …
A most sincere and heartwarming watch on compassion: Karen Armstrong’s reward winning TED Talk. You can read more on compassion here: Seeking Small Acts of Goodwill
Marcelo Gleiser, the award-winning professor of physics, explores the moving cosmos in his book The Dancing Universe : From Creation Myths to the Big Bang : Physics is a game played with nature. He proclaims that science and spirituality are tightly knit. Here is what they have in common : The laws of causality govern both. In each domain, everything happens with a cause. We must use reason to understand both. Observation and experience are necessary to understand a happening. They aim to integrate their knowledge to real life scenarios. Their quest is reaching the Truth. He quotes from …
How to be happy? Where? With whom? When do we get happy? The question is asked as long as we are alive. We do evaluations and measurements of our happiness; then we may occasionally reach a conclusion : somewhat happy, sometimes happy, more or less happy, in the past or present, or will be in the future… We remember the last time we were happy, or it happens that we fantasize a possible future happiness. Sometimes we measure with what we have, sometimes we measure it as an extent of our expectations being fulfilled or just obtaining what we …
A sacred Indian myth tells us how we can pursue our life goal by action. Bhagavad Gita which dates back at least 300 years before Christ, is preserved and considered a masterpiece above all Indian doctrines ever since. It is composed of 700-verse epic dialogues between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, Arjuna’s guide and charioteer. The scene takes place on the eve of an expected battle between two huge armies – Pandava brothers and their cousins who have cheated the Pandavas of their rightful kingdom. The Prince, in a state of conflicting morals and emotional despair is unwilling to pursue …
Rose petals let us scatter And fill the cup with red wine The firmaments let us shatter And come up with a new design The first post of this blog opens with Hafez (circa 1320-1389), a master of Persian poetry who composed some 500 ghazals in praise of his Beloved. Early Years Born in Shiraz as Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad, he later took the pen name Hafez (Hafiz) for he had memorized the Qu’ran in his teens, as well as the many works of Saadi, Attar, Rumi and Nizami. The details of his life especially of his early years are …
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