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Category Archives: Modaser Shah
Muhammad Ali and Miyamoto Musashi, George Foreman and Sasaki Kojiro
by Modaser Shah In 1974, in the legendary Rumble in the Jungle, in Zaire, Muhammad Ali, beyond his prime, faced George Foreman, a formidable opponent at his physical peak, as an underdog, with even his fans and well wishers not … Continue reading
Posted in Modaser Shah, Original Essays
Tagged George Foreman, Kobokumeigekizu, Kojiro, Muhammad Ali, Musashi, Sufi's vocations
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A Bit of Truth
by Modaser Shah In his interesting, even entertaining, albeit difficult-to-read book titled LESS THAN NOTHING, Slavoj Žižek ascribes the following quote to Winston Churchill: “Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry … Continue reading
Finding Light in the Dark
by Modaser Shah “We feel that even when all possible scientific questions have been answered, the problems of life remain completely untouched. Of course, there are then no questions left, and this itself is the answer,” said Wittgenstein, and what … Continue reading
A Sufi Snap (The Golden Hour) and a Sufi Thought for the Week
“We are indeed truly at sea with our only comfort being the basic fact that at least we are at sea together.” —Todd Essig, Ph.D., in a review of a book by Ken Eisold in Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 40, p.685, 2012. … Continue reading
No Pain, No Gain?
by Modaser Shah Ghalib, the well-known Urdu poet, in one of his ghazals says: In the dream my thoughts were involved with you; when I woke up, I found neither loss nor gain. “The belief that a deeper connection is … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Poetry, Classic Teaching, Modaser Shah, Original Essays
Tagged Ghalib, Lao Tzu, Laozi, nonaction, nonviolence, philosophy, Religion and Spirituality, Ryokan, satyagraha, Taoism
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A Sufi Thought for the Week (Korzybski)
“The map is not the territory”—Alfred Korzybski (Polish-American philosopher, 1879-1950) Contributed by Modaser Shah
Does Eternal Life Belong to Those Who Live in the Present?
by Modaser Shah “Eternal life belongs to those who live in the present,” Wittgenstein, in Tractatus, quoted in Less Than Nothing by Slavoj Žižek. Some random associations: This sounds more like a koan than a philosopher’s proposition, hence the meaning … Continue reading
A Sufi Thought for the Week (Brecht)
“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone.”— Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956, German poet and playwright) This quote may be treated as a modern koan. Contributed by Modaser Shah
Posted in Classic Teaching, Modaser Shah
Tagged Bertolt Brecht, modern koan, Zen and Sufism, zen koan
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The London Murder: What Does a Sufi Student Think?
by Modaser Shah From time to time, one has to descend from the ethereal flights of imaginative thought into the rough and tumble of actual life and messy reality. What do Muslims think about this brutal murder in broad daylight … Continue reading
Zen, Tao, Sufism, Wittgenstein (and Lacan?)
by Modaser Shah A big subject, indeed. I have been thinking about writing a post on it for some time but have been shrinking from it, looking for some inspiration in books and our local small Sufi group discussions. When I … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Teaching, Modaser Shah, Original Essays
Tagged Bastami, Dogen, Hakuin, Lacan, Lao Tzu, Tao and Sufism, Tractatus, Wittgenstein, Zen and Sufism
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Sufi Ways 