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Category Archives: Classic Teaching
A Sufi Thought for the Week (Mandela)
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”… Nelson Mandela (1918- 2013) Contributed to this blog … Continue reading
Rumi, Nietzsche and Superman
by Navid Zaidi It is said that comparisons are extremely unpleasant. However, it is strange how the same idea affects different cultures differently and in the history of thought it is the points of contact and departure that attract our … Continue reading
A Supple Mind
by Navid Zaidi Once there was a disciple of a Greek philosopher who was commanded by his master for three years to give money to everyone who insulted him. After three years, the disciple was asked to go to Athens … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Teaching, Navid Zaidi, Original Essays
Tagged Dalai Lama, religion, spirituality, The Art of Happiness, tolerance
12 Comments
A Heart Gathering the Scattered Thoughts of a Brain
by Modaser Shah The Sage of Hannibal, Mark Twain, said: “My life has been full of misfortunes, most of which never happened.” Here Mark Twain shows us how hard it is to surrender; the mind is very creative in inventing … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Teaching, Modaser Shah, Original Essays, Original Photography
Tagged Nasreddin, philosophy, religion, spirituality, Sufism
10 Comments
Hagar’s Skirt
A REFLECTION BY DR ALI SHARIATI (1933-1977) When you are at the threshold of Masjid al Haraam in Mecca, the Kaabah is before you. An enormous courtyard and in the center, a hollow cube. Here, there is nothing. Nothing to … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Teaching, Navid Zaidi
Tagged Ali Shariati, Hagar, Ishmael, Kaabah, religion, spirituality
4 Comments
Pain, Sin, and Fear
by Navid Zaidi We often wonder about certain propositions concerning the nature of humans and the world. For example, one psychological implication may be the central fact of pain as a dominating element in our lives. Human beings, regarded as … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Teaching, Navid Zaidi, Original Essays
Tagged fear and sin, pain management, philosophy, religion, spirituality
3 Comments
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
What is Sufism? Part 5: The Word (Kalma)
by Navid Zaidi The soul, after leaving the body, mind and senses, comes in contact with the Ultimate Reality in the form of an unstruck melody. Sufi saints have called this unstruck melody, the Word or Kalma. The Word is … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Poetry, Classic Teaching, Navid Zaidi, Original Essays
Tagged Bulleh Shah, Kalima, Religion and Spirituality, Sarosh, Tao, The Cosmic Law, The Word
3 Comments
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
Sufi Ways 