Philosophy 05 (Aug 25 - Dec 26)

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Warrior-Like Power

Through the power of facing suffering, taking on the misery of others, we build strength of heart and courage, developing a warrior-like power.

- Chakung Jigme Wangdrak, “Warriors of the Mind”

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The Fabric of Our Lives

If we can keep walking the middle path with equanimity — neither attached nor averse to the oscillating conditions that arise and cease — the fabric of our lives, held together by stitches of right action, can be free from unnecessary suffering.

- Tara Anand, “Reflections from the Yarn Bowl”

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Subjective Phenomena

You experience freedom when you recognize that objects of hope and objects of fear, are subjective phenomena that are not part of objective reality.

- Andy Karr, “Between Neuro-Skepticism and Ultimate Liberation”

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What is the dream we must wake up from, as per the Scriptures?

Oblivious to Jnana (higher knowledge), man lives in ignorance in a dream world of illusions.

Immersed in this sleeping state, he forgets his nature.

One may be a president, an emperor or a prime minister but in the sleeping state, he is not conscious of his position.

In the dreams he experiences in this state, he considers them to be real and feels that these are his true state.

In that dream state, a poor man may think he is an emperor (or a President). But the moment he wakes up, he is conscious of his real position and status.

Likewise, man in his dream state of ajnana (ignorance), forgetting his true form, identifies himself with a country, a profession or a physical form.

It is this ignorance that envelops man in delusion. Just as one cannot see the rice when it is covered by husk, or see the water underneath a layer of moss, or the sun covered by a cloud, a man enveloped in ignorance is unable to see his true self.

Hence, it is that the Scriptures have exhorted man to wake up from his sleep of ignorance and realise his true nature.

When the husk is removed, the rice is visible. It was there in the paddy. But because of the husk covering it, it could not be seen.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 04, 1992

The enquiry which begins with Koham (Who am I) should end with Soham (I am Divine). Only then human life has real significance and fulfilment.

Source: radiosai.org

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Belonging to Each Other

With our collective wholesome intentions, we can make a world that exists in the truth of what is — or, as author Ruth King would have it, a world where we belong to each other.

- Camille Goodison, “Letting in All the Ancestors”

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Automatic Stories

Stories are automatic and they can carry you away.

They can agitate the mind, which in turn agitates the body and shakes up your world in general.

- Susan Bauer-Wu, “Tuning Into the Body”

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This Moment Matters

Karma means that past thoughts and actions have led to this moment.

It also means that this moment is the birthplace of the next.

What we think, how we feel, what we do — it all matters.

- Matthias Birk

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This Web of Inter-being

Doing something to support someone else, puts our problems in some perspective and in connection to all the other human challenges in the world.

And we return to our personal challenges with a vigor and awareness of our connectedness, in this human web of interbeing.

- Kamilah Majied, “Practicing Hope”

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Fostering Community

Fostering community allows us to resist despair as we ease attachments to our suffering by cultivating loving-kindness, empathetic joy, compassion and equanimity.

- Felicia Washington Sy, “Finding Your Way”

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The Work of Relationship

In the end, the work of relationship is the work of awakening: trusting what remains when grasping falls away.

nico hase, “Closer Apart”