“To ask ‘What is consciousness?’ does not appear to be unreasonable: yet the question does not seem to be fully answerable in reasonable terms. So along with questions like ‘What is God?’ and ‘What is life?’ we generally rule out consciousness from scientific enquiry. After long searching for answers in many places, I have […]
Quranic verse 4:34: “Allah has made men superior to women because men spend their wealth to support them. Therefore, virtuous women are obedient, and they are to guard their unseen parts as Allah has guarded them. As for women whom you fear will rebel, admonish them first, and then send them to a separate bed, […]
My little book Froth and Goblets depicts a story of the Princess Naomi, daughter of the Sultan, Salazar, and how she has her burden of depression eased by the ministration of a Buddhist sage. I won’t have the opportunity in this short article to describe all the techniques he used to alleviate the Princess’s suffering. […]
“The world is illusory; Brahman alone is real; Brahman is the world.” Sri Ramana Maharshi When a child is born, it has no concept of its individuality. It has no need to believe it is unique – because from its own perspective it is all. It believes it is the universe. But then the process […]
The Blessed One thought, “I have taught the Truth, But simple as it is, the people can not understand it. Therefore I will tell them stories.” I have written many times that it seems to me that the essential truths of Mankind are largely taught through the medium of parables and metaphors. This seems true […]
I posted on my Facebook page the other day a quotation from the famous Robert Oppenheimer (theoretical physicist and to his everlasting regret, one of the “fathers of the atomic bomb”). This goes to show, I suppose, how unsuited I am to Facebook and such as a medium of communication– when others are posting pictures […]
Positive Psychology has only emerged as a defined field of study in psychology in the last decade or so. Martin Seligman is credited with its birth. Martin Seligman was elected as president of the American Psychological Association in 1998. He chose “positive psychology” as the theme for his term. Seligman had a few predecessors in […]
I recently heard a radio interview with Professor Gordon Parker who was for many years associated with the Black Dog Institute which as you may know seeks to help those suffering from depression. In the course of the interview, the interviewer asked Professor Parker how he would distinguish between depression and melancholia. Without hesitation Parker […]
You might wonder why I might have imbued my new book with such a title. Those of you that have read my small offerings over the years would know that I have a belief that most of the great truths are propagated through stories and often through the use of parable and metaphor. I like […]
In my blog essay last week, I stipulated how important to our personal well-being it is be able to cultivate a sense of equanimity in our internal world, our theatre of mind. Our state of mind, rather than our external circumstances, is the prime determinant of our well-being. You and I both know people whose […]