True insight does not consist of the acquisition of information but comes from mastering our egotism and greed.5
The sacred reality is not simply transcendent, out there, but is enshrined in every single human being, who must, therefore, be treated with absolute honor and respect.
Our version of the same event is also likely to be a reflection upon our own situation and suffering rather than a dispassionate and wholly factual account. We
Each generation has to create the image of God that works for it.
We are trying to retrain our responses and form mental habits that are kinder, gentler, and less fearful of others.
Today we often assume that before undertaking a religious lifestyle, we must prove to our own satisfaction that God or the Absolute exists. This is good scientific practice: first you establish a prin...
The implications for politics were immense. If instead of ruthlessly pursuing his own self-interest to the detriment of others, a ruler would curb his ego and submit to li for a single day, Confucius...
The humiliation of the ummah was not merely a political catastrophe, but touched a Muslim’s very soul. This new weakness was a sign that something had gone gravely awry in Islamic history. The Quran h...
The great genius of the Shiah was its tragic perception that it is impossible fully to implement the ideals of religion in the inescapably violent realm of politics.
The dispassion of paedeia also informed the doctrine of the Trinity, which these three men, often known as the Cappadocian Fathers,
The Oxford Classical Dictionary firmly states: No word in either Greek or Latin corresponds to the English ‘religion’ or ‘religious.’ 6 The idea of religion as an essentially personal and systematic p...
Shu required that all day and every day we looked into our own hearts, discovered what caused us pain, and then refrained, under all circumstances, from inflicting that distress upon other people. It...
Rida was one of the first Muslims to advocate the establishment of a fully modernized but fully Islamic state, based on the reformed Shariah. He wanted to establish a college where students could be i...
Remember that we can become twinned with an enemy and come to resemble him. Our hatred may become an alter ego, a part of our identity.
One of the many great sources of happiness is to get a glimpse, here and there, of a new aspect of the incredible world we live in and of our incredible role in it.17
One of the first things I discovered was that Paul did not write all the letters attributed to him in the New Testament. Only seven of them are judged by scholars to be authentic: 1 Thessalonians, Gal...
O călătorie în străfundurile minţii implică mari riscuri personale, deoarece s-ar putea să nu fim în stare să suportăm ce găsim acolo,
Joden moesten de Tora strikter naleven dan ooit tevoren. Het was niet langer voldoende geen moord te plegen, ze moesten ook hun woede inhouden. Niet alleen overspel was verboden, een man mocht zelfs n...
Jesus’s demonstration in the temple was not, as is often assumed, a plea for a more spiritual form of worship. As he rampaged through the money changers’ stalls, he quoted the Hebrew prophets who had...
If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another. A good place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex man, who...