Topic
Philosophy
Vedanta, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Buddhism and great thinkers.
Articles
AccountA Hermetic manifesto against "selective blindness": mind, ether, and archonsAn anonymous opinion piece argues the universe is mental, ether was forgotten on purpose, and everyone can recover the ability to perceive the invisible.TraditionKatha Upanishad: the young Nachiketas and the question Death tried to dodgeIn the Katha Upanishad, a young man asks Yama, lord of death, to reveal what exists after the end; the answer is the doctrine of ātman, the Self that does not die.TraditionConsciousness with a body: what Vedānta says the “self” isFor Vedānta, the “self” is neither body nor mind, but the Ātman, unchanging consciousness; a study of Swāmi Dayānanda's teachings explains the argument.TraditionDeath as companion: what Vedānta teaches about time, discipline, and urgencyFor Vedānta, death accompanies every person from birth, and it is death that gives life its weight and urgency, according to teacher Uddhava.TraditionThe value of values: why Vedānta begins by preparing the mindIn an opening lecture, teacher Glória Arieira explains Swāmi Dayānanda's text on the values in Bhagavad Gītā chapter 13 as the foundation of self-knowledge.TraditionKardec, Socrates, and Plato: the morality of Christ separated from dogma in the Spiritist GospelIn the preface to The Gospel According to Spiritism (1864), Allan Kardec separates the morality of Jesus from dogma and draws it close to the philosophy of Socrates and Plato.TraditionListening to see: what Vedānta asks of those who want to know themselvesFor Advaita Vedānta, the first step is not technique: it is quieting the rush and listening, since every person is already whole, and what's missing is seeing it.ScienceQuantum physics and Vedanta: where the analogies help and where they misleadEntanglement, the observer and Maya are the most cited parallels between quantum physics and Vedanta; a close look shows what holds up and what is extrapolation.TraditionThe Prayer of Caritas read through Advaita Vedānta: a Spiritist prayer and Indian philosophyA Vedāntic reading of the prayer dictated in 1873 by the spirit Caritas translates each petition into images of the path from ignorance to the recognition of Being.TraditionPsalms 23, 91, and 121 read through Vedanta: who is the shepherd who watches over usTwo traditions read the divine protection of the Psalms in opposite ways: as the care of a personal God, or, in Vedanta, as the recognition of one's own Self.TraditionVedānta and quantum physics: what the observer has to do with realityA text compares Vedānta to quantum physics, both of which seem to put the observer at the center; the two views do not say the same thing, and the analogy is the writer's own.TraditionThe Book of Mirdad: Mikhail Naimy's parable on the self, silence, and the wordPublished in 1948, the Lebanese writer's novel follows a stranger's arrival at a monastery, arguing the ego imprisons the soul and the word creates reality.TraditionWhat is Īśvara in Vedānta: why "where is God?" is not the right questionIn Vedānta, Īśvara is not a person in a place, but the substance and intelligence of all that exists; schools disagree on how far that idea reaches.TraditionWhat Vedanta calls liberation: recognizing the Atman, the inner selfFor Vedanta, suffering comes from mistaking ourselves for body and mind; liberation is recognizing the Atman, already present and needing no conquering.ScienceWas the Bible tampered with? What textual criticism and canon history showNo original of the Bible survived, and the copies carry variants; historical research documents them openly and finds no central plan of concealment.TraditionThe Tripartite Tractate: how a gnostic text explains the Father, the fall, and the returnA Coptic gnostic text from Nag Hammadi, the Tripartite Tractate narrates the emanation of the All, the fall of a young aeon, and the final restoration.TraditionNag Hammadi: the 1945 jar that revealed a Christianity in disputeThirteen codices found by peasants in Egypt in 1945 gave the Gnostics a direct voice and showed how plural early Christianity was.TraditionGnosticism: the schools that saw the world as a prison and the creator as an impostorGnosticism brought together schools from the 1st to the 4th centuries that sought gnosis, direct knowledge, and saw the material world as the work of an inferior creator.TraditionA Mother's Grief Through the Lens of Vedanta: The Love That Needs No FormA first-person meditation draws on Vedanta to propose that, in a mother's death, what is lost is form, not the Self, and that love remains.TraditionVedānta: texts, schools, and the study method of one of India's six philosophiesVedānta, “the end of the Vedas,” brings together foundational texts, three major schools, and a traditional method of study with a teacher, and can be compared with other mystical traditions.TraditionGnosticism: origins, schools, texts, and what survived the repressionFrom Roman Egypt to the Cathars, from Jung to The Matrix: how Gnosticism was born, what it believed, how it split, and why the Church fought it.TraditionFrom the historical Jesus to the Catholic Church: a reckoning with power, abuse and legacyA critical examination separates what historians know of Jesus from the Christ of faith and weighs what the Church did at its worst and at its best across two millennia.
Based on videos
TraditionKarma Yoga: acting without attachment to the fruits, the yoga of actionKarma Yoga proposes turning work into a spiritual path by acting without attachment to the fruits; the tradition sees in action and the law of karma what binds or frees.TraditionWhat is the form of God? What the hymn to Dakṣiṇāmūrti says, in Vedānta's readingFor non-dual Vedānta, the Dakṣiṇāmūrti-Stotram hymn describes God as the Whole in eight aspects, among them the observer itself.TraditionSahaja avasthā, the natural state of Being: the image of the rope and the snake in VedāntaIn the Vedānta tradition, sahaja avasthā is the state in which Being is recognized without effort; a talk in Hindi explains it through the image of a rope mistaken for a snake.AccountWhy pride keeps people from faith: a reflection on the emptiness of living "well"In a livestream, teacher Lu argues that pride hides a fear of depending on others, and that, for those who feel wounded, faith begins in vulnerability.TraditionThe Reality of the Rulers: the Nag Hammadi text that reinterprets GenesisThe Hypostasis of the Archons, found in Egypt in 1945, rereads Genesis as a cosmic drama: Sophia's mistake, the Demiurge, the archons, and a Christ who awakens.TraditionUpa-paramā: Vedānta's renunciation means leaning on nothing, not giving up everythingIn Vedānta, one virtue required of students is inner renunciation: no longer propping identity on possessions, relationships, or image, with nothing to abandon.TraditionA method made to be abandoned: Vedānta and the question of deathFor teacher Uddhava, Vedānta is not a body of doctrines, but a provisional method of teaching, which the question of death helps explain.TraditionWhat Dies When Someone Dies? The Answer from Ramana Maharshi and Advaita VedantaFor Ramana Maharshi, the body dies and the Self does not; the method for recognizing it is asking “Who am I?,” a teaching of the Vedanta tradition, not a scientific finding.TraditionThe seven hermetic principles of The Kybalion and the legend of Hermes TrismegistusThe Kybalion (1908) gathers seven principles attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; a video from the Insightes channel explains them and how to apply them daily.TraditionApocryphon of John: Barbelo, Sophia and the false god, in the Gnostic text from Nag HammadiThe Apocryphon of John, a 2nd-century Gnostic text found at Nag Hammadi, tells of Sophia's fall, the birth of the demiurge and the soul's path back.TraditionThe world as mistake and gnosis as the way out: the Gnostic cosmology of the archonsFor the Gnostics, the world is born from a mistake made by Sophia and is ruled by archons; only gnosis, direct knowledge, would free the spirit.TraditionWhat was Gnosticism: a dualist heresy, or a path of self-knowledge?Almost everything once known about the Gnostics came from their adversaries; the Nag Hammadi find reopened debate over whether they were dualists or monists.TraditionUpanishads: what the 108 texts underlying Indian philosophy are, and what they teachThe Upanishads gather the Vedic sages' experience of reality, the cosmos, and being; ten of them are regarded as the principal ones.TraditionKrishnamurti on freedom: no guru, no method and no conflictJiddu Krishnamurti, groomed to be a world teacher, spent his life rejecting gurus and methods; he held that only direct observation dissolves problems.TraditionAlan Watts and death as return: why accepting the end can free us from fearIn talks by Alan Watts gathered in a video, death is dissolution and return to the whole, and accepting impermanence frees us from fear.TraditionThe Apocryphon of John, the Gnostic text where the world is born of a flawWritten in the 2nd century, the Apocryphon of John tells of a universe born from a mistake by Sophia and ruled by a false god, from which only gnosis frees.TraditionNachiketas and Death: what the Upanishads teach about the eternal Self and immortalityThe Upanishads teach that the Atman is identical to Brahman, and tell how the young Nachiketas asked Death for the secret of what comes after life.TraditionThe Kybalion and its seven principles: a 1908 book that speaks in Egypt's nameThe Kybalion, published in 1908, sums up Hermeticism in seven principles; a Nova Acrópole lecture ties them to Egypt, Greece and the idea of thinking for oneself.TraditionThe Hermetic axioms: why the Kybalion closes by demanding practice, not theoryThe Kybalion's final chapter brings no new law: it asks that knowledge become practice, that the mind be treated as a tool, and that the flame be passed on.TraditionHow Many of Your Ideas Are Yours? Mental Gender and the Cuckoo's EggFor the hermetic tradition, every mind has a pole that creates and a pole that develops; without the first, many people only hatch ideas that came from outside.TraditionThe Kybalion, chapter 13: the Principle of Gender and generation as universal lawFor The Kybalion, all generation would arise from the union of two complementary poles, from the atom to the idea; physics describes the atom a different way.TraditionThe Kybalion, chapter 12: the Law of Cause and Effect and the end of chanceFor The Kybalion, chance is just the name for an unrecognized law; Lúcia Helena Galvão's lecture draws from it an ethic of responsibility, and philosophy debates how much fits within freedom.TraditionThe Kybalion, chapter 11: the Principle of Rhythm and not being swept along by the pendulumFor the Kybalion's Principle of Rhythm, everything swings, and motion to one side is compensated by motion to the other; the way out is to watch the pendulum and choose where to fix oneself.TraditionThe Kybalion, chapter 10: the Principle of Polarity and choosing your degreeFor the Kybalion's Principle of Polarity, opposites like good and evil are extremes of one scale; growth means choosing to rise in degree, not erasing the unwanted side.TraditionThe Principle of Vibration: the Hermetic idea that nothing in the universe stands stillFor the Kybalion, everything vibrates, from stone to thought. The idea became an ethical key: each person would answer for what they give off.TraditionThe Principle of Correspondence: why Hermeticism says life repeats its lessonsFor Hermeticism, the same laws hold on every plane, from body to spirit, and life sends back unlearned lessons like letters that keep returning.TraditionThe ALL in all: the Hermetic idea that the divine lives within every part of creationFor Hermeticism, the ALL is present in every part of the universe as essence, and evolving means revealing each one's divine side without dissolving identity.TraditionThe Divine Paradox: an unreal universe Hermeticism tells us to live as realThe Kybalion holds the universe is illusion for the ALL and a school for us, and that the sage honors its laws without attachment, never as an excuse.TraditionThe All is Mind: the universe as a mental creation, according to HermeticismFor the Kybalion, the ALL is mind and the universe is its mental creation: held within its mind, without being confused with it, like Romeo and Shakespeare.TraditionThe ALL: why Hermeticism gives ultimate reality a name that sets no limitsThe Kybalion calls ultimate reality “the ALL,” a name with no limits, grasped only by intuition, and ties the search for God to the search for the self.TraditionMental transmutation: what the Kybalion asks before MentalismThe Kybalion distinguishes transforming appearance from transmuting being, and holds that the mind must be purified before it is used.TraditionThe Kybalion's seven hermetic principles: a map for your own lifeThe Kybalion, from 1908, condenses Hermeticism into seven principles; a Nova Acrópole lecture presents them as inner formation, not magic.TraditionThe Kybalion, chapter 1: a tradition from teacher to student, and what history saysThe Kybalion, from 1908, presents the hermetic philosophy of Hermes Trismegistus as formation, not information; scholars date the hermetic texts to the 1st-3rd centuries.AccountBruce Lee and the Philosophy of Water: Adaptation, Self-Control, and a Fighter's LegacyBruce Lee became a symbol of adaptation and discipline; the quotes attributed to him, the image of water, and his death at 32 explain the myth's staying power.TraditionNag Hammadi Codex VI: eight texts from a library that resists easy labelsAmong the 13 codices found in 1945 in Egypt, Codex VI brings together gnosis, Hermeticism, and Plato in eight texts that don't fit a single category.TraditionThe Gospel of Mary: the ancient text in which Magdalene teaches and Peter doubts herOutside the Bible, the Gospel of Mary shows Mary Magdalene comforting the apostles and recounting a vision, and records a dispute over authority with Peter.TraditionGnosticism: the movement that contested the meaning of Jesus with the early ChurchGnosticism saw the world as a prison and gnosis as the way out, and clashed with the early Church over who Jesus was and what saves.TraditionThe straw of Agni: what the Kenopanishad teaches about the pride of the godsIn the Kenopanishad, victorious gods boast until a mysterious figure gives them a straw to burn and move; Swami Dayananda reads in this the role of the ego.TraditionHow to live spiritually without leaving the world: what Vedānta answersIn a Q&A video, a Vedānta swami addresses prayer, study, work, illusion, and loneliness, and says only liberation closes the search.TraditionIs the universe real? Advaita Vedānta's three answers, from creation to "never born"Advaita Vedānta offers three ways to understand the world, from ordinary creation to ajāta vāda, for which nothing ever arose; all three point to Brahman.TraditionDoes God sleep? What Advaita Vedānta says about the consciousness that never sleepsStarting from a question posed by Ramakrishna, a swami explains that Vedānta sees consciousness as what remains awake through sleep, dream, and waking.TraditionWhat is consciousness? Vedanta faces off with neuroscience, physics, and AIIn a talk, the monk Swami Sarvapriyananda argues that consciousness is not an object, that science doesn't explain its origin, and that an AI wouldn't have it.TraditionDissolving the mind: what Vedānta means by freeing oneself from thoughtFor Advaita Vedānta, liberation demands more than understanding: it requires knowing the truth, extinguishing latent desires and dissolving the mind, through four paths.TraditionŚūnyatā: what Nagarjuna meant by emptiness, and what it is notNagarjuna argued that nothing exists by itself; a video lecture explains emptiness and compares it to Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta.
Study notes
TraditionGita, lesson 21: what is nonexistent, what is false, what is realLesson 21 uses an analysis of language to separate three Vedānta categories: asat, the nonexistent; mithyā, the apparent; and satyam, the real.TraditionGita, lesson 20: consciousness isn't in the world, the world is in itIn the Vedāntic reading, space, time, and objects appear within consciousness, not the other way around; nothing could contain it.TraditionGita, lesson 19: the Self as the only evidence that needs no proofLesson 19 argues, in Dayananda's reading, that everything we know is revealed by consciousness, the Self, which needs no proof of its own.TraditionGita, lesson 18: what I can call "I" and what is merely an objectEverything perceived, from body to mind, is an object, not the self; only the perceiving subject is self-evident, in Dayananda's reading.TraditionGita, lesson 17: why Vedānta calls for a teacher and a traditionVedānta offers itself as a means of knowing the Self and, for that reason, is said to require a teacher, a lineage, and a prepared mind.TraditionGita, lesson 16: belief isn't knowledge, and the Veda as a mirror of the SelfFor Dayananda, believing isn't knowing: Vedānta presents itself as a means of knowledge, and the teaching is said to work as a mirror of the Self.TraditionGita, lesson 15: knowing isn't doing, and the knower is the Self itselfKnowing isn't doing: it happens when the right means are present, and the Self is said to be the inner witness that knows every thought.TraditionGita, lesson 14: from wanting freedom to committing to self-knowledgeLesson 14 distinguishes the vague wish for freedom from the firm commitment to seek self-knowledge, and explains why that step organizes a seeker's life.TraditionGita, lesson 13: the four aims of life and what each one can giveThirteenth chapter in the series: artha, kāma, dharma, and mokṣa, the four aims of life in the Vedic tradition, and their limits.TraditionGita, lesson 12: heaven as a promise, and the search to feel at ease with oneselfTwelfth chapter in the series: why heavens and pleasures never resolve the feeling of being insufficient, and what Vedānta proposes instead.TraditionGita, lesson 11: moha, the confusion that overvalues what lies outsideEleventh chapter in the series: moha, the error of giving things a worth they do not have, and the roots of that error in not knowing oneself.TraditionGita, lesson 10: hurt and guilt, and the idea that the Self does not actTenth chapter in the series: hurt and guilt as the roots of suffering, and the Vedantic thesis that the Self is not the agent of any action.TraditionGita, lesson 9: the disciple, death and the Self that never changesThe ninth lesson marks the start of Krishna's teaching: Arjuna declares himself a disciple, and his sorrow is traced to confusion about death and who we are.TraditionGita, lesson 8: self-awareness, intelligence and a disciple's requestThe eighth lesson starts from what sets humans apart from animals to show how Arjuna arrives at asking Krishna to teach him.TraditionGita, lesson 7: when renunciation is just a way to runThe seventh lesson follows Arjuna's wish to walk away from it all, and shows why, for Dayananda, the way out lies not outside but in self-knowledge.TraditionGita, lesson 6: the hero who collapses and Krishna's responseThe sixth lesson follows Arjuna's collapse before his relatives and Krishna's first words, which break the silence with harsh language.TraditionGita, lesson 5: a blind king's question and the field of dharmaThe fifth lesson reads the Gita's opening question as a portrait of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's attachment, and links human birth to karma and the chance of liberation.TraditionGita, lesson 4: the inevitable war and the master in the chariotThe fourth lesson shows how the royal family's quarrels lead to war, and how Krishna, without fighting, takes Arjuna's place as charioteer.TraditionGita, lesson 3: the Mahābhārata as the setting for the teachingThe third lesson places the Gita within the Mahābhārata and distinguishes poetic text, which moves, from revealed text, which teaches.TraditionGita, lesson 2: what the name Bhagavad Gita already saysThe name Bhagavad Gita, "song of the Lord," already points to the teaching's style: knowledge offered with gentleness, never imposed.TraditionGita, lesson 1: the text that wants to clarify, not just informFirst chapter in the series: the Gita as a means of knowledge within Vedānta, and suffering as a problem of self-image.