Reflections on Peace, Philosophy, and Life
Swami Vivekananda.
Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his speech which began with the words - "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
That is how Wikipedia introduces this man. I came across his writings in the 60s and, re-reading him today, reminds how profound his teaching is.
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
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This book by George Spencer Brown had a profound impact on me.
In it the Author suggests that - and this is the explanation from Wikipedia (see the Links section) :
The form (Chapter 1)
The symbol in drawing that looks like an angle, also called the "mark" or "cross", is the essential feature of the Laws of Form. In Spencer-Brown's inimitable and enigmatic fashion, the Mark symbolises the root of cognition, i.e., the dualistic Mark indicates the capability of differentiating a "this" from "everything else but this".
In LoF, a Cross denotes the drawing of a "distinction", and can be thought of as signifying the following, all at once:
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Another speaker, we invited to speak to the discussion society, was the father of one of the society members, who was a professor at the London School of Oriental & African Studies. His talk focused on Sufism. Again, another finger pointing in the same direction.
Sufism, mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the nature of humanity and of God, and to facilitate the experience of the presence of divine love and wisdom in the world.
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I was kicked out of school at the age of 15, because apparently I was considered useless and disruptive, by the much disliked tyrant headmaster (I wasn't the only one with this view of the headmaster). When I decided to go to university, I had to collect some entrance papers. So I studied German (because I found that easy) and Logic. During that time, I started a discussion society at the college I was at (Walbrook College in London) and we invited various guest speakers to give us a talk which we would then discuss with the speaker.
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A phrase I coined for myself, which has often helped me maintain a sense of perspective over the years:
If I'm good enough for the creator, then I'm good enough for anyone.
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The unreal never is: the Real never is not.
This truth indeed has been seen by those who can see the true.
The Bhagavad Gita, as translated by E.V. Rieu, was the second Book to seriously grab my attention.
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