De Ziel: vanwaar, waarheen?
Door Inayat Khan
235 Pagina’s | 5e druk 2000 | Softcover | Uitgeverij Panta Rhei | ISBN 9073207037
De gelukzaligheid van het godsbewustzijn kan worden bereikt door het innerlijk leven te ontwikkelen en overal, in ieder mens en in alle omstandigheden God vertegenwoordigd te zien. Dit is een van de aanwijzingen die Soefi-mysticus Hazrat Inayat Khan ons geeft in zijn boek De Ziel, vanwaar, waarheen?, dat centraal staat in de Soefi-boodschap. In heldere, concrete beelden brengt hij hierin op een unieke manier zijn innerlijke kennis van het bestaan naar voren.
‘Wie ben ik?’ vraagt de mens, ‘wat is de oorsprong van mijn leven? Gaat het nog verder na de dood of houdt het bestaan daarmee op?’ Deze vragen zijn gesteld door mensen van alle tijden.
Inayat Khan geeft in De Ziel, vanwaar, waarheen? een boeiend inzicht, vanuit een mystiek weten, in de kringlopen die de ziel maakt van God tot God.
Het pad van ieder mens is voor hemzelf Laat hem zijn eigen verlangens vervullen, zodat hij op die manier in staat zal zijn er bovenuit te stijgen, naar het eeuwige doel.
De Kracht van het NU in de Praktijk
By Eckhart Tolle, vertaald door Peter Roelofsen.
117 Pages | Eerste editie 2001, 2de & 3de druk 2002, 4de &5de druk 2003, 6de & 7de druk 2004, 8ste druk 2005 | Hardcover | Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes bv., Deventer | ISBN: 9020282697.
Engels origineel: Practicing the Power of NOW | Eerste editie 1999 | New World Library, California U.S.A. | ISBN: 9781577311959.
Met het daverende succes van zijn eerste boek De Kracht van het NU is Eckhart Tolle echt doorgebroken als een van de meest toonaangevende spirituele leraren van de laatste tijd. Zijn recept ‘leven in het nu’ blijkt bij zeer velen aan te slaan. Tolle slaagt erin ons op eenvoudige en transparante wijze duidelijk te maken hoe we ons kunnen bevrijden uit het keurslijf gevormd door onze gedachten, ervaringen en dogma’s, die te maken hebben met ons verleden, en volledig in het NU kunnen leven. Eigenlijk is het allemaal zo simpel, maar juist daarom blijkt het vaak zo moeilijk te zijn. We moeten alleen de ‘knop’ zien te vinden, waarmee we onszelf kunnen ‘omschakelen’. Eckhart Tolle reikt ons de benadering aan waar we die kwantumsprong in ons bewustzijn mee kunnen maken. In De Kracht van het NU in de Praktijk wordt Tolle’s recept nog eens in gecondenseerde en praktische vorm aangeboden.
Afkomstig uit de Inleiding (p. 6):
” Het begin van vrijheid is het besef dat je niet ‘de denker’ bent. Op het moment dat je de denker gaat waarnemen, wordt er een hoger bewustzijnsniveau actief. Je begint dan te beseffen dat zich boven het denken een geweldig gebied van intelligentie uitstrekt en dat het denken niet meer is dan een nietig onderdeel van die intelligentie. Je beseft ook dat alle dingen die echt belangrijk zijn, zoals schoonheid, liefde, creativiteit, vreugde, innerlijke vrede, uit iets voortkomen dat het verstand te boven gaat. “
Questioning Krishnamurti – In Dialogue with Leading Twentieth Century Thinkers (2001 Edition)
By Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986), edited by David Skitt.
254 Pages | Published in 1996, first Indian edition 2001 | Softcover | Krishnamurti Foundation India, Chennai | ISBN: 8187326212.
In the last two decades of his life, Krishnamurti engaged in several discussions with scientists, Buddhist scholars, philosophers, artists, and a Jesuit priest. This Volume contains his conversations with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Renee Weber, David Bohm, Jonas Salk, Walpola Rahula, Bernard Levin, Huston Smith, Iris Murdoch, and Pupul Jayakar. These offer a profound insight into his philosophy of life.
In his Foreword to the book, editor David Skitt says: For the first-time reader, the range and vocabulary of these conversations may seem daunting. Is this philosophy, psychology, or religion? Or all three? Krishnamurti himself did not like giving a name to what he talked about. His agenda was very open-ended, always totally free to cover any aspect of the human condition. For Krishnamurti, a religious view of life is inseparable from exploring whether we mistakenly apply the biological model of evolution to the psychological sphere; and whether the computer is an accurate simulation of the human brain. For him, these are not incidental but crucial issues that determine the quality of our lives, not just topics of intellectual ‘interest’.
From Chapter – ‘What is Your Secret’ (p. 198)?:
“K: Again, what do you mean by ‘individual’?
BL: Well, we’re all independent, separate personalities.
K: Are we?
BL: Well, aren’t we?
K: I doubt it. We’re not individuals, we are the result of a million years of collective experiences, memories, all that. We think we are individuals, we think we are free, we are not. To us, freedom means choice. Choice means confusion, you don’t choose if you are clear.
BL: You said once, one of your most striking phrases as I remember, that your purpose was to set Man free.
K: Yes, it sounds . . . (laughs). “
Questioning Krishnamurti – In Dialogue with Leading Twentieth Century Thinkers (1996 Edition).
By Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986), edited by David Skitt.
255 Pages | Published in 1996. The first Indian edition 2001 is available in our webshop here | Softcover | Thorsons, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London & San Francisco | ISBN: 0722532849.
In the last two decades of his life, Krishnamurti engaged in several discussions with scientists, Buddhist scholars, philosophers, artists, and a Jesuit priest. This Volume contains his conversations with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Renee Weber, David Bohm, Jonas Salk, Walpola Rahula, Bernard Levin, Huston Smith, Iris Murdoch, and Pupul Jayakar. These offer a profound insight into his philosophy of life.
In his Foreword to the book, editor David Skitt says: For the first-time reader, the range and vocabulary of these conversations may seem daunting. Is this philosophy, psychology, or religion? Or all three? Krishnamurti himself did not like giving a name to what he talked about. His agenda was very open-ended, always totally free to cover any aspect of the human condition. For Krishnamurti, a religious view of life is inseparable from exploring whether we mistakenly apply the biological model of evolution to the psychological sphere; and whether the computer is an accurate simulation of the human brain. For him, these are not incidental but crucial issues that determine the quality of our lives, not just topics of intellectual ‘interest’.
From Chapter – ‘What is Your Secret’ (p. 198)?:
“K: Again, what do you mean by ‘individual’?
BL: Well, we’re all independent, separate personalities.
K: Are we?
BL: Well, aren’t we?
K: I doubt it. We’re not individuals, we are the result of a million years of collective experiences, memories, all that. We think we are individuals, we think we are free, we are not. To us, freedom means choice. Choice means confusion, you don’t choose if you are clear.
BL: You said once, one of your most striking phrases as I remember, that your purpose was to set Man free.
K: Yes, it sounds . . . (laughs). “
The Enlightened Society
By John L. Hill.
240 Pages | A Quest Original 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606155.
Whatever is our world coming to? The prophets of boom herald an age of plenty. The prophets of doom, a world in despair. Are these our only choices? There is also an enlightenment, suggests Hill, who writes about man as he is, and about man as he could, should and will be. The author believes that nature has an inherent propensity to evolve and flourish, and man, as a part of nature, is participating in the process. Thus, not only is the individual getting better, but so is society. The end result could be an enlightened society, one that has become integrated, non-judgemental, and compassionate. One that considers the world-at-large to be a sacred phenomenon.
Importantly – this is not merely a book of educated conjecture. Although the author’s contention that society will become enlightened makes good theoretical sense, Hill decided to strenghten his position with a personal experiment. Thus in his Chapter ‘A New Image of Humankind’ he relates the story of his own spiritual revitalization as he undertook a regimen of regular meditation.
From Chapter 9 – ‘A New Image of Humankind: A Personal Account’ (p. 9):
” To this point, this book has been theoretically oriented with an emphasis on outlining an underlying metaphysical and psychological theory of evolution. If one has had the impression that all this talk of self-transformation was only abstract ‘stuff and nonsense’ – a metaphysic without a reality, a rarefied world view to replace one or another previous paradigm, equally inefficient in winning genuine moral and existential conviction, I hope now to dispel that suspicion. I consider the last seven years of my life something of an objective, if not ‘scientific’ experiment. I believe, as a result of this experiment, that evolution is a process that may be augmented, encouraged along the lines that await us. We may take a part in our own evolution. Life should be – and can be – a process of always getting better. Everything we should do add up to making each of us more wise, compassionate, humane and, yes, happy as individuals. Life should be a process of accumulation , but it is Wisdom and love that should be accumulated. What follows is a very personal, idiosyncratic, and sometimes embarrassing account of my own experience with meditation and the effects it had on my life. ”
Illusions
By Mabel Collins (1851-1927).
71 Pages |Facsimile of the original 1905 edition |Softcover | Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana U.S.A. | ISBN: 1564599094.
The following essay is an effort towards the freeing of our consciousness from the limitation in which it habitually dwells, and which exits only by means of certain illusions that are common to all men.
CONTENTS:
ILLUSION 1. – That man is imprisoned in the body.
ILLUSION 2. – That the Unborn are unknown.
ILLUSION 3. – That there is any secret in the Mind of the memory from man.
ILLUSION 4. – That the earth exists apart from man.
ILLUSION 5. – That Nature is indifferent to Man.
From ILLUSION 3 (p. 47):
” The memory of man is a great storehouse, filled to overflowing with the wonderful experiences of incarnated life, of life between the incarnations and of the thoughts and feelings brought both from above and below – from that depth of material life to which passion and desire take us, and from the Great White Throne before which we do obeisance in our high moments of inspiration and adoration. Nothing is lost or forgotten, or passed by. “