Showing results for "havelock hellis"

“If I now consider man in his isolated capacity, I find that dogmatic belief is no less indispensable to him in order to live alone than it is to enable him to co-operate with his fellows. If man were forced to demonstrate for himself all the truths of which he makes daily use, his task would never end.” (Alexis de Tocqueville)“Most truths which travel the world (truths are great travellers) may be regarded as commonplaces, associations of ideas common to a large number of men, non...

Are we free, whether we know it or not? Or is our sense of freedom merely an illusion? Rudolf Steiner tackles this age-old problem in a new way. He shows that by taking account of our own activity of thinking, we can know the reasons for our actions. And if these reasons are taken from our world of ideals, then our actions are free, because we alone determine them. But this freedom cannot be settled for us by philosophical argument. It is not simply granted to us. If we want to become free...

Father in heaven! What is a man without Thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know Thee! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know Thee: Thee the One, who art one thing and who art all!

There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which she can acquire for herself a knowledge of higher worlds. Mystics, Gnostics, Theosophists - all speak of a world of soul and spirit which for them is just as real as the world we see with our physical eyes and touch with our physical hands. At every moment the listener may say to herself: that, of which they speak, I too can learn, if I develop within myself certain powers which today still slumber within me. There remains only...

It is only of recent times that the truths of occultism have been the subject of public lectures. Formerly, these truths were only revealed in secret societies, to those who had passed through certain degrees of initiation and had sworn to obey the laws of the Order through the whole of their life. Today, man is entering upon a very critical period. Occult truths are beginning to be disclosed to the public. In a matter of twenty years or so, a certain number of them will already be common ...

Jiddu Krishnamurti (12 May 1895 17 February 1986) was a writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual issues including psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive social change. Krishnamurti lived next to the Theosophical Society headquarters at Adyar in Madras in his early adolescence. At Adyar, he encountered prominent occultist and Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater. He was subsequently raised under the tutelage ...

"Self-Reliance" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a prominent American philosopher and essayist from the 19th century. Published in 1841, the essay explores the concept of individualism and the importance of trusting one's own instincts and beliefs. Emerson advocates for the rejection of conformity and societal expectations, encouraging readers to rely on their own intuition and inner convictions. The essay is a powerful call to embrace self-reliance as a means of personal growth and ful...

Collected here are fourteen essays by Rudolf Steiner covering subjects such as Waldorf Education, The Reordering of Society, The Human Soul, Karma, and Knowledge. These essays are informative and lively. Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, literary scholar, educator, artist, playwright, social thinker, and esotericist. His contributions to society were immense.

The assumption of this book is that too many of us simply accept that our thinking is out of our control. Somehow our minds have become swamped with negative thoughts, negative attitudes and lack of self-esteem and we have allowed ourselves to believe that we are powerless to change this.The fact is we can change the way we think and we are the ones best equipped to do so. By following some simple steps we can change our outlook from that of cynical negativity to one of positive op...

In this beautifully written personal meditation on life and living, Raymond Tallis reflects on the fundamental fact of existence: that it is finite. Inspired by E. M. Forster's thought that 'Death destroys a man but the idea of it saves him', Tallis invites readers to look back on their lives from a unique standpoint: one's own future corpse. From this perspective, he shows, the world now vacated can be seen most clearly in all its richness and complexity.Blending lyrical reflectio...

Why is it so hard to fulfill our true potential?We all want more money. We all want to be better partners and parents. We all want to be in our peak physical condition. We all want to be as intelligent as we can be. But try as we might, few of us ever reach our potential. Why is it so difficult to truly fulfill our desires and achieve our goals? It's surely not for a lack of wanting.What if it was as simple as flipping a switch?So m...

Mele's ultimate purpose in this book is to help readers think more clearly about free will. He identifies and makes vivid the most important conceptual obstacles to justified belief in the existence of free will and meets them head on. Mele clarifies the central issue in the philosophical debate about free will and moral responsibility, criticizes various influential contemporary theories about free will, and develops two overlapping conceptions of free will - one for readers who are convi...