The Soul Salons: Exploring Our Spiritual Heritage

Find out what “pathfinders to the country of the soul” can teach us about our own journeys to find meaning. 

“The great spiritual personalities revealed in history are but supreme instances of a searching self-adjustment and of a way of life, always accessible to love and courage, which all men may in some sense undertake.”
Evelyn Underhill 

An initial look at Rumi’s great poem the Masnavi, and humanity’s quest for light and love. 

“Distinguish true dawn from false dawn,
Distinguish the color of the wine from that of the cup;
So that, instead of many eyes of caprice,
One eye may be opened through patience and constancy.
Then you will behold the true colors instead of false,
And precious jewels in lieu of stones.” 
Rumi

Lakota spiritual traditions, and the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman.

“Everything was possessed of personality, only differing with us in form. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to do what only the student of nature ever learns, and that was to feel beauty.”
Luther Standing Bear

The Buddha’s life and his insights on the Four Noble Truths. 

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind.  If a man can control his own mind he can find the way to enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”
The Buddha

An update – and a brief bit of inspiration – for the end of Season 1. 

Creation myths, gods/goddesses, and words to live by from ancient Egyptian civilization.

“If you are powerful, gain respect through knowledge and pleasant speech.
Do not command unless it befits; hostility gets you into trouble.
Do not be arrogant lest you be humiliated,
Do not be silent lest you be rebuked.
When you reply to the speech of a hothead, avert your face and control yourself.
The ire of the hothead sweeps by; he who treads carefully, his path is clear.”

Teachings of Ptahhotep

Words of wisdom on finding our true selves.

"Perhaps if I only realized that I do not admire what everyone else seems to admire, I would really begin to live after all.  I would be liberated from the painful duty of saying what I really do not think and acting in a way that betrays God’s truth and the integrity of my own soul."

Thomas Merton

Some modern links to – and lessons from – an ancient faith.

"To enjoy the benefits of providence is wisdom; to enable others to enjoy them is virtue. He who is indifferent to the welfare of others does not deserve to be called human. The best way to worship God is to ease the distress of the times and to improve the condition of humanity."

Zoroaster

Socrates’ last days and reflections on the immortality of the soul.

"Let a man be of good cheer about his soul, who having cast away the pleasures and ornaments of the body as alien to him … has sought after the pleasures of knowledge; and has arrayed the soul, not in some foreign attire, but in her own proper jewels, temperance, and justice, and courage, and nobility, and truth—in these adorned she is ready to go on her journey."

Socrates (from Plato’s Dialogue the Phaedo)

Helpful insights from Confucius on living in harmony with heaven, nature, and the social order.

"If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."
Confucius