The Soul Salons: Exploring our Spiritual Heritage

Brief finale for the Soul Salons podcast and announcing the new website at www.thesoulsalons.com

‘Abdu'l-Bahá – one of the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith – shares some important insights about living in the light, or the darkness. “Perchance such ways and words from you will make this darksome world turn bright at last; will make this dusty earth turn heavenly, this devilish prison place become a royal palace of the Lord—so that war and strife will pass and be no more, and love and trust will pitch their tents on the summits of the world.”‘Abdu'l-Bahá  

A French philosopher from the 16th century advises humility on what we don't know, but that we are still born to inquire after the truth.“It [truth] is not, as Democritus said, hid in the bottom of the deeps, but rather elevated to an infinite height in the divine knowledge. The world is but a school of inquisition: it is not who shall enter the ring, but who shall run the best courses.”Michele de Montaigne

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, had some controversial approaches, but her writings shed light on the power of prayer and divine love to heal the body and the soul.  “Forsaking matter for Spirit by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.” Mary Baker Eddy 

Digging into the deeper meanings of “The Universal Tree and the Four Birds,” by Muslim scholar, poet, and philosopher Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi.“Beautiful realities descend upon threads Toward the hearts that turn from the ornaments of the gardens In search of the one who transcends the vicissitudes of time.” Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

The stories and teachings in the Dhammapada offer some useful guides for living, including thinking of the consequences (and karma) of our intentions and actions, and valuing the human experience.“It is rare to be born human, rare is the life of the mortals, it is rare to hear True Dhamma, rare the arising of Buddhas.”The Dhammapada

Pausing for a short summer break.  Listen here for a brief bit of inspiration, and check back in late August. 

Philosophy – personified as a woman – explains the transience of life to an imprisoned Boethius and counsels him to remember his true nature and God's guiding hand. “So, shouldst thou see anything in this world happening differently from thy expectation, doubt not but events are rightly ordered; it is in thy judgment that there is perverse confusion.” Boethius

American poet, essayist, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson explores "the background of our being" in one of his most popular essays called "The Over-Soul.""We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime, within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related ..."Ralph Waldo Emerson

St. Augustine's Confessions is a story about one man's struggles in a materialistic world, but, ultimately, it's about his redemption.Have pity, O Lord God, lest they who go by the way trample on the unfledged bird, and send Thine angel to replace it into the nest, that it may live, till it can fly. St. Augustine

This episode looks at the theme of race unity from diverse faith and wisdom traditions, asking how we can honor everyone's humanity and nobility. “This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men.”Martin Luther King

Love between the Creator and the created one is a core theme of The Hidden Words – one the most mystical works in the Bahá'í Faith.“O Son of Man! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore, I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.” Bahá'u'lláh

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

Revisiting some 19th and 20th Century poems that, in a crazy time, call us to a place of introspection and tranquility. I know no birth, I know no death that chills;I fear no fate nor fashion, cause nor creed,I shall outdream the slumber of the hills,I am the bud, the flower, I the seed:For I do know that in whate'er I seeI am the part and it the soul of me. John Spence Muirhead

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, artist, and spiritual philosopher who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his seminal work The Gitanjali, which explores devotion, service, loss, and renewal. “The song that I came to sing remains unsung to this day.I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument.The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there is the agony of    wishing in my heart.The blossom has not opened, only the wind is sighing by.I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I have heard his gentle footsteps from the road before my house.”Rabindranath Tagore

Saadi Shirazi, Persian poet and prose writer of the Middle Ages, combines wit and wisdom to convey lessons to live by. “Perceivest thou not that in a garden there are musk-willows as well as withered sticks? And likewise in the crowd of the rich there are grateful and impious men, as also in the circle of dervishes some are forbearing and some are impatient. …The greatest of rich men is he who sympathizes with dervishes and the best of dervishes is he who looks but little towards rich men. Who trusts in Allah, he will be his sufficient support.” Saadi Shirazi 

Sikh writings address many themes, including rejecting the world's false attachments and waking up to our spiritual purpose. This world is sunk in doubts and vices, but the enlightened can swim across. The one who is woken, the one who is given a sip of elixir, knows the story that cannot be told.Make that transaction for which you came into this world, through the Guru, deposit the Divine in your mind.Guru Arjan from “The Hymn of Praise,” Sikh scripture

Catholic St. Teresa of Àvila reflects on the journey of the soul through the seven mansions of “The Interior Castle.”The soul [like the little white butterfly] “despises the work it did while yet a caterpillar—the slow weaving of its cocoon thread by thread—its wings have grown and it can fly; could it be content to crawl?”St. Teresa

Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran struggled in a material world, but learned to find peace in two different realms.  “I once told you that my life is divided into two lives and that I spend the one in working and being with people, the other in the mist. But that was yesterday, for now my life has been unified and I work in the mist, meet people in the mist, even sleep, dream and wake up in the mist.” Khalil Gibran

Roman philosopher Seneca claimed that most people wasted their time instead of staying focused, or knowing how to truly live. “For men who leap from one purpose to another, or do not even leap but are carried over by a sort of hazard, – how can such wavering and unstable persons possess any good that is fixed and lasting? There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river.”Seneca the Younger

Being a peacemaker and practicing humility will get you further in the long run advises a short, but influential work called the Tao Te Ching. “She does not show herself, and therefore is apparent.She does not affirm herself, and therefore is acknowledged.She does not boast and therefore has merit.She does not strive and is therefore successful.It is exactly because she does not contend, that nobody can contend with her.”Lao Tzu

One of the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith puts humanity's current peril – and ultimately brighter destiny – into a bigger context. “Adversity, prolonged, worldwide, afflictive, allied to chaos and universal destruction, must needs convulse the nations, stir the conscience of the world, disillusion the masses, precipitate a radical change in the very conception of society, and coalesce ultimately the disjointed, the bleeding limbs of mankind into one body, single, organically united, and indivisible.”Shoghi Effendi 

Sharing a core concept from the Old Testament and Jewish mysticism that can inform how we might gather sparks of the divine.“The Holy Ancient One is a spiritual flame, concealed beyond all that is hidden, knowable solely through these lights that emanate from Its essence only to reveal themselves momentarily and then immediately conceal themselves again. And these lights are known as the Sacred Names of God, and this [is] how all is ultimately one.”Sefer Ha'Zohar

An update on format changes – and a brief bit of inspiration – for the end of Season 2.

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung's insights into how we have lost our soul in a modern world and how, if we face our shadows, we can rediscover a path of purpose and meaning. “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”Carl Gustav Jung

A quick summary of the Hindu organizational chart, followed by a deeper dive into the wisdom of the Upanishads.“That which cannot be thought by mind, but by which, they say, mind is able to think: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.  That which is not seen by the eye, but by which the eye is able to see: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.”Kena Upanishad

What an anonymous monk from the medieval age has to say about distracting thoughts, sacred words, and your life's calling.  “Every person's spiritual journey will be different because, as God carries out his divine plan, he takes into consideration the unique spiritual talents of each person to whom grace has given the gift of contemplation and its practice.”The Cloud of Unknowing 

Exploring the Mayan creation stories in the Popol Vuh. “So their knowledge was lost, the wisdom of those first four people. It was lost there at its beginning, at the very root of their planting. This was the framing and shaping of our first grandfathers and fathers by Heart of Sky and Heart of Earth.”The Popol Vuh 

Contemplation's on death, pain, and grief by one of Rome's greatest statesman and philosophers. (It's not as depressing as it sounds.)“But she [nature] has only lent you life, as she might lend you money, without fixing any certain time for its repayment. Have you any grounds of complaint, then, that she recalls it at her pleasure?”Marcus Tullius Cicero

Do plants, animals, and humans have different spirits? ‘Abdu'l-Baha – one of the central figures of the Baha'i Faith – explains these distinctive realms, and what holds them all together. “Man is the possessor of a degree of attraction which is conscious and spiritual. Here is an immeasurable advance. In the human kingdom spiritual susceptibilities come into view, love exercises its superlative degree, and this is the cause of human life.”‘Abdu'l-Baha

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 characterIf there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the homeIf there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nationIf there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."Confucius

A mystical treatise – and its Sufi links – from the prophet-founder of the Bahá'í Faith. “The stages that mark the wayfarers' journey from their mortal abode to the heavenly homeland are said to be seven. Some have referred to them as seven valleys, and others, as seven cities. And it is said that until the wayfarer taketh leave of self and traverseth these stages, he shall never attain the ocean of nearness and reunion nor taste of the matchless wine.”Bahá'u'lláh

A deep dive into other worlds, with several known – and unknown – English poets. “Beneath this world of stars and flowers That rolls in visible deity, I dream another world is ours And is the soul of all we see.”Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux

Words of wisdom from an Islamic scholar turned Sufi mystic“O my soul, thou hast only one life; no single moment that has passed can be recovered, for in the counsel of God the number of breaths allotted thee is fixed, and cannot be increased. When life is over, no further spiritual traffic is possible for thee; therefore what thou dost, do now; treat this day as if thy life had been already spent, and this were an extra day granted thee by the special favor of the Almighty.”Imam Al-Ghazali

Rediscovering a medieval professor, diplomat, and Dominican Friar.“A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves.  Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.”Meister Eckhart

Reviewing the inspiration, genesis, and content for this series.“We inhabit a world that is ‘running scared' from its spiritual roots in which we seek to hide our emptiness behind the bleak walls of materialism. Yet we can never escape from what is so inextricably a part of our nature. However deeply buried, however sorely burdened, however grievously neglected, the human spirit can never be entirely stifled, eclipsed or overwhelmed."Dr. Suheil Bushrui, The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race 

The aim of the series is to look at the work of prophets, poets, mystics, and philosophers throughout the ages whose teachings have focused on our divine, or spiritual, reality. The latter is given short shrift in a materialistic age, but humanity has a deep spiritual heritage. Episodes are designed to reveal insights that you can apply to your daily lives. Seasons 1 and 2 were posted twice/month and seasons 3 and 4 are being posted once/month.(Music is used with permission by Randy Armstrong, The Conference of the Birds CD)