The Ice Rink

During an attempt at ice skating at the Sculpture Garden in DC, I had one of these wonderful moments where life seems to speak to you through the so-called “ordinary” moments. Watching the happy faces – of every age, race and color – go round and round, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of […]

The Masses in Modern Philosophy

In the last century, the role of the masses grew immensely in importance and affected both culture and politics. Philosophy has been using the term masses and mass societies since the 19th century, but we can find statements about masses of people earlier, even in the works of the classical Greek thinkers like Plato. He […]

Chinese Alchemy and Immortality

Chinese alchemy has two main branches: ‘external alchemy’ (Waidan) and ‘internal alchemy’ (Naidan). Both words are related to the word dan (elixir), which evolves from a root-meaning of ‘essence’ (the true nature and quality of an entity). In this brief introduction, I am going to concentrate on the tradition of external alchemy or Waidan. The […]

Philosophy of History – a Key to the Past, the Present and the Future

There is an old Eastern saying which states: “The Past Time is the Present Time, as also the Future, which, though it has not come into existence, still is.” In the Eastern view of time, reality exists beyond the temporal realm and what we experience as separate stages are actually part of a simultaneous reality. […]