<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>e-ostadelahi.com</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en</link>
	<description>Ethics and the process of perfection</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:43:26 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Sound reason: excerpt No. 3 of a lecture by B. Elahi, MD</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/sound-reason-excerpt-no-3-of-a-lecture-by-b-elahi-md/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/sound-reason-excerpt-no-3-of-a-lecture-by-b-elahi-md/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:43:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lectures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bahram Elahi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perfection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sound Reason]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1915</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi used to define his teachings as a new medicine of the soul: one that is adapted to the true nature of human beings and adheres to the law of causality governing both their spiritual and material lives. The spirituality he practiced was natural spirituality, and he considered the process of spiritual perfection to resemble an academic curriculum.

The excerpts presented here are drawn from a lecture given at the Sorbonne in March 2011, in which Prof. Bahram Elahi revisits various aspects of Ostad Elahi’s philosophy. Rephrasing them in a simple and direct manner, he relates these points to fundamental questions and examines them from a rational standpoint.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/sound-reason-excerpt-no-3-of-a-lecture-by-b-elahi-md/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Natural meditation</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/natural-meditation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/natural-meditation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:08:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conceptbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meditation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prayer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1896</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Anyone who has ever been in love has had that experience when thinking about the person they love: the sensation of the presence of the beloved can fill up your mental space to such an extent that it will accompany you at every moment and in every situation. When you are in love, this presence settles within you automatically and effortlessly. It can even be reflected around you in the smallest events. If you are not in love, you can still stir up a similar experience by directing your thought toward someone and attempt to develop positive feelings toward them and thereby experience the “presence” of this person. Such experiences are internal and multiform, and can be more or less intense depending in particular on how much attention we pay to them.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/natural-meditation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Altruism: finding sources of motivation</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/altruism-finding-sources-of-motivation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/altruism-finding-sources-of-motivation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:40:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ClaudeBG</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Altruism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Egoism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethical practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pride]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After reading the interview with Bahram Elahi on altruism on this website, I was struck by the idea that “Those who care about their process of perfection should include the practice of altruism in their spiritual program”. In my first post, I tried to understand what altruism really was and how to tackle this practice in a daily program. Now I would like to explore the second half of the question: why practice altruism?]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/altruism-finding-sources-of-motivation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Virtue</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/virtue/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/virtue/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:24:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conceptbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtue ethics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1882</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The goal of spirituality is the perfection of the soul. But what does perfecting the soul mean? From an ethical point of view, it is a matter of transforming the soul’s substance, thereby developing all human virtues within oneself. Such a transformation is not automatic. It requires that one first develops an accurate idea of what virtues are, as well as of the means for making them shine forth in oneself.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/virtue/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Staying true to yourself</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/staying-true-to-yourself/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/staying-true-to-yourself/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:26:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ClaudeBG</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self-knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtue ethics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1863</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi’s philosophy is, as we know, grounded in the personal efforts made to gain greater self-knowledge not with the perspective of self development but of spiritual development. However, as soon as you set out to concretely experiment this philosophy and to undertake the work of spiritual perfection of the self, you are bound to encounter several forms of resistance.

For my part, ever since I have started making efforts to keep some of my character weaknesses in check and to develop my human qualities and my faith, through a variety of practices, I have observed the same pattern: at the beginning of each new practice I am highly motivated and focused on my objective and my efforts do not encounter any insurmountable obstacles. But then it doesn’t take long, maybe a couple of weeks, before my attention begins to dwindle and—unless I receive some help from the outside—I fall back into the same old negligence.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/staying-true-to-yourself/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>19</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Surface conscious self and deep conscious self</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/surface-conscious-self-and-deep-conscious-self/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/surface-conscious-self-and-deep-conscious-self/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:12:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lectures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self-knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soul]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1787</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It has become common knowledge since Freud's works that the human psyche is comprised of a conscious part and an unconscious part. While, by definition, the unconscious may not be directly investigated, the conscious part of the psyche can be explored and “worked on”. Bahram Elahi suggests that such “work” basically turns on the division that exists between the “surface conscious self” on the one hand, and the “deep conscious self” on the other.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/surface-conscious-self-and-deep-conscious-self/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Asceticism</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/asceticism/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/asceticism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:43:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conceptbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ritual]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1822</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It appears that asceticism has always played a role in societies where spiritual life was organised and ritualised, to different degrees and in various ways depending on civilisations and times.

Etymologically, the term “asceticism” comes from the Greek askesis, which simply means “exercise”. In Ancient Greece, it applied to the exercises and discipline required of athletes. This is precisely what all forms of asceticism have in common: to impose a discipline onto oneself and thus exert one’s willpower against certain natural bodily tendencies. In India, for example, the practice of asceticism includes bodily exercises designed to control the body, breathing exercises to control both the body and the mind, as well as various fasting and meditation techniques.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/asceticism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A practical approach to altruism</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-practical-approach-to-altruism/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-practical-approach-to-altruism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:24:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ClaudeBG</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Altruism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethical practice]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1805</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some time ago, on this website, I came upon the interview with Bahram Elahi on altruism. One sentence in particular caught my attention: “Those who care about their process of perfection should include the practice of altruism in their spiritual program”.

Over the years that I had been “interested” in my perfection I had sensed that trying to help others was a practice that conformed to divine ethics. Only now, however, did I grasp the importance of this practice, expressed in the term “should”, and the notion of a “spiritual program”.

I decided to focus more deeply on the matter and at once was faced with two questions: why and how.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-practical-approach-to-altruism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>19</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ostad Elahi&#8217;s life and works</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/ostad-elahis-life-and-works/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/ostad-elahis-life-and-works/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Sep 2011 04:19:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book excerpts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knowing the Spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1761</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi was born on September 11, 1895. On the occasion of his 116th birthday, it was only natural to pay him homage by reviewing some of the salient aspects of his life and works. In the preface to his translation of Knowing the Spirit (SUNY, 2006), Prof. James Morris draws from various sources, including autobiographical conversations and remarks by Ostad himself. This lively portrait of an outstanding 20th century spiritual figure manages to uncover the inner connections between the rich and varied experiences of a lifetime and the central notions of a philosophy. The following excerpt is published with the kind authorization of the author and SUNY Press.

Nūr 'Alī Elāhī—or Ostad Elahi (“Master” Elahi), the honorific by which he is most widely known today—was born on September 11, 1895 in Jeyhunabad, a village in western Iran(1). The outward course of his life, as he described it in autobiographical conversations and remarks during his later years,(2) falls into three distinct periods: his childhood and youth, entirely devoted to traditional forms of ascetic and religious training; his active public career, for almost thirty years, as a prosecutor, magistrate, and high-ranking judge; and the period of his retirement, more openly devoted to spiritual teaching and writing (including the composition of Knowing the Spirit), when he became well known as a religious thinker, philosopher, and theologian, as well as a musician. Ostad Elahi's own later description of those outward events, summarized in a few of his sayings quoted further on, helps bring out the inner connections between those different periods of his life and the broader lessons he was able to draw from those very different activities and experiences.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/ostad-elahis-life-and-works/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Spirituality, natural spirituality</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/spirituality-natural-spirituality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/spirituality-natural-spirituality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:40:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conceptbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natural Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self transformation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1742</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“Spirituality” commonly refers to anything that relates to the life of the spirit, which is sometimes called “inner life”. The extreme vagueness of such a characterization clearly leaves room for all kinds of associations and generalizations. Spirituality today refers to a vast array of beliefs and practices—from monastic life to yoga workshops, alchemy, Taoism, tarot-reading or astral travel, to name only a few. The supermarket of spiritualities is not bothered by contradictions—even atheism may lay claim to a certain idea of the spiritual.

For Ostad Elahi, spirituality is much more specific in meaning. On one level, it is in line with the religious or mystical understanding of the matter. Indeed, spirituality is first and foremost the life of the spirit considered in its true essence: distinct from corporeal things and, in particular—with regard to human beings—distinct from their animal part. Spirituality is inseparable from the process of self-transformation, that is from specific practices that make it possible to achieve a greater knowledge and a sharper perception of oneself and the world. The “life” of the spirit is oriented towards this end. According to Ostad Elahi, the idea of perfection defines this orientation.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/spirituality-natural-spirituality/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

