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	<title>e-ostadelahi.com</title>
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	<description>Ethics and the process of perfection</description>
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		<title>Humility 1 &#8211; which self are we talking about?</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/humility-1-which-self-are-we-talking-about/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=humility-1-which-self-are-we-talking-about</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/humility-1-which-self-are-we-talking-about/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 May 2012 22:05:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Isabelle Najar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virtue ethics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1988</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Humility used to be a cardinal virtue. It is, however, not so appealing to our minds anymore. It may be that we subconsciously associate it with humiliation, because both words are derived from the same root: humus (earth, ground). To be humble would then mean to belittle oneself, to stay on the ground, to submit: that is hardly a prospect one would consider desirable.
Why then should we contemplate this concept today? What use can it be to our practice of ethics? Well, it can transform the relationship we have with ourselves and with others in an extremely beneficial way.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/humility-1-which-self-are-we-talking-about/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Interworld</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/interworld/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=interworld</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/interworld/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:36:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conceptbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hereafter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Successive lives]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1980</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the basis of natural spirituality, there is a belief: death is not an end; it is a passage into a more subtle dimension of reality, into another world that Bahram Elahi calls the “interworld”.

For the author of Foundations of Natural Spirituality, the concept of interworld is not yet another way of designating the afterlife, thereby fulfilling the human need to believe in the survival of the soul after death. The word is a translation of the Arabic “barzakh” (the “in-between” where souls await the Last Judgment), which points to a necessity intrinsic to the system of successive lives.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Excursion in my deep conscious self</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/excursion-in-my-deep-conscious-self/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=excursion-in-my-deep-conscious-self</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/excursion-in-my-deep-conscious-self/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:19:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Helena Verhooven</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conscious Self]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self-knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soul]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1970</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We live in our ego… well, I don’t know about you, but that is certainly true for myself. This became clear to me after I listened to—and reflected on—the distinction between surface conscious self and deep conscious self as it is presented here. The surface conscious self is my ego, my demanding self, this self that wants to be recognised by others, that wants others to love me, admire me, that wants everything to be for me and only for me, that takes every opportunity to get offended, that gets on its high horse over the tiniest criticism, that sees itself at the centre of the world with everybody else on the outskirts, that thinks I know better, that dreads getting relegated to second place and doesn’t like its rivals to succeed at anything, that revels in compliments and remembers them with delight, that believed others owe me attention, consideration, that they should listen to me… ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/excursion-in-my-deep-conscious-self/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Quintessence of Religions</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/the-quintessence-of-religions/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=the-quintessence-of-religions</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/the-quintessence-of-religions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:48:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lectures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1960</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi delivered the main thrust of his conception of wisdom in a prayer entitled “The Quintessence of Religions”. Leili Anvar chose this angle to shed some light in a concrete and personal way on some of the subtlest aspects of this thought which, while taking root in the mystical tradition, reverses the prevailing trend by replacing reason at its rightful place in the process of spiritual perfection. The question of evil, the meaning of true ethics and true humanness and the importance of faith are among the themes dealt with in this analysis.

Leili Anvar is Lecturer in Persian Literature at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris and a specialist in mystic poetry. This lecture was given on 10 September 2011 as part of a symposium organised by the Fondation Ostad Elahi around the question “What wisdom for our times?”.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A remarkable spiritual figure</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-remarkable-spiritual-figure/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=a-remarkable-spiritual-figure</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-remarkable-spiritual-figure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:06:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Editorial Board</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hadj Nemat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Testimonials]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1949</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ostad Elahi often emphasised the crucial role played by his father Hadj Nemat (1871-1920) in his spiritual formation. Hadj Nemat was 29 years old when a life-changing spiritual experience led him to relinquish his administrative functions by the governor of his region in order to dedicate himself entirely to mysticism and spirituality. Revered as a saint during his lifetime, he was also famous for his poetry. Among his many writings is the Book of the Kings of Truth. Ahead of the 92nd anniversary of his death, the following anecdotes presented on hadjnemat.com will shed some light on his extraordinary spiritual personality.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/a-remarkable-spiritual-figure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>No practice of ethics without a practice plan</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/no-practice-of-ethics-without-a-practice-plan/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=no-practice-of-ethics-without-a-practice-plan</link>
		<comments>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/no-practice-of-ethics-without-a-practice-plan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:47:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephan Calvez</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethical practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Imperious Self]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perfection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self-knowledge]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/?p=1937</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If ethics is about principles, practicing ethics is about method. In this field, we can assume that not just any method will do. So we have to figure out which method will be the most efficient to get us closer to our goal of progressing towards spiritual perfection.
For the purposes of this post, I will assume that the reader is familiar with the various psychological forces at play in the paradigm of the process of perfection, and in particular with the concept of imperious self (IS), which may be defined as an impulsive force systematically opposed to spiritual progress. The IS is protean—it creeps in through the cracks created by our moral faults or lack of attention. It takes on different looks depending on the person and the circumstances. One day it will oppose itself to your spiritual work head-on, and the next, like a chameleon, it will pass itself as a spiritual thought and deceive your reason.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/no-practice-of-ethics-without-a-practice-plan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<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/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=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>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Natural meditation</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/natural-meditation/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=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>
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		<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/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=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>13</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Virtue</title>
		<link>http://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/virtue/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=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>
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		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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