Field
Religion & Spirituality
Traditions, texts, practices and mysticism.
2 Ideas · 1 Book · 11 questions
Religions are among the oldest ways humans have tried to explain the world and to decide how to live. This field looks at their texts, their figures and their practices. It also looks at modern spiritual writers who borrow from several traditions at once.
The pieces here describe what a tradition teaches and where its ideas come from. They do not ask you to believe it. When a claim is about history, the text says what scholars know and what remains uncertain.
Start with the twelve Mahajanas, a list of exemplary people from the Hindu text Bhagavata Purana. Then read the Chinese farmer, a short story that is often linked to Taoism. The review of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth shows how a present-day author turns ideas from Zen Buddhism, the Bible and other traditions into a program for everyday life.
Start here
The best first reads in this field, in this order.
IdeaIntro
Who Are the Twelve Mahajanas?
Why would the god of death give his servants a list of twelve people instead of a rule? You learn who the twelve are, the story in which the list appears, and the old argument behind it: when reasoning and scripture disagree, look at how great people lived. You also see what this way of learning cannot do.
7 min read≈ 1,510 words3 questions
IdeaIntro
What Is the Parable of the Chinese Farmer?
A farmer loses his horse, and the neighbors call it bad luck. He answers with one word, again and again, while his luck keeps turning. You learn where this famous story really comes from, how its oldest version differs from the one people share today, and when its advice helps and when it does not.
6 min read≈ 1,430 words3 questions
BookIntro
"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle: Summary and Review
Few spiritual books have reached as many readers as this one, and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club twice. You learn Tolle's key terms, from the ego to the pain-body and awakened doing. You also learn which of his ideas match ordinary experience and which are spiritual teaching that no study has tested.
10 min read≈ 2,140 words5 questions