The One Thread
Different cultures. Different words. Recurring questions.
Explore the people, teachings, ideas, and traditions that have asked humanity's deepest questions. Browse freely, or begin with a question and follow a Thread through the connections.
Background: Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai — photograph by Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Start with a question
- Who am I?Someone calls your name across a room and you turn. An old photograph is still a photograph of you, though you…
- What is reality?Reality seems like the most obvious thing there is: whatever is actually here. The question becomes harder whe…
- Why do we suffer?A loss can break the shape of a life. Illness, fear, loneliness, injustice, and even a quiet unease on a good …
- What is God?When someone prays, who—or what—is being addressed? The word God can name one who hears, commands, loves, and …
- What is love?Love can feel most certain when we want someone close. Yet closeness can turn into a claim on who they should …
Meet some of the people
- Jesus of Nazarethearly first century CE · Judea / Galilee under Roman rule
- Siddhartha Gautamac. 5th–4th century BCE (dating debated) · northern India / eastern Gangetic plain
- Krishnaepic and Puranic figure; dating of any historical Krishna is debated · northern India in the epic setting (including Kurukshetra)
- Muhammadc. 570–632 CE · Mecca and Medina, western Arabia
- Laozitraditional dates uncertain; text formation debated · legendary figure of ancient China
- Jalal al-Din Rumi1207–1273 · born in Balkh (present-day Afghanistan); taught in Konya
- Ramana Maharshi1879–1950 · Tamil Nadu, India
- Adi Shankaraeighth century CE (traditional dating; exact years debated) · India
- Meister Eckhartc. 1260–1328 · Erfurt, Paris, Cologne; Holy Roman Empire
- Paulactive c. 30s–60s CE · eastern Mediterranean; letters to communities in cities such as Corinth, Rome, and Galatia
- Enochnamed in Genesis; later books in his name, c. 3rd–1st centuries BCE · antediluvian genealogy in Genesis; later heavenly journeys in 1 Enoch
Explore an idea
- SelfWhen a teaching says “Self,” it may be pointing far beyond the person described by a name and biography. Carl …
- AwarenessAwareness is the simple fact that experience can be noticed. You can be aware of anger without fully becoming …
- LoveLove draws us beyond an isolated self, but not always in the same direction. It can mean desire, friendship, c…
- SufferingSome suffering arrives unmistakably as illness, grief, fear, or injustice. Some is quieter: the unease inside …
- RealityReality is whatever is actually the case, whether or not we perceive it clearly or wish it were different. Yet…
- IdentificationIdentification happens when something you experience becomes what you take yourself to be. A criticism of your…
- Not-selfBuddhist traditions use the word anatta—usually translated as “not-self”—to challenge the search for a permane…
- CreedA teaching may begin in stories, questions, and shared ways of living. A creed gathers part of that life into …
- PrayerA person may ask, thank, grieve, praise, or remain silent—and understand the whole act as being heard. Prayer …
- MeditationSit still, and the mind does not necessarily become still with you. In early Buddhist meditation, that restles…
Open a teaching or text
- Sermon on the MountA crowd gathers on a hillside, and Matthew’s Jesus begins by blessing people ordinary measures of success migh…
- Four Noble TruthsAt Sarnath in northern India, tradition remembers the newly awakened Buddha beginning with what hurts. Aging, …
- Bhagavad GitaThe Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu philosophical and spiritual text presented as a dialogue between the warrior Arju…
- Al-IkhlasGod is One. God is al-Samad—a dense Arabic term often rendered “the Self-Sufficient” or “the one on whom all d…
- Tao Te ChingWater does not need to become rigid to endure, and a vessel is useful because it has room within it. The Tao T…
- Book of EnochThe Book of Enoch, often called 1 Enoch, is a composite ancient Jewish work. One of its oldest major sections,…