Concepts

Some ideas keep returning under different names. Follow how concepts such as self, awareness, love, suffering, surrender, and freedom change meaning as they move between traditions.

• AshaWhen truth becomes a way of livingWhat would it mean for a life to line up with what is true? Zoroastrian teaching answers with asha: truth, rightness, and the order of thing…
• AwakeningSometimes the life that once seemed complete begins to feel unfinished. Questions about suffering, identity, God, or reaSometimes the life that once seemed complete begins to feel unfinished. Questions about suffering, identity, God, or reality stop being abst…
• AwarenessAwareness is the simple fact that experience can be noticed. You can be aware of anger without fully becoming anger, or Awareness is the simple fact that experience can be noticed. You can be aware of anger without fully becoming anger, or notice a thought as …
• CompassionAnother person’s pain can make us look away, rush to explain, or move closer. Compassion begins in that movement closer:Another person’s pain can make us look away, rush to explain, or move closer. Compassion begins in that movement closer: the wish that suffe…
• Council of Nicaea325 CE — creed, conflict, and empire · 325 CE (First Council); later creed form commonly associated with 381In 325 CE, bishops gathered at Nicaea, in what is now İznik, Turkey, because Christians were divided over how to speak about Jesus. Was the …
• CravingWanting can be simple: food when hungry, rest when tired, safety when threatened. Craving begins where wanting tightens Wanting can be simple: food when hungry, rest when tired, safety when threatened. Craving begins where wanting tightens into a demand—this m…
• CreedWhen a teaching becomes a required statementA teaching may begin in stories, questions, and shared ways of living. A creed gathers part of that life into a short statement a community …
• DeathA person breathes, speaks, and answers; then the body can do none of these things. Death is the end of biological life, A person breathes, speaks, and answers; then the body can do none of these things. Death is the end of biological life, but for those who re…
• Ego“Ego” is often used as an insult, but the word names two related ideas. In depth psychology, it can mean the conscious c“Ego” is often used as an insult, but the word names two related ideas. In depth psychology, it can mean the conscious center that gives exp…
• EthicsEvery life is shaped by choices that cannot be reduced to preference: whether to tell the truth when lying would be easiEvery life is shaped by choices that cannot be reduced to preference: whether to tell the truth when lying would be easier, how to use power…
• FreedomFreedom can mean more than removing an outer restraint or getting what we want. In many contemplative paths, it begins aFreedom can mean more than removing an outer restraint or getting what we want. In many contemplative paths, it begins as less captivity to …
• GodThe one addressed, the source of allFor many people, God is first encountered in address: a presence who calls, hears prayer, commands, loves, or can be thanked and questioned.…
• I AMFew phrases place being and identity as close together as “I am.” In the Hebrew Bible it appears in divine self-identifiFew phrases place being and identity as close together as “I am.” In the Hebrew Bible it appears in divine self-identification. The Gospel o…
• IdentificationIdentification happens when something you experience becomes what you take yourself to be. A criticism of your work feelIdentification happens when something you experience becomes what you take yourself to be. A criticism of your work feels like a judgment of…
• IdentityAsk “Who are you?” and the first answers are likely to be a name, a history, a set of roles, a temperament, or a place oAsk “Who are you?” and the first answers are likely to be a name, a history, a set of roles, a temperament, or a place of belonging. These a…
• LoveLove draws us beyond an isolated self, but not always in the same direction. It can mean desire, friendship, care for a Love draws us beyond an isolated self, but not always in the same direction. It can mean desire, friendship, care for a child, mercy toward …
• MeditationTrained attention—not automatically prayerSit still, and the mind does not necessarily become still with you. In early Buddhist meditation, that restless field becomes something to k…
• Not-selfBuddhist traditions use the word anatta—usually translated as “not-self”—to challenge the search for a permanent, indepeBuddhist traditions use the word anatta—usually translated as “not-self”—to challenge the search for a permanent, independent owner of exper…
• ObserverNotice irritation rising and there seems to be a little distance between the feeling and the one who sees it. “Observer”Notice irritation rising and there seems to be a little distance between the feeling and the one who sees it. “Observer” is a name for that …
• One groundWhy the search for hidden depth keeps returningThe world appears to be made of separate things: this body, that mind, one object beside another. Yet philosophers, psychologists, and mysti…
• Original sinA later Christian doctrine of the human conditionWhy does harm begin again in lives that did not choose the first wrong? The Christian doctrine called original sin answers by reading the di…
• PracticeA form that may embody a teaching—or go emptySome teachings are carried less by explanation than by what a person does again tomorrow: kneeling, sitting, reciting, fasting, walking, lig…
• PrayerAddressing God—or what a tradition names as holyA person may ask, thank, grieve, praise, or remain silent—and understand the whole act as being heard. Prayer is this turning toward God, or…
• RealityReality is whatever is actually the case, whether or not we perceive it clearly or wish it were different. Yet that simpReality is whatever is actually the case, whether or not we perceive it clearly or wish it were different. Yet that simple definition opens …
• ReasonA belief can feel certain and still be mistaken. Reason is the practice of asking what supports it, what follows from itA belief can feel certain and still be mistaken. Reason is the practice of asking what supports it, what follows from it, and what would mak…
• RebirthA classical map of what followsRebirth is a family of traditional teachings in which death does not end the chain of life, action, and consequence. The familiar word “rein…
• RelationA boundary can isolate, but it can also make meeting possible. Relation names the bond between lives that remain distincA boundary can isolate, but it can also make meeting possible. Relation names the bond between lives that remain distinct: one person answer…
• ResurrectionA traditional Christian claimResurrection is Christianity’s claim that death will not have the final word because God raises the dead to transformed bodily life. The hop…
• RevelationKnowledge described as given, not inventedSometimes knowledge is described as something a person works out. Revelation begins with the opposite movement: truth is said to address the…
• SelfWhat lies beyond the everyday “me”?When a teaching says “Self,” it may be pointing far beyond the person described by a name and biography. Carl Jung uses the word for the tot…
• SeparationYour pain is felt here, not in the chair across the room. Your thoughts are private until you give them words. SeparatioYour pain is felt here, not in the chair across the room. Your thoughts are private until you give them words. Separation begins with this o…
• SufferingSome suffering arrives unmistakably as illness, grief, fear, or injustice. Some is quieter: the unease inside a good daySome suffering arrives unmistakably as illness, grief, fear, or injustice. Some is quieter: the unease inside a good day, the effort to keep…
• ThoughtA thought can arrive as a sentence, an image, a memory, or a prediction. It may feel completely private and completely yA thought can arrive as a sentence, an image, a memory, or a prediction. It may feel completely private and completely yours. Yet the moment…
• Tree of LifeA Jewish mystical map of infinite and worldHow can an infinite God relate to a finite world? Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition, approaches that question through ten sefirot: emana…
• WatchersAngels who taught—and fellWhat happens when knowledge crosses a boundary before wisdom is ready for it? In the ancient Jewish book called 1 Enoch, the Watchers are an…