In the spirit of promoting religious and cultural traditions from around the world, I have finally completed two website projects which took up the bulk of my time over the last two weeks. And though it took me away from my writing projects and my book proposal (a proposal encouraged by best-selling poet, author, and translator Daniel Ladinsky
The home page of the Traditional-Studies.org speaks to the importance of this: “In a world in which the acceptance of pluralism and inclusivity is vital to human survival, mutual tolerance, understanding, and ultimately appreciation among members of different religions and cultures is therefore critical to peaceful co-existence both within nations and globally.”
The Sophia Journal (www.sophiajournal.com) is a sister site to The Foundation for Traditional Studies site (www.traditional-studies.org). On its site you can subscribe the Sophia Journal or buy individual past issue that might catch your eye. The latest issue features an interview with the Dalai Lama, and accordingly, the demand for this issue is high. He spoke with Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo about the Buddhist tradition, compassion, and the tragedy of 9-11.
One comment I found especially interesting was when he spoke about contradictions in the teachings of the Buddha, which serve, I think, as a metaphor, for the contradictions amongst the various religions in the world today:
Buddha himself knew that his followers were very different and they had different dispositions. So he deliberately presented them with different philosophies which were contradictory. I often tell people that Buddha produced contradictions not because he was confused
and not because he wanted to create confusion among his followers. His main motivation was that according to him certain philosophies were more suitable to certain people.
The subject matter in all of the issues is compelling. Click the archives link on the site to view them all.
If you have a philosophical bent of mind, you might find books published by The Foundation for Traditional Studies to be fascinating. The most recent title you’ll see on their Books page is: The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi, written by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. This is a book that explores the pilgrimage of life and invites us to realize our true transcendent destination. Why else would we be here in physical form? Our transcendent natures are calling us. This should have a tremendous appeal to anyone who has read Rumi, and there are a lot of people who have, evidenced by the fact that he is the number one selling poet in America, despite having lived 800 years ago in Turkey.
Another title published by The Foundation for Traditional Studies that really fascinates me is: Challenges to a Secular Society, written by Whitall N. Perry. It’s a book that “navigates through the maze of confusion and distortion that constitutes so much of the mental, psychological and even religious landscape of the present day world.” What a need there is for people from every walk of life to read this book.
One the pleasures that came out of this website project was discovering the programming expertise of Chad Arrowsmith of www.phparrow.com. He created a customized shopping cart that met all the requirements of the two sites. I sent him an e-mail out of the blue, telling him exactly what was required. He e-mailed me back shortly thereafter saying he could do everything I needed done. And then he did it. He is a Paypal certified developer, specializing in Php, Ajax, and Javascript programming. He works fast. If you have a programming need for your website, he’s your man. Contact him at phparrow@gmail.com and tell him I recommended him.
