Excerpted from Yogananda, P. “The Psychology of Touchiness”, in Journey to Self-Realization. Partial digitization here.
“Mastering the art of not being touchy, of avoiding over-sensitivity, is important in the development of spiritual consciousness. An analysis of the psychology of touchiness shows that it is the result of misunderstanding, inferiority complex, and an ungoverned ego. Sensitiveness expresses [...]
Category Archives: Philosophy
The Psychology of Touchiness
May 11, 2013 – 6:36 pm
Spiritual Coaching, part 10: Power and Martyrs
January 24, 2013 – 6:38 pm
Last Thursday afternoon, I had recently returned to Berkeley from the East Coast where I had spent my winter break. Critch and I were reconnecting, talking about the philosophical implications of astrophysics. There is an emerging scientific consensus that the universe as we know it is part of a broader multiverse composed of universes with [...]
[spontaneous writing trial]
December 22, 2012 – 1:00 am
Begin spontaneously
we will see
what becomes of this
we
.
.
get hung up on a reflection
everything is [...]
Spiritual Coaching, part 4: the existentialist critique and the humility paradox
November 9, 2012 – 7:38 pm
I owe Jacob another blog post reflecting on our session last Saturday. It was a productive session because it helped me fit our work together into the narrative of my own philosophical development better. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or power of recollection to report as thoroughly as I did last time.
Jacob [...]
In which I begin being Spiritually Coached
October 15, 2012 – 6:52 pm
Last Sunday, I spoke with Jacob Winkler, a spiritual coach who is offering 3-month coaching packages to bloggers as a way of building his career.
I have met Jacob before. He is childhood friends with Joel, one of my closest friends from college. Joel mentioned Jacob to me often, because we are both philosophically [...]
excerpt from Meno
September 2, 2012 – 3:11 pm
From Plato’s Meno, translated by W. H. D. Rouse:
SOCRATES: Then begin again and answer: What is virtue, according to you and your friend?
MENON: Well now, my dear Socrates, you are just like what I always heard before I met you: always puzzled yourself and puzzling everybody else. And now you seem to me to [...]
Epistemology again
August 24, 2012 – 12:43 pm
One interesting thing about being in a very interdisciplinary PhD program is that you are constantly being asked to describe yourself–your research interests, your career goals–to other people. The irony is that the draw of such a program lies partly in the opportunity to escape decision and definition.
Several people whose opinions I respect have [...]
Optimism and meliorism
July 8, 2012 – 8:31 pm
Our lives sure have a lot of problems. But when you think about a problem for long enough, you get an idea for a solution.
Most likely, if you look for that solution, there is somebody working on that project already. We are in that kind of world. Just talking about a problem [...]
dying tomorrow
July 5, 2012 – 7:23 pm
Yesterday I had a conversation with an old friend, Andres–someone I hadn’t really been in touch with since middle school–in which he promoted living with the awareness that each day might be your last.
There are a lot of ways to think about that. You could sit and think about whether it would bother you [...]
Hymn
April 19, 2012 – 11:55 am
Oh Father, please forgive me for my sins
I’m shooting arrows into heaps and ditches
I’m throwing without pulling out the pins
and gratifying whims of sons of bitches
Oh Mother, please relieve my foolish pride
I’m choking in the river that’s my mirror
remind me that true virtues lie inside
simplicity the thing to make them clearer
Oh Sister, teach me to [...]
