Category Archives: Applied Philosophy

lbert Camus, a 20th century French philosopher, gave a new turn to philosophical thought of the time by bringing attention to the absurdity of life with his existentialist perspective. Here are three prime lessons to take away from his work!

 Nandita Kochar In the second (and concluding) part of the series, we continue looking at ideas offered by Western Philosophers, ideas that are meant to inspire the heart and lift some weight and weirdness off it. ‘Aus so krummem Holze, als woraus der Mensch gemacht ist, kann nichts ganz Gerades gezimmert werden’ (out of the […]

Actually, Pascal says, it might do us some greater good if we did nothing. If we just sat inside the four walls of our room and spent some time gazing into our own selves – clearing the negative thoughts and decorating the healthy ones, spending time in some thoughtful reveries or simply watching the clouds move.

And once our minds are made up, we seek out facts to support them. We have hundreds of strategies which help us avoid looking into the human heart. This saves us trouble; we do not have to worry about it.

We have missed the laughter of the heart because we have been trained to approach God with a serious and long face! To be religious does not mean we have to put on such a face! All religious practices are meant to unite us with God, in whatever form, but one God that goes without any controversy is the God of love and laughter.

So don’t try to be celibate just to avoid death because that too again is fear. The people who try to become celibate are afraid of death, and one who is afraid of death can never know what death is, can never know what deathlessness is. So don’t be afraid.  

You may be surprised to know that there has been a very great discovery in recent years that machines have to rest. Machines! you would never think it. Why machines? They dont need any rest. You drive a car for twenty hours, thirty hours the car needs a rest.