Schools of philosophy, mystic arts and contemplative practice — the frameworks people have used to make sense of a life.
A tradition is more than a set of ideas: it is a way of seeing, passed between generations, with its own practices and arguments. Some here are rigorously rational, some openly mystical, and several flatly contradict each other. That is the point — read them side by side.
India’s classical schools: Nyaya, Samkhya, Vedanta, Jainism and more.
Stoicism, existentialism, rationalism, empiricism, Confucianism, Carvaka, the Ajivikas and more.
Alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, tantra, shamanism, astrology and the other inner traditions.
The traditions and the practice — from Patanjali’s eight limbs to meditation by goal.
The Gita, the Upanishads, the Tao Te Ching, the Dhammapada, the Quran, the Bible and more.
AbsolutismThe doctrine of absolute rule
AjivikasAncient Indian fatalist ascetics
AlchemyTransformation of matter and of the self
Astrology & DivinationReading the patterns of the cosmos
CarvakaAncient Indian materialism
ConfucianismEthics of harmony and right relationshipThe DarshanasIndian schools of philosophy
Deep MeditationsVipassana, Zazen, Metta and more
EmpiricismKnowledge through experience
ExistentialismFreedom, choice and meaning
German Idealism & MarxismFrom Hegel’s dialectic to Marx
Hermeticism“As above, so below”
JainismNon-violence and many-sidedness
KabbalahJewish mysticism and the Tree of Life
MimamsaDuty and interpretation
NyayaIndian logic
RationalismReason as the source of knowledge
SamkhyaSpirit and matter
ShamanismHumanity’s oldest mystical practice
The Socratic MethodThinking by questioningStoicismControl what you canTantraShiva, Shakti and the subtle body
TheosophyBlavatsky’s “divine wisdom”
VaisheshikaAtoms and categoriesVedantaThe self and Brahman
Wicca & PaganismNature-centred religions revived
YogaThe eight limbs and four paths
Yoga PhilosophyThe Yoga Sutras and SamkhyaYogic ArtsYoga as a path to liberation