Plot summary
Sirius is raised by scientist Thomas Trelone in North Wales, near Trawsfynydd. Thomas embarks on a program of using steroids and other chemicals to rapidly develop cognitive power of dogs, resulting in super sheep dogs. Sirius, however, proves to possess a dog intelligence comparable to a normal human being, as he is able to communicate with English words, although it takes some time for the humans to understand his canine pronunciation. He is born at the same time as his creator's human daughter, Plaxy, and the two of them are raised together as brother and sister. During childhood, Sirius and Plaxy develop an intense bond for each other. Their physical and intellectual growth become a sort of competition, with Sirius striving to equal his handed sister. But as they grew, their relationship comes under strain, as Sirius develops a dog-like sensitivity to sound leading to a unique musicality, while Plaxy had a strong visual aesthetic. Their different sensory experiences afforded less interest in each other's experience of the world. Soon it was time for Plaxy to attend primary school, but Sirius could not attend. Despite his pleas to learn, Plaxy became reluctant to share her school and social life experiences with him. Their lives drifted further apart. When Plaxy departed to attend boarding school, Thomas wanted to bring Sirius to Mr. Pugh's farm, where he would work as a "sheep-dog apprentice" before taking him to the city, believing the experience would be beneficial to his character. However, Thomas wanted Sirius to keep most of his human intelligence a secret, with Pugh only suspecting him to be a "Super-super-sheep-dog." After a period of time, Sirius became desperately lonely and longed for his family, Plaxy especially. He yearned to write to her, and after weeks of difficulty and strings of failure, but gradually building upon his successes, he managed to write and send out a letter to her, without the aid of human hands.
After a year being a silent sheep-dog, save for the holidays with Thomas and Plaxy, Sirius surprises Thomas by describing the psychological trauma he has experienced. Sorely realizing the insensitivity of his program, Thomas decides to show Sirius the university, where he marvels in awe. Sirius is acquainted with his creator's most trusted colleagues and scientists. They soon begin to study his mind and body. Months pass, and his new life as a pampered laboratory animal takes a toll on his physical and mental well-being, becoming overweight and agitated. After realizing his declining state, he arranges a meeting with Plaxy, now a university student. Plaxy, however, does little to console his feelings. After sensing her coldness and discomfort with him, Sirius is left feeling nauseated.
As they part for the night, an embittered and dispirited Sirius strolls through town. His mind floods with brooding thoughts of his own loneliness, analyzing the cruelty and hypocrisy of humankind, and the harshness of the universe towards all living things. Miserably depressed, lonely, and frustrated, he sought for an outlet to express the "spirit" within him. He develops a mystical idea of the perfect hunting, which is associated with his sophisticated sense of smell. The scent he pursues, the prey he's looking for is God. Sirius experiences a spiritual epiphany, seeing and sensing the world in a new light. He becomes instantly fascinated by human religion, realizing it had the answers he sought for, beyond the strict boundaries of science. His foster-mother, Elizabeth, agrees to take Sirius to a priest, Rev. Geoffrey Adams, who serves in the impoverished East End. Over a period of time, Sirius converses with Geoffrey, hoping to find the heart of spiritual truth and love, but is disappointed to learn that human religion has become lost in its doctrine and mythology. Fortunately, he discovers one outlet for his spirit, his feelings and life experience. After great persuasion to express himself, Geoffrey, with caution, allows Sirius to sing in his church — in front of an astounded audience.
When Sirius returns home, he mostly works as a sophisticated sheep-dog. But after seeing the destruction, death and misery of war, and mankind's stupidity, combined with his unique nature, which makes him isolated, he has a spiritual breakdown, and begins to indulge more and more his "wolf mood" which is irrational and murderously destructive. The final part of the story deals with his hatred towards humans and towards himself, and his violent acts. It also deals with the rumors of the rural community about Sirius' advanced nature being the work of the devil, and the scandal of Plaxy possibly having a sexual relationship with Sirius — which the novel's narrator, Plaxy's human lover, indirectly suggests that their love has a physical nature, but not directly sexual. Plaxy and Sirius have, during the whole tale, their political and personal issues, but also a very special bond, which leads to the idea of a mystical or metaphysical relationship, transcending ordinary love and understanding, which Plaxy refers to as a unique double-being, a 'Plaxy-Sirius.'
Eventually, Plaxy is conscripted during the Second World War. People continued to attack Sirius, and he subsequently sinks into deep despair. The hysterically religious population, who seek to vent their own fear and frustration with the war on an easy target, persecute Sirius with increasing violence, provoking violent responses by Sirius. Depression with what he calls the "tyrant species" cause him to abandon many of his more humane pursuits and live wild, killing many animals on their farms. One farmer and his sheepdogs venture out to hunt him, but Sirius kills the farmer in self-defense. Fear and rage rises in the town, solidifying their resolve to destroy him. Plaxy, after a desperate search, finds a terrified and feral Sirius, hiding from the townspeople. Plaxy manages to re-awaken Sirius' human mind, and tries to console him. But Sirius laments, realizing there's no place for him in the world, insisting that his human-needing spirit, and his wild wolf-side, made his nature fundamentally incompatible and torn. As they planned for their escape to Scotland, Sirius is hunted and eventually shot by the community. He dies professing his love for Plaxy, stating their life and time together, despite all the hardship, was worthwhile.
The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man", oriented at "the image of God" as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world. The term was used within early Christianity to refer to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit and broadened during the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life.
The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters are: an unrecognisably burned man — the eponymous patient, presumed to be English; his Canadian Army nurse; a Sikh British Army sapper; and a Canadian thief. The story occurs during the North African Campaign and centres on the incremental revelations of the patient's actions prior to his injuries, and the emotional effects of these revelations on the other characters. The story is told by multiple characters and "authors" of books the characters are reading.
Karl Rahner was a German Jesuit priest and theologian who, alongside Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Yves Congar, is considered to be one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century. He was the brother of Hugo Rahner, also a Jesuit scholar.
Evelyn Underhill was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism. Her best-known is Mysticism, published in 1911.
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation [of the person] for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God" or Divine love. Until the sixth century the practice of what is now called mysticism was referred to by the term contemplatio, c.q. theoria, from contemplatio, "looking at", "gazing at", "being aware of" God or the Divine. Christianity took up the use of both the Greek (theoria) and Latin terminology to describe various forms of prayer and the process of coming to know God.
The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer in the late Middle Ages. The underlying message of this work suggests that the way to know God is to abandon consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender one's mind and ego to the realm of "unknowing", at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God.
Ascetical theology is the organized study or presentation of spiritual teachings found in Christian Scripture and the Church Fathers that help the faithful to more perfectly follow Christ and attain to Christian perfection. Christian asceticism is commonly thought to imply self-denial for a spiritual purpose. The term ascetical theology is used primarily in Roman Catholic theology; Eastern Orthodox theology carries its own distinct terms and definitions, and other religious traditions conceive of following and conforming to God and Christ differently from either Orthodoxy or Catholicism.
Nature is a book-length essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published by James Munroe and Company in 1836. In the essay Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses nature, and suggests that reality can be understood by studying nature. Emerson's visit to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris inspired a set of lectures he later delivered in Boston which were then published.
A. H. Almaas is the pen name of A. Hameed Ali, a Kuwaiti American author and spiritual teacher who writes about and teaches an approach to spiritual development informed by modern psychology and therapy which he calls the Diamond Approach. "Almaas" is the Arabic word for "diamond". Almaas is originally from Kuwait. He is the spiritual head of the Ridhwan School.
Nous, or Greek νοῦς, sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, is a concept from classical philosophy for the faculty of the human mind necessary for understanding what is true or real.
In Christian theology, the imitation of Christ is the practice of following the example of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity, the term life in Christ is sometimes used for the same concept.
Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation, nihilism and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizotypal personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. A sense of emptiness is also part of a natural process of grief, as resulting death of a loved one, or other significant changes. The particular meanings of "emptiness" vary with the particular context and the religious or cultural tradition in which it is used.
This is a glossary of spirituality-related terms. Spirituality is closely linked to religion.
Mystical theology is the branch of theology in the Christian tradition that explains mystical practices and states, as induced by contemplative practices such as contemplative prayer, called theoria from the Greek for contemplation.
There are three central ideas in Sufi Islamic psychology, which are the Nafs, the Qalb (heart) and the Ruh (spirit). The origin and basis of these terms is Qur'anic and they have been expounded upon by centuries of Sufic commentaries.
Kashf "unveiling" is a Sufi concept dealing with knowledge of the heart rather than of the intellect. Kashf describes the state of experiencing a personal divine revelation after ascending through spiritual struggles, and uncovering the heart in order to allow divine truths to pour into it. Kashf is etymologically related to mukashafa “disclosure”/ “divine irradiation of the essence”, which connotes "gain[ing] familiarity with things unseen behind the veils". For those who have purified their hearts, and who come to know the Divine Names and Attributes to the fullest of their individual capacities, the veils in front of the purely spiritual realms are opened slightly, and they begin to gain familiarity with the unseen. In Sufism, an even further revelatory capacity exists by which the Divine mysteries become readily apparent to the seeker through the light of knowledge of God. This is called tajalli "manifestation".
Michael Anthony Thalbourne was an Australian psychologist who worked in the field of parapsychology. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of Edinburgh. His books include: A glossary of terms used in parapsychology (2003), The common thread between ESP and PK (2004), and Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research (2005).
Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūnus Qūnawī [alternatively, Qūnavī, Qūnyawī],, was a Persian philosopher, and one of the most influential thinkers in mystical or Sufi philosophy. He played a pivotal role in the study of knowledge—or epistemology, which in his context referred specifically to the theoretical elaboration of mystical/intellectual insight. He combined a highly original mystic-thinker, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn 'Arabī, whose arcane teachings Qūnavī codified and helped incorporate into the burgeoning pre-Ottoman intellectual tradition, on the one hand, with the logical/philosophical innovations of Ibn Sīnā, on the other. Though relatively unfamiliar to Westerners, the spiritual and systematic character of Qūnawī's approach to reasoning, in the broadest sense of the term, has found fertile soil in modern-day Turkey, North Africa and Iran not to mention India, China, the Balkans and elsewhere over the centuries.
Romantic epistemology emerged from the Romantic challenge to both the static, materialist views of the Enlightenment (Hobbes) and the contrary idealist stream (Hume) when it came to studying life. Romanticism needed to develop a new theory of knowledge that went beyond the method of inertial science, derived from the study of inert nature, to encompass vital nature. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was at the core of the development of the new approach, both in terms of art and the 'science of knowledge' itself (epistemology). Coleridge's ideas regarding the philosophy of science involved Romantic science in general, but Romantic medicine in particular, as it was essentially a philosophy of the science(s) of life.
Muhammad Iqbal was a prolific writer who authored many works covering various fields and genres such as poetry, philosophy and mysticism. His philosophical writings and poetical works had a notable impression on the religio-cultural and social revival of the East particularly subcontinent Muslim. The central theme of his philosophical thought throughout his works, prose and poetry, especially in The Secrets of the Self,The Secrets of Selflessness and Message from the East is the Doctrine of Khudi. As a Muslim sage he realized that the revival of man both as an individual and as a member of social group can only come from the ultimate central principle of his being, namely, the Self or Khudi. His knowledge convinced him that the decadent condition of Muslims was due to those philosophical systems which regard the world as a mere illusion not worth striving for, and to certain classes of Sufis who regarded self-annihilation as the highest goal of human life. He use of term Khudi is synonymous with the world of Ruh as mentioned in the Quran. To him the main purpose of the Quran is to awaken in man "the higher consciousness of his manifold relations with Allah and the universe". In his opinion the undeveloped condition and the miserable plight of the Muslim nations were due to lost real identity of Khudi and to keep distance from the true spirit of Islam. Iqbal's ideal for individual as well as social life is Self-affirmation not Self-negation which was the common teaching of Hindu intellectualism and Sufi pantheism. Hence Iqbal tried to establish a firm theoretical foundation for his viewpoints, and to discover a proper philosophical terminology for conveying his message to all the humanity. To Iqbal Khudi is a universal and comprehensive reality with different degrees in expression, which moves perfection. Various factors and principles-which are mostly the same positive and negative religio-moral qualities can strengthen or weaken Khudi in human beings until it reaches the highest stage of perfection, that is, Vicegerency of God on earth. Iqbal, therefore, condemned the doctrine of dissolution of the human self into the featureless Absolute as an Ideal of inaction and poverty of life, and developed his own doctrine based on self-affirmation under the unique name of Khudi. According to him:
- Khudi is a reality neither an abstract thought nor an idea that reveals itself as a unity of what we call mental states. Mental states does not exist in mutual isolation. They mean and involve one another. They exist as phases of a complex whole, called mind. To Iqbal, inner experience is the ego or Khudi at work. In deed our appreciation of the ego itself in the act of perceiving, judging and willing depends ultimately on the conviction that Khudi is real and is not merely an illusion of the mind.
- Khudi is a universal and multi-degree reality. There is a gradually rising note of egohood in the whole universe which differs in degree among the creatures. We are conscious of this in our own self, in nature before us and in the ultimate principle, of all life, the Ultimate Ego.
- Khudi is the gauge of the degree of reality of any living organism. In the scale of life the status of every object is fixed according to extent it develops its Khudi and gains mastery over the environment. Khudi attains highest development in man and here it becomes Personality.
- Khudi is not an independent reality. God the Infinite Khudi, is the Source of life for the finite Khudi which can maintain its existence only as long as it is in contact with this All-embracing Divine Khudi. This Khudi, born in the heart of the Infinite Khudi developing in Him, and yet distinct from Him, unable to exist without Him, but also unable to be non-existent in His presence.
- Khudi in human beings is individual and uniqueness. Iqbal says that our pleasures, pains, desires and experiences related to different things and persons which are exclusively ours, forming a part and parcel of our private Khudi alone. It is this unique interrelation of our mutual states that we express by the word ‘I’.
- Khudi is not a datum; it is an achievement. Khudi has the quality of growth as well as the quality of corruption. To Iqbal if Khudi does not take the initiative, if he does not evolve the inner richness of his being, if he ceases to feel the inward push of advancing life, then the spirit within him hardens into stone and he is reduced to the level of dead matter. The greater man's distance from God, the less his individuality.
- The highest stage of development of Khudi is not self-negation-Fana but self-affirmation-Baqa. The fully developed Khudi does not dissolve even when the Reality is seen face to face as in mystic experience. He who comes nearest to God is the completes person. Nor that he is finally absorbed in God. Fand to Iqbal is not in the meaning of annihilation of Khudi but according to the Prophetical tradition, Takhallaqu bi-Akhlaq-i-Allah, it is essentially the annihilation of human attributes and their substitution by Divine ones.Thus man becomes unique by becoming more and more like the most unique Individuality.
- The basis of Iqbal's doctrine of khudi is a strong faith in the evolution of man. To Iqbal this evolution is to be attained by fortifying Khudi. The most important factors which strengthen Khudi are: Love, desire, Action, Faqr, Courage, Suffering, Tolerance and Forbearance. Khudi in this evolutionary process towards uniqueness has to pass through three stages; Obedience to Law, Self-Control and Divine-Vicegerency.
- By the side of factors and rules which strengthen Khudi, the fully grown Khudi will not be attained unless it associates with other Khudis in the community to which it belongs. So the kind of society in which the greatest scope for the free development of Khudi is provided is of the great importance. According to Iqbal's philosophy of Khudi, a nation is, just as the individual, a Khudi, and has to follow the same lines of conduct as the individual does. Hence the same rules and elements required to flourish the individual Khudi are applied to the community as the national Khudi as well.
