The True, The Good, The Beautiful
These three values are the fundamental goods of our world. All things of worth in life have gained their station through relation to these three values.
Being in relationship with the True, the Good, and the Beautiful is also the way our lives themselves are given meaning and value. Living a meaningful life means that these values manifest in both the content of your life and your mode of being.
When we experience the sun shining brightly on a pleasant day, we are in relationship with beauty not merely because it is a beautiful sight in itself, but rather also because we have developed a particular disposition which opens us to Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
Unfortunately, many people in our modern world feel deeply disconnected from this relationship and don't understand how to cultivate a disposition turned towards Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
Discovering Wisdom
Luckily, this is a problem human beings have been wrestling with since the dawn of self-consciousness. The result of this is a vast array of wisdom traditions that have developed throughout the course of human history.
I believe these traditions, in their depth and richness, have the ability to bring new life to our broken relationships with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty and shed light on how to tackle contemporary issues.
Reading an ancient religious text from a bygone era, however, is not necessarily a straightforward task, especially if your goal is not mere comprehension, but rather a deep understanding that is able to incorporate insights from these writings into the context of your own life.
Traditionally, there have been institutions which trained individuals in this type of instruction, such as Christian monasteries or Sufi lodges, but as modernity has eroded religious penetration in the public sphere, these institutions have fallen into obscurity for most individuals and do not appear as realistic options.
More mainstream options, such as the university, are also subpar when it comes to the dissemination of wisdom, largely due to the staggering cost of attendance, and also in part because of the university's shifted focus (for undergraduate students) on acting as an institution of pre-professional training.
My Vision
People are desperate to rekindle their relationship with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, but simply don't know what steps constitute steps in the right direction. And rightly so – our modern lives often prove to be acutely complex and filled with strife. How and where can we find solid ground to cultivate these relationships?
Through my different projects, my goal is to make traditional wisdom more accessible to the average person. The depth of the world's wisdom traditions is without question, but it is also very much the case that these are difficult things to navigate. I hope to present religious wisdom in conversation with modern issues so that this type of knowledge will not feel so obtuse or disconnected from real life.
I am just getting started and still figuring out many of the specifics of what I am doing and what methods may work best. Feel free to shoot me any feedback you may have! Most of all, I want to connect with people on a deep level, person to person. If my projects resonate with you in any way, I would love to chat with you and let the perspectives we bring enrich both of our lives!
All that is left to us by tradition is mere words. It is up to us to find out what they mean
–Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi