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Spirituality for Modern Times
Spirituality, like Science, is a field of research and study. We want to understand ourselves, the world around us, and what it means to be alive on Earth. We want to discover who we really are, and we want to understand our suffering. Understanding our suffering gives rise to acceptance and love, and this is…
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Women in Marco Polo’s Travels
Marco Polo experienced a number of cultural shocks during his travels in the east, especially regarding how women lived in different cultures. Let’s see what he meant.
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A Brief History of the Middle East (Part Four)
In this episode of our History of the Middle East series, we now arrive at the Roman Empire and its influence on the region. Let’s begin then. The next few centuries of Roman rule meant efficiency, good order and justice in accordance with Roman law. The road and tax systems were greatly improved. Egypt became…
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Marcel Proust’s Advice on the Possibility of an Apocalypse
If you lived in Paris in the 1920s, you might have enjoyed reading a newspaper called L’Intransigeant. It had a reputation for investigative news, metropolitan gossip and incisive editorials. It also had a habit of dreaming up big questions and asking French celebrities to send in their replies. In the summer of 1922, the paper…
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A Brief History of the Middle East (Part Three)
Note: This is part three of our History of the Middle East series. To read part two, please click here. Alexander’s dream of a vast united Hellenistic empire did not survive his early death, as his conquests were disputed between his generals. But Hellenistic civilisation remained dominant in the successor empires which stretched from Persia…
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A Food History of Calcutta
Calcutta was a city certainly befitting royalty during its tenure as the capital of British India from 1772 to 1911. Law and order were excellent and the city was at the heart of a thriving economy. Migrants from other parts of the country and from foreign lands came to the city. Expatriate communities, including Armenians…
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Reading the History of South India
South India. What does the term remind you of? The food? The culture? The ancient architecture? Or simply the better part of India? Although no political realm named South India ever existed, a cultural, geographical and geopolitical space of that description has been there in common parlance. In fact, it was long recognised in history…
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What Happened to Prophet Muhammad on Mount Hira?
Perhaps it could only have happened when he was forty, given the auspiciousness of that number throughout the Middle East. For the Beduin, for instance, it is a healing number — one that saves life. A common cure-all is called al-arabin, the forty, a blend of herbs in olive oil and clarified butter. Traditional healers…
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