Trust, Faith


A Sufi was once engaged in prayer, when his cell caught fire. He did not stop praying for one moment. Afterwards, people asked him about this. He replied: The divine fire held my attention, so I could not attend to the fire in my cell.

- Qushayri, "Risalah

Another book plug


The Happiness Hypothesis may be bought here....

Review:

"This was my best non-fiction book of 2006. Haidt is an academic of genuine flair. In the Happiness Hypothesis he has produced for the general reader a synthesis of robust thinking and research around happiness. It is expressed in an accessible style, using some very simple metaphors to hold the reader's attention on key themes, as the author reviews the best of the philosophy, psychology and neurology of happiness.

To put it another way, this was accessible enough to read in bed, and robust enough to fill over 24 pages of references.

My only caveat, I thought the subtitle - 'Putting ancient wisdom and philosophy to the test of modern science' - did not get to the heart of the book. This makes it sound like a series of tests of famous aphorisms. In face, Haidt is primarily interested in evidence, but uses literary and philosophical sources to illustrate and enliven his science; to ask questions of it, and to keep an open mind. But then I think that's just good science."

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