Seekers of Unity

A Journey across centuries and continents, tracing the relationship between Muslims and Jews through their shared mystical practices, beliefs and texts.  Exploring the moments in history of fruitful interaction between Sufism (Islamic Mysticism) and Jewish Mysticism.   02:52 - 11th Century Spain | Bahya ibn Pakuda: Duties of the Heart  05:26 - 13th Century Egypt | Abraham Maimonides: Egyptian Pietism   10:22 - 16th Century Israel | The Kabbalah of Safed   11:17 - 18th Century Eastern Europe | Hasidism   If there are any Sufis or students of Sufism out there who are keen to collab and come on the channel, please please please let me know.  Please do Follow, Like, Subscribe if you dig this kinda content. #ProjectUnity  Thank you to youtube.com/bimbam for the animations.    Sources and Further Reading: “Judaism and Sufism”, Paul Fenton, in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue, Philosophy and Mysticism in Bahya ibn Paquda's "Duties of the Heart", Diana Lobel Between Mysticism and Philosophy: Sufi Language of Religious Experience in Judah Ha-Levi's Kuzari, Diana Lobel   Jewish Mystical Leaders of the 13th Century, Paul Fenton Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt A Study of Abraham Maimonides and His Times, Elisha Russ-Fishbane  Shalom/Salaam: A Story of a Mystical Fraternity, Thomas Block Sufism and Jewish-Muslim Relations, Yafia Katherine Randall Treatise of the Pool, Obadyah Maimonides, translated and introduced by Paul Fenton  “How small is your [conception of] God, if it can't include the beauty of the Muslim, the Jew and the Christian.”

Episode 10 is a Top 10! Ten best books every aspiring student of Mysticism must read, lol   02:00 Joseph Campbell | Thou Art That | Mythology  03:30 Fritjof Capra | Tao of Physics | Physics  04:35 Jill Bolte Taylor | My Stroke of Insight | Neuroscience  05:37 Walter Terence Stace | Mysticism and Philosophy | Philosophy   05:57 Glenn Magee (ed.) | The Cambridge Handbook of: Western Mysticism and Esotericism   07:15 David R. Loy | Nonduality, A Study in Comparative Philosophy | Eastern Mysticism  08:43 Gershom Scholem | Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism | Jewish Mysticism  10:00 Carlos Castañeda | The Teachings of Don Juan | Native American Mysticism   11:05 Annemarie Schimmel | Mystical Dimensions of Islam | Sufism   12:20  William James | The Varieties of Religious Experience | Psychology   12:47 Aldous Huxley | The Perennial Philosophy | Perennialism   13:30 Evelyn Underhill | Mysticism | Christian Mysticism   Hope you enjoyed this lil list Which books would u have put on? What are your favorites? What should I read next? Send a voicenote and let mek now!  Stace's book, Philosophy and Mysticism reviewed here: https://youtu.be/HYxC-qhmV6w For a really short History of Mysticism check out: https://youtu.be/kiSdWxEWMt8 And for a crack at defining Mysticism see this: https://youtu.be/xziekmekans #ProjectUnity

A story of poets, pirates, sultans, queens, philosophers, mystics, kabbalists and heretics, forced conversions, attempted assassinations, and inquisitions.     01:20 Brief History of the Scholarship    03:30 Story of Avraham Cohen de Herrera   14:44 From Herrera to Spinoza   18:00 The Textual Witnesses      23:03 Spinoza’s Kabbalistic Ideas   28:21 Spinoza and Hasidism   34:03 Spinoza and Mysticism    39:23 Closing thoughts   Like and Subscribe for more good stuff like this.  #ProjectUnity Check out Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/Sat1pz1N63U   Sources:  Ethics, Baruch Spinoza  Theological-Political Treatise, Baruch Spinoza  Gate of Heaven, Avraham Cohen de Herrera  From the Gate of Heaven to the ‘Field of Holy Apples’, Yitzhak Y. Melamed  Spinoza and Kabbalah, Henry Walter Brann  The Influence of Abraham Cohen de Herrera's Kabbalah on Spinoza's Metaphysics, Miquel Beltrán  Spinoza’s Metaphysics, Yitzhak Y. Melamed  Baruch or Benedict: On Some Jewish Aspects of Spinoza's Philosophy, Zeev Levy   Idel on Spinoza, Warren Zev Harvey  Introduction to Spinoza’s Complete Works, Michael Morgan   Autobiography, Salomon Maimon  Keter Shem Tov, Hosafot, p. 395  Likkutei Dibburim, Tof Reish Samach Aleph, vol. 4, p. 2  Sefer Hasichot, Tof Resh Pei Tzadik, p. 229  Chassidim U-Misnagdim, Mordechai Willensky, vol. 1, pp. 187ff.  Plumbing Rav Kook’s Panentheism, Bezalel Naor  Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution, Yehuda Mirsky, p. 56.   Yonati be-Haguei ha-Sela, Dov Schwarz, pp. 205-206

Check out our dank discussion of Spinoza in the context Western Philosophy, Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah. We'll talk about his Metaphysics, his take on God, about the possibility of seeing him as a Mystic and at the end we'll reconsider his Cherem (excommunication).  #ReclaimingSpinoza #ProjectUnity  01:55 Biographical Sketch   06:19 Spinoza's Fans   10:08 Philosophical Influences   12:22 Spinoza's Metaphysics   29:32 Spinoza's God 33:22 Atheist, Pantheist or Panentheist?  44:45 Perceptions of Spinoza  48:11 Spinoza and Judaism  54:06 Spinoza and the Love of God  56:25 Spinoza and Kabbalah/Mysticism   1:17:39 Reconsidering the Cherem  Being novice enthusiasts, we're bound to have made plenty of mistakes, please call us out in the comments, thx, much love.  Also, comment your thoughts about whether Spinoza should be taken out of Cherem. We'll take a tally at the end and pass it on to big rabbis.  Check out my good-looking friend's sick poetry at ShaulSolomon.com   Subscribe for more epic content. Lmk your thoughts on this vid in the comments 😘   Sources:  Spinoza, Ethics Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Nadler, The Jewish Spinoza Nadler, A Book Forged in Hell  Della Rocca, Spinoza Beltrán, The Influence of Abraham Cohen de Herrera's Kabbalah on Spinoza's Metaphysics  Buber, Spinoza, Sabbatai Zevi and the Baal Shem Brann, Spinoza and Kabbalah Melamed, From the Gate of Heaven to the ‘Field of Holy Apples’

Adventure into the birth of the cosmos, to find truths that can be scarcely told with words. We're going to dive into the chaos to explore the creation myths of mystical traditions to see what stories they share for us today.   On the hunt for the Mega-Myth of Mysticism with Jung and Campbell. We're gonna catch a big one. Join us in our excavation of the oldest stories mankind has told about Creation, the Gods and ultimately; Ourselves.   Separated by thousands of years and millions of miles, disparate cultures still, amazingly, share common profound mythological elements. In this vid we’ll be looking at the key ideas of: The Primordial Chaos. Emerging from the Chaos. The Desire for the Other. Tzimtzum, Creating Space. And Sparagmos, Death and Rebirth We excavate the oldest stories mankind has told about the Creation, the Formation, the Structure and Destiny of the world, the Gods and ultimately; Ourselves.   Separated by thousands of years and millions of miles, disparate cultures still, amazingly, share common profound mythological elements. In this vid we’ll be looking at the key ideas of: The Spark of Creation, Emanations, Separation, Completion, The Fall, Fallen Sparks and The Return. #ProjectUnity

A Reflection on the 3rd of Tammuz - 25 Years since the Rebbe's Passing | Ode to Immortality Transcript: This Saturday, the 6th of July 2019 marks and commemorated the 25 anniversary of Gimmel Tammuz, the 3rd of the Hebrew month of Tammuz. The day the sun stood still in its tracks. This Gimmel Tammuz is 25 years since the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and 25 years is a hell of a long time. The Rebbe was a radical mystic. The Rebbe was a man who carried the pain of the world on his forehead, and radiated the joy of the cosmos through his smile. A man whose every step oozed courage and inspired conviction. Like Moses standing on top of Mount Sinai. The Rebbe spoke with 3000 years of wisdom. I still saw him still reflected in my father’s eyes, engulfed in flames, dancing in a ring of fire, clutching a burning scroll of black fire on white fire. There are those that say the Rebbe was larger than life, a common descriptor for people whose lives we're at a loss to describe from the vantage point of our puny egoic existences, the Rebbe, my guess is, would say no, in his warm Russian accent, you only don't yet know, you have no idea, how large life is. People say as well that the Rebbe was the Messiah, a controversial claim no doubt. But the Rebbe was more than that. The Rebbe was one who made it his lifelong mission to ignite the messianic flame in every soul on this godforsaken planet. To blow the few remaining ashes of Auschwitz into a blaze that would burn so bright, so bright it would rudely awaken the slumbering messiah in the collective heart of humanity. The Rebbe was the Messiah whisperer, the one who entreats; wake up, wake up, arise from the ashes, shake off the dust, the time of your redemption has come The Rebbe was no doubt a man of action, one who inspired and demanded action by example. Action that sanctifies the mundane, that brings meaning, life, beauty and poetry into the ordinary, with one arm raising live to celestial highs and the other tearing down the heavens to plant it in quotidian, in the terrestrial, in the everyday. But the Rebbe was more than that, the Rebbe was a child, a child with curly hair who had a vision of this world transformed into a beautiful garden. And what set the Rebbe apart was that he kept that vision locked perpetually in his gaze, you could see it in his eyes. And the Rebbe marched toward that vision every day, and pulled us in, in his gravitational wave, towards that vision. At times it feels that we failed him, we failed to see that vision that that child saw. A child who just wanted for the rest of the world to see how beautiful it could become, so easily, if they only believed it could. The Rebbe was crushed, because we couldn’t share that vision of his. The Rebbe’s lifelong mission, his single minded obsession was to get us to open our eyes, tzum effen de eygen, as the Rebbe would say, to see the world through that child’s eyes. Even on those days when I find it hard to call myself the Rebbe’s chosid, I’m still the Rebbe’s child, and as his child I share his eyes. And although 25 years marks the passing of the Rebbe, the Rebbe is certainly not dead, because ideas cannot die, and a life that is lived as the embodiment of an idea, an idea that brings life to those that hear it, scoffs death entirely. Because immortal truths do not die. 25 years is way too long and it’s time for us to take action, to see the world the way that the Rebbe say it, to see ourselves the way the Rebbe saw us, as Godly, to see the world around us, the people around us as beautiful and Divine, and then we will see the Rebbe’s eyes again. #ProjectUnity

Explaining the Why behind this Channel and Launching #ProjectUnity Inviting You to Dream with Me, Daring You to Share and Join the Revolution.   Post that idea that moves you on YouTube, Facebook, Insta... Tag it #ProjectUnity. Share it with your friends (+ dare them to share too), so we can all see what you're bringing to the good fight.   Take the Plunge, Carpe Diem, Yolo, Just Do It, etcetera, etcetera. You got this. All on You Now. No Pressure.

Defining Mysticism in terms of Experience, Theory and Practice.  • 1 - Experience - Mystical Experience:  Historical and Contemporary  - In language of Psychology:  Ego Death   Unitive Consciousness   Peak Experience / Flow state  - In the Language of Theology:  Prophecy, Theosis, Unio Mystica   Dvekut, Gnosis, Fana, Baqa,  Samadhi, Moksha, Satori, Nirvana  • 2 - Thought/Conceptualization  - Mythology: Death, Rebirth and Immortality  Apotheosis   - Theology/Theosophy: Pan(en)theism  - Philosophy/Metaphysics: Monism Non-Dualism • 3 - Practice/Action  The Mystics Ethical Imperative

Fast-paced intro to the History of Mysticism in under 10, strap in     •  (Prehistory) Birth – One with Nature - 1:17Animism, Shamanism, Indigenous/Native Traditions, Egyptian, Proto Indo-Iranian, Proto Indo-European, Vedic and Mesopotamian Religion    •  (1000BCE) Infancy - 1:36Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroaster, Greco-Roman Mysteries     •  (500bce) Discovering Self - 2:07Upanishads, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hebrew prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Greek Philosophers Pythagoras, Parmenedies and Plato, Taoism - Lao tzu    •  (0) Rebellious age - 3:08Early Jewish Mysticism: Essenes, Qumran, Hasideans, Therapeutae, Apocalypticism, Merkava, Hechalot. Philo - Middle Platonism. Early Christian Mysticism: Paul, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Origen, Augustine, Pseudo Dionysius, Christian East: Maximus the Confessor. Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Neoplatonism: Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus. East: The Bhagavad Gita. Theravada and later Mahayana Buddhism •  (5th – 10th/11th) Dark Night / Death of Mysticism - 4:14One exception in the West: John Scotus. Sufism: Al-Hallaj and Al-Farabi. East: Shankara, Advaita Vedanta. Zen and Tibetan Buddhism    •  (12th-15th) the Rebirth – Renaissance - 5:14Christian Mystics: Francis of Assisi, Albertus Magnus, Mesiter Ekhart, Raymond Llull, Nicolas of Cusa. Jewish Mystics: Ibn Gabirol, Isaac the Blind, Chasidei Ashkenaz, Eleazar of Worms, Avrohom ben HaRambam, Azriel of Gerona, Avrohom Abulafia, Nahmanides, Publicising of the Zohar, Joseph Gikatilla's Shaarei Orah. Sufis: Rumi, Ibn Arabi. Sikhism. Christian Kabbalists: Marsilo Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Giordano Bruno   •  (1500s) Growth - 6:14Safed Kabbalists: Joseph Karo, Shlomo Alkabetz, Moses Cordovero, Isaac Luria, Hayim Vital. Christian Mystics: Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross     •  (1600s) - 6:45Spinoza - Pantheism. George Fox - Quakers. Mulla Sadra - Illuminationism   •  (18th) Enlightenment – Waking up, Mirror Phase  Newton, Rosicrucianism, Swedenborg, William Blake, Yisrael Baal Shem - Hasidism, Jakob Böhme - Bohemian Theosophy. Idealism & Romanticism: Berkeley, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and Schopenhauer •  (1800s) - 7:32Transcendentalism, Emerson and Thoreau.  Occultism: Eliphas Levi, Madam Blavatsky and Manly P. Hall - Theosophical Society      •  (1900s)  Rudolf Steiner - Anthroposophy, Gurdjieff - Fourth Way, René Guénon - Traditionalism. Modern Perennialists: William Jame, Aldous Huxley. Neohasidism: Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, Avraham Yeshua Heschel,  Zalman Schecher-Shalomi. Buddhist Modernism and NeoVedanta: Alan Watts, Professor Suzuki, Christmas Humphreys. New Age. Modern study of Mysticism    •  [Summary] - 7:55  •  (2019:) You #ProjectUnity  Let me know which of these periods, traditions, movements or mystics you want to hear covered in a future episode. 

In this colab-convo, Shaul Solomon and i discuss some low-key issues in life, such as Suffering, Enlightenment, the Structure of Reality, Will, Desire and Pleasure, and Beauty, from the perspectives of Schopenhauer and Buddhism.   02:28 Intro to Schopenhauer   05:08 Intro to Buddhism   08:55 Intro to Idealism  16:64 The Ding an Sich   17:30 Schopenhauer's Idealism, the Will   23:06 Suffering and Pessimism   41:33 Schopenhauer's Paths to Enlightenment  1:20:37 Schopenhauer and Chasidut    Being novice enthusiasts, we're bound to have made plenty of mistakes, please call us out in the comments, thx, much love.   Sources consulted:   An Open System: The Meaning of Mysticism in Schopenhauer, Alessandro Medri: https://mondodomani.org/dialegesthai/ame02.htm Schopenhauer and Buddhism, Bhikku Ñáóájìvako: https://www.what-buddha-said.net/ Schopenhauer and Buddhism, Peter Abelsen: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1399616?seq=1 https://www.iep.utm.edu/schopenh/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schopenhauer/ https://www.iep.utm.edu/schopenh/ http://existentialcomics.com/comic/256 Check out my good-looking friend at https://shaulsolomon.com/  Like, follow, or Subscribe to my youtube https://youtube.com/seekersofunity for more epic content. Lmk in the comments what you wanna see covered next 😘  #ProjectUnity