The soul and the conscious self: a lecture by Bahram Elahi, MD

Ostad Elahi used to define his teachings as a new medicine of the soul: one that is adapted to the true nature of human beings and adheres to the law of causality governing both their spiritual and material lives. The spirituality he practiced was natural spirituality, and he considered the process of spiritual perfection to resemble an academic curriculum.

The excerpts presented here are drawn from a lecture given at the Sorbonne in March 2011, in which Prof. Bahram Elahi revisits various aspects of Ostad Elahi's philosophy. Rephrasing them in a simple and direct manner, he relates these points to fundamental questions and identifies how they are justified from a rational standpoint.

To begin with, who are we? What is this self that we identify with? And what prevents us, in practice, from connecting to it? These questions relate to the issue of the soul and the fight against the imperious self. Next, why are we here? What is the meaning of this earthly life? These questions relate to the idea of spiritual development as a cognitive process: the process of perfecting our ordinary reason into sound reason.

As the discussion unfolds, an original definition of spirituality begins to take shape and the exact role of connecting to the divine, of faith and emotions, becomes clear.

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• Bahram Elahi
• Conscious Self
• Imperious Self
• Soul