Understanding the Nine Veils

“Ninety percent of all humanity will live and die without having pierced the first veil.” – D Harkins

VeiledWomanA. True Ott – Nearly a decade ago, a dear friend and colleague of mine named Don Harkins authored a wonderfully thought-provoking piece entitled “Slavery and the eight veils.

Prior to Harkins’ untimely death, we discussed this “Eight-veils theory” for literally hours together – and in the end, Don asked me to write a piece about this for his newspaper, “The Idaho Observer.”  He did this because I had shared much of my research with Don, and we together came to the conclusion that in reality, there were actually NINE veils placed on the human soul (i.e. intelligence), and that spiritual progression and thus a full knowledge of TRUTH would require the piercing of these Nine Veils.

I joked with Don that this topic would take an entire edition of The Idaho Observer, and then it would only scratch the surface.  That was one of Don’s editorial talents – taking a complex story and compressing it to a more readable format.   In memory of Don Harkins, here is the writing we discussed, in as compressed a format as possible. Continue reading

IAI-TV ~ Theories, Mysteries and Mistakes [Video]

Theories, Mysteries and Mistakes

We assume our theories about the world are gradually uncovering the way it really is. Yet from quantum mechanics to post-structuralism, the reality the theories describe is contradictory. Should we conclude that the world is essentially unintelligible? Or is it simply the theories that are mistaken?

 

The Panel

Founder of Loop Quantum Gravity Carlo Rovelli, post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson, and philosopher of mind Jennifer Hornsby confront the limits of our understanding.


Continue reading