A Study of Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth and The Yosemite John Muir Despite their different backgrounds and eras, William Wordsworth and John Muir found solace and inspiration in the natural world. They each had a profound, healing connection with nature at a similar young age, and during periods when they had gone through emotional…
Category: Academic Writing
Pathways to spiritual bliss in “Swallowing the Sun” and “Confessions” (Comparing the spiritual journeys of Rumi & St. Augustine)
by Manish Vaidya Rumi and Augustine both espouse a state of bliss achieved through oneness with the divine, yet their prescribed paths to attain this state are strikingly different. Rumi draws upon Sufi mystic traditions, emphasizing the importance of indulging in dance and music to lose oneself in devotion, thereby incorporating the body into the…
Al-Zarqali and the Astrolabe in al-AndalusĀ
(Essay submitted to complete requirements for the class HIS189: Muslim Spain: Philosophy and Culture., Stanford University) Manish S. Vaidya Prof. Vincent Barletta HIS189 Al-Zarqali and the Astrolabe in al-Andalus Muslim rule began in the Iberian Peninsula at the start of the eighth century CE. After a period of conquest and subsequent consolidation over the next…