Comparative Philosophy

The book is dedicated to comparative philospohy of universal assumptions of philosophiae perennis by a distinguished Croatian philosopher Čedomil Veljačić and contains two main chapters: “Ethos of Cognition in the Philosophy of Čedomil Veljačić” comprising an outline, interpretation and evaluation of sources of universalism in the philosophy of Veljačić, whereas the other is “Buddhist studies” giving the summary of Buddhist researches performed by Veljačić. The book was published with the support of Croatian Ministry of Culture.

This book brings comprehensive studies from the areas of philosophy, culture and art of India, China and Japan. The book was published with the support of Croatian Ministry of Culture and Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports.

By promoting personal spiritual path the author insists on the necessity of learning about and experiencing different spiritual options of our time. It is wrong for one’s spiritual being to be founded solely in one’s own or in any single spiritual tradition. It leads to narrowing of spirituality and easily translates into unidimensionality, narrow-mindedness, unfreedom and intolerance. Planetarization is poliloguization and man as a spiritual being is a free explorer of different spiritual traditions and is called upon, as planetary inheritor, to live those traditions according to the deepest determination of his/her humanity and divinity. The evil of this world results from the monadization of spirituality, shallow monologuization and incarceration in only one mode of spirituality. This implies primarily the lack of knowledge and recognition of other and different modes of spiritual existence. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce spiritual education into the school system with the purpose of building a “polilogue” character of a young being for his/her life in the polidimensionality of spiritual life of the future.
Without polilogue openess and freedom of spirituality there is also no true humanisation of society. In his thematically diverse texts Jadran Zalokar strives both to provide arguments and thoroughly articulate this. The texts have a slightly epistolary overtone and contain the meaning of the message to the contemporary spiritual seeker who must be not only a thinker but also a dedicated spiritual aspirer.
Only a genuine spiritual seeker can also be a critical observer of what is very often disguised by pseudo-spirituality. Pseudo-spirituality is not only a consequence of ignorance or half-knowledge but also of underdeveloped spiritual character. That is why these texts also have a “paidagogic” component, but not in the form of mere “advice” or “instructions”.

Jadran Zalokar, philosophical author and explorer of spiritual traditions of the East and the West, has endeavoured for over twenty years to articulate the fundamental traits of spiritual phenomena of our time. In the context of considerations of a planetary polilogue, through series of lectures since 1990, he has been systematically deliberating diverse spiritual topics. In a very complex area of contemporary spiritual directions, he primarily discusses the issues related to spiritual upbringing, zen and tantra. What is significant is that the theoretical discourse stems from practical spiritual experience and sheds light on the hidden components of those spiritual realms of existence.
In polilogue openness, Jadran Zalokar tries to harmonize the philosophical modus of understanding with the life of a spiritual practitioner. Philosophical mind is incorporated into the dimension of spiritual perfecting and serves for the revival/living of the perennial in real life. Spiritual aspirations and intentions towards higher life also carry a philosophical pars with them. Spiritual “themes” are very current today and are very differently discussed from different levels of consciousness and degrees of spirituality. Appreciation of plurimodality and complexity of spiritual worldviews and modes of spirituality, according to the author, is the sign of the very spirituality of the new age.