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  • The Long History of Free Will: From Greece to India to China

    The Long History of Free Will: From Greece to India to China

    Introduction

    Since the beginning of human history, one question has always troubled human cognition and, in turn, human philosophy: Does free will exist? For millennia, scholars, thinkers, philosophers, and theologians have sought to answer the question in their own way, considering their time and place. In this blog, we discuss various theories regarding free will from twenty ancient philosophy schools across Greece, India, and China. We also discuss their basic ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology, which helped determine their stance on free will.

    Chapter 1: Platonism

    Platonism was the ancient Greek school, based on Plato’s teachings. They believed that moral goodness comes from aligning the soul with the good. They considered the soul to be eternal and indestructible, while the material world was considered to be continuously changing.  For them, the ultimate virtue was knowledge, while the real evil was ignorance. According to them, free will depended on recollection of knowledge. The more the soul makes a decision based on knowledge and reason, the more freedom it has over its will. In short, free will increases with rational thinking. Although officially, the school ended, their idea of free will shaped early Christian theology, creating an amalgamation of idealism and moral realism.

    Chapter 2: Aristotelianism

    Aristotelians gave more priority to practical knowledge over reason and induction. For them, the substances were composites of form and matter, and causes explained changes. Thus, they believed that humans have complete free will, as they could make informed choices, assisted by rational thinking. Aristotelianism gave the foundation to modern Western ethics as well as many concepts within psychology and psychoanalysis.

    Chapter 3: Stoicism

    Stoicism was an hellenistic school, which considered living according to reason and nature as the highest virtue. According to them, everything unfolded necessarily, as the cosmos was governed by Logos (a kind of divine universal reason). The external events were already determined, but the inner ascent based on knowledge gained was free, thus giving assurance to a limited free will.  Stoicism, centuries later, strongly influenced modern CBT and psychology.

    Chapter 4: Epicureanism

    The Epicureans were the descendants of the ancient Greek Atomist school. They considered that the world is made of atoms, roaming freely in space, thus denying an overlooking God. They believed pleasure (absence of pain) to be the highest virtue and the sensory experience to be the foundation of knowledge as free will. Since the Epicureans defined the world to be independent of any external forces, they advocated for complete free will, breaking strict determinism. Epicurean thoughts can be found within modern secular ethics and materialism, particularly in the Western world.

    Chapter 5: Skepticism

    The Skeptics were rationalists with no claim about either an ultimate reality or an overlooking power. They considered knowledge to be always contestable and preached living life pragmatically. The skeptic school believed in free will and avoided any theory regarding predestination. Skepticism shaped scientific reason and critical thinking, even centuries after the school formally ceased to exist.

    Chapter 6: Cynicism

    The Cynic school had a radical virtue that rejected any type of convention and promoted living according to nature in a minimalistic and anti-speculative way. They believed that truth is lived, not theorized, and intellectual systems corrupt authenticity. When it comes to free will, they avoided answering that directly and considered true freedom came from detachment from social and psychological constraints. Cynic values are today found in some form within anti-consumerism and moral minimalism.

    Chapter 7: Neoplatonism

    It was a school that rose at the end of the Hellenistic period and influenced the Roman Empire after Greece became a colony of Rome. They were the believer of a hierarchical world. The highest of the realities was the One, an ultimate reality beyond thought, followed by the Intellect or Nous, where thoughts and ideas thrived. The third level was that of the Soul or Psyche, which animated the world and acted as a bridge between the higher and the lower levels. The final bottommost level was the material world, a gross world filled with imperfections changing continuously. The school gave intuition priority over reasoning, and believed that the soul is free to turn inward or outward to the material or the intelligible realms. Neoplatonism greatly affected Western mysticism as well as medieval and early-modern philosophy.

    Chapter 8: Sāṁkhya-Yoga

    Sāṁkhya and Yoga were two of the oldest Indian philosophy schools. The twin schools were dualistic in nature, believing the world is made of Puruṣa (consciousness) and Prakṛti (nature). They considered liberation as a result of acquiring discrimination between consciousness and matter. To them, although psychological processes were determined, they believed in limited free will through the process of non-identification and detachment. The schools gave birth to meditation techniques for various Eastern traditions and also contributed to the modern mind-body dualism debates.

    Chapter 9: Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika

    They were the proponents of ancient realist pluralism. The Nyāya school used highly developed logic with great emphasis on inference and debate, while Vaiśeṣika believed the world is made up of smaller indivisible particles called Anu, thus both school rejecting a creator God. They believed that humans are moral agents capable of choice, and their karma (action) determines the karmaphala (outcomes). The schools, although nearly extinct today, became the foundation of logic and epistemology for the Indian religions.

    Chapter 10: Mīmāṁsā

    It was a non-theistic school that emphasizes dharma (righteous conduct) and rituals over everything else. The followers gave importance to language and testimony (Vedas) as the authoritative sources of knowledge. They believed in limited free will, as they debated that will is mostly determined by the moral and righteous act, thus limiting free will to a lower importance. Mīmāṁsā influenced the later Hindu rituals as well as the rule-based ethics system.

    Chapter 11: Advaita Vedānta

    The Indian non-dual philosophy school and tradition, Advaita Vedānta, believes that only Brahman (collective consciousness) is real, while the entire universe is merely a reflected/limited projection of it because of Māyā (cosmic illusion). For the Advaitins, avidyā (ignorance) causes bondage, resulting in the debate of whether free will exists or not. But acquiring self-knowledge (jñāna) makes one realise that everything is Brahman, so the question of free will becomes somewhat meaningless. The Advaita Vedantā school still exists today and strongly influences consciousness studies and non-dual philosophies all over the world.

    Chapter 12: Theistic Vedānta 

    All the other Vedānta schools (Vedānta means that which ends or completes the Vedas, i.e., the Upaniṣads, which all the Vedantins follow) except Advaita Vedanta are theistic in nature, i.e., they believe in a personal God with qualities or attributes. Important schools like Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedanta and Dvaita Vedanta believed in a creator God, independent consciousness, and a very real world. Although the schools ranged from qualified non-dualism to complete dualism, all of them believe that real and moral free will exists within divine governance, and thus emphasize bhakti (devotion to God) over jñāna (self-knowledge). They are some of the dominant philosophical schools in India today and have heavily impacted Hindu cultural ethics and devotional theology.

    Chapter 13: Theravāda Buddhism

    They are the oldest branch of Buddhist philosophy, which emphasizes that reality is impermanent and conditioned. They believe that no enduring self exists, and true insight can be gained through mindfulness and direct experiential observation. They believe in a conditioned free will, which can be transformed through rigorous disciplinary practices. Theravāda is most famous today in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and has greatly impacted mindfulness-based therapies, meditation, and cognitive psychology.

    Chapter 14: Mahāyana Buddhism

    Mahāyana or the Greater Vehicle Buddhists believe that emptiness (śūnyatā) denies the fundamental nature of all phenomena, and everything is relative. They emphasize interdependence and compassion as some of the highest virtues. Regarding free will, they believe that the freedom of someone increases as they get to understand the relativity of everything around, and also the importance of relational causality and interdependence. Mahāyana today exists and dominates the Himalayan regions as well as the East Asian countries, and contributes heavily to the ethics of care and interdependence.

    Chapter 15: Jainism

    Jains are the proponents of absolute non-violence. They believe in pluralistic realism, as souls are distinct and eternal. According to their epistemology, truth can have multiple interpretations, suggesting that different people perceive it in various ways. This principle is called anekāntavāda. Regarding free will, they have a strong emphasis on individual responsibility and self-control over complete freedom. Jainism today exists mostly in western India and is a true leader when it comes to ethics, environmentalism, and agency debates. 

    Chapter 16: Cārvāka

    It was the Indian materialistic school that believed neither in any consciousness nor in any afterlife. They were the ultimate anti-ascetic, pleasure-oriented, pragmatists, who saw only perception as a valid knowledge. They believed in complete free will, which is unconstrained by any God, karma, responsibility, or anything. As they believed nothing exists after death, they advocated living life to the fullest. Although the original atheistic school went extinct, it gave rise to early secularism and rational critique of any kind of metaphysics.

    Chapter 17: Confucianism

    Confucianism is an Ancient Chinese school which gives emphasize or moral cultivation through roles, rituals, and virtue. It advocates deep respect for tradition and self-cultivation. According to the school, true freedom lies in self-discipline, and not in individual autonomy. Confucianism is completely absorbed within most of the East Asian cultures and acts as a guide for social ethics, proper education, and political philosophy.

    Chapter 18: Daoism

    The Daoists believe in effortless action (wu-wei) and harmony with nature. They consider Dao as the ultimate source or principle of the universe, which also maintains the natural order over everything. They emphasize intuition over analytical reasoning and believe that free will emerges from non-resistance to natural flow. Presently, Daoism is greatly present in China, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam as it continues teaching systematic thinking along with considering the ecological consequences.

    Chapter 19: Legalism

    Legalism was a Chinese philosophy that considered law and order as more ethically important than virtue. They had a pragmatic worldview and considered knowledge as a tool for power. Regarding free will, they had the belief that human nature should be shaped externally with law and punishment. Legalism significantly influenced the political realist and authoritarian governance model in China over the centuries.

    Chapter 20: Mohism

    Mohism was an important school in ancient China based on universal concern and social utility. It was naturalistic and anti-ritualistic. The Mohists considered that humans have a considerable amount of free will, as they can make decisions based on logical argument and reason. The school strongly impacted the scientific and logical development in the Sinosphere throughout the millennia.

    Conclusion

    Thus, we see that the question of free will was answered by different ancient philosophical schools differently. While the Epicureans and the Cārvākas believed in complete freedom, the Cynics and the Legalists advocated nearly no free will. Most schools tried answering not whether free will exists, but whether free will should be exercised in their own way. From Neoplatonists to Advaitins, from Daoists to Jains, all had their own conclusion. Hope you followed the individual perspectives of these schools regarding free will clearly. 

    That is all for today. Hope you enjoyed it. Please like, share, and subscribe to keep me motivated. And finally, thank you for reading the blog.

  • Understanding God in Indian Thought: An Introductory Overview of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh Perspectives

    Understanding God in Indian Thought: An Introductory Overview of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh Perspectives

    Introduction

    Since the time of cognitive evolution, humans have continually sought reasons for our existence and our surroundings. As a result, our ancestors developed their own metaphysics, cosmology, and the concept of God based on their cultural surroundings. In Indian civilization, the people slowly developed a unique way of understanding the divine creation, which is very different from the Abrahamic traditions more popular in the West. A verse from the Ṛgveda, the earliest known scripture of India, beautifully captures the Indian way of thought and the freedom of thought. It quotes, “ekam sat viprā bahudā vadanti,” which translates to “Truth is one, but the wise call it by various names.” All the traditions of India that emerged later, fully or partially, were inspired by this very verse, which led to a diverse understanding of the truth and the path for finding the truth. In this blog, we discuss the most important 20 philosophical thoughts and traditions that emerged in the Indian civilization through the lens of how they view the concept of God and the universe. This blog doesn’t intend to give any judgment on which path is superior, as ultimately all path ultimately leads to the same truth, with the right intention. This blog can be considered an introductory article for understanding the Indian philosophical school, without going deeper into any, as it’s nearly impossible to give detailed information on every school in a single blog. Most schools are arranged in a chronological order, except for a few exceptions for better comparative understanding. So let’s begin.

    1. Cārvāka (Lokāyata)

    The Cārvāka school is one of the earliest philosophical schools in India. They are the ultimate materialists. According to them, there is no God, and no individual or collective consciousness (ātman & brahman), and no transcendental principle. According to them, only matter exists, and reality is composed of four elements (earth, water, fire, air). They reject any form of scripture and give priority to only perception (pratyakṣa) as valid knowledge. They don’t believe in any form of karma, rebirth, heaven, or liberation. They are radical atheist who believe ethics is pragmatic, and not cosmic.

    2. Sāṃkhya-Yoga

    The Sāṃkhya and Yoga were separate philosophical traditions with a lot of similarities and shared doctrines. They slowly merged such that in today’s world, it’s impossible to study or follow one without studying the other. Both schools are dualistic, and according to their metaphysics, reality is composed of Puruṣa (pure, passive, multiple, eternal consciousness) & Prakṛti (primordial, active, unconscious matter). Sāṃkhya believes in no God, while Yoga believes in Īśvara (personal God – who is not a creator God but a special Puruṣa, unaffected by karma and suffering, who is an idle object for meditation). Both schools believe liberation comes from discriminative knowledge between Puruṣa & Prakṛti. According to them, reality is made up of 25 tattvas (elements) like intellect, ego, senses, and natural elements. Thus, both schools describe reality without a creator God, treating liberation as a psychological-metaphysical separation.

    3. Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika

    They are twin schools, which originally started as separate schools during the Axial Age, but were merged millennia later around the 10th-13th century CE. Both schools are pluralistic and believe in many consciousnesses (ātman) and many substances. They accept a personal God (Īśvara) as an intelligent ordering principle. They believe God is not the material cause but the efficient cause of the universe. The  Nyāya school is the school of logic, which believes in four means of knowledge: perception, inference, comparison, and testimony. They believe God’s existence is established through inference and not through revelation alone. They also believe rational argument is central and more important than faith. According to Vaiśeṣika ontology, the universe is composed of eternal atoms (earth, water, fire, air), which are arranged by Īśvara according to karma, and suffering comes from karma alone, not any divine will. Both the schools present a rational theism where God is an architect and moral governor, who is discovered through logic rather than mystical insight.

    4. Mīmāṃsā (Pūrva Mīmāṃsā)

    The Mīmāṃsā scholars believe that no creator God is required to explain the universe, and reality is governed by dharma or righteous duty. They believe the Vedas are authorless and eternal. The Gods mentioned in the Vedas are considered by them as functional entities, invoked through ritual, not supreme creators. According to their cosmology, the universe is beginningless, and ritual action itself produces results through an unseen potency (apūrva), not divine intervention. They give more preference to the verbal testimony (śabda) of the Vedas over perception and inference. Mīmāṃsā presents a ritual-centered, non-theistic worldview, where cosmic order functions without a supreme God.

    5. Advaita Vedānta

    According to Advaita Vedānta, only Brahman (infinite, changeless, non-dual consciousness) is real, while the world is mithyā, i.e, dependent and provisional. According to them, the individual soul (ātman) is the same as the eternal soul (brahman). They believe in Īśvara (personal God), who exists at the empirical level, and is actually Brahman reflected through māyā (cosmic illusion or ignorance). They believe the universe appears through māyā and is not a real creation but a mere manifestation, as the only truth, i.e., Brahman itself does not change or act. Epistemologically, they believe liberation comes through direct, non-dual insight or knowledge (jñāna) that removes ignorance, rather than through any ritual or belief. They give importance to the teachings of the Upaniṣads (the fourth and the last section of the Vedas) that help in attaining jñāna. In short, Advaita Vedānta presents God as ultimately impersonal and non-dual, with the personal God serving as a pedagogical reality within ignorance.

    6. Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

    According to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, Brahman is personal and identified with Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa. God is considered as one, and consciousness (cit) and matter (acit) are real and dependent attributes of God. For them, the world is real, and not illusory. Their God, unlike that of Advaitins, possesses infinite auspicious qualities, and ātmans are modes (prakāra) of Brahman, not identical to him. Their cosmology shows the universe existing as God’s body, and creation as a real transformation of God’s power. For Viśiṣṭādvaitins, knowledge is important, but devotion (bhakti) and grace are central. Complete surrender (prapatti) leads to liberation. Viśiṣṭādvaita presents God as a personal, all-compassing reality, where unity and difference coexist without illusion.

    7. Dvaita Vedānta

    This is a dualistic school and tradition that considers reality as irreducibly dualistic. In Dvaita Vedānta, the God (Viṣṇu), individual consciousnesses, and matter are eternally distinct. The difference (bheda) is real, and neither provisional nor illusory, like the previously mentioned two schools. To them, God is supreme, independent (svatantra), and personal. Consciousnesses and matter are dependent realities (paratantra). They consider five real distinctions or pañcabheda. They are: God-consciousness, God-matter, consciousness-consciousness, consciousness-matter, matter-matter. These differences persist even after liberation. Dvaitins also believe liberation leads to eternal proximity to God, and not union. Dvaita presents God as a supreme, personal ruler, eternally distinct from anything else, rejecting all forms of non-dual identity.

    8. Dvaitādvaita Vedānta

    According to them, reality is characterized by both difference and non-difference. To them, Brahman (Kṛṣṇa/Rādhā) is the supreme reality, and consciousness and the world are distinct yet inseparable from God. God is seen as personal, loving, and relational, and is considered the cause, sustainer, and inner controller of the universe. Both knowledge and devotion together are seen as the means of liberation, with special importance given to bhakti for Kṛṣṇa. Dvaitādvaita portrays God as a unity that naturally includes differences, avoiding both absolute identity and absolute separation.

    9. Śuddhādvaita Vedānta

    According to Śuddhādvaita Vedānta, Brahman alone exists, but unlike Advaita, the world is fully real. Brahman manifests the universe without losing perfection. God is seen as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the complete and joyful Brahman, and the world is a real expression of divine play (līlā). According to them, liberation is achieved through Bhakti and loving participation in God’s līlā. This school presents God as pure, joyful reality, where the world is not a problem to escape, but a divine expression to be embraced.

    10. Acintya Bhedābheda

    The last of the Vedānta schools, Acintya Bhedābheda, believes reality is simultaneously one and different, in a way that is acintya (inconceivable to logic). They consider Kṛṣṇa as the supreme personal manifestation. God is personal, relational, and supreme, with all his energy (śaktis) manifesting both the world and the individual consciousnesses. They consider creation as purposeful and not illusory. According to this school, pure bhakti is the highest means to reach liberation. Acintya Bhedābheda presents God as a personal absolute, whose unity with the world and various consciousnesses transcends human logic rather than denying it.

    11. Pāśupata Śaivism

    It is a school or tradition where Śiva, in the form of Paśupati, is seen as the supreme, eternal God. He is completely distinct from consciousnesses (paśu) and the world. Pāśupata Śaivism defines reality as fundamentally theistic and dualistic. God is omnipotent, independent, and the giver of liberation. It is grace, not knowledge, which leads to complete freedom. According to them, the consciousnesses are bound by impurities (pāśa). Mokṣa or liberation here is seen as release from bondage, and not identity with God. Consciousnesses remain eternally distinct, but free and blissful. Pāśupata Śaivism presents God as a sovereign Lord, where liberation depends on divine grace rather than metaphysical identity.

    12. Śaiva Siddhānta

    This is another śaiva school whose metaphysics is structured around three categories- Pati (Lord Śiva), Paśu (individual consciousness), and Pāśa (impurities like karma, māyā, and other impurities), and all three are real and distinct. Śiva is seen as the supreme personal God, both transcendental and immanent. He is the effective cause, not the material substance of the universe. Emphasis is given on ritual devotion (kriyā), ethics (caryā), and spiritual knowledge (jñāna). Mokṣa or liberation in this school refers to union without identity, where souls attain  Śiva-like bliss but do not become Śiva themselves. Śaiva Siddhānta, in short, envisions God as a personal, liberating Lord, balancing devotion, ritual, and metaphysical realism.

    13. Kashmir Śaivism (Trika)

    This is a non-dual śaiva school, which considers Śiva to be the only consciousness, and the reality is dynamic, not static. God is considered to be Śiva-Śakti, the inseparable consciousness and power. According to their metaphysics, the universe consists of 36 tattvas (elements or levels of reality). Māyā is not considered an illusion but rather the self-limitation of consciousness. According to them, knowledge arises through direct recognition (pratyabhijñā), and Mokṣa or liberation occurs by recognizing oneself as Śiva. Kashmir Śaivism presents God as living consciousness, where realizing God means recognizing the divine nature of one’s own awareness.

    14. Śākta Tantra

    In this school, the ultimate reality is seen as Śakti, the Divine Mother, the dynamic power of existence. Śiva without Śakti is considered inert, while Śakti without Śiva is considered inconceivable. The reality is seen as non-dual, experiential, and embodied. The Divine Mother is worshiped in various forms:  Kālī, Tārā, Tripurasundarī, etc. According to Tantra cosmology, the universe emerges from Śakti’s vibration, the creation is cyclical, sacred, and alive, and matter is not considered inferior to spirit. Śākta Tantra epistemology considers knowledge as something that comes from direct experience, and not the denial of life. Their practices include mantras (sacred sounds), yantras (sacred diagrams), ritual, and inner discipline. One attains mokṣa or liberation after recognizing oneself with Śakti. Śākta Tantra sees the Goddess as the immanent power, where divinity is encountered through experience, embodiment, and disciplined awareness.

    15. Jainism

    Jainism is a non-theistic school and tradition, which is nowhere near materialism. According to them, reality consists ofjīva (conscious souls) and ajīva (non-conscious matter, time, space, motion, rest), and there is no creator God. By “God”, they refer to liberated souls known as Tīrthankaras, and not a creator. They are perfected souls possessing infinite knowledge, perception, bliss, and energy. The universe is considered beginningless and eternal. It operates through natural laws and karma, with no divine intervention. Jains emphasizeahiṃsā (non-violence), ascetism, knowledge, and right conduct. According to Jainism,mokṣa is the complete isolation of the soul from matter, after which the liberated soul attains a higher plane called Siddha-loka and is beyond rebirth. Jainism replaces God with moral law and self-effort, making liberation a consequence of discipline rather than grace.

    16. Theravāda Buddhism

    It is the earliest known Buddhist school. The school rejects a creator God. Gods (devas) may exist, but they are impermanent and non-liberating. According to Theravadins, reality is impermanent with no permanent self (anātman), and existence is structured through dependent origination (pratītyasamupāda). Theravāda Buddhism considers the universe as cyclic and is governed by karma and causality,  with multiple realms of existence and no cosmic designer. They emphasize knowledge gained through direct insight into impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Liberation or Nirvāṇa is discovered through attaining knowledge, accompanied by monastic discipline, meditation, and ethical conduct. Theravāda removes God entirely from metaphysics, placing causality and insight at the center of liberation.

    17. Madhyamaka

    Madhyamaka is a Buddhist school that emphasizes emptiness. According to them, all phenomena are empty (śūnya) of inherent existence. Emptiness does not mean nothingness, but dependence itself, rejecting all metaphysical absolutes. They don’t believe in any creator God or metaphysical ground, and even nirvāṇa is empty of inherent essence. They use radical dialectical reasoning to dissolve views, thereby following the middle way, avoiding both eternalism and nihilism. They consider liberation as the state of attaining freedom from all fixed views. Madhyamaka dismantles the very idea of God as an ultimate entity, replacing it with relational emptiness.

    18. Yogācāra (Vijñānavāda / Cittamātra)

    Yogācāra is the Buddhist school that suggests reality is mind-only (citta-mātra), with external objects having no independent existence apart from consciousness, and experience arises from layered mental processes. They don’t believe in a creator God or a supreme being, and the ultimate reality is purified consciousness, not a deity. According to Yogācāra, the world arises from storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), with karma as preserved mental seeds. Cosmos is psychological rather than material. According to this school, liberation occurs through transforming consciousness with meditation and ethical cultivation. Yogācāra replaces God with mind itself, making consciousness the source of the world and liberation.

    19. Vajrayāna Buddhism

    Mostly followed in Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Mongolia, Vajrāyana Buddhism states that the ultimate reality is non-dual awarteness, inseparable from emptiness. According to the school, Buddhahood is inherent but obscured, and Samsāra (existence) and Nirvāṇa (liberation) share the same ground or plane. They believe in no creator God, while deities (yidams) are symbolic manifestations of the awakened mind. They view the universe as the sacred geography, mirroring inner mental structures. Practitioners of Vajrāyana use mantra (sacred sounds), mudrā (hand signs), and various tantric methods, with the direct aim of rapid realization. In this school, the Guru (teacher) is considered very essential as a living transmission. Through tantric practices, including proper usage of body, speech, and mind, enlightenment is possible within a single lifetime. Vajrāyana treats deities as skillful means, turning symbolism into a direct path of awakening.

    20. Sikhism

    One of the two youngest philosophies of the list (the other being Acintya Bhedābheda), Sikhism believes the ultimate reality is Ik Oṅkār, i.e., one, singular, all-pervading reality. They believe God is transcendent and immanent, the reality is non-dual, but creation is real. They consider God as both nirguṇ (without form or attributes) and saguṇ (with attributes), although God does not incarnate in human form. According to their custom, personal devotion to God is central, but God is beyond anthropomorphism. According to their cosmology, the universe is created and sustained by divine will (hukam), and creation is meaningful and structured with no illusionism. Ethical practice includes emphasis on nāma simaraṇ (remembrance of God), honest work, and service (seva). The tradition rejects ritualism and ascetism, and liberation or mukti is considered as freedom from ego and separation, not escape from the world. Sikhism presents God as one universal reality, accessible through devotion, ethics, and grace rather than metaphysical speculation.

    Conclusion

    This blog is written with the intention of giving a short introduction to the metaphysics, cosmology, ethics, and epistemology of nearly all core Indian philosophical and spiritual schools. I have tried to make the blog as unbiased and respectful as humanly possible. As per the Ṛgvedic verse mentioned in the intro, they are all interpreting the same truth in their very own way, so any form of negative comparison is ethically unjust. This blog was also written to show the spiritual diversity in India, which is mostly unknown not only to foreigners, but also to many Indians themselves. That is all for this blog. I know the blog was a bit long, in fact, my longest blog till now. Sorry for that, but I couldn’t make it shorter without avoiding any important school or principle. I feel they are all equally important with no hierarchy of importance. Hope you enjoyed the read. Do like, comment, and share if you feel so; this will encourage me to study and write more such blogs on philosophy, science, and other ideas. And also subscribe to my newsletter via email if you want to get notified for future blogs and updates. Thank you.


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  • The Evolution of Thought: From Ancient Metaphysics to Quantum Physics

    The Evolution of Thought: From Ancient Metaphysics to Quantum Physics

    Introduction – When Wonder Was a Science

    Before the universe became a machine, it was a question. Long before laboratories, men and women watched stars and fires, asking what lay beneath their glow. They called it being, truth, Tao, Brahman – different words for the same ache: to understand why the world exists at all.

    From the Greek search for order to India’s exploration of consciousness and China’s quest for harmony, early philosophers didn’t divide knowing from living. The thinker, the seer, and the scientist were one.

    But over time, questions gave way to methods, and symbols gave rise to equations. The cosmos that once reflected the mind became an object of study. Yet even as the instruments sharpened, the longing beneath them remained the same – to find unity in the infinite.

    This is the story: how metaphysics became physics – and how, in doing so, it may have rediscovered its soul.

    Chapter 1: The Metaphysical Era – When the World Was Thought Before It Was Measured

    1. The Greek Vision – Before physics measured, philosophy imagined. In the Mediterranean mind, Greek thinkers replaced myth with mind. The Milesians sought a single arch – water, air, or boundless substance – turning Gods into elements. ThePythagoreans found in number and proportion the rhythm of cosmos; the world became harmony made visible. The Heracliteans declared flux with only constant, fire, the symbol of eternal change. In answer, the Eleatics claimed that change itself is an illusion – being is one and motion impossible – forcing logic to question the senses. The Atomists reconciled both: eternal, indivisible particles moving in a void, giving plurality to an underlying sameness. From Plato’s transcendental Forms to Aristotle’s synthesis of form and matter, Greek thought became a summary of reality – essence, potentiality, substance. The later schools humanised this search. Epicureans married atomism to tranquility; Stoics made reason the pulse of the cosmos. Skeptics withheld judgment, preferring humility to certainty; Cynics scorned convention as falsehood. Finally, Neoplatonism re-spiritualised philosophy, seeing all multiplicity as emanations from a single radiant One. Each school stretched the same impulse: to explain the order of being before measuring its motion.
    2.  The Indian Vision – Across the subcontinent, Indian thinkers mapped existence not as substance, but as experience. Samkhya divided the world into Purusha (pure awareness) and Prakriti (matter), whose dance created the manifold universe. Yoga transformed that insight into practice – meditation, restraint, and discipline as technology for disentangling consciousness from nature’s web. Where Nyaya built rigorous logic to define valid knowledge, Vaisheshika described an atomism of the cosmos of categories and causes, remarkably close to natural philosophy. Mimamsa grounded metaphysics in language and ritual, where words and actions themselves maintained cosmic order. Vedanta, especially Advaita, moved the other way – collapsing the world into Maya, a shimmering illusion upon the only reality, Brahman. Beyond the Vedic fold, Jainism taught pluralism and nonviolence – many truths coexisting through Anekantavada – while Buddhism rejected essence altogether: to exist is to arise dependently and vanish moment to moment. Charvaka, the lone materialist, discarded heaven and rebirth, trusting only perception and the tangible. Together, they built a kaleidoscope of metaphysics –  from dualism to monism, from ritual realism to radical empiricism – all bound by one question: What is truly real, and who perceives it?
    3. The Chinese Vision – In ancient China, metaphysics wore the face of ethics. Daoism spoke of the Dao – the nameless way that flows through all things. To act without forcing, to yield rather than struggle, was to align with the cosmos itself. Confucianism, by contrast, rooted cosmic order in social virtue: filial piety, justice, and ritual propriety mirrored the balance between heaven and earth. The rational Mohists protested ritual excess, calling for impartial love and practical good – an early ethics of measurable consequence. Legalists, skeptical of virtue, trusted systems over sages: only law could sustain order amid human frailty. Together, these schools saw metaphysics not as abstraction but as a living order – harmony between heaven’s rhythm and human conduct.

    Thus, before the telescope or the equation, there was thought. The Greeks asked what reality is; the Indians asked what knows; the Chinese asked how to live within it.

    Chapter 2: The Transition Era – When Thought Turned into Method

    1. Nicolaus Copernicus – The Revolving Cosmos: In a world where Earth was the immovable center, he proposed a quieter, audacious symmetry – the Sun, not Earth, stood still. His heliocentric model restored simplicity to the heavens: circles, not chaos. Though cautious and cloaked in geometry, his revolution was philosophical at heart – dethroning humanity from the cosmic center and placing order itself as the true subject of worship. It marked the first fracture in the metaphysical comfort of a man-centered universe.
    2. Galileo  Galilei- The Eye That Measured: He turned observation into rebellion. His telescope revealed moons around Jupiter, phases of Venus, and imperfections on the Sun – the celestial bodies that disobeyed perfection. With his experiments on motion, he found law beneath change: acceleration, inertia, proportion. But Galileo’s real heresy was epistemic – the belief that truth must be seen, tested, and repeated. He brought heaven into the laboratory and made nature speak mathematics. Thought was no longer divine speculation but disciplined vision.
    3. Johannes Kepler – The Music of the Spheres Rewritten: To him, the cosmos still sang, but in ellipses instead of circles. Merging Pythagorean harmony with Tycho Brahe’s data, he found that planetary motion obeyed precise mathematical laws. For Kepler, numbers weren’t abstractions – they were the mind of God written in orbit. He preserved the metaphysical yearning for harmony while translating it into geometry. His orbits were not symbols but structure: philosophy set to motion, music turned to mathematics.
    4. Francis Bacon – The Architect of Method: Where the ancients built metaphysical towers, he laid foundations. He urged thinkers to abandon deduction from principle and instead ascend by induction from experience. Knowledge, he said, should not contemplate but conquer nature, not for vanity, but for utility and light. His Novum Organum replaced Aristotle’s logic with a new instrument: experiment and data. Bacon’s spirit was half monk, half engineer – a visionary of disciplined curiosity, transforming philosophy into organized inquiry.
    5. Rene Descartes – The Doubt That Built Certainty: He began with a void – doubting all until only the act of doubting itself remained undeniable. Cogito, ergo sum. From the flicker of certainty, he rebuilt the world in clear and distinct ideas. His dualism split mind from matter, spirit from mechanism, birthing both modern subjectivity and mechanical physics. The cosmos, for Descartes, was a machine built by a rational God – measurable, predictable, but separate from the self that knows it.
    6. Baruch Spinoza – The God of Geometry: To him, Descartes’ dualism was an illusion. There was only one substance – God or Nature – infinite, self-caused, unfolding through necessary laws. Mind and matter were merely two aspects of this single reality. His Ethics read like a proof, each proposition following from the last with Euclidean grace. In his quiet radicalism, he united metaphysics and physics again –  divinity as immanence, casualty as sacred order. He built a cosmos of serene determinism, both rational and divine.
    7. Isaac Newton – The Lawgiver of Motion: Where others imagined, Isaac Newton calculated. Gravity, inertia, and motion became universal grammar; apples and planets obeyed the same equations. His Principia Mathematica fused mathematics and experiment into an empire of predictability. Yet he was still a metaphysician at heart – alchemist, theologian, seeker of divine architecture behind law. In his cosmos, space was absolute, time uniform, and God the clockmaker who set it in motion. The age of measurement had begun, but the dream of meaning remained.
    8. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – The Logic of Creation: A philosopher of infinite optimism, Leibniz saw the universe as a harmony of monads – indivisible, self-contained centers of perception. Each mirrored the cosmos from its own point of view, synchronized by divine pre-established order. His vision turned metaphysics into proto-information theory: reality as structured perception, not substance. While he co-invented calculus alongside Newton, his deeper gift was conceptual – a logic of worlds, both possible and actual, where reason itself became metaphysical law.

    Thus ended philosophy’s long adolescence. The heavens were no longer symbols but systems; motion no longer mystery but mathematics. Yet, beneath the equations, the old longing endured – to find unity, purpose, and pattern in the infinite.

    Chapter 3: The Modern Scientific Era – When Physics Remembered Its Soul

    1. Albert Einstein – The Clockwork and the Curvature: To Einstein, the world was still rational but not rigid. Space and time, once absolute, are now curved with mass and motion, forming a seamless fabric of causality. His relativity restored unity to nature: gravity became geometry, and the cosmos a continuous dance of light and law. Yet beneath his equations lingered metaphysical elegance – the conviction that “God does not play dice.” For Einstein, physics was a revelation of order, not accident: a rational music still guided by harmony.
    2. Niels Bohr – The Paradox of the Observer: Bohr shattered the comfort of classical certainty. In the strange theatre of the atom, he saw light behave as both particle and wave – complementary, not contradiction, was the key. Observation itself became participation; reality answered only when questioned. For Bohr, truth lived in paradox – not as confusion but completeness. The quantum world, he said, demanded humility: nature would not fit into human categories. Knowledge had become dialogue, and the scientist a philosopher of uncertainty.
    3. Werner Heisenberg – The Limits of Knowing: He gave that uncertainty a formula. His principle declared that position and momentum could never be precisely known together, not due to error, but because reality itself was indeterminate until observed. The more we measure, the less we know. Beneath mathematics, he saw echoes of Plato: particles as potential, half-real until realized. Physics had turned inward, confronting the very limits of knowledge it once glorified. The observer was no longer outside nature – he was entangled within it.
    4. Erwin Schrodinger – The Dreamer of Unity: For Schrodinger, the quantum world was not chaos, but consciousness misunderstood. His wave equation described how possibilities ripple through time, collapsing into one reality upon observation. But behind the math, he saw metaphysical unity – the same truth theUpanishads whispered: Atman and Brahman are one. In his essays, he spoke of the mind as singular, the universe as thought. The cat in his thought experiment was never just about physics; it was a question about being itself.

    And so physics came full circle. After centuries of purging myth and meaning, it found mystery again – not in temples, but in laboratories. The equations grew stranger, but the questions older: what is reality, who observes, and why does anything exist at all?

    Conclusion – When Physics Became Philosophy Again

    We often imagine science as the opposite of philosophy – one measures, the other dreams. But history whispers otherwise. Every law began as a wonder; every formula as a metaphor of meaning.

    From Thales’ water to Schrodinger’s wave. Have we circled the same question: is reality matter, mind, or both?

    The telescope and the mantra, the experiment and the meditation – each sought truth through a different instrument.

    In the end, the arc of thought bends towards unity. Einstein’s curvature, Bohr’s paradox, Heisenberg’s limits, Schrodinger’s consciousness – all hint that reality is relational, not separate.

    Perhaps the ancients were not wrong, only premature: the cosmos still breathes through mystery.

    That’s all in this blog. Please like, comment, and share if you find this interesting. Thank you.

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