Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, JesusFrom The
Great Philosophers, Volume I
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February 23, 1883 – February 26, 1969
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a philosopher and psychiatrist. He had a strong
influence on modern day theology as well as philosophy. He was born in
Germany and grew up on a farm. He showed an early interest in philosophy
but with his father being part of the legal system, he wanted his son to
study law and become a lawyer.
To honor his father's wish he studied law for a while and then in 1902
switched to studying medicine. In 1909 he began working as a
psychiatrist and soon became irritated with the treatment of patients
suffering from mental illness.
He became so irritated at the local medical centers he choose never to
return to practicing medicine. This could have very well been the
turning point in his life because he switched from psychology to
philosophy.
He soon became well known in Europe as a famous philosopher and writer.
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| This is the book that changed my life from
Christianity to a more spiritual path of enlightenment. When I was 18
years old browsing through one of our local bookstores interested in how
the world came about. I came across this book and the title struck me in
kind of a weird way.
How could Jesus be in a book with Buddha, Socrates, and Confucius. As a
Christian I was taught Jesus was God and here he is in a book with three
other men that were not gods.
I found the book fascinating and to be honest with you I only read the
part of the book on Jesus. This was enough to change my life forever. In
the book Karl mentions that Jesus had brothers and sisters and made it
sound like he lived a normal life. This was not something I had been
taught in Sunday school at my local church and now I was extremely
confused.
The book got me thinking about other events I had been watching on the
news at that time. We were going through the Iran hostage crisis and the
people in Iran were yelling out death to America and the word Allah
often. I found out that Allah was God and Islam and that these people
were not Christians.
Just how many religions where there?
This got me thinking even more about how I was raised and how these
people that lived in Iran were raised or should I say brainwashed. This
got me thinking about my childhood and up to this point I had now
believed most of the things I was taught in school as well as church.
Has I also been brainwashed.
To make a long story short I basically came to the conclusion that I had
believed everything I had been told as facts up to this point in my
life. This book got me thinking about how life really was and why we
listen to people in authority.
You never know what book is going to impact your life and change your
thinking in a positive or a negative way but this book has had a large
influence on my life in a positive way.
You don't have to believe everything you read but educate yourself as
often as possible so you can gain some sense of reality.
The book isn't very long but really get to thinking.
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