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Who influences you...?

MysticSang'ha

Big Squishy Hugger
Premium Member
Mae West
Marie Curie
Rosa Parks
Isadora Duncan
Lucille Ball
Edith Wharton
Coco Chanel
Mother Jones
Harriet Tubman
Erica Jong
Dr. Ruth Westheimer (laugh all you want, this woman is incredible)
Clara Barton
Margaret Mead
Sally Ride

Looks like a sexist list, and perhaps it is. But it's the stand-out women in history and culture that influences me the most.
 

Smoke

Done here.
Mae West
Marie Curie
Rosa Parks
Isadora Duncan
Lucille Ball
Edith Wharton
Coco Chanel
Mother Jones
Harriet Tubman
Erica Jong
Dr. Ruth Westheimer (laugh all you want, this woman is incredible)
Clara Barton
Margaret Mead
Sally Ride

Looks like a sexist list, and perhaps it is. But it's the stand-out women in history and culture that influences me the most.

It's an excellent list. But where's Sojourner Truth? ;)
 

MysticSang'ha

Big Squishy Hugger
Premium Member
It's an excellent list. But where's Sojourner Truth? ;)

LOL Ain't I a Woman? :D

She's up there. Along with:

Gertrude Ederle
Betty Frieden
Eve Ensler
Venus and Serena Williams
Wilma Rudolph
Billy Jean King
Martina Navratilova
Althea Gibson
Dorothy Hamil
Susan B. Anthony
Elizabeth Cady Stanton........

*whew*

I could go on for ages, honestly, but we'll have to make a lunch date out of it instead of limiting it to this thread.
 

Buttercup

Veteran Member
Honestly there isn't a person on the planet that influences me in a religious sense these days. But, there are many people who still influence me in more productive ways. Maybe I should start a thread. :)
 

fatima_bintu_islam

Active Member
Dead persons:

The prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
His companions and wives
The great scholars who came after them

Live persons:
My grandmother and her son and her sons wife ( my father and mother) : Good manners, forgiving people, swallowing what you see and is not of your business and the bad people did to others or did to you, standing for what you believe even if teh whole world is against you, thirst for learning, and from my father love for maths and computer sciences.

My 12 uncles and aunts ( from my fathers side) : How to keep a family sticked together, love, caring about each member of the family, and I love the fact that my grandma is the big leader of everything, if she says no then its an absolute no :) , Oh and I learnt from them the respect and obeying and love for your parents.


Sheykh Abu Ishak al Huweyni: Standing for what you believe even if you're alone in it ( Alhamdulillah he is seeing the fruits little by little even if at the beginning people were so so far from their religion) , Calling for truth even if you're sick and cannot move a finger ( He was very ill but made speeches all over Europe while being there for medical treatment) , I love his manners and his knowledge and Im so so thankful for evrything he taught even though Ive never seen him in front of me . May Allah protect him.

But the main point, is that Im thankful to Allah for having such a big loving and caring family wich is the base for all my successes -after the will of Allah - and my love for this religion. Alhamdulillah


Edit; Just not to be ungrateful about others stuffs, the bold part taught me to ponder once and twice about what were going to say, clean it from lies, talking in the back of others, making fun of someone then and only then throw it away :)
 
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NTKen

Learner/Teacher
I think my greatest influence was my dad. He lived as he taught. He was always quiet, but when he spoke what he said was well thought out and worthy of consideration. And, maybe most important, he taught me to think for myself and make educated decisions. Some of those lessons were learned as early as they should have, but have been learned.
:clap
 

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
Cool thread idea. I, do doubt, missed some:

Casper, the Friendly Ghost
The Road Runner
Lester Dent
Mom
Bill Moyer
Joseph Campbell
Bob Marley
Geoffrey Cornelius
Jules Cashford/Anne Baring
Brenden McBride
Brad Warner
Norman Waddell/Masao Abe
Leonard Cohen
Herbert Fingarette
Leonard Cohen
Marc Cohn
Leonard Cohen

I wonder what this list says about my spiritual journey? (except that I'm not well-read)
 
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Penumbra

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Carl Sagan
Gautama Buddha
Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama)
Gandhi
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
authors of the Bhagavad Gita
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Socrates/Plato
Albert Einstein

I'm kind of sad as I realize the list is all men. :(

Edit: Aha! Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Anthony
 
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DreadFish

Cosmic Vagabond
Ooh this is a great question for everyone to share on :D

Hmm...

In no particular order other than who I can think of first (as I couldnt possibly put importance of one over the other):

Dogen Zenji
Tenzin Gyatso Dalai Lama
Many unnamed spiritual practitioners, monks and ascetics from many traditions who just strike me
My dad
Sant Darshan Singh
Sant Kirpal Singh
Mohandas Gandhi
don Juan Matus
Jesus
Jelaluddin Rumi
Black Elk
Bob Marley


There are plenty more, but I always have a hard time recalling these kind of things when this comes up :D
 

Tathagata

Freethinker
Siddhartha Gautama
Michael Tsarion
David Icke
Alan Watts
14th Dalai Lama
Michio Kaku
Bodhidharma
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Martin Heidegger
Osho
Thich Nhat Hanh
Christopher Hitchens
Nagarjuna
Richard Dawkins
Stephen Batchelor
D. T. Suzuki


.
 

arcanum

Active Member
Probably Gurdjieff and his teachings have had the biggest impact and influence on me.
 
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