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1Told in the Coffee House

By Cyrus Adler and Allan Ramsay

In the course of a number of visits to Constantinople, I became much interested in the tales that are told in the coffee houses. These are usually little more than rooms, with walls made of small panes of glass. The furniture consists of a tripod with a contrivance for holding the kettle, and a fire to keep the coffee boiling. A carpeted bench traverses the entire length of the room. This is occupied by turbaned Turks, their legs folded under them, smoking nargilehs or chibooks or cigarettes, and sipping coffee. A few will be engaged in a game of backgammon, but the majority enter into conversation, at first only in syllables, which gradually gives rise to a general discussion. Finally, some sage of the neighborhood comes in, and the company appeals to him to settle the point at issue. This he usually does by telling a story to illustrate his opinion. Some of the stories told on these occasions are adaptations of those already known in Arabic and Persian literature, but the Turkish mind gives them a new setting and a peculiar philosophy. They are characteristic of the habits, customs, and methods of thought of the people, and for this reason seem worthy of preservation. - Summary by Preface

2Essentials of Spirituality

By Felix Adler

This recording contains four addresses of Felix Adler (1851-1933) concerning spirituality from the perspective of Ethical Culture, an educational and religious movement founded and first led by Adler, based on the belief that living in accordance with ethical principles is central to a meaningful and fulfilling life. – Lee Smalley “Spirituality is morality carried out to the finish….The ultimate end (of spirituality) itself is to elicit worth in others, and, by so doing, in one's self. The indispensable condition of this attitude is to ascribe worth to every human being before even we observe it, to cast as it were a mantle of glory over him, to take toward every fellow human being the expectant attitude, to seek the worth in him until we find it.” – Felix Adler, Dec. 11, 1904