In this episode of “5 Minutes”, Dr. Svoboda discusses darśana as seeing, examining, learning, and understanding—and how our philosophy shapes what we permit ourselves to see.

Darśana comes from the Sanskrit root dṛś, which means to see. More fully, it means to see, examine, learn, and understand.

Because sight is such an important sense for human beings, the Sanskrit word carries meanings that imply first seeing, then examining what you have seen, learning from it, and finally understanding it. It is no coincidence that darśana can mean both the experience of seeing something and philosophy.

Philosophy is what you employ to see the world. Your personal philosophy shapes how you experience what is around and within you. We can say that seeing is believing, but we can also say that believing is seeing: what you permit yourself to see in your environment helps determine your personal philosophy.