Those Darn Philosophers! (2)

As I see it, philosophy ought to make you sane, not crazy. As the Greek-derived word suggests, it ought to bring wisdom (sophía) into your life. But who nowadays does philosophy in this old-fashioned way?

Modern academic philosophy, with its focus on hermeneutical exegesis and logical analysis, would have puzzled and perhaps saddened the ancient sages. As they would see it, philosophy is an aid to self-transformation and inner freedom. If it does not have this practical purpose, it is only an exercise in abstract conceptual thinking. With my apology to any professional philosopher who might have stumbled upon this blog, those sages have my vote of confidence. In them I see true philosophers deserving of the Greek name.

If you want to know philosophy, then, study the ancient Greek and Indian philosophers. Let a little of their wisdom rub off on you. By no means all of their ideas are convincing, or they would not contradict each other. But their wisdom will challenge your own jungle of loosely connected ideas. It’s best not to deny that you have a mostly subconscious system going. In the average person, these ideas consist principally of stereotypes, prejudices, preconceptions, and ad-hoc “theories.”

You “know” that there definitely is or definitely is not a God, and you “know” how evolution works, or doesn’t. You also “know” what men and women are like and how various ethnic groups behave. Matter rules. Mind doesn’t matter or, conversely, only mind matters. Philosophy is nonsense. Yoga is fantasy. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. And so on. It’s a useful exercise to jot down all the ideas that you entertain.

Then go ahead and read some books on philosophy—I double dare you—and see how the ideas that govern your life match up with the consciously formulated, properly inspected notions; to be sure, they might still be only half baked, but they were formulated in full consciousness. This comparison might rattle your conceptual cage a bit, but if you are into personal growth and self-transformation, this is the right sort of gorilla. The darn philosophers might spoil your comfortable life yet, which I would applaud.

The best course of action, however, is to study—and not merely read—the great masters of wisdom and open yourself up to a whole range of new ideas. Discover for yourself what makes sense and how you can apply this wisdom. That’s the beginning of a philosophical life. The rest is part of the consensus trance, otherwise called “the big snooze.”

If you are already one of the self-transcending, self-transforming minority, then congratulations. Now you can work on waking up as a fully compassionate Yoga sage! What are you waiting for?


Georg Feuerstein

Those Darn Philosophers! (Part 1)

I was a thoughtful and troubled kid. Weighty thoughts occurred to me before my time, around the age of 13 or 14, before I was emotionally mature enough to deal with them. I was happy to have an uncle who was interested in my speculations. No one else particularly seemed to be. Naturally, I idolized the man.

But then my idol came crashing down, as idols are wont to do. One day, I proudly showed him a short essay I had written that raised all sorts of questions about God. The questions—but not my tentative answers—were bordering on atheism or at least agnosticism. My miniature essay was important to me, because I was having conceptual difficulties with Christianity and was fishing for answers.

When my uncle handed the essay back to me, all he said was: “It is important to believe in God” or words to that effect. I was utterly deflated. I had hoped for an intelligent conversation, but I realized I had touched on a subject that he could regard only through the lens of his personal beliefs. He did not have the ability to stand back and consider, as he had done on many other occasions.

Our relationship was never the same afterward. I learned two important lessons from this experience. First, don’t erect pedestals to anyone or anything. (Of course, in the course of my life I have forgotten this lesson a few times, but my recovery rate has greatly improved.) Second, don’t expect people to always understand you or agree with you. Working through my uncle’s emotional reaction and my own, I felt at the time that I was in the process of becoming a philosopher.

Philosophers are people who have ideas with which rarely anyone else agrees. Or so I figured. What was more important was to philosophize, to reflect on life. I wholeheartedly agreed with Socrates that the uninspected life is not worth living. It took me many years, however, before I understood what that might mean. In any case, in those early days I acquired a healthy respect for philosophers and the business of philosophy. Much later on, once I encountered the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, I learned that my respect entailed an element of idolization, which I had to jettison.

No philosophy—not even Yoga’s various thought constructions—can be final or complete. And that’s a thought construction too! The conceptual realm is makeshift. Either you go mad realizing this, as happened to Nietzsche, or you develop a whopping sense of humor. I thought it better to go for the latter option.

More to come . . .

Georg Feuerstein
(pronounced Geh-org Foyer-stine)
http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com

The Death and Resurrection of Yoga

Several important events occurred during the last couple of weeks. First, Yoga teacher Judith Lasater, who launched Yoga Journal in 1975, sent a letter to the editor and protested (very politely) the increasing sexualization of the magazine’s content. I’d say It’s just the tip of a very large and insalubrious iceberg of problems.

Then there was also the really extensive and controversial article about Anusara Yoga creator John Friend in New York Times Magazine. John responded to it skillfully and measuredly on his own site (http://www.anusara.com/).

This relates to Roseanne Harvey, the former editor of the now defunct Ascent magazine, boldly announcing “I think we can declare Yoga officially dead” on her popular blog in October of 2009 (http://itsallyogababy.com/).

Wow! Given this public furore, I feel I have to come at least somewhat out of my semiretirement shell (since 2004) and participate. Who knows, the Western Yoga movement might be witnessing a turning point. I am not holding my breath, but these are interesting developments. Wouldn’t you like to see a change?

Many years ago, I was invited by Yoga Journal to be one of its contributing editors, and I hesitatingly agreed. When I realized that there was little intention to represent the non-posture side of Yoga, which is my forté, I resigned after a while. Actually, I started to feel uncomfortably self-conscious about being associated with the magazine. Many students were wondering why I was a contributing editor at all. They were right, of course.

I can’t imagine how Judith Lasater must feel to see her brainchild become so perverted. I had an opportunity to browse in early issues of Yoga Journal, and they were a very encouraging effort, which by rights should have been continued and developed.

There is nowadays no full-spectrum North American Yoga magazine out there. Even Yoga International (renamed: Yoga + Joyful Living) seems to be heading down a glitzy cul-de-sac. My worry is: When will commercialization begin to compromise content? Let me hear from you what you think about traditional Yoga and a Yoga magazine that has substance and also addresses contemporary issues.

Georg Feuerstein