114 rc. IY community neglecting reason has lead to mistakes (eg. in AV) by rjon on Thu 04 Aug 2005 01:50 PM PDT Permanent Link From: rcarlson@olympus.net Subject: Re: Yoga and Research: Sri Aurobindo on science and yoga Date: August 4, 2005 1:50:03 PM EDT To: rjon@vzavenue.net
As I seem to have become the proponent of reason on the forum ( against my will I assure you, because those close to me will tell you just how irrational a guy I am) I will also add that I think that many many mistakes have been made on the community level (specifically in Auroville from what I have gathered as a non-resident) in this yoga from discarding reason and the critical intellect before they were sufficiently developed as instruments in the collective. And, at the risk of being repetitive, we are talking apples and oranges when it comes to the yoga on the individual or community level. In the latter as Rod suggests undoubtable there needs to be the guiding intuitive idea (the integral yoga, the service of the divine etc), then as Debashish states there must be an affective intresubjectivity. e,g, a an opening of hearts to each other. "a good will" and acceptance of difference. However, to make decisions as to the good of the community, in other words on the civic level, unless we all claim to be intuitive beings or mind readers who understand all the idiosyncrasies of cultural interpretations that we all bring to the yoga as individuals, we must demonstrate what good our claims and calls to action will have to the community and validate them in a manner which can be understood by all. It was in this regards that I previously argued for the benefits of a Habermasian intersubjectivity, which I also feel is in many ways consistent with Sri Aurobindo's writings on social democracy (which I believe he felt was appropriate for humanity at its current level of realization, although by all means he does not want the world to stop at this level). But a rational intersubjectivity also has limitations and a community must IMO also strive toward an affective relationship and be ultimately guided by a vision which descends from the intuitive mind or beyond.
There is no Maha Guru now to say: do this or do that, and the world rapidly changes ( and as both Debashish and I have brought up and given examples of: both Mother and Sri Aurobindo can be shown to have evolved perspectives over the course of their life times regarding the change of circumstances they encountered in the world) Thus as a collective there are many things which need to be evaluated according to our current rapidly changing culture and we have to make the determination as to the proper course of action ourselves. IMO the trinity of a guiding intuitive idea, an affective intersubjectivity, as an opening to each other, and a rational intersubjective methodology to make collective decisions are at least at this point in history circa 2005, all integral to our collective well being... As the well worn phrase goes "mind is the helper, mind is the bar", this is true for individuals and a collective. But especially as a collective let us be sure we have been helped as much as we can by our good will toward others and our mind's critical thinking skills before making a head long rush to transcend the bar. A community which prematurely attempts to make the leap to the integral level, risks sliding back from the integral (ideal) level into the mythic or religious realm. History provide hundreds of examples of utopian communities who tried to make the leap and who never made it to the other side. So in many ways on the collective level we are caught between a mythic rock and an integral hardplace. But once we have been assisted along the path, as much as we can by our good will, the mind and its critical intellect, then by all means to get over this intellectual hurdle: "Go For it"
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