Yoga Psychology In The Schools:
Some Insights from the Indian Tradition
By Don Salmon, PhD
Introduction
I am presently co-authoring, with Jan Maslow, a book entitled Through
the Eyes of Infinity. In the book we will examine and integrate the
theories and findings of psychology and other scientific disciplines within
a larger yogic perspective. As an integrative framework we present an
overview of Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo's psychological thought
which we refer to in the book as "yoga psychology". In the closing
chapters, we describe practical applications of yoga psychology for the
development of a new science of consciousness, a new psychotherapy, a
new education, and for overall social change. In this essay, I will present
some general ideas for reshaping education according to this perspective.
Overview: Introducing Yoga Psychology into the Schools
Everyone seems to be concerned about the escalating problems our children
are encountering in their schools, as well as the nature of the educational
system in general. The now familiar litany of difficulties ranges from
violence in the classroom to attention deficit disorder and other learning
disabilities, to an increasing diversity in the cultures and languages
of students, to the tension between cultivating well-educated citizens
versus turning out well-trained technicians and consumers, to the increase
in childhood illness and obesity. Collectively, these point to a pressing
need for radical new thinking in the field of education.
One could easily enumerate a wish list of needed additions to the current
curriculum: new teaching methods; health education; conflict resolution,
wider availability of counseling; remedial learning programs. However,
without a larger vision based upon an integrative understanding of human
nature and development, such valuable additions may lack the coherence
needed to make them effective. It is in this regard that the potential
contribution of yoga psychology deserves attention. By "yoga psychology"
I am referring to the vast body of psychological knowledge which is part
of the Indian yogic tradition, as well as the popular postures and breathing
exercises more commonly associated with the term "yoga". The
ideas in this paper for the application of yoga psychology to education
are based largely on what Sri Aurobindo and his colleague Mirra Richard
have written on the subject.
Before considering the possible contribution of yoga psychology, it will
be helpful to correct some potential misconceptions. "Yoga"
does not refer to a particular religion or sect it is neither "Hindu"
nor "Buddhist". Rather, as used here, it refers to a profound
understanding of the workings of mind and body one that is fully
compatible with the findings and theories of contemporary science. It
is a body of knowledge that is "empirical" in the best sense
of the word. Yogic practices were developed over thousands of years of
careful experimentation, with testing and validation of results amongst
a large group of expert practitioners. In addition, scientists have conducted
hundreds of studies over the past 70 years, finding a wide variety of
physical and psychological benefits associated with meditation and meditation-related
practices.1 Among the physical findings have been: lowered
blood pressure, improved immune functioning, lowered cholesterol, reduced
overall muscle tension, pain relief, cure of insomnia, and reduced symptoms
for asthma and arthritis. Among the psychological findings are: improvement
in perceptual abilities and reaction time, improvement in short and long-term
memory, increased creativity, reduction in the symptoms of phobias, anxiety,
panic disorder, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lowered
addiction rates.
In the United States, yogic practices have already been incorporated
as a natural adjunct to some educational philosophies. Both Waldorf and
Montessori schools among the most progressive primary level schools
make use of a number of practices drawn from the yogic tradition.
In Montessori classrooms, children as young as three years old report
great enjoyment of their five minutes of "silent sitting" at
the beginning of each day. Waldorf teachers use the principles of meditation
and concentration in a wide variety of contexts. In the study of botany,
for example, they incorporate sensory and perceptual training; in math
classes they use imagery; and to help cultivate a richer understanding
of different periods of history, they include exercises in meditative
empathy. Yoga psychology has even found its way into the public schools,
where counselors are using relaxation and meditation practices to help
children with learning disabilities as well as those with social and psychological
difficulties. Some classroom teachers have successfully experimented with
using simple imagery and concentration exercises to enhance students'
willingness and capacity to pay attention and absorb information.
Principles of Learning from the Yogic Perspective
One way to think of yogic practices is to consider them as various forms
of attentional training. As contemporary psychologists have discovered,
careful training of one's capacity for concentration and attention is
one of the essential elements for the development of both physical and
psychological capacities. As far back as the late 1800's, William James,
the father of American experimental psychology, had the following to say
on the subject:
The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over
and over again, is the very root of judgment, character and the will
An education which should improve this faculty would be the education
par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical
directions for bringing it about.2
This comment is interesting for several reasons. James linked attention
not only to intellectual education, but to the training of character as
well an increasingly vital concern of many contemporary educators.
His last comment that educators have yet to develop "practical
directions" for this essential training highlights the potential
contribution of the yogic tradition which has a wealth of such methods
to offer. James had much appreciation for the value of this tradition.
In 1904, his friend, Anagarika Dharmapala, a Buddhist monk, attended one
of his Harvard psychology classes. Upon seeing Dharmapala sitting amongst
the students, James said to him, "Take my chair. You are better equipped
to lecture on psychology than I." Dharmapala went on to give several
lectures at Harvard. Following one of these presentations, James remarked,
"This is the psychology everybody will be studying twenty-five years
from now." Perhaps James was correct, if a bit premature.3
The role of attention in the learning process has been heralded by recent
developments in cognitive science as well. Based on his research, cognitive
psychologist Bernard Baars articulates what is unwittingly the fundamental
principle of yogic learning: "Paying attention becoming conscious
of some material seems to be the sovereign remedy for learning
anything, applicable to many very different kinds of information. It is
the universal solvent of the mind".4
Cognitive scientists in general are coming to see that learning is a
process which, for the most part, takes place spontaneously, with the
help of guidance and direction from another. To quote Baars again, "learning
is a "magical process
Consciousness [i.e., attention] is a
gateway something that creates access to a vast unconscious mind
[This] suggests that learning just requires us to 'point' our consciousness
at some material we want to learn
and the detailed analysis and
storage of the material will take place unconsciously. Given a conscious
target, it seems as if learning occurs magically, without effort or guidance,
carried out by some skilled squad of unconscious helpers."
There is a striking resonance between these recent discoveries and what
Sri Aurobindo described in 1910 as the basic guidelines for teaching:
The first principle of true teaching is that nothing can be taught.
The teacher is not an instructor or task-master, he is a helper and a
guide. His business is to suggest and not to impose. He does not actually
train the pupil's mind, he only shows him how to perfect his instruments
of knowledge and helps and encourages him in the process. He does not
impart knowledge to him, he shows him how to acquire knowledge for himself.
He does not call forth the knowledge that is within; he only shows him
where it lies and how it can be habituated to rise to the surface
Child or man, boy or girl, there is only one sound principle of good teaching.
Difference of age only serves to diminish or increase the amount of help
and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature.5
Sri Aurobindo and his colleague Mirra Richard in addition to highlighting
the spontaneity of the ideal learning process, also emphasized the need
for whole community involvement as an essential support for that process.
In traditional societies, the entire structure of life was woven together
to provide an ongoing learning experience that would naturally and spontaneously
equip the child with whatever skills were necessary to function within
the community. This is the principle upon which the ancient Indian gurukula
tradition was based: a strong community supporting the child's learning,
with a close relationship between teacher and student at the heart of
the educational process.
Today's society is so fragmented that such an organic style of learning
is difficult to imagine. However, any significant rethinking of the educational
process, would do well to take this into account. Larger community involvement
could answer the need for an educational context capable of accommodating
a diversity of developmental levels, personality styles and cultural propensities.
This is not to be confused with the extreme fragmentation of an open classroom,
as it is possible to develop a learning program that simultaneously provides
a common curriculum and allows for individual differences within that
curriculum.
The question of how to create a supportive context for learning is a
large and complex one. A good place to start might be to envision what
such an environment might look like. Imagine students from a very young
age engaged in a wide variety of hands-on learning projects in addition
to book learning. Imagine them creating various mini-institutions with
their own governing bodies to address real needs and interests. They're
exploring the science, politics and economics of a particular era through
multi-media projects that incorporate art forms ranging from traditional
music, dance, theatre and story-telling to hi-tech computer animation
and presentation technologies. They're engaging in research that involves
collaboration with various social and scientific laboratory settings.6
They're learning morality and ethics through constant encounters with
individuals in person and through story and film who exemplify
the ideals of love, compassion, nobility, courage, and integrity.
Now imagine what it might be like if all these projects had as their
foundation the cultivation of self-awareness beginning from the earliest
age possible. Keeping this image in mind, I'd like to consider in the
next section, various possibilities for a yogic approach to learning.
In the face of frightening levels of school violence, apathy, overcrowding
and underfunding, there may be a tendency to dismiss these ideas as naïve.
I'd like to suggest, however, setting aside all obstacles for the moment
daunting though they may be to imagine what ideally could
be possible, with the aim of perhaps catching a glimpse of some intermediate
steps that might work even now.
Methods of Learning from a Yogic Perspective
Undeniably, what most impedes mental progress in children is the constant
dispersion of their thoughts
. By his ingenuity, therefore, the educator
will gradually help the child to become capable of a sustained effort
of attention and a faculty of more and more complete absorption in the
work in hand. All methods that can develop this faculty of attention
are good
but it is the psychological action that is most important
and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in what
you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. To love
to learn is the most precious gift that one can give to a child: to love
to learn always and everywhere, so that all circumstances, all happenings
in life may be constantly renewed opportunities for learning more and
always more. Mirra Richard, The Science of Living7
One of the most successful means so far of introducing yogic practices
into the schools has been through different kinds of concentration games,
particularly those which incorporate imagery and relaxation. Montessori
classrooms have a popular exercise called "walking the line,"
in which children as young as three years old attempt to walk mindfully
along a thin line painted on the floor. Some teachers have had success
in helping learning disabled youngsters develop attentional skills by
creatively engaging them in simple yoga postures as part of a story-telling
activity. Spontaneous games in which children challenge each other to
hold their breath could be channeled into teaching deep breathing exercises
as a form of relaxation. All of these are simple ways of beginning to
develop the capacity to focus attention. In addition, children might be
encouraged to bring a heightened awareness to all their physical activities,
thus integrating attention as an ongoing tool for physical and psychological
development.
Building upon the capacity for sustained concentration, one can begin
to acquaint the child with the workings of his mind. Current research
indicates that for the most part, stand-alone courses in "thinking
skills" show little or no transfer to other forms of learning. Sri
Aurobindo, drawing on his own yogic experience, as well as teachings from
the Indian tradition, offers an example of how one might use a simple
activity of interest to the child to develop various functions of the
mind in a way that is natural and organic:
We may take the instance of a flower. Instead of looking casually
at it and getting a casual impression of scent, form and color, [the student]
should be encouraged to know the flower to fix in his mind the
exact shade, the peculiar glow, the precise intensity of the scent, the
beauty of curve and design in the form. His touch should assure itself
of the texture and its peculiarities. Next the flower should be taken
to pieces and its structure examined with the same carefulness of observation.
All this should be done not as a task, but as an object of interest by
skillfully arranged questions suited to the learner which will draw him
on to observe and investigate one thing after the other until he has almost
unconsciously mastered the whole.8
We may detect echoes of the learning process articulated by cognitive
scientist Bernard Baars: a "magical process" which given
the right situation and context (here a gifted teacher capable of inspiring
interest) takes place "almost unconsciously". The success
of the process, Sri Aurobindo will emphasize time and again, depends upon
it being suited to the needs and temperament of the individual child,
a principle of learning with which most contemporary developmental and
cognitive psychologists would agree.
In the course of what might initially appear to be a science lesson,
Sri Aurobindo would have the teacher encourage the child to note 'the
beauty of curve and design in the form" of the flower. He thus uses
an act of observation (i.e., focused attention) to cultivate the child's
capacity for sustained attention, and to train his intellect, and his
emotional and aesthetic intelligence and sensory awareness as well. Without
presenting him with a set of facts, the teacher introduces the child to
an exercise in observation. By then engaging his natural curiosity and
aesthetic sensitivities, the child discovers a host of facts for himself.
In the process, he also develops and refines his intellectual and emotional
capacities which, as William James noted, are critical elements in the
development of character.
It becomes apparent that from this perspective learning is not a purely
rational task of developing purely cognitive skills, much less is it principally
about the acquisition of a large body of facts. But this approach needs
to be clearly distinguished from the vagaries of some theories of progressive
education which refrain altogether from any deliberate development of
rational thinking or intentional mastery of factual information.
To continue with Sri Aurobindo's example of the flower:
Memory and judgment are the next qualities that will be called upon,
and they should be encouraged in the same unconscious way. The student
should not be made to repeat the same lesson over again in order to remember
it. That is a mechanical, burdensome and unintelligent way of training
the memory. A similar but different flower should be put in the hands
and he should be encouraged to note it with the same care, but with the
avowed object of noting the similarities and differences. By this practice
daily repeated the memory will naturally be trained
The teacher should take every care to encourage the perfect growth
of this
habit. At the same time, the laws of species and genus will
begin to dawn on the mind and, by a skillful following and leading of
the young developing mind, the scientific habit, the scientific attitude
and the fundamental facts of scientific knowledge may in a very short
time be made part of its permanent equipment. The observation and comparison
of flowers, leaves, plants, trees will lay the foundations of botanical
knowledge without loading the mind with names and that dry set acquisition
of information which is the beginning of cramming and detested by the
healthy human mind when it is fresh from nature and unspoiled by unnatural
habits.9
It is interesting how much of what Sri Aurobindo wrote here, presages
the most recent developments in the understanding of how memory functions.
Contemporary scientists understand memory to be a complex and dynamic
system of interlocking associations of ideas, developed through cultivating
meaningful connections between the items to be remembered. The usual tactic
of drill and rote repetition is now considered by psychologists to be
the least effective method of memorization. Centuries ago, by means of
meditative introspection, the Ashtavadhanis, memory experts of South India,
arrived at a similar understanding of the way in which memory works, and
were able to perform extraordinary feats of mental prowess, simultaneously
carrying out up to a hundred complex mental tasks.10 Imagine
what might be possible were our children to cultivate their memories in
such a rich and integrated fashion "memory bees" might
replace spelling bees in school learning tournaments!
It also becomes clear that Sri Aurobindo is not here presenting a case
against the learning of facts. Rather, by providing a natural, organic
context for learning that appeals to the child's native curiosity and
fosters the use of the mind, facts are more easily and joyfully learned
within the larger context of a rich and experiential understanding. This
method offers a practical resolution to the long-standing conflict between
fact-based learning and learning-by-doing.
In the same way by the observation of the stars astronomy, by the
observation of earth, stones, etc., geology, by the observation of insects
and animals, entomology and zoology may be founded. A little later chemistry
may be started by interesting observation of experiments without any formal
teaching or heaping on the mind of formulas and book-knowledge
There
is no scientific subject the perfect and natural mastery of which cannot
be prepared in early childhood by this training of the faculties to observe,
compare, remember and judge various classes of objects. It can be done
easily and attended with a supreme and absorbing interest in the mind
of the student. Once the taste is created, the [student] can be trusted
to follow it up with all the enthusiasm of youth in his leisure hours.
This will prevent the necessity at a later age of teaching him everything
in class.11
As Sri Aurobindo here indicates, this is an approach lending itself to
a wide range of subject matter. Critical thinking expert Dr. Rachel Lauer
was often fond of saying that it is possible to teach all subjects beginning
from any single point. The common thread in each case is the yogic principle
of direct experiential learning, trusting the mind's magical capacity
to learn in a natural and unforced manner, with careful concentrated attention
as the fundamental "tool" for learning.
Parents and teachers are often puzzled by children who do poorly in school
but manage to master an astonishing amount of information with near-expert
understanding when they pursue, on their own, a subject that is of great
interest to them. Paul Goodman, an educational reformer active in the
1950s and '60s, went so far as to suggest that a 13-year-old of average
intelligence, encouraged to explore his environment along lines similar
to those suggested by Sri Aurobindo, could master the entire elementary
school curriculum (the first 8 years of schooling) in one year. While
one may question Goodman's "one year" estimate, given the kind
of basic yogic training in concentration and attention that Sri Aurobindo
and Mirra Richard have described, children might well astonish us by demonstrating
a learning capacity far beyond what we now believe is possible.
Education for Self-knowledge
So far, we have touched upon physical, emotional and intellectual aspects
of learning. Might it be possible, in our present, secular society, to
bring in the spiritual aspects of yoga psychology as well? Mirra Richard
and Sri Aurobindo give us some clues as to how we might point a child
toward a greater reality and deeper part of themselves without violating
secular norms.
Both Richard and Sri Aurobindo, in line with all eastern spiritual traditions,
have said that every child, if encouraged to look within, will find an
aspiration to grow, to develop, to "become" someone, to realize
his or her uniqueness. Richard speaks of this aspiration in terms of knowing
one's "highest ideal" and organizing everything in one's life
around it. To put this into practice, she suggests, in line with all yogic
discipline, one begin by becoming fully conscious of the workings of one's
mind and body:
"The first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different
parts of your [mind] and their respective activities. You must learn to
distinguish these different parts one from the other, so that you may
find out clearly the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many
impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It
is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For
man's nature, [especially] his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency
to give a favorable explanation for whatever he thinks, feels, says and
does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing
them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere
will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to educate in us a discernment
which does not err.12
She further suggests the exercise of taking time each evening to go over
the activities of one's day, seeing to what extent they were or were not
in conformity with one's highest ideal. Without involving any suppression
or coercion of the mind, she suggests carefully observing what desires,
fears and other motivations supported one's actions, and through developed
concentration to gently draw the energy of the mind away from those that
are contrary to one's highest ideal. Finally, one can visualize oneself
carrying out the actions of the day in a way that is in harmony with that
ideal.
Through experimenting with exercises such as this, children might begin
to experience the value of self-knowledge. If presented in a non-dogmatic,
non-sectarian atmosphere of open exploration, they might foster as well
a feeling for the mystery of nature and the miracle of human consciousness.
In order to leave the mystery intact, it would be important when presenting
scientific knowledge to do so in a way that is neutral and agnostic. The
common practice has been to couple the findings of science with the doctrine
of materialism, which is directly at odds with the possibility of a non-material
spiritual reality. One would need to conscientiously and explicitly acknowledge
the inability of science at least, as presently practiced
to account for the origin of its laws of nature, to determine the presence
or absence of conscious intelligence throughout the universe, to identify
the impetus behind the evolutionary process; or to explain how consciousness
managed to emerge in an apparently unconscious universe.
Children at a very young age have a natural hunger for understanding
why things are the way they are. This is not an intellectual interest
but a basic, existential yearning for meaning. By developing attention,
concentration and self-knowledge within a loving and supportive environment,
the mystery of life can be celebrated, perhaps nurturing the seeds of
a society in which love of truth and compassion for all becomes the basis
of community life.
Earlier, I asked the reader to set aside skepticism about the possibility
of immediate implementation of such reforms. However, the introduction
of such an approach into our current educational system is not quite as
far-fetched as it may have at first appeared. Beyond inroads already evident
in the schools, there are yoga teachers both in the United States and
in India who have reported great success in introducing yogic practices
for the development of mind and body in prisons. Lower recidivism rates
show a long-term effect of such programs. And these are not white-collar
prisons; the inmates are seasoned criminals, many of whom have committed
violent crimes. If attentional training based on yogic principles can
work in prisons, is it so difficult to imagine they could work in our
schools as well?
Recently, David Igleheart, a writer of childrens' books, visited the
Sri Atmananda Memorial School, a school in Austin, Texas based on principles
remarkably similar to those described here.13 Igleheart describes
one of the "classes" he witnessed:
One day the teachers took a group of six- and seven-year-olds on a
walk to the creek on the far end of the school for a nature study. They
had planned a variety of lessons, but when the children reached the edge
of the creek, they saw a blue heron just as tall as they were on the opposite
bank. The children watched the heron, the heron watched them, and then
it spread its great wings and flew away. "Wow," one child said.
"How can that thing fly? It's as big as us." And, with what
could only be called incipient scientific curiosity, all the children
started talking about this remarkable fact. Fortunately the teachers recognized
an unplanned opportunity. "We have a library with lots of books,"
one of them said. "We could go there and find out."
The children, and their much-exercised teachers, literally ran back
to the library. The teachers found encyclopedias and picture books and
read to them everything they could find about how birds fly. The children
created replicas of lightweight wings and hollow bones and displayed their
work so the parents could see. They made posters, which require fine motor
skills, and stories and explanations requiring letters and vocabulary.
A series of activities ensued that lasted throughout the school year.
The children identified and studied all the birds that appeared on the
campus, and then every animal, their habits, and the way they fit into
ecological systems. Several years later, they are still building on these
projects, to study everything else in the world.14
Igleheart observes how attentive questioning from caring and supportive
teachers fosters the kind of concentrated observation recommended by Sri
Aurobindo. In this example, a simple nature walk is the beginning of an
ever-expanding learning experience. As impressive as he found this excursion,
Ingleheart was even more amazed by the many anecdotes he heard "about
children who didn't want to leave at the end of the day, and who voted
as a group to have a shorter break between semesters because they couldn't
stand to be away from school." What impressed him most of all was
the self-confidence of the children. When asked whether they might later
have difficulties after going to such a unique and nurturing school, one
answered, "Of course not. We know what we've learned. We know how
to learn. And we're confident."
The Austin Texas school is modeled after the Sri Atmananda School in
Malakkara, Kerala, a school which has won respect and awards both in India
and worldwide. In his article, Igleheart notes that the heart of the educational
program is based on the Indian gurukula tradition. The idea that human
beings possess an innate aspiration for inner and outer growth is a core
idea throughout Indian thought. This idea is not foreign to contemporary
theories of human learning. A significant number of theorists, particularly
within the humanistic tradition, have been inspired by this quintessentially
Indian perspective.15
I hope I've managed to convey the idea that educational methods based
on the yoga tradition are practical and can work when the proper institutional
and cultural supports are in place. If enough people become inspired by
the potential value of this approach for children and ultimately for the
health of society, they may work toward allocation of the necessary resources
to create the support for such methods.
The discovery that education must be a bringing out of the child's
own intellectual and moral capacities to their highest possible value
and must be based on the psychology of the child-nature [is] a step forward
towards a more healthy because a more subjective system; but it still
[falls] short because it still [regards] him as an object to be handled
and moulded by the teacher, to be educated. But at least there [is] a
glimmering of the realisation that each human being is a self-developing
soul and that the business of both parent and teacher is to enable and
to help the child to educate himself, to develop his own intellectual,
moral, aesthetic and practical capacities and to grow freely as an organic
being, not to be kneaded and pressured into form like an inert plastic
material. It is not yet realised what this soul is or that the true secret,
whether with child or man, is to help him to find his deeper self, the
real psychic entity within.
That, if we ever give it a chance to come forward, and still more
if we call it into the foreground as "the leader of the march set
in our front", will itself take up most of the business of education
out of our hands and develop the capacity of the psychological being towards
a realisation of its potentialities of which our present mechanical view
of life and man and external routine methods of dealing with them prevent
us from having any experience or forming any conception. These new educational
methods are on the straight way to this truer dealing. The closer touch
attempted with the psychical entity behind the vital and physical mentality
and an increasing reliance on its possibilities must lead to the ultimate
discovery that man is inwardly a soul and a conscious power of the Divine
and that the evocation of this real man within is the right object of
education and indeed of all human life if it would find and live according
to the hidden Truth and deepest law of its own being. That was the knowledge
which the ancients sought to express through religious and social symbolism,
and subjectivism is a road of return to the lost knowledge. First deepening
man's inner experience, restoring perhaps on an unprecedented scale insight
and self-knowledge to the race, it must end by revolutionising his social
and collective self-expression.16 Sri Aurobindo,
The Human Cycle
Footnotes:
1. Murphy, Michael (1997). The Physical and Psychological Effects of
Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research with a Comprehensive
Bibliography 1931-1996. Institute of Noetic Sciences: Sausalito, CA.
I'm using the term "meditation-related" to refer to all forms
of what could be considered to be attentional training, including imagery,
biofeedback and hypnosis. The major difference between meditation, biofeedback
and hypnosis is that meditation involves self guidance, whereas biofeedback
and hypnosis require an external guide, in the form of the hypnotist or
the biofeedback equipment. Though imagery is often presented by another
(as in the practice of guided imagery) it can also be used by the individual
(as in Jung's active imagination or Tibetan Buddhist tantric exercises
in mandalic visualization).
2. William James, cited in Wallace, Alan (2000). The Taboo of Subjectivity:
Toward a New Science of Consciousness, p. 98. Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
3. William James, cited in Scott, David, (2000). 'William James and Buddhism:
American Pragmatism and the Orient', Religion, XXX, p. 335. The
extent to which James was inspired by Indian philosophy is not generally
known. For example, almost all writers attribute the phrase "stream
of consciousness to James. However, James, with full awareness of the
source, simply translated the Pali phrase vinnana-sota, which literally
means "consciousness-stream", and refers to the Buddhist notion
of the flowing impermanent nature of the contents of consciousness.
4. Baars, Bernard (1997). 'In the Theatre of Consciousness: Global Workspace
Theory, A Rigorous Scientific Theory of Consciousness', The Journal
of Consciousness Studies, IV, p. 304. Email: baars@cogsci.berkeley.edu
5. Sri Aurobindo, (1976). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education,
p. 20. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
6. Who knows, by the time a truly integrated community of learning has
developed, perhaps technicians will have developed 3D holographic technology
which children could use to create virtual learning environments.
7. Richard, Mirra, (17). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education, p.
115. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
8. Sri Aurobindo, (1976). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education,
pp. 44-45. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
9. Sri Aurobindo, (176). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education, p.
45-46. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondichery, India.
10. Wood, Ernest, (1936). Mind and Memory Training, pp. 128-129. The
Theosophical Publishing House, Ltd. Madras, India. Here is an example
of the abilities of the Ashtavadhanis memory experts of
South India. These experts have through long training learned to simultaneously
keep in mind dozens of mental tasks. Colonel H. S. Olcott describes an
occasion in which a memory expert "simultaneously kept in mind and
did the following eleven things and afterwards correctly repeated the
whole:
- Played a game of chess, without seeing the board;
- carried on a conversation upon various subjects;
- completed a Sanskrit verse from the first line given him;
- multiplied five figures by a multiplier of four figures;
- added a sum of three columns, each of eight rows of figures;
- committed to memory a Sanskrit verse of sixteen words the words
begin given to him out of order, and at the option of the tester;
completed a 'magic square' in which the separate sums in the several
squares added up to a total named, whether tried horizontally or vertically;
- without seeing the chess-board directed the movement of a knight so
that it should make the circuit of the board within the outline of a
horse traced on it, and enter no other squares than those;
- completed a second 'magic square' with a different number from that
in the above named;
- kept count of the strokes of a bell rung by a gentleman present;
- committed to memory two sentences of Spanish, given on the same system
as #6.
This account of Colonel Olcott was described by yoga scholar Ernest Wood,
who himself witnessed a demonstration in which an audience composed of
one hundred individuals each gave a memory expert a task to complete:
Several gave [the pandit] sentences composed of five words, each person
using a different language Gujarati, English, Sanskrit, Persian,
Hindi, Mahratti, French and Latin and the words were given out
of order. One sitter gave moves in a game of chess. Two others gave figures
to be multiplied and added together. Another carried on little conversations
with the pandit on various topics. Another struck a little bell a number
of times on each round. There were calculations of dates, completion of
short poems and other items. After the hundred points had been made the
pandit meditated for a little while, then answered questions related to
the items, and finally repeated the whole.
11. Sri Aurobindo, (1976). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education,
p. 46. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
12. Richard, Mirra, (1976). Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Education,
p. 89. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
13. Igleheart, David, (2002). A Rmarkable Indian School Goes West. www.sulekha.com/columns.asp.
14. Igleheart, David, (2002). A Remarkable Indian School Goes West. www.sulekha.com/columns.asp.
15. For example, Carl Rogers, one of the foremost theorists of 20th century
psychotherapy, reports that his theories regarding the inherent self-actualizing
tendencies in human beings were inspired in part by his studies of Buddhist
and Taoist texts. In an essay on the development of his thinking, Rogers
says, "Leona Tyler
pointed out to me that my thinking and action
seemed to be something of a bridge between Eastern and Wetsern thought.
This was a surprising idea, but I find that in more recent years I have
enjoyed some of the teachings of Buddhism, of Zen and especially the sayings
of Lao-tse, the Chinese sage." From "My Philosophy of Interpersonal
relationships", p. 41 in "A Way of Being", by Carl Rogers,
published in 1980 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston. See also his 1978 essay
in the same volume, "The Foundations of a Person-Centered Approach".
16. Sri Aurobindo, (1972). The Human Cycle, p. 32. Volume 25, The Collected
Works of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India.
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