11 min

There is no easy way out of the predicament we are in Know Yoga Ireland

    • Philosophy

There is no easy way out of the predicament we are in: we are in an ecological emergency, and we are inevitably going to die. There are some similarities between our responses to these two inevitabilities!

In this episode, I link our understandable desire to avoid thinking about what we are, and how we've come to be conscious, self-aware creatures (with the capacity to reflect on our own demise) with our own determination to be in control, to possess, to see humans as the be all and end all of the evolutionary project. Instead, I suggest we reflect on Asmita, the yogic concept of ego, and also on Brahmacharya. I use the latter in a broad sense to mean self restraint. I link Erich Fromm's insights on how we conduct ourselves in dialogue. In short, there's a lot in this episode. I'm happy to have a chat with anyone about these ponderings, and I hope my ECOnnect Patanjali students in particular get a chance to reflect on this episode, and do the exercise at the end. Happy listening!

There is no easy way out of the predicament we are in: we are in an ecological emergency, and we are inevitably going to die. There are some similarities between our responses to these two inevitabilities!

In this episode, I link our understandable desire to avoid thinking about what we are, and how we've come to be conscious, self-aware creatures (with the capacity to reflect on our own demise) with our own determination to be in control, to possess, to see humans as the be all and end all of the evolutionary project. Instead, I suggest we reflect on Asmita, the yogic concept of ego, and also on Brahmacharya. I use the latter in a broad sense to mean self restraint. I link Erich Fromm's insights on how we conduct ourselves in dialogue. In short, there's a lot in this episode. I'm happy to have a chat with anyone about these ponderings, and I hope my ECOnnect Patanjali students in particular get a chance to reflect on this episode, and do the exercise at the end. Happy listening!

11 min