The Cosmic Renaissance
I have been thinking a lot about this new, more spiritual age we seem to be entering: what to call it, how to talk about it, and even how to help foster its expansion. We talked a lot about it in two of my courses in the philosophy, cosmology and consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies this past semester. In a course with the same name we called it The Great Turning, using Joanna Macy’s phrase. In another course, we contemplated the possibility of a “Second Axial Age,” referencing a first Axial Age that took place circa 500 BCE around the time of the Buddha, Patanjali, the Upanishads, the Greek philosophers, and Jewish prophets. So, for my final paper in my Intro to PCC course I explored what spiritual traditions we might incorporate into the traditions of the first Axial Age to forge a new spirituality and world view: Bhakti Yoga, Tantra Yoga, and pre-Roman Christianity. I propose calling it The Cosmic Renaissance.
Elemental Yoga: Celebration
In the yoga traditions through which I’ve traveled, the lineages from which I draw out the teachings that resonate most, there are two modes to life: evolution and celebration. For example, this is what the ancient Tantrikas believed, which is no surprise to anyone, given how very sensual even the classical, pre-California Tantrik practice has always been.
In the past five posts I’ve offered a tour of the five elements of the Elemental Yoga practice and the emphasis has been on evolution / expansion, even though a bhava of celebration is always woven in throughout all the practices.
In this post I’d like to talk about the importance of celebration.
The Yogic Perspective on Desire
Many people on the spiritual path have a complicated relationship with desire. Because of something we heard or read somewhere we see desire as part of the “problem,” an obstacle on the path. We harshly criticize ourselves for having desires, forgetting that we exist because of desire, that everything exists because of desire—the desire of Consciousness to dance, to play, to experience every possible way of being. Perhaps we deny our most ”basic” desires, or judge ourselves for succumbing to them. On top of all that, for those on the spiritual path, there is the added burden of worrying that we’re attached to our desire to expand, to transcend, to reach some kind of enlightened state. And we may very well be. It can get quite complicated.
The State of Yoga
There’s a lot of interest in yoga these days. But also a lot of confusion about what it is. A majority of Westerners think that it’s choreographed stretching in special clothes, and sometimes the state of relaxation that results from all that stretching. That’s what I thought it was when I started fourteen years ago. But, this postural yoga that has become synonymous with yoga in the West is just a tiny portion of yoga, and is actually a fairly recent development (primarily developed in the last hundred years or so).
So what is yoga?