Category: Spirituality
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The Allure of Power, Authority and Control
In previous posts we have gone through the reasons why the idea of administrative autonomy is such a key topic of debate in Auroville. Administrative autonomy is indeed the central issue in the pitched battle that is ongoing in Auroville today. The small group of Aurovilians who have been running…
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Scale of Thought and Action in Integral Yoga, Part II
In the previous post we took a look at the vastness of scale and scope that Integral Yoga deals with. As we detach from the limitations of identifying with our material selves, we begin to identify with the entirety of humanity, the world and the universe, and begin to see…
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Scale of Thought and Action in Integral Yoga, Part I
In the last few posts we have contextualized progressive and conservative thinking in the framework of Integral Yoga. In this post we take this further, focusing this time on the scale at which Integral Yoga functions, and how that intersects with progressive and conservative thought. And then with this framing…
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Integral Yoga and the Limits of Progressive Thought and Action, Part II
In this post we continue to contextualize progressive thinking and its limitations within the framework of Integral Yoga and Sri Aurobindo’s writings. In the previous post we had gone through how humans as we exist today are a transitional being in the evolutionary journey on Earth. We are transitional because…
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Integral Yoga and the Limits of Progressive Thought and Action, Part I
In the previous post we saw how progressive thought and Integral Yoga have similar aims of universalism and the moving of humanity in a more egalitarian, harmonious, peaceful and compassionate direction. We also touched upon the idea that progressive solutions are limited by the fact that progressive thinking cannot go…
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Is Spirituality/Integral Yoga Progressive or Conservative? Part II
Now that we have gone over the basic definitions of the conventional terms we are going to use over the next few posts, lets start taking a look at the relationships between them. The reason why I think this topic of the relationships between spirituality/Integral Yoga, religion, progressivism and conservatism…
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Is Spirituality/Integral Yoga Progressive or Conservative? Part I (Descriptions)
There are many (maybe infinite?) supra-interesting sociological and psychological themes that can be analyzed by studying the petri dish that is Auroville. Among these are the multifarious interplays between spirituality, religion and the socio-political ideologies of liberalism/progressivism and conservatism. In the next few posts I will take a look at…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part III
In the first post of this current sequence of posts on Auroville’s autonomy, I had pointed out two often mentioned quotes of The Mother regarding her aspiration for a place which no individual person or group could lay claim to, and which instead belonged to the entirety of humanity. In…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part II
In the previous post (Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part I), we went through the spiritual and philosophical context behind the need for Auroville to have a level of administrative autonomy. In this post, we will unpack the correlations of terms such as spiritual anarchy and autonomy,…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part I
In the previous post (Why is Auroville in India?), I had mentioned that the Indian government had granted Auroville a level of autonomy in its governance and functioning, via the Auroville Foundation Act of 1988. But why does Auroville need this autonomy at all? (This is a long post with…