Does It Matter If There’s A Lot Of AI Hype?
In her book Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (2018), philosopher Shannon Vallor rightly points to one of the central puzzles we face today. This is that there’s, in her coinage, a stunning “epistemic opacity” with regard to how technology is and will unfold and, of course, with what…
Patanjali’s Method Of Pratipaksha Bhavana
In Yoga Sutra 2.33, Patanjali offers a compassionate practice to those whose minds are agitated: “When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones should be thought of.” This is the meaning of the cultivation of the counter-thought. Claude (Anthropic) gives us the Sanskrit line thus: Sanskrit: vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam The Sanskrit Terms: Vitarka = negative thoughts, doubts, wayward thoughts, disturbing…
Creation Is A Beautiful Dream
Question Concerning New Thought One conversation partner puts his question thus: The logical line goes like this: thoughts create your habits, your actions, your character; they color the world around you and thus ultimately create the world around you. If you think everyone is evil, you will ultimately see everyone as evil, respond accordingly, and ultimately…
Jeffrey Epstein, Alas, Had Thought Power
I don’t recall Swami Sivananda discussing perversions of thought power in his book Thought Power, at least not at great length. It’s clear that he’s aware of the possibility of a yogi abusing thought power, and it would have been obvious to him that ethical practices (such as the yamas and the niyamas from Raja…
Who Is Going To Save Me?
Power bypass is a real thing: renouncing my own inner power, I become small. In each complaint and in every sorrow is a lone cry for a savior, someone or something “out there” that will come and save me and make it all better. Won’t someone pull me out of this mess? Won’t some powerful…
A Minimum Viable Metaphysic For Thought Power
In order for thought power to make any sense, you’ll have to go beyond “mere technique” as well as “mere psychology.” You’ll need a minimum viable metaphysic. To render a first sketch of this metaphysic, let’s begin by distinguishing between what’s inside of me and what’s outside of me, what’s internal and what’s external. Start…
Stoicism Is No Match For Thought Power
In 2011, when I was interviewed by The Washington Post, I recommended Stoical philosophical exercises with the aim of preparing the reader for Hurricane Irene. To be sure, Stoicism was then all the rage–it’s carried on, even grown in popularity since–and so it wasn’t surprising that I would have implied that Stoical philosophy was suitable…
How Did You Sleep?
Innocent questions can be loaded guns. When a loved one asks you, “How did you sleep last night?,” don’t dig in and say, “Oh, you know, I slept all right. I fell asleep easily, but in the middle of the night my mind was racing. I fell back asleep ultimately but I feel a bit…
How To Actually ‘Do’ Positive Thinking
Let’s suppose that, upon reading the recent spate of posts on positive or right thinking, you’re willing to throw your hat in the ring. Great. Your next question is: “How?” Here’s a clean method: S1: You’ll need to up your introspective game because you first have to label a thought a “negative thought.” Your best…
Is Right Thinking Just Pollyannaism?
The Pollyanna objection to “thought power” has been, I trust, on your mind since you’ve been reading the last series of posts. The thought power thesis states that positive thinking is more powerful and truer than negative thinking, and it doesn’t flinch with regard to the twin implications. One, your life is “the product” of…
Can ‘My’ Thoughts Hurt You?
What might be our standard picture of thought? And what, indeed, might be wrong with this picture? I see three basic propositions: In Thought Power, Sivananda (it can be surmised) takes all three propositions to be false. What would be his counters? If this new, albeit quite unorthodox picture of thinking is correct, then it…
Do Thoughts Shape My Destiny?
What if we were to take very seriously the formative character of thinking? Could this be one way of understanding “thought power”? Thoughts, Sivananda states in Thought Power, beget habits (“grooves”); habits beget character; and character begets destiny (let’s say: the course of a life). Could he be on to something? Nobody denies that someone…
Power Bypass
Due in large part to the emergence of ethical and sexual scandals following the arrival of the “new religions” in the West, “spiritual bypass” was a term coined in order to make sense of how certain spiritual practitioners (again, in the West) could use a spiritual path in order to “go around” their psychological issues…
You Must Cultivate Power
One of the chief problems with contemporary spirituality is that it doesn’t cultivate power–inner power or spiritual power or “thought power” or shakti. Without power, there can’t be the inward turn nor can there be an expression of that power in the form of love. I need power in order to give, to serve, and,…
Can ‘My’ Thoughts Color Your Experience?
In his marvelous book Thought Power, Swami Sivananda argues that “thought moves,” “thought is a force”–indeed, is a “vital, living force.” This claim is by no means obvious. For many of us, a thought seems almost like a pastime. It’s fun to think about geopolitics, but what effect, apart from entertainment, does such a thought…
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Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 