Category: philosophical counseling
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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…
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Do Thought 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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 