Knowing Is Loving

"Yoga Sutra" by Patanjali is the source of Classical Yoga. It is known as Raja Yoga or king yoga. I think Patanjali was as a man of his times. A brilliant and kind man who saw a service he could perform and did it admirably. He mentions friendliness as a way to overcome negative tendencies in oneself. It seems wise as that leads to co-operation which is the central theme in a viable society. What I hope to show are some of the things art and yoga have in common. I believe they...
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"Yoga Sutra" by Patanjali is the source of Classical Yoga. It is known as Raja Yoga or king yoga. I think Patanjali was as a man of his times. A brilliant and kind man who saw a service he could perform and did it admirably. He mentions friendliness as a way to overcome negative tendencies in oneself. It seems wise as that leads to co-operation which is the central theme in a viable society. What I hope to show are some of the things art and yoga have in common. I believe they share a lot of the same practices. The ultimate goal of Raja Yoga is to stop thought without going to sleep. Why that is important becomes apparent after you can do it. Yoga Sutra gives a description of the abilities and mechanisms of the mind to help in this. It also gives disciplines and exercises to help. If it works, and if stopping thought is a good thing, then there must be some veracity in the understanding of the mind as described by Patanjali. Truth is the main objective in Raja Yoga and in art also. The proof is in the pudding. The well-structured painting also stops thought. It allows the mind of the viewer to reboot and change directions, to live in a new moment. This could be one explanation for the craving people have for art of all types. Becoming a yogi is probably a good example for any role of life, except the criminal, but the parallels with becoming a painter are particularly fun. Yoga, literally 'union with God' actually makes any endeavor better but then so does art. When I was very young I found out that you could solve a problem by loving it. The feeling I got from solving a problem was the same warm fuzzy I got from loving and being loved. I read books that talked about something called enlightenment. They implied a lack of enlightenment in ordinary life. So the problem to solve became how to become enlightened. That is what this book is about.