A vision statement for this forum has been written up, mostly by Rich Carlson, with minor interventions from Rod Hemsell and myself. This now follows. AUM Shanti, Debashish Banerji
While recognizing the fact that Sri Aurobindos message has been diluted by academics and others who quote him to affirm their own explanatory systems or social constructions, we believe that we can avoid such dilution by approaching the theme in the proper spirit of reverence for their texts, in which final authority is always deferred to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In so doing we should perhaps remain tentative in our conclusions which we extrapolate from their writing and when confusion arises remain open for the light of their inspiration. With these concerns in mind we also believe that Mother herself has in some instances suggested appropriate language which can be used in discourse when one comes into contact with more secular parts of the culture. Moreover, if the Sri Aurobindo community itself does not engage in finding appropriate language for discourse with the wider world, a danger arises that the integral yoga will be defined in the world by those commentators who have less concern with finding proper language or with the authenticity of the message of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
In these conversations however, we must also agree to own up to our opinions on matters of culture and society which have transpired since 1973. This simply means that we should not use the forum as a pretext to further socio-political or economic agendas we personally hold nor to gain authority for our own opinions, thoughts or ideas, by attempting to disguise them as direct teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. While the conclusions we reach regarding the emerging global village may indeed have socio-political and economic overtones, the main impetus for the conversation is to remain open to the free flowing spirit of truth. This is to say that although we all inevitably bring our own historical and cultural interpretations to the table, we should be prepared to suspend our opinions and attempt to synthesize perspectives with others, and in the spirit of integrality embrace difference in the unity of the truth consciousness.
As such, part of the conversation will be an attempt to uncover appropriate language when we are at loss for the proper means of expression given to us in light of the yoga. Finally, we agree that this discussion should be kept within the family until such time as we find consensus among us that the meaning which emerges from our conversation would be of positive use to the broader culture in which we ourselves are situated.
Another challenge of exploring the emerging planetary culture and its instrumentation of science and technology in the light of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is that this is fairly unexplored territory. Although they do provide guidance to us in their teachings and we can in many instances draw conclusions simply based on their teachings themselves, in some instance we may also have to rely on extrapolating theses teachings to apply to the novel contexts which have only become apparent in the year 2005. To extrapolate the meaning of their teaching to apply to current events is certainly no easy task.
To do this requires openness, aspiration, sincerity, and a profound understanding of our limitations as readers and aspirants. Moreover, it also requires that we expect no definite conclusions or certainty in the answers or points of view which may arise. The very fact that Sri Aurobindos yoga bids us to eschew simple moralizing, or rationalizing neat conclusions but rather calls on us to take a supra-moral, or supra-rational position indeed adds another layer of complexity to the endeavor with which most other groups or organizations who explore similar themes do not have to contend.
Therefore, in the conversation which emerges we need to be aware of these most important caveats, e.g. that we are not seeking to reach any firm or fixed conclusions or attempting to supply one dimensional or dogmatic answers to the problems which confront us in the world today, but rather we are seeking to explore these issues as fellow aspirants of integral yoga in order to identify and determine if there are certain trends at work in the world which either appear to be at odds with or appear to enhance the forming of integral communities and furthering the lines of a spiritual evolution of the species... The founders and co-Admin for SCIY are Ron Anastasia, Debashish Banerji and Richard Carlson. by rjon on Sat 05 Nov 2005 09:57 AM PST Profile Permanent Link
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