Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/807408
Y oga Science teaches the individual how to optimize our relationships with our body, breath, mind, soul, and ulti- mately, the universe itself. It provides a verifi able scientifi c template for understanding life's most important questions: Who am I? From where have I come? Why am I here? What is to be done, and where will I go? When I began the study and practice of Yoga Science, I start- ed noticing that my vision and associated decision-making abili- ties were compromised. In many situations I felt as though I were driving an automobile with a dirty windshield. It was hard to see clearly and rather unsettling to deal with the world from such an inaccurate and unreliable perspective. As my meditation practice deepened, I began to contem- plate what it is that obscures our vision. What are all those met- aphoric dead bugs, pine needles, dust, dried leaves, bird droppings, and road spray that cover the windshield of the human mind? Like you, I could cite parents, siblings, children, ill- ness, work –– even the President of the United States –– but all those seemed more like symptoms than causes. By turning my own mind-body-sense com- plex into a laboratory for experimenting with the t r u t h , I discovered that a great number of undesirable concepts and attachments are hiding out in the dark recesses of our unconscious minds. And like some anonymous internet hacker halfway around the world, these mischie- vous evil-doers seem to revel in compromising our ability to see accurately. Of all the unconscious factors I examined, the most insidious force skewing my perceptions was a sense of lack. A lifetime of false (but convincing) input from the senses, ego, unconscious mind, and culture has most of us hypnotized into be- lieving that "I" am a separate individual –– living in a vast universe of objects and relationships that have the power to make "me" happy and secure. And motivated by this popular, but erroneous perspective, we human beings scramble to fulfi ll as many desires as possible. Unfortunately, when we act on this faulty philosophy, just the op- posite occurs. When we fulfi ll a desire, we immediately begin to fear that we might lose what we have. And if our desires are thwarted, we experience anger. If anger cannot fulfi ll our desires, we repress the anger and experience depression. The actual consequences of such a defective paradigm (based on the limitations of the brain and senses) are two-fold. First, we remain enslaved to the delusion that as an individual, "I" lack. Second, in the face of our failure to fi nd fulfi llment, we try to compensate our- selves through imprudent lifestyle choices. We take a literal or imaginary vacation by having too much or too little food, sex, sleep, or self-preservation (fear or worry) that soon returns us to a familiar state of unhappiness and insecurity. 8 8 8 -2 4 2 - 8 2 7 2 w w w . s h a r e i n t e r n a t i o n a l . i n f o / W LT Who is that Teacher? What is that change? A great planetary Teacher has come to help us make the one change that will solve all our crises economic, political, social, and environmental. O N E A N S W E R MANY PROBLEMS yoga & spirit THE MIND IS THE PROBLEM And the Mind is the Solution By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) 20 wholelifetimes.com