Frame Publishing

I felt pressed to get the 3rd edition of  The Yoga Party: Philosophical Writings (the present edition) out because I thought it was important to be put in circulation.  Unfortunately to get the most out of this edition one would invariably need a philosophy background, both West and East (most importantly in the East Sri Aurobindo).

Since I’m aiming for a release date for the 4th edition by 2010 it’s time for me to get crackin.  In this edition I will include a index, glossary, and footnotes with in some cases short excerpts of the relevant philosophers.

I also have unpublished political writings and poetry if the demand presents itself for the second and third volume of the Yoga Party.  I imagine the present third edition will be difficult and frustrating for some reading it now.  Once again I published this early because I think the ideas needed to be out there so I hope you will forgive me for releasing such a difficult text.

I’ve listed recommended reading on Goodreads which will give an introduction to the main ideas of Idealism, Materialism, Rationalism and Empiricism.  I encourage you to join my discussion group on Goodreads (listed at the top) where I can answer questions.  I truly believe that my book presents ideas which are important and relevant to todays discourse.

So until 2010 (and afterwards of course) I am available for any questions you may have so please don’t be afraid to ask.  As is listed previously the Third Edition of  The Yoga Party: Philosophical Writings is available on Google Book Search for those that don’t have the buck to drop and have iron clad eyes.  I wish you well.  Otherwise the bound edition is on Amazon.

So now the annotated version is underway…

In the book “The Synthesis of Yoga” in Chapter XII titled The Realization of Sachchidananda by Sri Aurobindo it states

“It is at least a fundamental principle principle of the ancient wisdom, the wisdom of the East on which we are founding ourselves, that philosophy ought not to be merely a lofty intellectual pastime or a play of dialectical subtlety or even a pursuit of metaphysical truth for its own sake, but a discovery by all right means of the basic truths of all-existence which ought then to become the guiding principles of our own existence. ”

Philosophy should mean something.  It should be for something and it should amount to something.  Philosophy in the West has been neutered and any attempt to bring  philosophy to earth is derided and is often considered to be subversive.  This is why Philosophy is considered in the West to simply be a waste of time.  On the rare occasion where philosophy has been substantial as in Sri Aurobindo’s work or the work of Karl Marx the attitude is taken either that with Aurobindo for example that his writings are cultist (and therefore suspect)  or in Marx’s case that his writing are subversive and ultimately evil.

Philosophy should mean something and stand for something.  It should not be an idle exercise practiced only by those in the “Ivory Towers” like the scholars in Hermann Hesse’s famous work “The Glass Bead Game.”

Well I’ve sold my first book and I’ve had my first review.  I’m now well on my way to success (or not).  I’m looking forward to learning from the reader’s of my book.  I need to keep an open mind to improve myself.  As Aristotle said once something to the effect that  learning is not pleasant.  To improve myself I must gird myself and be resilient.

Philosophy is a hard sell in any case.  Most often if the material is good the philosopher is not recognized in their lifetime.  Those that are recognized are academics, something that I no longer am.  This is assuming that in fact there is something of value in my book and I should not be so presumptuous to assume so.

Sometimes I think I’m just working out the contradictions in my mind when I write.  I think there must be some logical pattern to explain existence but Einstein once said that using logic to understand the universe is a dead end.  But then Einstein ran up against quantum mechanics.

Perhaps things in fact are not logical at all, or that my system is flawed.

I tried to create something that would be useful in the world, that would be something the world really needed.  But naturally borrowing from a 20th century Indian Philosopher will probably not tickle many’s fancies.  Perhaps I’m so silly to think that people would find it valuable based on it’s merits.  It is so foreign to western tastes that I now think it is unlikely that it will ever catch on.  As a friend told me perhaps in a hundred years (if at all).

I know it’s abysmally difficult to read and sometime I wonder if it makes any sense at all.  It makes sense to me though but am I an apt judge?  One of my pals (who swears by it BTW ) who went through the philosophy program with me asks me to explain it to him because for him too it is very difficult.

One thing in my book is that there is spiritual as well as physical evolution.  Recently I’ve thought that perhaps there is both evolution and devolution and that the coming of enhanced consciousness is not guaranteed.  One can consider the dinosaurs I suppose.

Well time will tell.  I can’t predict the future.  But I made the effort and it was a supreme effort.