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Philosophy

2024may26.    Sugrue.        Michael Sugrue, Whose Philosophy Lectures Were a YouTube Hit, Dies at 66.    After an academic career spent in near obscurity, he became an internet phenomenon during the pandemic by uploading talks he had given three decades earlier.         He was a charismatic teacher who in the early 1990s contributed lectures to a series called “Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition.”           “The lectures you’re about to see,” he says in introducing a series of talks, videotaped in somewhat hokey lo-fi style in 1992, “cover the last 3,000 years of Western intellectual history.”    The lecturer, Michael Sugrue, would go on to teach Plato, the Bible, Kant and Kierkegaard to two generations of undergraduates, including for 12 years at Princeton, without ever publishing a book — an academic who hadn’t “really had a career,” as he told The American Conservative after retiring in 2021.    But that same year, in the depths of the pandemic, Dr. Sugrue uploaded his three-decade-old philosophy lectures to YouTube, where many thousands of people whose aperture on the world had narrowed to a laptop screen discovered them. His talk on the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, in particular, seemed to fit the jittery mood of lockdown, when many people sought a sense of self-sufficiency amid the chaos of the outside world. It has now been viewed 1.5 million times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/education/michael-sugrue-dead.html

Contents

Bible philosophy 
Harvey Otto   
Hinduism
Yogananda
Psychology
"Self" definition 
Harvey Otto   
Theory W 
Western philosophy
Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris
Harvey Otto 
John Prine     
Mr.Rogers
Oxford tribute 
 

Bible philosophy

“Spirit commands: A replacement theology for self re-creation” 1994neo2004may04neo2022July14   https://www.harvotto.com/p/article-1838-SPIRIT-COMMANDSPRINCIPLES.html

Hinduism

 2013sep18.   Sanātana Dharma is an alternative name for Hinduism used in Sanskrit and other Indian languages alongside the more common Hindu Dharma.  Wikipedia
Yo gi:   a person who practices yoga. 2. capitalized : an adherent of Yoga philosophy. 3. : a markedly reflective or mystical person.Aug 23, 2023  Merriam-Webster

Notes and highlights for
Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship)
Yogananda, Paramahansa 

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Wentz preface,

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Jesus College , Oxford

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in short , a book about yogis by a yogi . As an eyewitness recountal of the extraordinary lives and powers of modern Hindu saints , the book has importance both timely and timeless . To its illustrious author , whom I have had the pleasure of knowing in both India and America , may every reader render due appreciation and gratitude .

Introduction

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for the first time , a yogi breaks his silence and tells of his spiritual experiences .

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Dr . David Frawley , Director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies , writing in the bimonthly journal Yoga International ( October / November 1996 ) , states , “ Yogananda can be said to be the father of yoga in the West — not the mere physical yoga that has become popular , but the spiritual yoga , the science of Self - realization that is the real meaning of yoga . ”

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the immortal nectar of India’s Sanatana Dharma , the eternal laws of truth , has been stored in the golden chalice of Autobiography of a Yogi . ”

THE ETERNAL LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

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“ Dharma ( cosmic law ) aims at the happiness of all creatures . ” In his rock edicts and stone pillars , surviving to this day , Asoka lovingly advises the subjects of his far - flung empire that happiness is rooted in morality and godliness .

CHAPTER 1 My Parents and Early Life

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they have bulwarked their land against the fate of ancient Egypt and Babylonia . I find my earliest memories covering the anachronistic features of a previous incarnation . Clear recollections came to me of a distant life in which I had been a yogi2 amid the Himalayan snows . These glimpses of the past , by some dimensionless link , also afforded me a glimpse of the future . I still remember the helpless humiliations of infancy .

CHAPTER 49 The Years 1940 – 1951

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For several years I conducted classes in Encinitas and Los Angeles on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and other profound works of Hindu philosophy .

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... classes in ... profound works of Hindu philosophy.

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The great world teacher demonstrated the value of yoga ( scientific techniques for God - realization ) not only in life but in death .

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Inner Peace : How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm

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In 1920 Mahavatar Babaji told Paramahansa Yogananda : “ You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West … . The scientific technique of God - realization will ultimately spread in all lands , and aid in harmonizing the nations through man’s personal , transcendental perception of the Infinite Father . ”

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Mahavatar means “ Great Incarnation ” or “ Divine Incarnation ” ; Yogavatar means “ Incarnation of Yoga ” ; Jnanavatar means “ Incarnation of Wisdom . ” Premavatar means “ Incarnation of Love ” — a title bestowed in 1953 on Paramahansa Yogananda

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Aims and Ideals of Self - Realization Fellowship

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To disseminate among the nations a knowledge of definite scientific techniques for attaining direct personal experience of God .

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To point out the one divine highway to which all paths of true religious beliefs eventually lead : the highway of daily , scientific , devotional meditation on God . To liberate man from his threefold suffering : physical disease , mental inharmonies , and spiritual ignorance .

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To encourage “ plain living and high thinking ” ; and to spread a spirit of brotherhood among all peoples by teaching the eternal basis of their unity : kinship

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edition , please use the search function on your e - reader to search for terms of interest .

Notes and highlights for
Inner Peace: How to be Calmly Active and Actively Calm
Yogananda, Paramahansa

Preface

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Preface By Sri Daya Mata President and spiritual head ( 1955 – 2010 ) of Self - Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
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Preface by Mata, Yogananda's 'boss' -- using Western lingo.
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Peace , serenity , inner balance are mere words until we actually see their expression in someone we meet — or feel their manifestation in ourselves .
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Harv has the feeling of actualization (Maslow) in PSI spiritual yoga terms in 2023sep.
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“ new ” science is an ancient one : Yoga , whose timeless methods of harmonizing body , mind , and soul offer a truly
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effective system for attaining inner peace . 1
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Los Angeles August 1999
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1 Though many persons think of yoga primarily in terms of physical postures and exercises ( hatha yoga ) , the term properly refers to a comprehensive system of meditation and balanced spiritual living whose ultimate aim is union of the individual soul with the infinite Spirit .
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Self-education of one's personal human spirit, if you will.   soul: noun: 1 the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being 2 emotional or intellectual energy or intensity.(OAD)   Harv uses the word 'spirit' rather than soul.   spirit: noun; 1 the nonphysical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character ...  • the nonphysical part of a person regarded as their true self and as capable of surviving physical death or separation.(OAD)   in the minds of other living personal human spirits.

I. “Where Can I Find Peace?”

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Peace emanates from the soul , and is the sacred inner environment in which true happiness unfolds . Through meditation one can experience a stable , silent inner peace that can be a permanently soothing background for all harmonious or trialsome activities demanded by life’s responsibilities . Lasting happiness lies in maintaining this evenly peaceful state of mind .
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Everything you do should be done with peace . That is the best medicine for your body , mind , and soul . It is the most wonderful way to live .
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It is to be so happy that no matter what you are doing you enjoy it .
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Harv has freed himself to do that enjoyment, for at his oldest-old stature, his remaining lifetime becomes precious. For the younger, the sooner that realization, the better lifetime of joy-love-freeing.
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Take an honest look at your life . . .
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With HarvOtto.com, he embarks that honest look.
II. Meditation: The Science of Being “Actively Calm”

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You cannot buy peace ; you must know how to manufacture it within , in the stillness of your daily practices in meditation .
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Harv finds Stoicism a better method.
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tranquility is the nature of God .
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Not in Western culture where acts of God are written into the law.
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To meditate is to be actively calm . . .
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Harv thinks meditation as inactive calm, unless the definition of meditation is THINKING of activity, choosing then doing.
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Meditation is the science of God - realization . It is the most practical science in the world . 3
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Science?
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3 An introductory form of meditation as taught by Paramahansa Yogananda begins here . The comprehensive set of techniques he gave — the step - by - step yoga science of concentration and meditation — is given in his printed Self - Realization Fellowship Lessons .
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Lessons coming via snail mail 2023sep.  What closure in nine months of lessons?

"Self" definition

Western philosophy

 2013sep13.   Harvey Otto.    Notes and highlights for book:
The Four Horsemen (2019)
Hitchens, Christopher; Dawkins, Richard; Harris, Sam; Dennett, Daniel
Foreword by Frye -- book was not read by Harv past the Foreword.
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‘ How dare they affront and wound people for whom religion is so great a solace , balm , and support ? ’
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Support? Harv's 'soul'-support is self-definition, centered on choice, using some religious thinkers (Powell S.J. on Respect Encouragement Challenge love as example) to understand his self/soul as "the Point Of Choice To Action (POCTA) in Theory W".
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examined in the forensic light of reason , history and knowledge .
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reasoning? what is that? same question for logic or logical.
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the testing of assertions on the anvils of logic and verifiable fact .
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Maybe faith and belief in divinity and an afterlife , even if founded on claims for which there can be no evidence , may nonetheless be considered a force for good ?
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Why shouldn’t we accept a religious narrative irrespective of its truth – as a framework in this relativist culture
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each member of the Four is happy to agree that the world , the cosmos , and our human apprehension exhibit and experience the numinous .
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but the divinity is within the self -- internal process not external.
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reminds us that open enquiry , free thinking and the unfettered exchange of ideas yield real and tangible fruit .
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the fruit of personal growth -- happiness -- measured personally, yet not measured via personal respect in external view

 2013aug28.   For Dennett, an éminence grise of American philosophy who is nonetheless perhaps best known as one of the “four horsemen” of modern atheism alongside Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, there are no metaphysical mysteries at the heart of human existence, no magic nor God that makes us who we are. Instead, it’s science and Darwinian evolution all the way down. In his new memoir, “I’ve Been Thinking,” Dennett, a professor emeritus at Tufts University and author of multiple books for popular audiences, traces the development of his worldview, which he is keen to point out is no less full of awe or gratitude than that of those more inclined to the supernatural. “I want people to see what a meaningful, happy life I’ve had with these beliefs,” says Dennett, who is 81. “I don’t need mystery.”  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/27/magazine/daniel-dennett-interview.html  


Video:   John Prine.   "All the Best,"    Wishing you (the reader) happiness.     https://youtu.be/e58y60Ozhxs?t=53

Video:   Mr.Rogers.    https://www.harvotto.com/p/ROGERS-WONDER-WANDER.html

Oxford tribute

A love letter to intellectualism.        Nikhil Krishnan’s ‘A Terribly Serious Adventure’ is an entertaining and informative homage to philosophers at Oxford.        For many of ... Oxfordians, Ludwig Wittgenstein was either a guru or a bête noire. Iris Murdoch, a student of philosophy before she became a philosophical novelist, once visited the Austrian émigré in Cambridge and, as Krishnan writes, never fully recovered from the experience:    “Everything about him was unnerving: the ‘trampish’ appearance, the empty, bookless room with no furniture but a camp-bed and two deck chairs, the confrontational, conventionless way in which he approached people and required them to relate to him. ‘What’s the good of having one philosophical discussion,’ he told her once. ‘It’s like having one piano lesson.’”    In later years, Murdoch always remembered Wittgenstein “with awe and alarm.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/01/19/oxford-philosophy-history-book-krishnan/