Religion's conceptual shape-shifting is maybe its survival mechanism at work

[cbayer]

Last edited Sun Feb 16, 2014, 05:57 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/feb/14/religions-shape-shifting-survival-mechanism-work

Is yoga a religion? Scientology? We now seem to accept it has become what Wittgenstein called a family resemblance concept

Giles Fraser
The Guardian, Friday 14 February 2014 14.30 E


'I suspect most westerners [who practise yoga] regard the teaching bit as little more than exotic orientalist colour, with limited emotional or intellectual ­purchase on their wider lives.' Photograph: Patrick Byrd

The sun is gracefully dipping below the watery horizon. Waves are lapping at the beach. But for all this opportunity for reflective wonder, things are not well in my world. My downward dog is murdering my calf muscle. Then we go into some excruciating sequence from striking cobra into grimacing bear. Actually, I made up that last asana. But that's how I feel (and, no doubt, look). It's like playing Twister with some softly spoken sadist. At this precise moment in time, it's hard to imagine that yoga was conceived of as an answer to the problem of suffering.

But is all of this any sort of religion? Millions now practise yoga worldwide. It has become a billion-dollar industry. Yet the Brooklyn and Bethnal Green trendies who wrap themselves up in somatic knots in search of sculpted bodies and mental quietness have little in common with the celibate ash-covered yogis of ancient India.

For many, yoga has become an exclusively secular activity, more about the sweatpants of Pineapple than the sutras of Patanjali. Hardcore yogis often disparage the dilettante dabbling of the keep-fit brigade, arguing that without an appreciation of the wider theological hinterland, yoga is robbed of its primary purpose. Nonetheless, I suspect most westerners who settle into their lotus positions regard the teaching bit as little more than exotic orientalist colour, with limited emotional or intellectual purchase on their wider lives.

The NHS is happy to promote yoga on their website and yet, to my knowledge, the National Secular Society has yet to complain about a Hindu bias in healthcare. Even more intriguingly, yoga is popular in places like Iran, where it is carefully labelled a sport so as not to contradict the prohibitions of sharia law. On the other hand, some vicars ban yoga from their church halls.

More at link

[struggle4progress]

1. Link

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/feb/14/religions-shape-shifting-survival-mechanism-work

[cbayer]

4. Thanks so much. Will edit the OP.

[kwassa]

2. The Episcopal rector of my previous church teaches yoga at church

He has been doing yoga for 25 years or more.

A general observation: I've been around long enough to remember the late 60s/early 70s infatuation with yoga. Yoga was originally a religious practice within the Hindi faith; now it has become completely secularized, yet retains a patina of spirituality without requiring a spiritual practice of any type. This makes it very appealing. This makes it not just exercise.

[cbayer]

3. I agree. I have never thought of it as religious, but

often as spiritual.

It's something about the focus, the blocking out of everything, the attention to your own movement and stillness.

[pinto]

5. I've never viewed yoga as a religion, per se, but it shares some things with religion as we know it.

Ritual, repetition, self reflection come to mind.

(somewhat of an aside) Saw a piece on Sanjay Gupta's cable show today about "mindfullness" in sports. I think it used to be called "getting in the zone." Repetition coupled with excluding outside distractions and just being mindfull of the moment, whatever the moment is, works in that format.

[cbayer]

6. As to sports, there have also been some interesting studies about

believing that you will win. It has a strong positive correlation with winning.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. yoga: no. scientology: yes.

yoga is a religion only if bingo is also a religion.