Heroism in a human scale
Is it possible to yoke heroism in a human scale while living in an age of Anthropocene?
Dear Readers,
Good morning! I hope you are doing well and the pandemic has been kind to you so far.
I am excited to share the synopsis of the book I am co-writing with my Yoga mentor. Shri. Raghu Ananthanarayanan. I have also been having various dialogues with few dear friends about the book and its themes. I will be sharing more about that later.
I am sharing this synopsis so that we may engage in a dialogue about the themes and questions this book is going to explore. No book is birthed alone and this book is going to be no different.
If this book has to be timeless, it has to deal with timeless questions, which are born from the times we live in. I hope this synopsis evokes questions/responses/feedback.
Synopsis:
The purpose of this book is to explore heroism in a human scale and anchor it in deep inner intelligence, accessible to every human being. In order to do this, this book will sew a braid, drawing parallels between ancient indic wisdom, advanced scientific knowledge emerging in the domains of cognition, economics, and the practice of Yoga. This will enable us to discover a way of living that is discontinuous from the past, given the crisis that is looming in front of humankind.
The book has been organized based on the four axes of a meaningful life: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha.
Dharma is the core axle of one’s being. Kama and Artha define the praxis of engagement with the world, and Moksha (which is often confused as the ultimate destination) defines the ability to act in the world without getting entangled in our conditioned patterns of extractive relationships.
In Part 1, we explore Dharma as a map in the journey of meaning-making through a hero’s inward journey. We cover the evolution and pervasive influence of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s journey across movies and advertisements. We dig deeper into Joseph Campbell’s framing of the hero’s journey and the repercussions it has had in understanding the hero's journey as an external journey, a conquest over nature. For Joseph Campbell, this external journey is symbolic of the internal journey. In Indic thought, on the other hand, the hero's journey is a direct inward journey. Indic thought distinguishes between a Veera, who engages in an external heroic journey, and a Dheera, who undertakes intense inward journeys in the quest of fundamental questions of life.
In Part 2, we explore Artha, exploring the parallels between Artha and the emerging paradigm of ergodicity economics. Instead of treading the familiar ground of understanding artha through Kautilya’s Arthashastra, we explore the journey of the dheera engaging in the world of artha. The emerging paradigm of ergodicity economics is introduced to make sense of this dharmic pursuit, in which there is a glimmering possibility of going beyond the current paradigm of ‘homo economicus’ We also explore the difference between bhoga, a life of indulgence and consumerism and contrast it with apavarga, a life of existential responsibility and learning, i.e., dharmic living.
In Part 3, we explore Kama, exploring the parallels between the rasa theory in natya Shastra and cutting-edge research on embodied human cognition. We explore the paradox of human scale, where it is both limited by form and materiality in one’s body, and unlimited in the subtle levels of one’s psyche.
In Part 4, we explore Moksha, drawing parallels between the idea of Mukthi in Indian ideas of the Hero's journey and sustainability. We briefly introduce the reader to the gravity of the climate crisis that awaits us and explore the possibility of discovering a way of responding to climate change through ideas like voluntary simplicity, existential responsibility, and ecstatic human potential.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers
Venky