“To err is human, to forgive is divine.”

The statement is attributed to Alexander Pope but might be of ancient origin. The essence of it is that a human being is not perfect. There is no one, whether a saint or a sinner, who does not regret having done something in the past. The feelings of regret, remorse, and guilt are basically the same, the difference is only of degree. They are all related to one’s conscience and they always pertain to the past.

This brings us to the question as to what is conscience. There is no generally accepted definition of conscience, but it supposes the existence of some faculty that produces feelings of approval or disapproval of one’s own actions. In a sense it is a higher self judging the lower one. The feelings of approval create no problems but those of disapproval last long, sometimes, even life long. It is here that the degree comes into play and determines the intensity of the ‘prick’ of the conscience.

Strangely enough these feelings do not necessarily relate only to things actually done but also to things not done that should or could have been done. This is especially so in the case of human relationships; the more intimate the relationship, the stronger is the feeling of remorse or guilt. It is an unfortunate fact of human nature that the importance of someone or something is felt more acutely in the absence, especially so when it has an element of finality.

Conscience is related to the faculty of discrimination, which in turn is an attribute of the consciousness. It is the discrimination between right and wrong according to one’s inner beliefs that depend on the conditioning of the mind. This conditioning is a result of external factors like religion, upbringing, and environment. Therefore the concept of right and wrong varies in individuals covering an incredibly wide range. The feelings of remorse and guilt in different people may vary from nonexistent to overwhelming depending on the nature of their conscience.

The main problem related to these feelings is how to overcome them. Since they relate to past actions or lack there of, it is impossible to remove the root cause. The only thing that one can do is to learn from the error and avoid that kind of behavior in future. But in some cases even that may not be an option. Take for example, the remorse of a parent for having done (or not done) things to a child. The opportunity for doing or not doing those things is lost forever. So what is one to do?

This is where the significance of the above quotation comes in. We have to realize the fact that no one is perfect; everyone makes a mistake sometime or other. Forgiving is an act that takes away the effect of the mistake for both, the subject and object. It is divine not in any religious sense but in the sense of purification of the Self. When it comes to forgiveness, the most difficult thing to do is to forgive oneself. The difficulty arises precisely because of the fundamental cause of all problems – the subject object duality. In this case the offender and the offended are one, even though in the initial act the offended was another; in the context of remorse and guilt that offended person is no longer in the picture.

Forgiving is not forgetting either. It is a realization of the fact that there is no future in the past and, therefore, brooding over the past is futile.

The author maintains a website CosmosEbooks devoted mainly to science, philosophy, and self-development.

The word continuity implies motion, which in turn implies time. We take the continuity of time as self-evident. In some ways we do the same with space. But is it really so? Not long ago both space and time were considered absolute. The relativity theory did away with that notion. They are both relative and exist only in the phenomenal world; when the universe disappears, space and time also disappear. While they are there, though, they seem continuous. The word ‘seem’ itself is tied to perception and therefore continuity is simply a matter of perception.

This is not merely a philosophical point. We all know about cinematographic projection and how the projected picture seems continuous. In reality it is a sequence of distinct pictures projected in a rapid sequence beyond the capability of our visual perception to distinguish them. The same process works with anything that changes. If the change occurs in too rapid a succession, we will see the phenomenon as continuous. This takes us back to the question of continuity of space and time.

Let us take the case of space first. How small can the part of space be before it ceases to be space? Science has already tackled this problem for matter; we cannot break down matter to anything smaller than electrons and quarks; beyond that we have simply energy. For space the smallest unit that we can think of is a point. But a point is a mathematical concept; it has zero dimensions and, hence, it is no longer a part of space. Instead of point we can think of dot, the smallest that we can imagine. So space is simply a succession of dots. If these dots come into our visual perceptions in a very rapid succession, we see them as continuous in the form of line (not a geometrical one), surface, or volume. This is what we observe on a computer screen.

The scenario in the case of time is more vague. The smallest unit of time that we use is a moment. Just as we cannot make the size of the dot in space specific, we cannot make the size of moment specific in terms of fraction of a second. At the same time we know that it cannot be zero. Thus the continuity of time is also a result of the limitations of our sense perception.

Let us now consider space and time at the other extremes. For space we use the word infinite, for time the word is eternity. Again we cannot visualize infinite space because our concept of space is based on separation between points. Similarly we cannot form any idea about eternity because our concept of time is based on that of beginning and end. The point is that infinity is beyond space and eternity is beyond time. In order to realize them one has to go beyond the world of perception, in other words transcend space-time.

Quantization is a relatively recent concept in science. However, in the yoga philosophy it was discussed more than two thousand years ago. It essentially says that every thing in the universe, including space and time, is comprised of discrete units. The continuity of anything is only a matter of perception; it results only from the smallness of the discrete units and from the rapid rate of input to the mind.

We shall discuss the idea of continuity and quantization in detail in a forthcoming article on our website CosmosEbooks.

The two components of yoga leading to the last (eighth) are concentration (dhaaranaa) and meditation (dhyaana); the last one is trance (samaadhi). As mentioned in the earlier post it is possible to practice meditation without going through the preceding stages. We mentioned only the first two components. The third and fourth (aasana and praanaayaam) are in the form of exercises. We used the terms lower and higher yoga in the sense of physical and spiritual. They were not meant to denigrate the beneficial aspects of exercises and meditation, but only to stress the point that they do not take one towards the main goal of yoga.

Paatanjali defines concentration as confining the mind in a limited mental area. The mental territory is vast though not infinite at the lower levels of the mind. Concentration involves limiting attention to as small portion of this territory as possible. One usually chooses an object of concentration. But there can be a movement of thought within the object itself. As long as there are thoughts they will cause distraction resulting in an interruption of concentration.

Meditation on the other hand is defined as uninterrupted flow of the mind toward the object of concentration. This means a complete cessation of distractions implying the absence of the thought process. And this is the definition of yoga itself as given in the very first sutra. Another way of seeing the distractions is in terms of the degree or depth of concentration. If the depth is not at its highest point there would be a break in the continuity of attention. So the essential difference, at least from a technical point of view, is uninterrupted flow of attention.

There is another significant point to note in this connection. In concentration one has to force the mind to stay at the object or within the confined area of the mental territory. In meditation the attention and its flow toward the object is spontaneous without any deliberate effort. When the mind becomes absolutely calm without any modifications in it (cessation of the thought process) there is no movement and no distraction.

Of course meditation itself has many stages depending on at what level the mind is operating. The practitioner goes through successively higher stages and at the highest level he goes into trance. Meditation is beneficial no matter at what stage a person is; it is now a well-known fact that it leads to healthy body and mind. Not everyone can become and an enlightened yogi; it takes a long time, even many lives to get to that stage. But getting started is the main thing; also having benefits even at the physical level is reward enough.

The word yoga brings to mind, especially in the West a system of exercises or meditation to keep the body and mind healthy. But yoga is actually a philosophy, one of the six ancient schools of philosophy in India. The literal meaning of the word is union and the aim of yoga philosophy is the union of the individual soul and the Super-soul usually called God. The goal is to evolve the individual human being to spiritual perfection following a long and arduous path of self-discipline. The most authoritative book on yoga is Yoga Sutra of Paatanjali who expounded the philosophy. Yoga is also a science as most of the concepts discussed in Yoga Sutra are rational and even compatible with the views of modern science.

The system of yoga described in Yoga Sutra has eight components and thus it is called ashtaanga yoga. The first two components are called yama and niyama. Yama can be expressed as ‘vows of self-restraint or abstention’; niyama may be understood as ‘binding rules that must be observed’. The next two components belong to the category of exercises that most people are familiar with (aasana and praanayaam). The significance of putting yama and niyama even before the exercises is crucial to the understanding of the philosophy.

In order to start on the spiritual path it is essential that a person has the moral and ethical foundation for the endeavor. The first two components therefore provide the steps for character building. Each of these consists of different but related sub-components. Yama has five – nonviolence (ahimsaa), truthfulness (satya), honesty or inhibition of tendency to misappropriate anything (aasteya), sexual continence or restraint (brahmacharya), and non-possesivness (aparigraha). Niyama also has five and they are: purity or cleanliness (shaucha), contentment (santosha), austerity (tapah), self-study leading to the knowledge of the Self (svaadhyaaya), and complete surrender to God (Ishwar-pranidhaan).

It may be seen that the elements included in these two components define the traits of character that constitute ethical behavior in modern civilized societies. The practice of these elements has the common purpose of character building in the person starting yoga training. However, there is a subtle difference in the nature of practices involved under each component. Those under yama are moral and prohibitive in nature, while those under niyama are constructive and disciplinary in nature. Yama lays down the foundations of an ethical life and niyama helps the practitioner in making life organized and disciplined.

We thus see that the very basis of yoga is character building with emphasis on moral and ethical behavior. It is of course possible to start directly with exercises and meditation, but that will not put the person on the path of spiritual uplift. In this sense we can define two types of yoga – lower and higher. The lower includes yoga of exercises and meditation as most people take it to be. It may also include practices of some advanced yoga practitioners who may have acquired special capabilities like clairvoyance. The higher yoga, however, involves striving toward the lofty goal of Self-realization and having the proper character foundation is a prerequisite for attaining this goal.

More articles and ebooks related to philosophy, science, and self-development can be found on author's website CosmosEbooks.

We are witnessing the emergence of the world into an age of violence that may be a precursor of worse things to come. Violence is so rampant now that fear has become a dominant factor in our lives. We are afraid for ourselves, for our children and loved ones, and for everything that we cherish. The places that were once sacrosanct have become as susceptible to violence as battlegrounds. Only a few years back in the past one could have never thought of schools as scenes of carnage. Even places of worship that are supposed to be abode of God or gods, are no longer safe. Is it the human destiny to finally succumb to violence and perish as a species? Or is there a way to reverse this trend in human behavior to avoid the bleak end? There are no easy answers to these questions. But man has been endowed with the capacity to think and act. And this is the crucial moment in human history requiring the use of that gift both individually and collectively.

The acts of violence appear in different forms but the worst one is killing of man by man. All these acts are symptoms and getting rid of the symptom is not the cure. One has to look for the root causes and only by eliminating those it is possible to solve the problem. In this particular instance there is a multiplicity of causes of diverse nature; some are social, others are political, but they all relate to human nature. Unless there is a fundamental change in the behavior of individuals there can be no solution to the problem of violence. It is not possible here to go into all the facets of this problem and we will consider only the violence related to schoolchildren.

The antidote to violence is of course nonviolence. It may be a very unpleasant fact but the parents are largely responsible for how children grow up. The children learn more from actions than words. If the idea of nonviolence is inculcated in them right from the beginning, they would be less prone to acts of violence (and putting up with the acts). Violence does not mean only physical harm but also harming anyone in any other way. It is also important that the idea becomes a part of the daily life instead of being a philosophical concept imposed externally.

The school system also has an important part to play here. If the idea of nonviolence is made a part of teaching from the very beginning, it would go a long way in assisting parents in their responsibility. This requires a drastic change in the framework of the current school systems, but is essential for checking the upsurge of violence in young ones. There are other factors involved in dealing with this problem, which get embroiled in politics and religious beliefs. But a change in the attitude of a growing generation towards violence will be a major factor in coping with it. It is not quick and easy, but it is the only way towards a lasting solution. The important thing is for the social, political, and religious leaders in all communities to realize the gravity of the situation and act promptly and decisively.

We will talk more about nonviolence from the point of view of philosophy in upcoming posts.

More articles on related topics may be found at author's website CosmosEbooks.