Ways of Seeing
- Exploring Modern Metaphysics -

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YOGA - Freedom from Interpretation

Yoga comes in many forms. It has been argued that the (usually unstated or lost in antiquity) purpose of all of them is to show the practitioner that it is possible to cease all of our interpretations. Hatha yoga uses the discipline of various body positions, in Bhakti yoga love replaces interpretations, in Mantra yoga chanting is used, in Mudra yoga hand positions are used, in Raja yoga mental judo is used, and so on. If we are not our bodies and not our brains, but our decisions and our interpretations, then what happens when we decide to cease our interpretations?


According to Patanjali, arguably at the source of the modern branches of yoga, when you are able to cease your interpretations you are then able to know your true self, because when you are interpreting you are, for all intents and purposes, those interpretations. But isn't this itself just another interpretation? This is a question that one must decide for oneself, if one is interested. (This using of an interpretation to call itself into question is, by the way, an example of Raja yoga, which is interesting since it is one of the techniques used to cease interpretations!)

Many interpretations of our (DNA) situation are possible, and many are the perspectives from which it may be viewed. And, many types of interpretation other than DNA are possible. Still, one may find it useful to consider the view from the perspective of pure consciousness independent of interpretation.

There are (only?) three things we know with absolute certainty, without any assumptions or qualifications:

      1 - There is experience

      2 - Many interpretations of experience are possible

      3 - Consciousness without interpretation is possible and, when experienced as an act of will, very illuminating
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