ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF STHIRA BINDU (FIXED POINT) IN YOGA PHILOSOPHY

It is true that all living things and all the mechanisms of entire universe are guided by mathematical relations and results. The theory of fixed point is one of the most leading gears of modern mathematics and its results are the most generally useful in mathematics which gives the solution of non-linear problems of various fields of modern subjects [9]. Also, the human brain can perform the intellectual courses that still have not been performed by digital computers. It may therefore be seen that quantum mechanics is very much associated with the consciousness of mankind [21]. Yoga is one of the few ways to understand the eventual reality mentioned in Vedanta, quantum physics and mathematics as well [19]. This paper investigates the role and importance of fixed point in eastern philosophies especially with yoga along with meditation focusing that mathematics plays a significant role in yoga philosophy.

Supervision With East Asian International Supervisees: Unfolding Unspoken Complexities

East Asian international supervisees possess a cluster of cultural values that are unique to their ethnic traditions, social structure, and Eastern philosophies. They commonly encounter cross-cultural clashes in Western therapy and supervision settings with their clients, colleagues, and supervisors. To address the supervisees' unique acculturation experiences, a supervisor must provide culturally responsive supervision where the supervisees can critically examine the influence of cultural experiences on self-of-the-therapist. The authors used autoethnography as the methodology to present their supervision stories, which include challenging clinical examples and collective reflections, to highlight unique issues they encountered in the United States. Clinical implications are provided to develop effective and culturally responsive supervision.

A Cultural Semiotics of Jingshen: A Manifesto

In the face of myriad crises in modern societies, semiotic inquiry has many valuable contributions to make. However, the long-standing dominant analytical paradigms in the field have made it exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible, to tackle the countless unanalyzable aspects of semiosis in the human condition. What needs to be done in semiotics is to highlight another mode of knowing, synthetic thinking, without excluding the analytical mode. Drawing inspiration and strength from classical Eastern philosophies and aesthetics, notably I Ching and Laozi, as well as classics and advances in global semiotics, the present paper proposes a cultural semiotics of jingshen, understood here as the holistic flux of mind, vitality, and creativity. This route of inquiry seeks cogent coalescence of the two foregoing modes of knowing so as to better inform semiotics in a new age. At the same time, it creates a unique methodology: the fusion of revelatory “embodied cognition” and “cognition via knowledge/ abstraction.” Viewed in this light, the purpose or function of semiotics is not limited to understanding signs and sign relations or uncovering laws governing the evolution of semiosis, but more importantly it embraces the improvement of mental capacity, the expansion of cognitive space, and the liberation of human thinking.

Evokers of the Divine Message: Mysticism of American Transcendentalism in Emerson’s “Nature” and the Mystic Thought in Rumi’s Masnavi

Mysticism, religion and mankind’s relationship with an all-absolute deity has been a prominent part of the human experience throughout history. Poets such as Emerson and Rumi were similarly concerned with this question in creating their works. Although Rumi’s thought stems from the Quran and Emerson’s manifestation of Nature takes roots in the ancient eastern philosophies such as Buddhism, their works seem to share some explicit characteristics. Rumi (1207-1273) lived most of his life in Konya and Khorasan and Emerson (1803-1882) lived in America, but their immense geographic and temporal distances did not surpass their analogous attitudes as mystics. The biggest and the most obvious affinity between these mystic thoughts is believing in Monism as a spiritual practice. Although Emerson read and was influenced by classical Persian poetry of Hafiz and Sa’di, there is no evidence suggesting that he was familiar with Rumi’s poetry. Moreover, thematic analogies between Rumi’s Masnavi and Emerson’s essay on Nature result in a shared ideology which includes themes varying from monism, kashf or unveiling, attitudes towards language and the uninitiated. These concepts, observed in both works, point us toward the realization of universal features of mysticism.

Conceptual Eurocentrism: Pros and Cons

The article discusses the problems of philosophical geography, philosophical multipolarity, georationality. The debates on these issues are becoming interdisciplinary. Specialists in Eastern philosophies and cross-cultural communications as well as epistemologists, scientific methodologists, cognitive scholars, synergists became participants of the discussion held at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The problem of Eurocentrism in academic philosophy has become the main topic of discussion. The opponents of the “regional” multipolarity argued that the Western European tradition of rationality was an example of the rationality per se. The proponents, who relied heavily on the ad professionem arguments, advocated multipolarity and demonstrated the irreducibility of the world-pictures, languages and ontologies of philosophical systems. A point of view was expressed that Eurocentrism had an ideological background. The disputants noted that there was need to redefine or clarify such fundamental concepts as logic, rationality, scientific rationality, universalism, processuality. The redefinition of the concept of rationality is for the studies of various types of rationality outside European cultures. Methodologists of science drew attention that the cognitive problems of intercultural communications turned out to be similar to the problems faced by theory of complexity. The analysis of philosophical, logical and other cases in various “zones of exchange” reveals a plurality of directions in the global and local socio-cultural spaces. The panelists raised the question of the role of philosophy in the global world and its responsibility in uniting nations. The authors of the article draw attention to many functions that the Western European conceptual system performs in the formation of philosophical language, mentality and communication. The dynamics of philosophical discussions, the dialogue of the West and the East lead to the clarification of philosophical positions, the emergence of new concepts and meanings as well as the formation of discourses of the future.

To See Oneself Through the Eyes of Others and Through the Eyes of Books: Perspective in Bohumil Hrabal’s Autobiographical Texts

This study analyses the use of perspective in the autobiographical trilogy (In-House Weddings, Vita Nuova and Gaps) and the late “journalistic” texts by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The article examines Hrabal’s play with perspective on several levels: on the narrative level, Hrabal experiments with the narrative voice and focalization, and views himself through the eyes of his wife Elisˇka, who is also the narrator of the whole trilogy; this strategy allows him to gain distance from the “I-perspective” and to touch upon sensitive moments of his life (particularly auto-censorship, his relationship with the Communist authorities, and various fears). Furthermore, Elisˇka’s view clashes with the view of Hrabal as a character in the narrative world, which results in an original autobiographical polyphony; the article presents a detailed scrutiny of these perspectives with regard to time. Drawing from hermeneutics as a way of self-understanding shaped by texts and culture, the analysis of perspectivity will demonstrate that Hrabal also views himself through the eyes of books and cultural images; additionally, the article points to parallels with Hrabal’s other works, particularly Too Loud a Solitude. Finally, Hrabal’s playful use of perspective concerns the question of identity: the textual self that appears in the stream of images manifests itself in constant motion, thus unveiling the non-substantiality and openness of human identity. In this way, Hrabal’s writing about himself approximates the view of self in Eastern philosophies (esp. Buddhism and Taoism − Hrabal’s sources of inspiration) as well as contemporary cognitive approaches to the theory of autobiography (Paul John Eakin).

Mind Outside Brain

We approach the problem of the extended mind from a radically non-dualist perspective. The separation between mind and matter is an artifact of the mechanistic worldview, which leaves no room for mental phenomena such as agency, intentionality, or experience. We propose to replace it by an action ontology, which conceives mind and matter as aspects of the same network of processes. By adopting the intentional stance, we interpret the catalysts of elementary reactions as agents exhibiting desires, intentions, and sensations. Autopoietic networks of reactions constitute more complex super-agents, which exhibit memory, deliberation and sense-making. In the case of social networks, individual agents coordinate their actions via the propagation of challenges. The distributed cognition that emerges cannot be situated in any individual brain. This non-dualist, holistic view extends and operationalizes process metaphysics and Eastern philosophies. It is supported by both mindfulness experiences and mathematical models of action, self-organization, and cognition.

Chen Li Ying Georgette (1906–1993)

Georgette Chen was a Chinese émigré artist who settled in Singapore in 1953 and taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) until 1981. Described as the most influential, pioneering female artist in Singapore, Chen brought modernist ideas to the nascent Malayan art world and was instrumental in fostering modernism in local art practice. Her oil paintings, her strongest and most proficient artform, were initially influenced by the Realist and Barbizon Schools. Later her paintings became informed by French Post-Impressionism—especially Fauvism—most notably in their approach toward color. Her mastery of modernism culminated in a synthesis of Western and Eastern philosophies, which was best represented by her portraits, tropical still lives, and plein air paintings of everyday scenes in the Malayan landscape—all of which conveyed a distinct local flavor. Chen was known as the first generation of "Nanyang artists," most of whom were affiliated to NAFA as teachers, and who were responsible for bringing to Malaya a sophistication and cosmopolitanism that was deemed missing from the local art scene.

Arp, Hans/Jean (1886–1966)

Hans/Jean Arp is an Alsatian poet and artist, who was a founding member of Dada and an active participant in Constructivism and Surrealism. Arp grew up in Strasbourg speaking German, French, and Alsatian. He studied fine arts in Strasbourg, Weimar, and Paris, and even early in his career was active in international artistic and literary circles. In 1910, he co-founded the Moderne Bund and contributed to Der Blaue Reiter Almanach [The Blue Rider Almanac]. A German citizen, Arp successfully dodged the draft during World War I, finding refuge first in Paris and then in Zurich. At an exhibition that featured his embroideries, tapestries, and works on paper at the Tanner Gallery, he met Sophie Taeuber, who soon became a friend and collaborator and, in October 1922, his wife. Early in their friendship, her exploration of strict geometries led to a series of collaborative vertical-horizontal compositions in collage and embroidery that are among the earliest purely abstract works produced by European avant-gardes. In 1916, Arp joined Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, and others in launching Dada. Informed by mysticism and Eastern philosophies, Arp sought to transcend the boundedness of individual production by working with chance, thus deliberately relinquishing some control over the process of making.