Thoughts that might be the waste of time. Now I wanted to assure you first of all that I don't want to have the various technical things of postures, how many breathing control, that means how many heartbeats you have to wait until you take another breath. Those things, you know, to read to the community, that indeed would be kind of futile. But the reason why this book struck me was not the... technical detail, as I say, that is a matter perhaps for the private individual can see how the snake posture is done and how the back of the soul is done and all these things.

[01:10]

That is, this was only intended to call your attention and to direct your attention into ways I think is of the greatest practical importance in our days. First of all, we have spoken about it in the past, that there is one of the urgent demands of the day, to start from that, is a closer relation and better understanding of East and West, especially because in our day they have that enormous power of China, which is marching on the worst of European lines, combined with the terrific endurance of that race. But you have also the great mass of Indians, and they are closer to us in many ways, and of all the surrounding countries there.

[02:25]

And naturally, therefore, the common meeting between West and the East is a very important factor for the future, for the next future. Because you realize the distances diminish, the interchange between various parts of the globe and of races is enormously increasing. But here, unfortunately, in these things, the Russians are the ones who are first to realize it and begin hotels and places of accommodations for people from all over the world. Up to now, for example, the United States and Europe, yes, there was a certain exchange. More Americans going to Europe probably than Europeans going to the States. But in the future, and it's already now beginning, yesterday I went to visit this minister downtown, Lee Clair,

[03:35]

And he spoke, you know, just from some African students that had arrived. They simply had hopped on a plane and in, I don't know how many hours, 50 hours, they were here in the States and at Cornell. So there is, in the next coming years, tremendous invasion. And I think, of course, the greatest will be from Asia and the greatest contact, probably, between India and the States and Europe. So, I mean, all these things, you know, are coming to the fore radically. And I think to approach the situation with little superficial evidence, and preconceived ideas of what an Indian is, and what the yoga is, and it's terrible, you know, it's just looking, you know, at one's top of one's nose, you know, or something. These terrible things, but they are, you know, they were the curse of the whole world, they were the curse, in fact, of the past centuries.

[04:42]

that the stranger was always per se looked upon as the barbarian. And therefore the one from whom would certainly could not learn anything. One had to make him ridiculous, you know, and put him low. That has been one of the greatest curses, one of the greatest obstacles, and one of the reasons why, for example, the Christian missions of the 19th century did not succeed. is that narrow-mindedness, bulgur attitude. And that, of course, is rapidly going to pieces. I mean, you can see that before your eyes. From day to day, it's going to pieces. So this here is interesting to me because it's an attempt and a contribution on the part of a monk to make these things better understood in the Western world and make them better understood, first in a practical way and second in a way which, that is his whole endeavour really, which is subject to the Christian ideology, our revelation.

[06:02]

And that is the important thing. We are always, it was one of the great glories of Christianity, always really, that we are not exclusive as the Moabitans are, but we are inclusive. Not inclusive in the atheistic sense of Hinduism, but inclusive in the creators and in the one, in the redeemer. This is my warning, this is my blood shed for you and for the many. That's the inclusiveness of our Lord in whom all things shall be restored under him as the head. So therefore also may very well be we Catholics will not believe that paganism or that original sin simply and completely destroys human nature.

[07:10]

It wounds human nature, but there is enough good left in man to exercise constantly also a healing for healing techniques and to produce against the excess of evil, evil in the very history of pagan mankind, certain sound and healthy reactions. Nobody can deny that the time of Plato and of Aristotle in the Hellenistic world produced a level of civilization which was the cradle and the preparation, one of the preparations at least, for the manifestation of the word of God in the flesh. So therefore that is same also with others, and especially there, where we have certain civilizations that have developed in a long tradition that are backed up by a long experience.

[08:19]

And it may very well be, and it is certainly true, that the general aim of the Hindu yoga is a kind of concentrating of the city, it's a kind of isolation of the universe, The objective worlds and the variety of this objective and visible world in order to sink, as it were, into unconscious fusion with the absent. Now that's the Hindu form. of seeds. And that, of course, that form is in itself is not the precision form, inferior to the precision form, and is therefore also is an error, an error which does not due to the essence, the very essence of the human person, to what a person is. That is, of course, just the thing which also people like Plato and Aristotle had prepared providentially in the Mediterranean realm, the philosophy of man, the philosophy of the human person.

[09:37]

the philosophy of liberty, the philosophy of living together in friendship and in a rule which they call the democratic form of government. So that is the glory, and that has been worked out in the Greek world. Now, concerning the body, It seems to be a fact that the Indians, the Orientalists, always had cultivated a long tradition which is not only based on superstitions, but which is simply the result of experience, experiment and experience. And you know very well that also even the Greeks, at the time of Plato and of Aristotle, Gymnastics and all these things were an integral part of that whole civilization and remain so also after Christianity.

[10:45]

There are the baths, you know, there are the public, the Olympia, we speak of the Olympic Games, all this comes from those times in which, therefore, great attention was paid to the body because the body is the expression of this free human personality and serves its globe. So, therefore, the... Naturally, there is one big difference. The Western, I mean the Mediterranean civilization was thinking as well as the gymnastic part. They're all based on what we call the Arabs. That means in the Western mind on the competitive spirit. Therefore, the world or the flower or the manifestation of this civilization was the agur. the competitive festive games in which one tried to overcome and beat the other.

[11:56]

It's the system on which in our day still the Olympic Games are based. Beat the other. Then we have this record and record and record and the records go less and less and less and one wonders, you know, where will be the end? There is the Olympic Games in Rome, and there are new records, but one can see, one hears about it in certain fields, it doesn't go any further. Now what do then the Olympics do? And what do then the athletes do in the West if they don't have any more, say, a reasonable perspective of beating records? But that is just where the Indian treatment of the body comes in. It's not competitive. That, I think, is a very important thing. And that is, for example, a point of view which has been brought out by Father Desjardins in this book, as you shall hear.

[12:57]

And that is, in itself, of great importance, not a matter of also the movements and the exercises, for example, through impetuous or strained repeated movements of body to establish, you know, a strengthening of muscles and therefore a greater and higher weight of result. Not the success, for that matter, in the competitive way, is the meaning of the treatment of the body in the East. It is so in the West, unfortunately. But that, of course, you know that at this moment, this kind of competitive, as I say, aggressive spirit of record-breaking, which only is the West's great genius, is really coming into a complete crisis.

[14:00]

We have now records, and we have one atomic bomb, you know, beats the record of the other. And the hydrogen bomb, and now the papers are full of another device, which the Russians seem to develop, which is about as more perfect as the hydrogen bomb, as the hydrogen bomb was to the atom bomb. So whoever then wants to pass that kind of device first, he really has the world at his feet. And that is the position, one of the problems that we are facing just at this moment. Who finds first, you know, that device which, you know, really would put other nations absolutely at the mercy. So, and therefore, you see, that is the love I can say is the last word in the competitive success, war, which the Western nations have been fighting for centuries, and which have flowered into colonialism, you know, all these empires and all that kind of thing, and which also, that should not be forgotten, have brought very good things to us.

[15:23]

too, because that, of course, has awakened mankind and the energies of mankind, many worlds. But now, I think the immediate future cries for peace. That's what all people shout, of course, the government, you know, the leading politicians blow, you know, that melody, because they know that that is the great desire of the masses. But that is completely true here. But now we face, of course, in the Western Christianity, we face the necessity really to live the peace of Christ. And this peace of Christ, and that was one of the points of our retreat, is to love God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all that you can. Now, Father Desjardins, as you see, has a little different interpretation to my mind.

[16:30]

He has his trinity of the corpse down to the same thing. Only the terminology, unfortunately, is a little different. He has the trinity of anima, animus, and spiritus. Anima, animus, and spiritus. Anima, therefore, is the lower alpha times, senses. The animus, that is the conscious, intellectual, our intellectual consciousness, our will, our intellect. And then we have the spiritus, and that is the supernatural, the Lord. So these three things, of course, are all, and that is the meaning of Christ sending his peace and giving us his peace, the peace of the risen Christ.

[17:32]

It is the redemption of the entire man. Now, if you look at the Western, recall this, I say, this redemption of the entire man. of the flesh, of the psyche, of the soul, and of the reintegration in the pneuma, we call that asceticism. That's the aim and purpose of the ascetic life. Now, in this whole matter of the ascetic life, I think what we have, and also as monks, we have to be aware that this asceticism is a method. So we have to, and that seems to me, is one of the important things of this book, of the whole yoga idea. It's the idea that this integration of manner in the risen same, has to be done by a method.

[18:38]

That, of course, was always the monastic idea. The monks have left the world for what purpose? Because the world makes it impossible for them to live, for that matter, a methodical, and that means totally dedicated life. in which all the various activities, you know, are deliberately brought under the control of the spirits. That's the monastic idea, as always. And that's the reason why in the Holy Rule we have in the second chapter, which is part of the whole ascetical endeavor of Saint Benedict, there we have a whole method which goes down also to the external appearance, to the, let's say, the posture of the monk, which in his ideas, in context, expresses humility. So there, therefore, the body is, of course, is engaged and was always engaged.

[19:46]

We know that Eastern monasticism has to a greater degree than Western monasticism. For example, practice the breathing control and the combination of breathing and of prayer. The prayer of Jesus is practiced in combination with the breathing. We have, in a way, we have only preserved the beads and the numbers and the counting and all these things. But we haven't, no, we haven't paid much attention to this connection between inner essential functions of the body and the thing, concentration. Now, but we all, you know that well, we all suffer from the consequences of the relative anarchy, which exists not only in our society, but also in the monasteries.

[20:52]

That is one of the great drawbacks of modern monasticism, and that is due to a great extent to the utilitarian attitude, which is the dominant one. I mean, utilitarian in this way, that what matters for the monk also and for the religious is how he actively helps society. And that is then mostly teaching, so an intellectual thing. And that, of course, reduces the method and the quiet and tenacious and consistent pursuit of the discipline of the whole man, it makes it interesting. One who is engaged in the kind of daily battle with this group of boys and another group of boys and 60 of them and 70 of them, cannot pay attention to his breathing, he gets out of it.

[21:59]

And that's the end of yoke. And I think you see that that's great, you know, that's great, because monotheism should be naturally a link. It is naturally between West and East. We do not have that competitive spirit. We can't. And that is, of course, one of the things that will always object against our very existence. But the time will come, and the time is already there, where the number of people who bless the non-competitive still is going on down. But contemplation is non-competitive. There is no doubt. If we have the motto of peace, then the competitive spirit with that, you know, is not the heart of our activities. It's love. And that is, of course, that love that God may rest

[23:02]

in my entire being, spirit, soul, and body. That's, of course, the meaning of the contemplative life. But to that also then belongs, as the East has discovered with such great success, a stricter method concerning the body, and also a method concerning not only the animal, but also concerning the animals. And then I have always thought already from the beginning of us, before we started here, how necessary it is really to have in it, but a right with it. And I would say, therefore, what is right in this connection is non-competitive. Therefore, not a method, you know, which is intended to increase the output. For example, as that is so easily done in the Western spirit, the output of merits.

[24:05]

See, that somebody has and a monk has his heavenly bookkeeping, you see, in which then, you know, in that same competitive spirit, you know, acts of sacrifice. Acts of mortification, acts of obedience, acts of self-denial, this or that way, are kind of registered and counted. That is a reality. You know it very well. It's not an invention, but that is absolutely true. So in a non-competitive sphere, and that is, of course, what is formulated in what we call the school. And that is the reason why the first act of the school is the constantly repeated exercise of what we call the return into the peace of Christ. That is what we call bringing you into his love for us.

[25:08]

That is the end of all competitive spirit. And that as the beginning of a new thing. Now, I can see that, of course, living together, one can see that. And that is unfortunately, you know, with many members of the community, these things are taken up, you know, maybe for a week, and then they are dropped again. And of course, the reason is that in that way, the role and the real usefulness of the monastic life, the monastic discipline of our living here together is grossly missed for many, unfortunately. And therefore, I think this whole idea of the spiritual life and method is very, very important and should be followed up by us.

[26:09]

Our spiritual life should not be as serious, as I have told you so often, of improvisations, but it should be methodical in that way. That was, of course, in the West, you know, the great impact of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius, that he was in the West, for that matter, the model base, 16-6. We initiated our establishment. which then did not remain limited simply to the religious, but also then out to the laity. And unfortunately, for that matter, we as Canadians have more or less lost that idea of a myth. But we should have it again, because monastic life makes sense only if it's a constant exercise. But then one has to know how to exercise. But then this yoga, and that is the book of Klaus, brings in the body.

[27:15]

And when method is important for the purification of the animus, I think method is even more important for the purification of the body. In that matter, you know from your own experience that we are in that whole field, we are constantly improvising. See, we are also, we have no real founded and clear system. But we stumble along, you know. The whole, you just look at the methods of fasting, what is left of fasting in our modern world, even in our modern states, practically. Many people give themselves to a kind of method of modification. They say the most important thing is the safety. And therefore a modification here, a modification there. I'm all for it. I think it's absolutely necessary.

[28:17]

But still, it's only one aspect. It is not only our relation, relation of the spirits to the body. In the baptized Christian, it's not only to use the body as an instrument of mortification. The body is a companion. The body has its own laws. The body doesn't want to only be suppressed because if it is, it will take a revenge. It will rebuild. It will do it all. And therefore, it is also a companion to be won over. One cannot only with mortification, and of course I repeat, what we have today of mortification is not. It doesn't amount to anything. It's just child's play. But it isn't mortification only that solves the problem of the body. It's also a reasonable handling, a kind of everywhere where one wants cooperation, one has to have this cooperation through love.

[29:23]

That is the way in which one can achieve cooperation. And that is also in our relationship to the body. There is not only the absence that has to be, say, St. Francis, you know, kills nothing against St. Francis, but it is also the companion that has to be treated so that he becomes willing. We know, every one of us we know, and you may look around, the rest I've heard, is full of one terrific drawback, and that is distraction. Distractions everywhere. The capacity of people to gather their thoughts, you know, to stay, you know, for a certain time, you know, in concentrated attention or simply in that loving contemplation on which our fathers and forefathers still knew something that has twiddled to nothingness. It's all our power.

[30:26]

The workings of our imagination are not under control. But our imagination, of course, is part of the whole anima. It's part of the whole bodily function of our organism. And therefore, the fact that every body suffers so terribly of destruction is the fact, is the result of this general anarchy in the treating of our body. And also in the other world, the world, you know, think for example what trouble we have and new attempts in this way or that way to procure, as I say, the right nourishment for the world. Yeah, that's simply because everything is in the West in this way, is in anarchy. The whole question, you know, for example, of fasting, what does fasting, for example, not taking meat, you know, now, what does it really do to the body?

[31:29]

All these things are even today are questionable. They are based on a certain kind of, let us say, assumptions, medical or physical assumptions, how true they are today is less certain than ever. So this whole field, how to treat the body, how to treat the body in food, how to treat the body in posture, how to treat the body as far as the unconscious functions are concerned, especially breathing. All these things at the present moment are in a status, you know, of, by the way, also of great attention on everybody today. I mean, the attention of people as today's focused on these things. And that is one of the reasons also for the, say, the success that this book on Christian yoga is having at this moment, because the Western mankind realized that here is something which has been neglected.

[32:37]

Our approach has been the approach of the animals. And the animal, for that matter, really, and even the knowledge of the animal has been neglected. You know that, for example, one outstanding authority in this field, in also treating the animal, was Dr. Alexis Carroll. who has written the book of Man the Unknown. And there was, you know, an attempt in the western part to come to a clearer knowledge of the human organism. Now, it is true, it's absolutely true that in the early, for example, Hindu medicine, you know, It's not on the same level, and it's buried under so many superstitions and so many wrong assumptions. And here is not the question of taking these assumptions or taking these superstitions into our system as they are.

[33:43]

Of course, one does those things with a certain discernment, but there are many different layers, if you have already heard. Certain elementary things, there are certain more, they say, developed things. And so this is a question of very elementary things that we have here in this little book. But at the same time, you also must realize, you know, that Our Western medicine, with the departmentalizing and with the specializing of the doctor, on, let us say, brain, on all kinds of things. These various specializations, you know, they have the good things, but they also have, of course, their bad aspects. And the phenomenon of the practitioner, I mean of the practicing doctor, the house doctor who knows a family and so on for years and decades, you know, that is today, of course, has disappeared.

[34:57]

But all these things constitute a great loss for us. So in that way, in that direction, I was interested, you know, to, in this book, as I said again, we don't go into any details, you know, of postures and how to do this and how to do that, but the general approach which is there and the attention which is directed to a certain field, In a practical way, that's also the importance here, this is a practical issue, this is a burning, and has therefore a greater actuality and deserves our attention than, let us say, one or the other cynical historical presentation of the past or a theological development of theological theories, which may not always be a very comfortable book to read while one eats.

[35:59]

So while this here, you know, this thing, you know, that Even for people who eat, it kind of captures their attention because they may burgle about it, but still, now I'm still interested to know what the man has to say. So, let us do it in that and take it in that way. You see, it's just a, to me, it's another way and it's an approach and it opens certain views. on this whole business, you know, of handling and treating one's animals and one's animals in such a way that they become better instruments of the Spirit. And that you know by all together, you know it, one cannot take a shortcut into the Spirit. That is the main basic assumption of Saint Benedict. St. Benedict, of course, he did not know really, let us say, that tradition and the way of tradition which the Ormian had accumulated.

[37:07]

But I mean the fact that St. Benedict didn't know a certain field of reality. And that he shared, let us say, relatively primitive approaches of his own time and own period in monasticism. Of course, no reason why we should close our eyes to everything that is a little beyond the rule of St. Benedict. These things we have to grow to. And there are more things at our disposal, knowledge at our disposal than at St. Benedict's time. So, in that way, let us be patiently, you know, listen to what the man has to say, and just, you know, direct your own attention to these things. Method, method in the treatment of the animus, the control of the animus, the method, in the treating of the body, but not, you know, the impression may come up in you

[38:14]

God, if I would now go into all these exercises, first of all, I don't have that time at my disposal. Now, of course, the time is not too long. Maybe ten minutes or something like that. But even that may be considered as too much. And the other is, you know, is the... method in the approach to the animal, not in such a way that, let us say, our whole activity and our whole attitude become a kind of a slave to the body. That, of course, is not the idea of yoke. But you see, if it is absolutely evident that a soldier cannot become a lieutenant or commander without himself having undergone even, let us say, the running and marching and jumping over hurdles, exercises that somebody does in his basic training.

[39:28]

I mean, everybody who enters the soldier's life has to do his basic training. And in that way, too, a monk, in relation to its body, has to do some basic training. You know well how the control of the body, for example, contributes to the peace and karma of a monk still. I could imagine, you know, a kind of Western yoga, which, for example, would put a sangha on slamming doors. I'm looking with apprehension at these two doors there in this new kind of, what do you want to call it, anti-camera. Two doors there, already here in Islamic. So that's a nice practice, you know, I mean, to deliberately close a door

[40:28]

Carefully. It's a tremendous thing. But Westerners consider it sometimes as beyond, below their dignity to do that. But it's bad. It should in all humility start on a little thing like that. But I didn't say all this just to cause you to care for this closing of DuBois.

[40:50]

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