Supporting Transformation

Throughout the ages, civilizations that have fostered contemplative traditions have supported those who have been willing to sacrifice worldly goals and ambitions in order to devote themselves single-pointedly to cultivating their hearts and minds through meditative practice. Once such individuals have beneficially transformed their lives through such practice, they have commonly returned to society and enriched the lives of others with their wisdom and compassion. Through supporting aspiring yogis in the modern world, we aspire to bless their lives so that they may in return bless those around them.

Over the past four hundred years, contemplative practice has declined in the West as scientific inquiry has become the dominant means for understanding ourselves and the world at large. Especially during the past century, scientific knowledge and technological advances have progressed like never before. This unprecedented progress has occurred due to the confluence of various factors: the establishment of institutions of learning and of research facilities, the training of qualified teachers and researchers, and the support of students who wish to devote themselves to a life of scientific exploration. If contemplative inquiry is to flourish in the modern world, it will do so only with the creation of circumstances like those that have supported the rise of modern science. In this way, the outer sciences of the physical world may finally be complemented through the rise of the inner sciences of the mind.