New powers have to be acquired by the body

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

Aurora Mirabilis

Sri Aurobindo's visionary message on India's destiny - Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra An Offering on 154th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo | Auro Kalakriti 1:02 Sri Aurobindo does not belong to the past n...

Because Thou Art

Don’t retreat, Burn brighter - Sapolsky begins by separating ordinary sadness from major depression. Everyone experiences disappointment, grief, discouragement, and periods of feeling...

Evergreen Essays

Nothing get attached to nothing - Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra Before Boghossian, Lindsay, and Pluckrose, there was Sokal. In 1996, he wrote a completely nonsensical paper on how phy...

• A Philosophy of Evolution for the Contemporary Man

• Discontent of the Contemporary Man

• Evolutionary Crisis of Mankind

• Man is a Transitional Being

• Our Evolutionary Task

• What is the Secret of Nature’s Movement?

• The Process of Evolution

• Marvel of the Mental Being

• A Deeper Question

• An Experiment in Evolution

Bergson pointed out that the molluscs in the order of evolution proceed by steady steps to develop an eye, which resembles very much the eye developed by the independent line of vertebrates. How does it happen, he asked, that similar effects appear in different lines of evolution brought about by different means? How could the same small variations occur in two independent lines of evolution if they were purely accidental? According to Bergson, the two series must have been governed by a common vital impulse to this useful end. There is something more in evolution than merely mechanical urge. He is inclined to attribute a ‘rudiment of choice’ to the species which, travelling by different paths, reach the same goal. Given a new situation, the ‘urge’ (elan vital), common to all members, leads them to meet it by a new method. According to Bergson, it is the inner urge, or life force, or an upward drive, that incites the whole species in a definite direction. The striving of the organism is the creative effort to which evolution is due.

The biological theory of evolution assumes that life always came from life. Herbert Spencer questioned this assumption and attempted to give a philosophical account of the rise of the living from the non-living, the mental from the non-mental. According to him, the differences between these are due to the degree of the complexity of the organization. But still the question why life should evolve out of Matter or in Matter is not explained. Why should life occur at all? The theory of the survival of the fittest does not carry us far. Life has little survival value as compared with matter from which it is supposed to have sprung. A rock survives for hundreds of millions of years, while even the oldest tree is only a few thousand years old. If survival was the aim of nature, life would never have appeared... 

Alexander’s philosophy is called the philosophy of emergent evolution. According to him, when physical structure assumes a certain complexity, life ‘emerges’ as something new. When the physical structure alters in complexity, as it does when it produces a central nervous system, mind emerges, and the gap between life and conscious behaviour is supposed to be covered. Alexander finds the explanation in a nisus or thirst of the universe for higher levels. It is the nisus that is creative, that satisfies the thirst.

But is nisus an unconscious drive coming by degrees to consciousness in man? Unless we assume the nisus to be a spiritual power ever drawing on its resources and ever expressing new forms, Alexander’s whole account becomes unsatisfactory.

Lloyd Morgan, who comes very close to Alexander in his account of emergent evolution, acknowledges God as the nisus through whose Activity emergents emerge, and the whole course of emergent evolution is directed. According to him, God is not the emergent deity, but an Activity within which qualities emerge. God is the breath of the whole movement, the deep root which feeds the whole tree. The course of history is the gradual coming of God to Himself. Lloyd Morgan contends that emergent evolution is not predictable. But it is not in the strict sense undetermined like Bergson’s creative evolution, not only unpredictable for human minds but, in principle, for all minds. Lloyd Morgan infers the coming of divinity from the purposeful direction of the universe, and he is inclined to make his God completely immanent. He maintains that the whole course of events subsumed under evolution is the expression of God’s purpose.

Lloyd Morgan is basically an adherent of Spinoza, and although he speaks of ‘emergence’ in the evolutionary process, one suspects that changes occur according to rule, and there is no spontaneity... 

‘Ingressive evolution’ is a phrase that aptly describes Whitehead’s theory. There is, according to Whitehead, a progressive ingression and incorporation into the cosmic series of the eternal order which God embraces in himself. The ‘primordial’ nature of God is the conceptual consciousness of the possibilities capable of harmonious concurrent realization. These possibilities are called by Whitehead ‘eternal objects’. They are eternal forms or ideas, to use the Platonic expression, but unlike Plato’s ideas, they are not substances, but possibilities, conceptually realized in God. They are not imaginary or abstract. Some of them are apprehended as possibilities logically prior to their manifestation in existence, and others as symbols of values that we pursue. The relation of form to the temporal world is that of potentialities to actualities. In the view of Whitehead, the temporary actualities realize the possibilities surveyed in God’s nature. The order and purpose we see in the world is the result of actuality fulfilling the highest possibilities it sees before itself, which is the vision of God as relevant for it. - Kireet Joshi 

http://kireetjoshi.in/books/philosophy/a-philosophy-of-evolution-for-the-contemporary-man/a-deeper-question

Sri Aurobindo acknowledges that all does not have to be fundamentally changed; on the contrary, all that is still needed in the totality has to be preserved, but all has to be perfected. ‘The human body has’, says Sri Aurobindo, ‘in it parts and instruments that have been sufficiently evolved to serve the divine life; these have to survive in their form, though they must be still farther perfected, their limitation of range and use removed, their liability to defect and malady and impairment eliminated, their capacities to cognition and dynamic action carried beyond the present limits ‘ On the other hand, new powers have also to be acquired by the body which our present humanity could not hope to realize, could not even dream of or could only imagine. - Kireet Joshi

http://kireetjoshi.in/books/philosophy/a-philosophy-of-evolution-for-the-contemporary-man/an-experiment-in-evolution 

Being caught talking to yourself can feel embarrassing, but decades of research shows that most of us engage in some form of self-talk every day. Digging into the science, this animation explores self-talk in its many manifestations and outlines how it can be beneficial buff.ly/aqyKPZU 

https://bsky.app/profile/aeon.co/post/3msxgso33oo23 

We should all nod quietly to the existential lie that all cultures are equal whilst recognizing apparently that all cultures are indeed superior to the West.  No!  The West in general and the United States in particular are unique civilizations.  Historically speaking, people did not have the right to criticize their rulers.  They did not have the right to practice any religion or no religion.  They did not have the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as codified in the Declaration of Independence.  The fabric of a nation and its greatness is not defined by the majesty of its shoreline or its mountain ranges.  What makes a nation great, or not, are the organizing principles that define that society.  

https://x.com/i/status/2087518255204208889

The Life Divine Reconsidered: A Skeptical Review of Sri Aurobindo's Magnum Opus, Frank Visser / ChatGPT

7 hours ago — Few works of modern spiritual philosophy rival Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine in ambition. Published in revised form in 1939-40 after first appearing ...

FLAVORS OF ADVAITA IN VIVEKANANDA, RABINDRANATH, AND SRI AUROBINDO

D Banerji - Praise for Swami Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy, and …

… , Aurobindo Ghosh, aka Sri Aurobindo, … Aurobindo was also intimately
connected to the Brahmo Samaj, though he did not think of himself as a Brahmo—his
mother was a daughter of Rajnarain Bose, one of the important stalwarts of the …

The Origin of Indian Nationalism: Mazzini's Influence on Savarkar, Gandhi and other Freedom Fighters

MK Oza - 2026

This thesis examines the ideological and intellectual influence of Giuseppe Mazzini,
the Italian revolutionary nationalist, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a central and
contested figure in the articulation of Hindutva and militant Indian nationalism …

Humanism in Cinema: The Work of Satyajit Ray

R Maloni - Critical Social Science Perspectives on Indian Cinema

… Ray’s ideology also recalls Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo’s Vedantism.
Certain parallels may be observed in the works of Tagore and Ray, in portraying the
restless reformism of the Bengal Renaissance. It was Tagore’s concept of India that …

[PDF] Politics of Control in Orwell's 1984: Education, Surveillance, and Authoritarian Legitimacy in South Asia

FH Meem, NN Afra, MA Maruf - Journal of Literature and Linguistics Studies, 2025

… Comparable trends appear in India, where textbook revisions under Hindutva
ideology reshape historical narratives, and in Pakistan, where online propaganda
and surveillance mirror the Party’s slogan,“Big Brother is watching you.” The …

[PDF] Personal Peace Practices, Skills, and Competencies

A Lincoln, N Mandela - Fostering Hope in a Divided World

The reviewed personal peace leadership literature demonstrated that peace leaders
often share core embodied traits, characteristics, and behaviors that support their
efficacy in promoting peace and resolving conflict among communities and structures …

[PDF] Fostering Hope through Peace Leadership: A Reflective Review of the Field

WMI Miller, CS Clancy - International Journal for Peace and Justice, 2026

This reflective review posits that the emergent area of peace leadership may be the
beacon of hope needed in a world riddled with conflict and divisiveness. Exploring
over 60 pieces of peace leadership literature, this review highlights the skills …

[HTML] Contemporary Issues in Bioethics

RB Deokar, RC Dere, P Arora - Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine, 2026

Bioethics is a branch of applied ethics that deals with the interdisciplinary study of
social, philosophical, and legal issues arising in life sciences, medicine, technology,
nonhuman biological environment, and public policy. 1 It mainly focuses on the …

Redefining spiritual leadership: the growing role of women

S Chauhan, S Vashist, K Sharma - Organizational Resilience and Leadership issues in …

This paper argues the growing role of women in spiritual spheres as leaders through
the analysis of past and present. It also highlights the critique of patriarchal spiritual
structures and the tension between spiritual equality and institutional exclusion with …

CHARITY FOR OUR FAMILY GODDESS:: The Marwaris And A Caste Association In Colonial India

T Tanaka - The Indonesian Journal of Social Studies, 2025

This study analyzes the Kedia Sabha (association for the Kedia lineage) as a case
study for historical analysis on how an Indian merchant community, known as
Marwaris, described themselves through managing a caste association and …

[PDF] Provincialising English”: Northeast India as an Ethnopolitan Space

J Prodhani, D Sharma - Rupkatha Journal, 2025

Obiajunwa Wali predicted in the early 1960s that African literature could only
emerge in African languages. However, in the late 1980s, African literature in
English emerged as a new canon. Even the debate between Ngugi wa Thiong’o and …

Selected Speeches, Writings and Statements

M Bose, B Bose - Sarat Chandra Bose, A Vision Denied

I thank the President, for having done me the honour of calling me to reply. I express
my keen disappointment at the selection of the speaker on this subject. 1 I would
have expected the persons who had recently come out with suggestions of …

Is The Life Divine a tissue of lies?

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

The Life Divine Reconsidered: A Skeptical Review of Sri Aurobindo's Magnum Opus, Frank Visser / ChatGPT

7 hours ago — Few works of modern spiritual philosophy rival Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine in ambition. Published in revised form in 1939-40 after first appearing ...

A Monument of Spiritual Philosophy

Few works of modern spiritual philosophy rival Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine in ambition. Published in revised form in 1939-40 after first appearing serially, the book attempts nothing less than a complete synthesis of science, philosophy, religion, psychology, and mysticism. Aurobindo seeks to explain why the universe exists, how consciousness evolves, why suffering occurs, and where humanity is ultimately headed. His answer is breathtaking in scope: reality is the progressive self-unfolding of the Divine, and evolution is the means by which Spirit gradually awakens to itself in matter.

For many readers, The Life Divine represents one of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century metaphysical thought. Yet admiration for its literary grandeur should not exempt it from critical scrutiny. From the standpoint of philosophy and science, the book raises profound problems that remain largely unresolved.

Evolution as Theology

The central thesis is straightforward. The universe begins with an "involution" of Spirit into Matter. Evolution is then the reverse movement: matter gives rise to life, life to mind, and mind will eventually evolve into "Supermind," a divine mode of consciousness that reunites creation with its source.

This narrative possesses undeniable elegance. It gives meaning to history, purpose to evolution, and hope to humanity. But its elegance is not evidence.

Modern evolutionary biology explains increasing complexity without assuming a prior descent of Spirit into matter. Mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, developmental constraints, ecological interactions, and self-organization together account for biological evolution without invoking cosmic intentionality.

Aurobindo presents evolution as though it necessarily points toward higher consciousness. Contemporary biology does not. Evolution has no foresight. Species adapt to local environments; they do not strive toward enlightenment.

The Teleological Leap

The book's central inference is that because consciousness has emerged from matter, consciousness must have been latent in matter all along.

This is a philosophical possibility—but hardly a logical necessity.

One may argue instead that consciousness is an emergent property of sufficiently complex nervous systems. Emergence does not require that the final property existed beforehand in hidden form. Water's liquidity does not imply that individual hydrogen atoms are secretly wet.

Aurobindo rejects emergence as insufficient, but offers no independent evidence for involution beyond the desire for metaphysical symmetry.

The explanatory gap is merely shifted backward.

Mystical Experience as Cosmology

Perhaps the book's greatest methodological weakness is its reliance upon mystical realization as evidence for universal metaphysical claims.

Aurobindo frequently moves from statements about spiritual experience—

Consciousness can experience unity with the Absolute.

—to conclusions about objective reality—

Therefore the universe itself is an unfolding manifestation of the Absolute.

This transition is never adequately justified.

Mystical experiences undoubtedly occur. They may profoundly transform individuals. But whether they reveal the actual structure of the cosmos remains an entirely separate question.

The history of religion demonstrates that mystics report remarkably diverse cosmologies. Buddhist emptiness, Advaita's Brahman, Christian union with God, Sufi love, and Taoist spontaneity cannot all simultaneously describe the literal architecture of reality.

Experience alone cannot adjudicate between competing metaphysical systems.

Science as Confirmation?

One striking feature of The Life Divine is its continual appeal to scientific developments.

Aurobindo points to evolution, quantum physics (in embryo during his lifetime), psychology, and biology as moving toward his vision. Modern Integral thinkers have continued this strategy, updating his examples with complexity theory, emergence, neuroscience, and systems thinking.

Yet this often amounts to retrospective confirmation rather than prediction.

Scientific concepts are interpreted metaphorically until they appear compatible with the spiritual framework. Rarely does the metaphysical system generate novel scientific predictions that could distinguish it from competing theories.

In philosophy of science, explanatory power depends not merely upon accommodating known facts but upon risking falsification.

Here Aurobindo's system proves remarkably resistant.

The Problem of Unfalsifiability

Every conceivable outcome appears compatible with divine evolution.

If humanity progresses, Spirit is ascending.

If civilization collapses, evolution merely proceeds through crisis.

If suffering increases, it serves divine transformation.

If enlightenment remains rare, humanity simply is not ready.

No imaginable observation could demonstrate that the theory is mistaken.

This places the system closer to theological interpretation than empirical explanation.

Karl Popper famously regarded such unfalsifiable frameworks as metaphysical rather than scientific. That does not make them meaningless—but it does limit their explanatory status.

The Burden of Grand Synthesis

Aurobindo sought to reconcile every major intellectual tradition into one comprehensive worldview.

The aspiration itself is admirable.

Yet comprehensive systems often become difficult to criticize precisely because they explain everything.

Whenever contradictions arise, additional metaphysical distinctions are introduced—different planes, levels, involutionary stages, subtle realities, supramental principles—until the framework becomes increasingly insulated from external critique.

One begins to wonder whether the theory is describing reality or preserving itself.

Literary Magnificence versus Philosophical Precision

None of this diminishes Aurobindo's extraordinary literary achievement.

His prose possesses remarkable cadence and intellectual richness. Few philosophers write with such visionary confidence. Reading The Life Divine often feels less like studying an argument than entering a vast cathedral of ideas.

Yet literary grandeur can obscure logical vulnerability.

The sheer scale of the synthesis creates an impression of inevitability. Readers may find themselves persuaded emotionally before examining whether individual inferential steps actually follow.

This is perhaps the book's greatest rhetorical strength—and greatest philosophical danger.

A Historical Document of Modern Spirituality

Rather than reading The Life Divine as a literal cosmology, it may be more fruitful to view it as a historical expression of early twentieth-century optimism.

Evolution had captured the imagination of intellectuals worldwide. Scientific progress seemed unstoppable. Spiritual traditions sought reconciliation with modernity. Aurobindo transformed Darwinian evolution into a sacred narrative of universal awakening.

In that historical context, the book becomes profoundly understandable.

But history has moved on.

Biology has become less teleological. Cosmology has become less anthropocentric. Neuroscience has complicated notions of consciousness rather than confirming its cosmic primacy.

The intellectual environment supporting Aurobindo's synthesis has weakened considerably.

An Inspiring Vision, Not an Established Explanation

The Life Divine remains one of the most ambitious spiritual philosophies ever written. It continues to inspire readers seeking meaning in evolution and purpose in existence.

Yet inspiration should not be confused with demonstration.

Its central claims—that Spirit involuted into matter, that evolution is divinely directed, that mystical realization discloses cosmological truth, and that humanity is destined for supramental transformation—rest primarily upon metaphysical interpretation rather than empirical evidence or rigorous philosophical argument.

As a visionary work of speculative philosophy, The Life Divine deserves admiration. As an account of how the universe actually works, however, it asks readers to accept a series of extraordinary claims without meeting the corresponding burden of proof.

Its enduring value may therefore lie less in what it proves than in what it symbolizes: humanity's perennial desire to discover ultimate meaning in an evolving universe. Whether that meaning reflects the cosmos itself—or our own imaginative aspirations—remains the deeper question.

Appendix: From The Life Divine to Sex, Ecology, Spirituality

Ken Wilber's Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995) can be read as one of the most ambitious attempts to update Sri Aurobindo's vision for the late twentieth century... 

Chapter I - The Methods of Knowledge

15 hours ago — Sri Aurobindo is one of the brightest luminaries in the philosophico-religious firmament of India. He gives us his 'Weltanschauung' on the basis of the ...

Preface

6 hours ago — The teachings of Sri Aurobindo focus on a strong and marked tendency towards the integration of the once very separate world-views of East and West. Integral ...

FLAVORS OF ADVAITA IN VIVEKANANDA, RABINDRANATH, AND SRI AUROBINDO

D Banerji - Praise for Swami Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy, and …

… , Aurobindo Ghosh, aka Sri Aurobindo, … Aurobindo was also intimately
connected to the Brahmo Samaj, though he did not think of himself as a Brahmo—his
mother was a daughter of Rajnarain Bose, one of the important stalwarts of the …

The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Co-Creator of the Integral Yoga by Patrick Beldio

G Adams - Nova Religio, 2026

… In light of Beldio’s acknowledged commitment to the Integral Yoga tradition, some
readers … and Mirra as they developed the Integral Yoga tradition and Aurobindo
Ashram. This is not a … constant references to how Integral Yoga fits into the larger …

The Battle for Consciousness Theory; A Project in/of Swaraj in Ideas: A Review of Malhotra, R., Sastry, M., & Singh, K.(2024). The Battle for Consciousness Theory. A …

B Puri - Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 2026

… summer in Auroville and Pondicherry in the year 2000.At this time he was both
reviewing the village development project at Auroville sponsored … The obvious
place to start the counter movement was with the scholars who were …

The Origin of Indian Nationalism: Mazzini's Influence on Savarkar, Gandhi and other Freedom Fighters

MK Oza - 2026

This thesis examines the ideological and intellectual influence of Giuseppe Mazzini,
the Italian revolutionary nationalist, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a central and
contested figure in the articulation of Hindutva and militant Indian nationalism …

Humanism in Cinema: The Work of Satyajit Ray

R Maloni - Critical Social Science Perspectives on Indian Cinema

… Ray’s ideology also recalls Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo’s Vedantism.
Certain parallels may be observed in the works of Tagore and Ray, in portraying the
restless reformism of the Bengal Renaissance. It was Tagore’s concept of India that …

Understanding Karma Through the Lens of Religion and Psychology

I Chatterjee, P Banerjee, S Sarkar - Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and …, 2026

In Indian philosophy karma refers to the major understanding of activities, outcomes,
and spiritual growth. According to Sri Aurobindo karma is “the law of causation
operating through the moral order” which guides the progression of the soul toward … Sri Aurobindo interpret karma in the light of interconnectedness of activities, consciousness, and … Aurobindo describes that when the soul is existed in the lower planes that is influenced by the … In summary, Sri Aurobindo defined karma …

Evelry Waugh, Somerset Maugham, and Graham Greene

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

Rainbow & the Other

The universal solvent that is modernity - Pretty much. But it's worth pointing out that this is not a new discussion. Bankim Chatterjee in his "Letters on Hinduism" argues that the prevailing ...

Savitri Era Religious Fraternity

Emotions contain judgements, Peace hides violence - Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra P 180 2 Synthesis of Yoga I All that is ignorant, obscure, perverted I Mamu Gadadhar Mishra 31:56 ... Sri Aurobindo Savitr...

Aurora Mirabilis

Human life is hostage to luck - Milton has shown in his writings that he was aware of the new learning, but he does not seem to have taken it very seriously. Other literary men associa...

In the field of fiction, Evelry Waugh’s novels have progressed from the delightful slapstick of Decline and Fall to the haunting depth of Brides head Revisited—a story in which Roman Catholicism shapes the lives of all the characters, but written with so sure a touch that it never slips into didacticism. Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge faithfully mirrors the current interest in Oriental mysticism. The religious and ‘spiritual interests of that remarkable novelist Graham Greene are an important part of his just published The Heart of the Matter. Other religious best sellers of recent years (though not of equality) have been Franz Werfel’s The Song of Bernadette, Lloyd Douglas’ The Robe, Bruce Marshall’s The World, the Flesh and Father Smith and Sholem Asch’s The Apostle.

Finally, Thomas Sugrue’s spiritual autobiography, Stranger on the Earth, has achieved critical acclaim if not the accolade of the best-seller list. A complex, strangely beautiful book, its chances of publication ten years ago would have been slight.

Meanwhile there have been the conversions and reconversions. Aldous Huxley, after mordantly ripping society to shreds in such novels as Antic Hay presented the ideal of the well-balanced so-called “Hellenic” man in a number of essays, then did a complete about-face in his novel, Eyeless in Gaza. He now looks to the yogic orient for salvation. His last two novels, After Many a Summer and Time Must Have a Stop, are fictionized recruiting tracts for mysticism.

T. S. Eliot, poet of The Wasteland, announced as long ago as 1927 that he had been converted to Anglo-Catholicism, but the critics forgave him until his Four Quartets in 1943 made it evident that his conversion had permeated his poetry as well as his essays, W. H. Auden, who started out to synthesize Marxism and Freudianism in the Nineteen Thirties, returned to the Anglican Church and proceeded to write his unmistakably Christian nativity play, For the Time Being.

https://incarnateword.in/journals-and-magazines/mother-india-1949-2022/1949-fortnightly/mysticism-both-eastern-and-western

Journals and Magazines Mother India (1949-2022) February 19, 1949 New Trends in Western Thought—The Change of Mind in European Literature Mysticism both Eastern and Western

Now comes the crux of the argument. If this undeniably interesting pictorial style, which established itself in the first quarter of the twentieth century and shows no sign of disappearing in its second quarter, is the genuine expression of a new phase of human experience, how are we to describe the nature of that experience? For the 600 years prior to 1900 it was reasonable to ask: “Does the picture reveal new truths about the visual world? Today the question is no longer relevant. The validity of Picasso or Leger or their followers no longer depends on an emphatic “Yes.” What then is the relevant question?

Forgive me, please, if I indulge in a little concentrated art history. Just before the turn of the century, three revolutionaries laid the foundations of the new style. Cézanne revolted against the Impressionist Obsession with the “temporary”, the snapshot vision of Degas, the attempt of Monet to seize on the shifting light, the rippling water, the scurrying clouds. Everything in Cézanne is permanent, monumental, independent of the momentary effect. Cézanne was the analyst, not the observer.

Seurat revolted against the idea that a picture was a slice of life. He turned it into an organised esthetic whole, an engineering job, compounded of curves and verticals and horizontals and diagonals, each of which had their emotional value—diagonals for movement, horizontals for repose, verticals for energy. Seurat was the theorist, not the observer.

Van Gogh revolted against the idea that a picture was a mirror held up to nature. He turned it into an emotional explosion in which the handling of paint counted for more than the theme. He was the emotionalist, not the observer.

Here were three approaches each of which certainly had its precedent in the art of the past, but none of which had ever been pushed to its logical conclusion. To do that was the task of the early twentieth century. Cézanne’s analysis led inevitably to cubism, Seurat’s emotionalism to the extreme forms of expressionism, in which the picture is almost always more closely related to the artist’s state of mind than to the appearance of nature. The reader will: not have failed to note that these three approaches, though quite different from each other, agree in “rebelling against visual truth”. Realism, for the first time since Giotto, was obsolete.

https://incarnateword.in/journals-and-magazines/mother-india-1949-2022/1949-fortnightly/the-nature-of-modern-experience

Journals and Magazines Mother India (1949-2022) March 05, 1949 New Trends in Western Thought—Modern Art: A Revolt and a Revelation The Nature of Modern Experience

In 1882 a determined attack on the problem was formulated. In that year the Society for Psychical Research was founded to conduct a scientific investigation into all phenomena which were prima facie inexplicable by the laws known to physical science. Its earliest task was a systematic attempt to investigate the alleged transmission of thoughts from one mind to another. But the experimental conditions did not approach the standard expected for similar experiments to-day.

Nevertheless, the early experimenters reached one important conclusion—that ‘thought transference’ was too narrow a term to describe the kind of results which were obtained. This led F.W.H. Myers to suggest the word ‘telepathy’ for the communication of impressions of every kind from one mind to another independently of the recognised sensory channels, and ‘telaesthesis’ for the direct cognition of objects or conditions, i.e. by means apparently independent of the senses and under circumstances in which no other mind could be suggested as the source of the information.

Besides the early experimental efforts there were the usual cases of apparent telepathy encountered by people in their everyday lives. The Society paid a good deal of attention to these so-called ‘spontaneous’ cases, a large collection of which was published in 1886 under the title, Phantasms of The Living. Although many of the spontaneous cases exhibit a wealth of evidential detail, there is probably no ease which cannot be explained by normal means, if no limit be set to the counter-hypotheses of chance coincidence, fraud, collusion, lapse of memory, malobservation, etc., taken singly or in combination. Nevertheless the number of cases which can reasonably be classed as of fair quality is considerable, and the a priori improbability of a telephathic interpretation is perhaps somewhat decreased as a result of experimental work under rigorous conditions.

https://incarnateword.in/journals-and-magazines/mother-india-1949-2022/1949-fortnightly/beginnings-of-modern-investigation

Journals and Magazines Mother India (1949-2022) March 19, 1949 New Trend in Western Thought—the Verdict of Science on Telepathy Beginnings of Modern Investigation

Secularism and the Hindi Film: A New Box-Office History of Bollywood

SJ Nayar - Secularism and the Hindi Film, 2026

… From the silent films of the colonial period to the slick blockbusters in the era of
globalization and Hindutva, Nayar exposes the strategies that have gone into
reflecting India’s" unity in diversity" and the threats recurrently embattling that …

[HTML] Deconstruction and reconstruction of political discourse: How does an orientalist narrative exacerbate the exclusion of muslims in contemporary india?

J Zhao, Y An - Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2026

This paper explores how Orientalist narratives underpin the exclusion of Muslim
communities in contemporary India within the context of BJP’s Hindu nationalist
policies. Since Narendra Modi’s ascent to power in 2014, a shift towards cultural …

240521 SE MM3 Capitalism and Sexuality (2026S)

AL und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Aims: Students develop skills in noticing, observing, and analysing the intersections
of capitalism and sexuality via readings and research exercises. Students acquire
competences in analysis and argumentation, fostering critical thinking, and …

THE SOCIAL LIFE OF MEMES: CULTURE, COMMUNICATION, AND POWER IN THE GENERATIVE DIGITAL AGE.

S Serpa, AI Santos - Scientific Culture, 2026

This study conceptualizes the internet meme not merely as a form of vernacular
cultural expression, but as a foundational social logic underpinning everyday life
and one of the principal structuring forces of contemporary digital societies. Moving …

The transcultural orientation of The Routledge Handbook of Fan Video and Digital Authorship reflects and elucidates the geographical, cultural, and material diversity …

L Morimoto

Fan video is many things. A rhythmic seven-second anime character study set to
trending music, a looping single shot of Humphrey Bogart staring into your soul, a
two-minute long highlight compilation of beloved footballer Lionel Messi or Indian …

Marhoom Faizabad: Neoliberal Demolitions and Ruinous Governmentality in New Ayodhya

G Jamil - Antipode, 2026

… These judgments present a cognitive map of the persistent conundrum between
faith and law in India, which is at the heart of the Hindutva strategy in the post-colonial
courts employed by Hindutva plaintiffs, lawyers, technical and professional bodies …

[PDF] Reproducing Misogyny: Cultural Adaptations and Radicalization in the Indian and

M Manosphere, C Chinchu, S Sathyapal

Recent times have witnessed a significant resurgence of anti-feminist sentiments
globally manifesting primarily through digital communities collectively known as the
manosphere. This paper outlines the complex landscape of online misogynistic …

Anti-caste thinkers' language ideologies: an intersectional critical language study of anti-Hindi perspectives in Tamil Nadu

S Ramamoorthy - Third World Quarterly, 2026

Hindi, as the national language of India, faced strong resistance in Tamil Nadu,
where its imposition was seen as a north Indian cultural hegemony. Although
several studies have examined the linguistic and political aspects of the anti-Hindi …

[HTML] Why Does Odisha Not Have a Strong Dalit-Bahujan Movement?, by Ganesh Gaigouria–11 February 2026

LR Blog

Odisha has largely been untouched by the kind of Dalit and OBC movements that
shifted the political landscape in other states. Consequently, these groups have had
lesser shares of political power even as caste hierarchies and exploitation prevail. In …