Until
modern times all human societies recognised a reality beyond
the physical and a certain proportion of the population,
hermits, wandering holy men, shamans, monks, nuns and the
like, turned their backs on public life to concentrate on
the world within. Even today in India married couples of
a certain age, having fulfilled their obligations to society
by earning a living and bringing up children, retire to separate
ashrams to ‘look at the other side of life’.
The author, who did at one time himself think of becoming
a monk, discusses the origins and aims of the contemplative
life and argues that it is a bad thing for society that we
have now got so completely enmeshed in the here and now — “Getting
and spending, we lay waste our powers” ( Wordsworth).
Until
modern times all human societies recognised a reality beyond
the physical and a certain proportion of the population,
hermits, wandering holy men, shamans, monks, nuns and the
like, turned their backs on public life to concentrate on
the world within. Even today in India married couples of
a certain age, having fulfilled their obligations to society
by earning a living and bringing up children, retire to separate
ashrams to ‘look at the other side of life’.