Casaubon and Bartlebooth

 One of the key Management principles in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy is widening, heightening and integration. How Much Land Does a Man Need by Leo Tolstoy points to the futility of widening endlessly without proper consolidation. Edward Casaubon in George Eliot's Middlemarch, similarly, spends his life collecting notes and references without ever writing the book he wanted to author. Even Percival Bartlebooth in Georges Perec’s Life: A User's Manual fails to complete his project despite meticulous planning and execution. Odysseus returning to Ithaca, of course, is a fairy-tale counter-theme.

Yoga, paradoxically, involves detachment and non-grasping. When applied to intellectual and aesthetic pursuits, the effect can be stringent. Integral yoga, however, is a different cup of tea. Nevertheless, Pratibha needs to be moderated by Dakshina. Otherwise, creativity can prove to be cancerous.

A contemporary of Sri Aurobindo, Husserl had conceived of epoché much before Heidegger’s Daoist turn, but without any concrete result. Merleau-Ponty, interestingly, had exhibited surprising consonance with The Mother's experiments on the body. The example of Foucault leading a cloistered life despite campaigning for freedom for others is a curious irony. Thus, the problem of drawing a line to settle How Much is not easy to solve.

In his book, Towards a Critique of Cultural Reason, R. Sundara Rajan looks at Critique as the sensitive point where a medicine turns into a poison. The juncture of Sublimation of lower instincts into higher emotions, too, can be seen in a similar light. But, on the spot, improvisations experienced by performers, in a state of heightened inspiration, defies all logic and learning. https://x.com/SavitriEra - https://bsky.app/profile/savitriera.bsky.social