FactIncept (Flame up the ideas, Incept the facts)
Birth of Psychology is claimed in late 19th century therefore we can say it is a subject which is not very old, rather it's new. Today when people think of psychology, it is not possible for them to think without Wilhelm Wundt, B.F Skinner and Sigmund Freud etc. Their research, writings and work has made it possible, to understand our personality, human development and so many other aspects of the psychology. Psychology starts with study of mind, the various disorders of mind. In this study discovery of the unconsciousness was a major turning point. The objective was to deeply understand the hidden inner drives for a well-adjusted life. But psychology was always in existence though without name. Whether you talk about very rich ancient eastern philosophy or western philosophy, you will find a strong place psychology made. Ebbinghaus started one of his book with lines, that, "Psychology has a long past but only a short history." Just flip the sentence and you will find "Psychology has a short history but a long past."
In the above paragraph you must have noticed that we are dealing Psychology but the very next line Philosophy has been mentioned. Therefore, one thing should be clear that in ancient times there was no categorization of subjects like we have today. During development of human civilization there were group of few curious people who questioned whatever happened around them. From a large incident to the minutest of movement were scrutinized by them. Those curious people later been termed as 'Philosophers.' They were questioning everything like universe, self, society, behaviour etc. For example well known thinkers like 'Pythagoras' and 'Archimedes' were not only philosophers; they were also mathematicians, mystics, physicist etc. But gradually they self-divided themselves in different categories. Like one who questioned 'universe', indulged him fully in universe which later turned as a subject known as Astronomy. Similarly, the person who dealt ‘self’ dedicated himself there and later it became Psychology (in western terrain) and Spirituality (in eastern terrain) etc. Therefore, you must treat Psychology as a part of Philosphy.
How psychology dominated in ancient history? The great Indian epic ‘Bhagwad Gita’ is a classic example in eastern philosophy which dominates till present. ‘Bhagavad Gita’ begins with a scene of the breakdown of a human being who, no doubt is healthy and competent but struggling in a very stressful and conflicting situation. He was in midst of his inner conflict. There was stress because of the stake involved, and there was immediacy of crisis and conflict due to lack of acceptable choices. Bhagavad Gita's focus is a mind in a crisis, which if not solved may deteriorate into mental, physical and social illness." The Bhagavad Gita is for the sick to become healthy and for the healthy to become healthier. Its approach is preventive than curative, this approach is very relevant today as more people are suffering not from same type of conflicts in day to day life.
See some excerpts from the great Indian epic 'Bhagwad Gita', and when one go through the whole book will find a treasure of psychology-:
"Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed."
"One gradually attains tranquility of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else."
"Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed."
"Unnatural work produces too much stress."
"Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance; these are the marks of those who are born with demonic qualities."
"Lord Krishna, the preacher also tries a pessimistic and materialistic piece of advice: "life is short and uncertain, so as well enjoy it."
Also, around 2500 years back ‘The Patanjali Yoga Sutras’ which is famous today for yoga asanas, was written and compiled by Mahrshi Patanjali to deal with deterioration in the morality. It is a strange fact no asanas are described to get medically fit as followed by most people today. These sutras are a scientific approach to the deep human nature and even beyond the ambit of the modern day psychology and para-psychology. There are so many tips which psychologists have started using now from ancient work. Psychology basically deals with human nature, behavior or mind. Remember it is same from its origin. Fear, security, greed, sex and envy, ideas etc. characteristics are found in every living being. Though its form may vary from time to time and species to species, but root of all goes to same earth. Infact Patanjali Yoga Sutras can be very beneficial in modern era.
Let’s see some examples, from Patanjali Yoga Sutras and find out relation between modern days Psychology-:
Verse 33 of Patanjali Yoga sutras says-: To keep, a positive attitude, to outward entities.
You can find number of books and magazines on positive attitude.
Verse 34 of this Patanjali Yoga Sutras says-: To restrain the breath. The modern psychology understands the problem caused by breathing.
Practically deep breathing induces mental tranquility. That’s the main reason why psychotherapists suggest a rhythmic and deep breathing exercise.
Verse 37 of Patanjali Yoga Sutras -: These verses suggest associating your faculties with someone who has achieved a higher state of awareness and consciousness.
Make friends who are on the path to reflect and reinforce positive feelings like love and grace. But also avoid such people who are dominated by opposite feelings like fear, jealousy, hatred, greed as they may reinforce the same tendencies and illusions on us.
This is also forms the base of modern psychiatry and therapies as it is based on the attitude and patient-doctor trust.
Verse 39 of Patanjali Yoga Sutras tells us-: Theme of whole book and path of meditation.
With no doubt, it is the practice very recently has been adopted by all modern medical sciences. Whole world has understood the value of meditation and benefitted them.
Increased rates of depression, stress and anxiety are byproducts of our modernized urban lives. ‘Stress’, ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Depression’ forms the pillars of today’s psychology. It has been addressed from the root in ancient time. Patnajli says that-:
‘Tensions act at different levels. The basic tensions of the mind are basic ignorance of truth, ego, attachment, aversion and fear of death. Thus, summing up the entire cause of human unhappiness, Ignorance of reality is the root cause of tension from which all other tensions arise. The tensions can be ‘dormant’, ‘slight’, ‘scattered’ or ‘manifest’.
Now let’s turn our focus towards the west, which is not less rich in material of philosophy and psychology than east. Ancient Greek provides methods to deal with Depression and Anxiety. Discoveries based on ancient wisdom suggest that ancient Greek followed a way of Life inspired by Pythagoras that included a healthy vegetarian diet, daily rigorous physical exercise and philosophical discussions. These dialectical discussions were meant to help a person to understand their life and its purpose. If we relate the same in our modern day life, we will find the same essence in counseling and group therapies. Discussion about universe and their purpose within this existence give a positive attitude. In addition to this, living ethically was also essential. For the Greeks, act-right/think-right was the key towards well-being. This is the theme of psychology as our thinking rules our behavior. So next time when you feel depressed or stressed out, instead of going to a counselors try a very old-school--as in ancient—solution.
Psychology has been always a part of Greek philosophy. Like the humanistic-transpersonal psychologists of modern time in prospect of problem-solving. The Ancient Greek thinkers, by contrast, start the inquiry by looking at the Picture of one's life as a whole. The processes such as attribution and projection are all spinning-out of the implications of Protagoras’ views. Also cognitive psychology, which is based on identifying and changing; what we tell ourselves about ourselves and the world around us, can be traced in work of Protagoras, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. After comes, Hippocrates who formulated the theories of temperament and motivation and described behavior disorders and cause of problems. He founded the Hippocratic Oath, designed to produce a frame in mind of the doctor.
This article is meant to pay reverence to ancient thinkers who radicalized human civilization by their power thinking capability and having faintest of resources.
(factincept networks)
Birth of Psychology is claimed in late 19th century therefore we can say it is a subject which is not very old, rather it's new. Today when people think of psychology, it is not possible for them to think without Wilhelm Wundt, B.F Skinner and Sigmund Freud etc. Their research, writings and work has made it possible, to understand our personality, human development and so many other aspects of the psychology. Psychology starts with study of mind, the various disorders of mind. In this study discovery of the unconsciousness was a major turning point. The objective was to deeply understand the hidden inner drives for a well-adjusted life. But psychology was always in existence though without name. Whether you talk about very rich ancient eastern philosophy or western philosophy, you will find a strong place psychology made. Ebbinghaus started one of his book with lines, that, "Psychology has a long past but only a short history." Just flip the sentence and you will find "Psychology has a short history but a long past."
In the above paragraph you must have noticed that we are dealing Psychology but the very next line Philosophy has been mentioned. Therefore, one thing should be clear that in ancient times there was no categorization of subjects like we have today. During development of human civilization there were group of few curious people who questioned whatever happened around them. From a large incident to the minutest of movement were scrutinized by them. Those curious people later been termed as 'Philosophers.' They were questioning everything like universe, self, society, behaviour etc. For example well known thinkers like 'Pythagoras' and 'Archimedes' were not only philosophers; they were also mathematicians, mystics, physicist etc. But gradually they self-divided themselves in different categories. Like one who questioned 'universe', indulged him fully in universe which later turned as a subject known as Astronomy. Similarly, the person who dealt ‘self’ dedicated himself there and later it became Psychology (in western terrain) and Spirituality (in eastern terrain) etc. Therefore, you must treat Psychology as a part of Philosphy.
How psychology dominated in ancient history? The great Indian epic ‘Bhagwad Gita’ is a classic example in eastern philosophy which dominates till present. ‘Bhagavad Gita’ begins with a scene of the breakdown of a human being who, no doubt is healthy and competent but struggling in a very stressful and conflicting situation. He was in midst of his inner conflict. There was stress because of the stake involved, and there was immediacy of crisis and conflict due to lack of acceptable choices. Bhagavad Gita's focus is a mind in a crisis, which if not solved may deteriorate into mental, physical and social illness." The Bhagavad Gita is for the sick to become healthy and for the healthy to become healthier. Its approach is preventive than curative, this approach is very relevant today as more people are suffering not from same type of conflicts in day to day life.
See some excerpts from the great Indian epic 'Bhagwad Gita', and when one go through the whole book will find a treasure of psychology-:
"Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed."
"One gradually attains tranquility of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else."
"Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed."
"Unnatural work produces too much stress."
"Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance; these are the marks of those who are born with demonic qualities."
"Lord Krishna, the preacher also tries a pessimistic and materialistic piece of advice: "life is short and uncertain, so as well enjoy it."
Let’s see some examples, from Patanjali Yoga Sutras and find out relation between modern days Psychology-:
Verse 33 of Patanjali Yoga sutras says-: To keep, a positive attitude, to outward entities.
You can find number of books and magazines on positive attitude.
Verse 34 of this Patanjali Yoga Sutras says-: To restrain the breath. The modern psychology understands the problem caused by breathing.
Practically deep breathing induces mental tranquility. That’s the main reason why psychotherapists suggest a rhythmic and deep breathing exercise.
Verse 37 of Patanjali Yoga Sutras -: These verses suggest associating your faculties with someone who has achieved a higher state of awareness and consciousness.
Make friends who are on the path to reflect and reinforce positive feelings like love and grace. But also avoid such people who are dominated by opposite feelings like fear, jealousy, hatred, greed as they may reinforce the same tendencies and illusions on us.
This is also forms the base of modern psychiatry and therapies as it is based on the attitude and patient-doctor trust.
Verse 39 of Patanjali Yoga Sutras tells us-: Theme of whole book and path of meditation.
With no doubt, it is the practice very recently has been adopted by all modern medical sciences. Whole world has understood the value of meditation and benefitted them.
Increased rates of depression, stress and anxiety are byproducts of our modernized urban lives. ‘Stress’, ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Depression’ forms the pillars of today’s psychology. It has been addressed from the root in ancient time. Patnajli says that-:
‘Tensions act at different levels. The basic tensions of the mind are basic ignorance of truth, ego, attachment, aversion and fear of death. Thus, summing up the entire cause of human unhappiness, Ignorance of reality is the root cause of tension from which all other tensions arise. The tensions can be ‘dormant’, ‘slight’, ‘scattered’ or ‘manifest’.
Greek Philosphers
Now let’s turn our focus towards the west, which is not less rich in material of philosophy and psychology than east. Ancient Greek provides methods to deal with Depression and Anxiety. Discoveries based on ancient wisdom suggest that ancient Greek followed a way of Life inspired by Pythagoras that included a healthy vegetarian diet, daily rigorous physical exercise and philosophical discussions. These dialectical discussions were meant to help a person to understand their life and its purpose. If we relate the same in our modern day life, we will find the same essence in counseling and group therapies. Discussion about universe and their purpose within this existence give a positive attitude. In addition to this, living ethically was also essential. For the Greeks, act-right/think-right was the key towards well-being. This is the theme of psychology as our thinking rules our behavior. So next time when you feel depressed or stressed out, instead of going to a counselors try a very old-school--as in ancient—solution.
Psychology has been always a part of Greek philosophy. Like the humanistic-transpersonal psychologists of modern time in prospect of problem-solving. The Ancient Greek thinkers, by contrast, start the inquiry by looking at the Picture of one's life as a whole. The processes such as attribution and projection are all spinning-out of the implications of Protagoras’ views. Also cognitive psychology, which is based on identifying and changing; what we tell ourselves about ourselves and the world around us, can be traced in work of Protagoras, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. After comes, Hippocrates who formulated the theories of temperament and motivation and described behavior disorders and cause of problems. He founded the Hippocratic Oath, designed to produce a frame in mind of the doctor.
This article is meant to pay reverence to ancient thinkers who radicalized human civilization by their power thinking capability and having faintest of resources.
(factincept networks)
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