Smash Notes
Joseph Emmett
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Below the Line with James Beshara · Joseph Emmett — Yoga for Your Intellect
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What Are Some Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
They spend endless hours, days, and years toiling away for little time, little pay, and zero glamour. In all honesty, that’s where the joy of success resides. Greatness is born out of the grind, and raised from the grind. The only way for this to work is if the motive for the work is unselfish or selfless. Then, the work becomes a refuge.
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What Does Stress Do to People
Stress pulls people in a hundred directions because the intellect is weak and the mind is running amuck, which is why people get burnt out and want to get away for a short time. The intellect is where you find the peace and pleasure in the action.
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Where Does Yoga Take Place
Peace of mind is found in the work you are doing and not anywhere else. Intense work is rest because it’s the act of serving a larger cause. Yoga happens in the reflection upon the reality, not the question of, what am I going to get out of this? When you study and reflect, you’ll never be more enlightened because the work is the key.
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What Are the Steps to Have a Change in World View
Question, reflect, and cogitate for 80% of the time. According to Joseph, these may take years to go through, but that’s how you ingrain them into your system. Listening is crucial to help onboard these values in order to bring about a transformation in the ashram. Once you carry out these steps, living them becomes automatic.
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What Are Some Stories That Have Shaped Joseph to Who He Is Today
For Joseph, the first story is his love of a question. Specifically, what was there before the Universe? He was around the age of 10, living in Texas. He associates his time of life with this question, possibly due to a long bus ride and being outdoors a lot. He states he wasn’t wracking his brain for an answer — because there isn’t an answer — but he loved the question because it put himself into a calmed and simple state of mind that he enjoyed.
Playing off of his first story’s question, the world view of nothing is something has shaped his life because at the the core of our personality, there is an existence of Self. He thinks of a principle of the underlying creation, whatever that is
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What Is the World Governed by
Joseph Emmett spoke with Keith, a man who was on the same flight as he was. Keith talked to Joseph with a classical western point of view, and he thought that the world is governed by subjective laws of life and living, which is equivalent to say that nature is governed by external laws.
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What Causes a Person to Cling to Something So Tightly
Whatever you are attached to, that attachment repels from you. Whatever you are attached to actually causes you to cling to it tightly. Such as, holding something you love too tightly in your hands, causes you to restrict it.
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How Is Classical Meditation Defined
Holding the mind to one exclusive thought under the governance of one's intellect. It is considered the last stage of spiritual effort and the gateway to enlightenment
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How Does One Develop Intellect
Question everything. Do not take anything for granted and be alert for how things are and how they change. Go to an intellectual "gym" that allows for meditative reflection and growth.
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What Are Some Important Principles for Someone New to the Practice
Every human being has a body that is the vehicle for moving around. Within in the body, there are two equipments, which are the mind and intellect. The mind is feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, etc. The intellect is the ability to think reason, judge, analyze, etc. If the intellect and mind are equal, the intellect can effectively guide the mind. A powerful intellect prevents becoming a victim to the mind.
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What Is Yoga Truly Meant for
Yoga's original purpose is to yoke, connect, or join. It is the cessation of mental fluctuations. True yoga is bringing the mind to a point of stillness.
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Who Was Alan Watts
He was a former Episcopalian priest who is considered one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He was pivotal in bringing eastern thought to the western world.
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What Is the Environment Like When Sitting Under a Swami's Teaching at an Ashram
The lifestyle is very simple and very communal. Days are often full from 4am - 9pm. Each day is structured the same including space for quiet moments, tea time, yoga, physical training, study and lecture sessions.
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What Is the Bhagavad Gita
It is one of the core books of Hinduism. The text is about 2500 years old. It is discusses everything from the varying states of consciousness to how to be successful in the world.
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What Does Joseph Emmett Say an Ashram Is?
Joseph Emmett tells James Beshara that the word ashram literally means a refuge. He describes the one he studied in, Vedanta Academy, as an Indian monastery arranged so ordinary life drops away: a uniform, meals, a walk to the exercise room, and a yoga hall. The aim is to free attention for higher thought. Emmett calls Vedanta yoga for the intellect, a daily practice of turning the mind toward what is timeless, the way a physical practice turns the body toward the mat. He says the ashram is a charity in India, and that many of the students do not pay.
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What Does Joseph Emmett Say Shaped His View of the World?
Joseph Emmett tells James Beshara that his worldview came from sitting with the principle underneath creation, whether he pictured it as fullness or as void. He says the practice was unconscious at first. It happened on a long bus ride or a walk alone, not as a formal lesson. Those questions were big enough that he did not need an answer or a plan. Beshara adds that science, as he heard it explained, is mostly an attempt to predict or control the future, while this kind of question is a way to put that urge down. Emmett says the same relief was there when he was 12 and is still there as an adult.
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How Can Western and Eastern Thought Processes Be Summarized
The western side of things is focused on rearranging the world around us and the eastern side of things moves beyond life in the world.