Do you think that the yoga/exercise we see at gyms and in popular life are occult?

[LilyM]

Sorry but this is a naive and simplistic line of reasoning. If we were to go along this, you’ll have to rid yourself of terms such as Savate and Muay Thai and simply just call it all kick-boxing. Even without the spiritual and religious aspects, Yoga is its own unique form of exercise.

You’d also have to ask the Pope to get rid of his title of ‘Pontifex Maximus’ (Pontiff in English) which was originally a title used for the pagan Roman high priest.

You’d have to ditch any references to Yuletide, Yule logs etc around Christmas, as they refer to the pagan midwinter feast of Juul. Not to mention getting rid of those mistletoe decorations.

There’d also be the little matter of changing the names of the planets, the days of the week and months of the year, most of which are named after pagan deities.

 

[Warrior1979]

Best tell kids to stay away from Kung Fu then because the origins of that word have Eastern philosophical ties as well.

Not quite.

Kung Fu is a phrase adopted by westerners to describe this Chinese art. It basically means “time and effort,” and doesn’t apply to martial arts in particular. “Chuan Fa” or “Chan Chuan” are the Chinese terms used to describe the martial art with Buddhist roots. “Wu Shu” is used to describe this art, void of any religious practice.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

It’s inaccurate, its disrespectful and it’s arrogant to presume the right and authority to redefine words that have meaning to other people.

Says you. However, the only people I’ve seen complain about anything ‘sacred’ (be it Yoga or the Rosary) being detached from its religious meaning are pretty much religious people themselves who think the whole world revolves around their faith. There is nothing holy or demanding significant respect about a bunch of symbols/sounds.

And FYI, Catholic rosaries aren’t the only ones in existence so your example is moot. I’ve had cases where Catholic rosaries in turn have been referred to as prayer beads. Am I offended? Hardly.

 

[severus68]

No it isn’t. Yoga is a spiritual/physical union born of an eastern religion utterly different than catholicism. Taking its physical excercise forms and severing out the eastern religious content and still calling it Yoga is both dishonest and disrespectful to those from that eastern religious tradition.

Most catholics I know would get cranked if some crackpot started offering “rosary” course where the rosary beads were used, but new age meditations were substituted for the prayers and christian meditations. That would be the same thing as stripping Yoga down to merely excercise, but still insisting on calling it Yoga.

It’s inaccurate, its disrespectful and it’s arrogant to presume the right and authority to redefine words that have meaning to other people.

Indian civilisation and Hinduism is so very much older than Christianity and any Western civilisation. Thus everything that comes out of India like yoga, ayurvedic and dance medicine would have its origins linked to Hinduism. Today non Hindus throughout the world including Catholics practise/teach yoga, ayurvedic medicine and perform Indian dances leaving out the religious aspects. Today, these practices are associated with India and not Hinduism. People from the Middle East go to clinics in India for treatment at Ayurvedic hospitals. These Muslims have no issue.

The Rosary is the rosary. Prayer beads are not exclusive to Catholicism. Muslims and Buddhists have prayer beads too for instance.

I have never heard of a Hindu objecting to non Hindus practising yoga.

 

[Ahimsa]

I have never heard of a Hindu objecting to non Hindus practising yoga.

One Hindu writes:
Yoga is a broad system, emphasizing meditation for the purpose of Self-realization, but the tendency in the West is to reduce Yoga to its physical dimension. Certainly anyone can practice the outer or physical aspect of Yoga regardless of one’s religious orientation. Even an atheist can do so.

 

[manualman]

1. Where do Eastern religions make this promise?
2. That’s funny. Hasidic Jews have managed to incorporate both reincarnation and resurrection into their theology.

1. I’m no expert and I certainly have no citations at hand for you. But I’ve met a wide and varied number of people in my life including those who claim to be of Buddhist and Hindu faith who believe that they can manipulate the physical world with the power of the mind. That’s pretty much the definition of superstition prohibited in the First commandment and no amount of lawyering is going to change that.
2. The Sadducee class of Jews in Jesus day somehow managed to justify disbelieving in life after death at all. Just more evidence that one needs to safeguard the content of the revelation one receives from God and to inspect all Trojan horses carefully before opening the gates. My recommendation to all catholics is to excercise and stretch all they want, but leave the concepts of Yoga outside the gates.

 

[Warrior1979]

1. I’m no expert and I certainly have no citations at hand for you. But I’ve met a wide and varied number of people in my life including those who claim to be of Buddhist and Hindu faith who believe that they can manipulate the physical world with the power of the mind. That’s pretty much the definition of superstition prohibited in the First commandment and no amount of lawyering is going to change that.

Buddhists and Hindus aren’t Catholic and thus aren’t expected to follow the First Amendment.

As far the rest of the post goes, I have no real knowledge of Hindus. I can tell you that nearly all Buddhists I’ve met that take their beliefs seriously frown upon public display of anything the west would consider superstitious.

 

[Ahimsa]

1. I’m no expert and I certainly have no citations at hand for you. But I’ve met a wide and varied number of people in my life including those who claim to be of Buddhist and Hindu faith who believe that they can manipulate the physical world with the power of the mind.

You manipulate the physical world with the power of your mind, every time you think of moving your hand and then you move it. So there must be some other objectionable belief that you are referring to?

 

[severus68]

Buddhists and Hindus aren’t Catholic and thus aren’t expected to follow the First Amendment.

As far the rest of the post goes, I have no real knowledge of Hindus. I can tell you that nearly all Buddhists I’ve met that take their beliefs seriously frown upon public display of anything the west would consider superstitious.

I think those Buddhists and Hindus Manualman met were pulling his leg. I know Hindus and Buddhists and none have made that claim.

 

[Warrior1979]

Buddhists and Hindus aren’t Catholic and thus aren’t expected to follow the First Amendment.

Actually, Buddhists and Hindus have rights under the First Amendment if they are U.S. citizens.

I meant to say First Commandment.