In 1996, then governor Jeb Bush co-founded the first charter school within the state of Florida, when most educators across the nation thought of charter schools as nothing more than a fad. Now, there are more than 350 charter schools within the state of Florida; there are 38 across the Tampa Bay area with several in the Tampa Schools area - private and public. The movement has mushroomed across Florida with charter school enrollment expected to top 100,000 students this year.

Yet, if you ask the average adult on the street, most have no idea what a charter school is. Though many charter schools are private businesses that operate under the guidelines of the state school board, many were traditional schools converted to public charter schools and still under the direction and control of the school districts, such as the Tampa schools.

Charter schools are given more flexibility from many of the regulations that apply to the traditional Tampa schools in exchange for greater accountability. Charter schools can be as different as day and night in their mission, vision for their students, approaches to curriculum and teaching methods, and administrative structures, as well as their overall philosophy.

Each charter within the Tampa schools area must prove that their students are continuously improving academically from year to year. If they fail (indicated by student test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)), they are closed.

Any individual or business that wishes to create a charter school can. Successful new approaches to education by some charter schools are copied by others. The primary philosophy of these schools, however, is that one curriculum and one way of doing things is not correct for every student.

The success of the charter schools within the Tampa schools’ area has forced the Tampa schools’ leadership and educators to re-evaluate their traditional schools, giving students and parents more educational choices from which to choose.

Clearly no longer just a fad, the Tampa schools lose many students (and the funding that goes with each student) to charter schools each year, and the numbers are on the increase. The Tampa schools now have 12 public charter schools converted from their traditional schools. Ten are lower grade levels and two are secondary. A few have middle school grades included.

Charter schools within the Tampa schools’ area, as well as across the nation, continue to produce mixed results. Since their inception in Florida, 78 have closed, and nearly 30 percent were in the red financially a few years ago. Charters traditionally average 11 percent less funding per student, and their students generally score slightly lower on the FCAT, though they are improving.

Most charters within the Tampa schools’ area have a greater proportion of minority students than the traditional schools. Many are located within the inner city communities, where all schools face their biggest challenges.

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Would you hand your life decisions over to a blindfolded woman with a sword? Only you can answer this question. Me, I’d think “She has a sword, I better do what she tells me.” Then I’d think “How’s she going to know what I’m doing when she’s wearing a blindfold?”

The idea is that she will swing the sword without an eye to the consequences. It’s not that she’s blind in the eyes; it’s that her ego is blindfolded. She is not acting in collusion with it.

Why do I ask, you may ask. I am blind and becoming blinder. I’m very interested in my life, of course, and interested to see how my social role evolves or changes as I become more blind. Is blindness for anything? Can I use it in some way?

Probably. Blind faith. Blind justice. Blind instinct. Blind fury. Our language thinks about blind a lot. When the urban legend Inuit uses all those words for snow he does not use them for linguistic diversity or literary effect. He uses them because the word ’snow’ has many applications.

So, evidently, does blind. Blind faith is generally frowned on. So is blind fury. People tend to approve of blind justice and accept that instinct is blind. For me all qualities are blind ones now. If I have faith, it’s blind. So it my fury, when it happens to unfurl. Also my love. It’s very interesting to love people and not be able to see their faces.

So if I want to follow the example set for me by the language, it’s not about being blind; it’s about who I partner, work, or engage with. The first word in the ‘blind whatever’ paradigm stays the same. The second one is changed and empowered.

Those that have ears, let them hear.

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Almighty God has given man His very own form. From the standpoint of consciousness all those Divine Powers that the Creator (God) possesses are found in the deep recesses of the human psyche albeit in latent form. In this manner all the power and energy present in the macrocosm (cosmos) is present in the microcosm (human psyche). The microcosm is the smallest unit of the macrocosm. All functional aspects of the Solar System are found in its smallest unit i.e. the atom. The divine glory of God exists in individual souls. It is hence that man is called the “Prince” of God who is the “King” or ruler of this cosmos. Vedanta Philosophy very articulately proclaims that the living being (Jiva) and cosmic consciousness (God) are one i.e. non-dual or Advaita.

And yet the obvious question that needs to be answered is: If a creature and God are one how come such gigantic differences are seen between both? If indeed man is a “Prince” of that God who abounds with divine wealth, why is he (human being) so poor and weak? Great seers while answering this all important question opine that although it is true that man possesses all the divine glories of God, this divine wealth lies latent in his psyche/soul. It is like a seed that contains an entire tree or that a locked vault contains untold precious jewels. Thus the locked vault of Divine Powers in man’s psyche needs to be opened via the ‘key’ of intense spiritual efforts (Sadhana). Spiritual practices are called Sadhana and they reap rich dividends on the basis of apt psychic credentials (Paatrata) and ethics in ones day to day life. It is only when man passes this most important test that he can become a master of the divine wealth of the cosmos. The principle of “Sadhana say Sidhi” or “Attaining the goal via spiritual endeavor” is well known. The philosophy of spiritual endeavor is equivalent to scientific inventions and discoveries. Today man with his intense efforts and sharp intellect has unearthed many material powers via scientific research. Great scientific endeavors have today given us material energy tapped from sources like steam, radio, atom etc.

The human body is like an infinite storehouse of precious jewels i.e. divine wealth. If only via spiritual practices man awakens this divine glory all those Divine Powers attained by Rishis, saints, seers of yore and today can be attained by him too. Sadhana is nothing but awakening the latent divine potentials that lie untapped in the deep cave of man’s psyche and soul.

Human existence can be called an all encompassing scientific laboratory. The human body enfolds all powers/energies of nature albeit in seed form. Human consciousness harbors in seed form God’s unlimited divine consciousness. In order to attain cosmic consciousness those efforts are required akin to first sowing a seed in fertile soil, watering it and helping it bloom forth like a skillful gardener who looks after his various plants and trees. Although the atom possesses infinite potent nuclear energy, it can be tapped only by adept scientists with their scientific tools. For a layman this task is well nigh impossible. In order that an embryo grows into a human baby (after the male’s sperm unites with the female’s ovum) it has to mature in its mother’s womb for 9 months on an average. This is called “Sadhana say Sidhi” i.e. “Making due efforts to attain the goal”. In order to become a scholar, wrestler, boxer, artist, scientist, businessman etc intense efforts are required. In the same way if one desires to awaken latent Divine Powers in ones soul intense efforts are required (Sadhana) so as to witness miraculous results. Soul advancement spiritual practices are termed as high stature endeavors.

Spiritual practices are a science by themselves. One requires aid of spiritual philosophy so as to make sacred and pure ones inner sentiments, beliefs, aspirations and thinking. This is also called Jnana Yoga or Yoga of Wisdom. Hence one needs to pursue mental reflection, meditation, concentration etc. An all round progress can be achieved by associating with realized saints, seers and studying sacred scriptures with deep devotion. To put this in a nutshell this itself is Spiritual Philosophy or the Yoga of Wisdom. Within it predominantly the principle of mental reflection in a focused manner is deployed.

The other important leg of spiritual endeavor is Kriya Yoga wherein physical or bodily movements too are taken recourse to. It encompasses Asan (posture), Pranayam, Bandha, Mudra, vows, fasts, pilgrimages, Mantra chanting or Japa, Yajna or fire sacrifices etc. Thus true spiritual endeavor revolves around both, Dhyana Yoga or Meditation and Kriya Yoga (includes Hatha Yoga too).

There was a time centuries back that like Modern Science of today, Spiritual Sciences ruled the roost. In it within the laboratory of the human body Divine Powers were manifested in the individual’s body. These benefits were termed Sidhis by seers of yore. As against this Ridhis are psychic and sentimental glories attained via purification of ones consciousness and psyche. In ancient times spiritual seekers who underwent spiritual practices attained both Ridhis and Sidhis. If one compares the benefits attained by today’s modern scientific research they significantly pale in front of the achievements of spiritual seers of ancient times. The laboratory of Spiritual Science is the human body and hence it does not require external apparatus like fuel, technology, chemicals and other apparatus used in a modern science laboratory. And yet despite being so priceless Spiritual Science it can easily be availed of by entire world humanity. It is a divine gift of God and that indeed is man’s good fortune.

Spiritual endeavor is said to be supreme amongst all human endeavors. It is a means via which man can attain both material and spiritual benefits. In the Sadhana Age or the Era of Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Science was in full vogue and very well imbibed the world over. There was both zeal and zest in that era. But alas! Today man is full of greed, envy and avarice. An externalized mind seeks joy and glory in external objects. Today because of a maddening fast life none has the time to self introspect and discover the untold divine wealth lying hidden in the cave of his/her psyche. Man just refuses to give up his lustful, indolent and sensual life and thus master his mind so as to attain the greatness attained by seers and Rishis of ancient times. On the one hand a major chunk of world humanity erroneously discarded this profound science and hence simultaneously the number of great seers and sages of spiritual sciences too diminished drastically. If demand depletes the number of ‘buyers’ decrease and hence the number of ’sellers’ too decrease in tandem. At present in the name of “Yoga” deluded concepts have come into vogue (blind leading the blind). No doubt one finds hordes of so called “Yoga Gurus” who sell fantastic dreams to gullible aspirants. The latter just have no clue whether their teacher is genuine or fake. As a result the number of genuine Yoga Gurus and Preceptors who are the only ones who can help laymen reach their spiritual destination is dangerously declining as days pass by. That Great Spiritual Science has been replaced by nothing but vain deluded proclamations akin to a peg of alcohol. Today in the name of spiritual practice mere lip service is being doled out to a large number of gullible people. And hence both the layman and intellectual class harbor aversion for it.

Today we realize that the need of the hour is to research into the ancient Spiritual Sciences in a modern scientific manner and thus understand its aptness, true state and form. This is the way we can transform atheism into theism. Since Spiritual Sciences are infinitely more potent and beneficial than Material Science, it should not lie in a hapless ruined state as is seen today. In order to solve this problem once and for all we have established the Brahmavarchas Research Institute. Within its realm the human body is looked upon as a laboratory and intense efforts are being made to manifest Divine Powers that so far existed latently in man’s psyche. For this it was most required that in this modern scientific age necessary proof be made available to the highly intellectual class of world humanity. Only then will even the layman accept its true credentials and imbibe them wholeheartedly.

The Spiritual Science of the area of consciousness is called Super Divine Wisdom Gayatri (Mahaprajna Gayatri). That science which influences material nature (Prakriti) is called Agnihotra. Both are mutually conjoined to one another as a pair. Both are mutually dependent on one another. Agnihotra is most required for ripening and manifesting man’s conscious potentials. It is like exposing bricks into a furnace for toughening them up or like making our speech more audible by using a microphone. When fire and water unite steam manifests which is used to run trains. Programs heard on radios mainly use electrical energy. Similarly within the realm of spiritual practices (Sadhana) Gayatri manifests via the combination of sentimental consciousness and word power (Shabda Shakti). This Gayatri is hence made more prolific via the divine energy of Agnihotra. Gayatri symbolizes Yoga of Sacred Sentiments and Agnihotra symbolizes Kriya Yoga. Gayatri and Yajna are said to be the Mother and Father of Indian culture. Within the field of spiritual endeavor they are compared to Prana (Vital Force) and the physical body. The first step of transformation and purification of the psyche and body is development of a pious character and ethical dealings in ones day to day social and professional life. It is only then that one can enter the portals of spiritual practices.

The Brahmavarchas Research Institute is targeting its research on those areas that are related to the goals of various spiritual practices. We are trying to prove that Gayatri Mantra Word Power is not some ordinary ‘mutterings’ and that it instead activates via incitement our conscious arena. Which precepts are involved in radiating our character and personality and how does it influence the environment? This is being seriously studied at the Brahmavarchas Research Institute. Word Power is an intense and terrific form of divine energy. Various creatures inwardly contact one another with its help. It is the fount of spiritual wisdom and modern scientific laws. Thus we must deeply understand that Mantra Power can be used optimally in ones self/soul unfolding, for helping in others advancement and transforming both the gross and subtle atmosphere of the world in a very positive manner.

Another major research area dealt with by the Brahmavarchas Research Institute is the mysteries of the Science of Mantra Chanting called Japa. Over here we are mainly concentrating on Super Mantra Gayatri. Very advanced scientific technical apparatus is being used in or hi-fi laboratory to analyze the potential of Word Power while chanting Mantras. When we hold spiritual camps for our devotees we also scientifically study the results of Mantras chanted by them. So far the results indicate that Mantra Energy is n-fold more powerful than Yantra Energy (machines and technology).

It is erroneous to believe that Agnihotra is simply a lit pyre of fire. Instead know for sure that it is our Vital Force that manifests a ‘divine fire’. In that not only are divine herbs made more subtle that influence a vast area but that the devotees’ Mantra Power sanctifies and makes more powerful their Vital Force energy (Prana Urja). Hence its widespread influence is indeed gigantic and cosmic in nature. Great seers of yore proclaim in one voice that Yajnas improve our physical health, purify our will power and augment divinity in our soul force. Hence they are said to be priceless means of remedial measures and ones all round progress. Further global pollution which is cause for serious concern all over the world can be greatly warded off via Yajnas and Mantra Chanting. It is strongly believed that rains can be invoked via Yajnas. It is prudent to note that over here ‘rains’ does not simply mean monsoon season but that the cosmic vital energy ‘rains’ on Earth so as to add more vim and vigor in our plant life, other creatures and of course human beings too.

If we make intense efforts to understand the true utility of the above benefits and thus make optimal and apt use of them a bright future is in the offing for world humanity and thus various problems faced by us can be easily overcome. In this manner the Brahmavarchas Research Institute of Shantikunj (Haridwar, Uttaranchal, India) is scientifically studying all the principles and tenets that are the foundation stones of the Science of Sadhana (spiritual practices). The progress attained via Spiritual Sciences should no way be looked upon as superficial in comparison to the advancement attained via Modern Material Science. Apart from Gayatri and Agnihotra, Spiritual Camps organized by us deals with other forms of spiritual practices too. Its results are being minutely noted via scientific experimentation techniques. When spiritual seekers are made to undergo high leveled spiritual practices of Brahmavarchas not only is their initial and final inner state is noted but that the high-low and pendulum-like state that they go through in between too is being focused on deeply. It is only then that we can truly understand the important basis of Soul Science, the method of spiritual endeavor and the underlying principle behind it. In this computer age of “I believe only that which I perceive with my 5 senses” it is most required that we prove beyond doubt to both, the laymen and highly intellectual class, the importance of both material and spiritual tenets. This is exactly the task taken up on a war footing by the Brahmavarchas Research Institute.

The most important aspect of Mysticism is to understand deeply the benefits of interstellar space radiations and other potentials on our planet Earth and that along with staving off side effects we make optimum gains with its aid. Keeping this in mind a laboratory has been set up at Shantikunj to study and note interstellar space movements and states. On the basis of these calculations and other mathematical calculations a new Panchang shall be published. In that not only the planets discovered by ancient seers but those discovered by modern science like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto too will be dealt with. It will encompass Panchangs of various regions and method of making a Kundli (horoscope) of a person born in a particular place. Greater emphasis is being laid on the influence of interstellar space emissions on the Earth’s atmosphere and all creatures dwelling on it. On the basis of this finding we can find methods of balancing varied circumstances that visit our daily life. Today Astrology is called ‘blind belief’ but with our systematic scientific analysis this will not be the case in the coming years. It is certainly not an overstatement if we call this the total transformation of Astrological Sciences.

The Brahmavarchas Research Institute’s endeavor is extremely priceless from the standpoint of elucidating the true nature of Spiritual Sciences and Spiritual Practices (Sadhana Vijnana). Only time will tell us as to how our sacred endeavor results in great service to world beings for their material and spiritual unfolding.

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1. Introduction

As a start, I would like to point out to you a few things which might explain my interest in history and philosophy in general. You have all heard the slogan “Two Cultures,” the contrast and conflict between sciences on one hand and art on the other. However, in Hungary, where I come from, there was only “One Culture.” The Hungarian word for science is “tudomбny.” It corresponds to the word “Wissenschaft” in German. These expressions designate one, all-embracing science, including everything from mathematics to music. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences has, at present, eight sections: languages, literary sciences, social and historical sciences, mathematics and physics, agricultural sciences, technical sciences, chemistry and biology, and a section on musical folklore under the well-know composer Zoltбn Kodбly, who recently visited this country and taught in a music summer school at Dartmouth College. Incidentally, we have also in our country at least one institution, the American Academy of Arts and Science, which emphasizes the union, rather than the contrast, between Arts and Science. However, as you know, this is an exception. Our National Academy of Science is concerned only with science, but not with the arts.

My interest in philosophy of science was kindled by Poincarй’s books. It was reinforced by the requirement for the Ph.D. degree in Vienna, which included philosophy. My finals consiswted of two one-hour exams in physics, which was my major, a single one-hour exam in mathematics, my minor, and two one-hour exams in philosophy. These requirements forced one to study philosophy and to consider science in general, physical and mathematics in particular, in a more general context.

I managed somehow to take both one-hour exams in philosophy of science, since I had a sort of allergy to some parts of traditional philosophy. Fortunately, a friend of mine, Herbert Feigl, who is now a distinguished philosopher of science himself (Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota) tutored me. This way I did not have to read voluminous books on traditional philosophy.

One of the philosophers who examined me was M. Schlick. He was the founder of the “Vienna Circle” of logical positivists, also called logical empiricists. This direction goes back to Hume, Comte, and Mach. The circle had weekly sessions on philosophy of science, which were very interesting, but sometimes quite baffling, to me then. For example, there was a discussion about a book by Herman Weyl, “Was ist Materie” (What is Matter). There was an expression “es gibt” (there is). I remember a spirited discussion about the possible meaning of that expression. Being a young student of science, I did not at that time appreciate the significance of such semantic discussions. Later on, I realized that the precise meaning of statements in philosophy can be very important. Still, I always remembered a saying by Goethe in “Faust”: “Wo die Begriffe fehlen, stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein” (When the concepts are missing, a word shows up). Clearly, a new word is no substitute for a new concept!

2. History of General History

After this bit of autobiographical introduction, I would like to discuss very briefly and in big historical jumps the “History of History” and the “History of History of Science.”

History may be defined as a methodical reconstruction of the past of mankind. From Herodotos to Thucydides, from Livius to Tacitus, there was a gradually increasing sophistication leading away from the naive, purely narrative type of history. However, even with some sophistication, history was only an uncritical description of separated human events (like battles) and actions (by kings or other leaders).

General history, taking account of the dynamic forces emanating from the structure of a society, started only in the eighteenth century and actually developed only in the nineteenth century. Voltaire’s “Siиcle de Louis XIV” was, perhaps , the earliest general or cultural history. Gibbon, at least in some parts of his work, was another early bird. Sismondi, Thierry, and Michelet emphasized the role of communes and the rise of the “Third Estate” in medieval history. The British “Whig” historians, Hallam, Grote, and Macauley considered history as a successive unfolding of political liberty. Carlyle vainly tried to turn the clock back with his hero worship, as exemplified in his “History of the French Revolution.”

Influenced by the philosophers, Comte and Spencer, Taine and Buckle were, perhaps, the first cultural historians. They emphasize social factors, ideas, and idealogies. Hegel and Marx catalyzed the dialectic materialism style of history, with all its excesses. However, they rightly emphasized that in an age of quickly changing social and industrial development in particular, and even more generally, the sociological and industrial factors played very important roles in all human endeavors. Lecky, following Buckle, emphasized (in his “History of the Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe” and in his “History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne”) the “practical, active, and social sides of history, in contrast to the “intellectual and speculative” side, as exemplified by Leslie Stephens’ “English Thought in the Eighteenth Century.” Of course, all these aspects of history are complementary and should enter together into a really general history.

Grand synthesis in history cannot be practiced without analytic specialization. As a matter of fact, analytic specialization is a pre-condition for a successful cultural synthesis. The great attention to innumerable details, documented by a large number of footnotes, was the style set by Ranke and, perhaps to a lesser extent, also by Mommsen, who for his monumental “History of the Roman Empire” received the literary Nobel prize. Detailed treatments of shorter epochs on history have been previously pioneered by Voltaire and Gibbon and developed by Macauley (famous third chapter of “History of England”), Taine (”Ancien Regime”), de Coulange (”La Citй Antique”), Dill (”Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius”), although these cannot compete with Ranke in the number of footnotes!

Of course, a detailed study of any aspects in history is justified only if it can be used in the grand synthesis. Details which cannot be woven into the canvas of general history are clearly not significant. In other words, the details of any specialized historical study must be “embeddable” in the whole picture one attempts to paint, like apiece of mosaic is “embeddable” in the whole.

This “principle of embedding” is valid for any human endeavor and activity. Any human activity is the more important the more it interacts with and is related to other human activities. The abstract form of this principle goes back, perhaps, to Protagoras of Abdera, one of the first relativists. More concretely and recently, it has been applied by Felix Klein, David Hilbert, and John von Neumann to a relative valuation of different branches of mathematics and very recently by Alvin M. Weinberg to a relative valuation of different sciences.

The grand synthesis can be characterized also, again as all human endeavor, and more generally as all the nature around us, as a result of an evolution. This view is, of course, only valid if one “averages” over a longer time period. Over a short period, evolution looks more like the envelope or average of revolutions.

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