Two trees, one root: the link between evolutionism and Eastern spirituality
Published: 13 February 2018 (GMT+10)
Looking at today’s once-Christian ‘Western’ society, one sees two non-Christian worldviews growing like long-established trees, stretching their branches into everything from education, to the media, to the church. One tree is materialism, the belief that matter is all there is, firmly based on and intertwined with Darwinian evolution. Its canopy bears the dark fruits which stem from morality without a Creator (and thus Lawgiver).1
Alongside it a second tree is thriving: Eastern spirituality. With its alluring blossoms promising enlightenment, health and wisdom, this tree seems to be drawing much of the world to its shade.
These two worldview ‘trees’ may look very different, but are remarkably connected by a common root system.
Exploring the connection
Like materialistic Darwinism, Eastern spirituality is a far-from-biblical concept that is heavily promoted in popular culture and public education. In education systems throughout the world, ‘mindfulness’ programs have emerged to teach youth meditation practices which, though often secularized, are rooted in ancient Eastern religions.2,3 These may include anything from breathing practices, visualization techniques and other ‘focusing’ exercises to transcendental meditation, mantra repetition and yoga.4
Of course, one needs to avoid the ‘genetic fallacy’, which would be to conclude that something with origins in an anti-biblical philosophy is therefore necessarily unbiblical in itself. It is nonetheless disturbing to see the extent of the enthusiastic penetration of such Hindu-derived practices, with at best minimal evidence of benefit. England, Canada, America, Israel, and India are just a few of the nations to integrate such programs in all levels of school curricula.4 Organizations like Mindful Schools partner with teachers to bring meditation practices to classrooms in over 100 countries.5
But education is only the beginning. In Western nations, Eastern spiritualistic practices are becoming commonplace in such diverse realms as business, the military, and healthcare.3 They have become so popular in Western cultures that some Hindu communities are actually beginning to take offence. For instance, they deplore the Western commercialization of yoga without recognition of its Hindu origins,6 and are offended at imagery of Hindu deities on ‘religiously impure’ consumer goods such as socks, shoes and toilet seats.7 When did Eastern spirituality become so internationally popular?
A bit of history
Let’s backtrack through time to the mid-1800s, shortly after Darwin published his Origin of Species. As evolutionary ideas became popular in Europe and spread to India, which was then a British colony, both Eastern and Western scholars noted that despite some key differences between naturalistic Darwinism and polytheistic Hinduism, there were important commonalities. These make Eastern spirituality all the more appealing to Western cultures in which evolution has made inroads.
For instance, not only does Indian cosmology feature the long ages known as ‘deep time’, but Hinduism maintains that the universe progresses in cycles of evolution and dissolution. In each cycle, a set number of species evolves along a fixed pattern. The fixed, cyclic nature of Hindu evolutionism contrasts with the less predictable linear model which Darwin advanced. But Eastern and Western views of evolution overlapped enough that Swami Vivekānanda (né Narendranath Datta, 1863—1902), instrumental in developing modern yoga and popularizing it in America in the late 1800s/early 1900s said,
“The idea of evolution was to be found in the Vedas [ancient Hindu scriptures] long before the Christian era; but until Darwin said it was true, it was regarded as a mere Hindu superstition.”8
An example of Hindu doctrine which various scholars have interpreted as evolutionary is avatarism. This refers to a series of earthly manifestations, or avatars, of a deity—usually Vishnu. Each reincarnation of Vishnu assumes a new form, beginning as a fish-man and progressing up to a human avatar. Of this doctrine, nineteenth-century Hindu philosopher Keshub Chunder Sen observed,
“Lo! The Hindu Avatar rises from the lowest scale of life through the fish, the tortoise and the hog to the perfection of humanity. Indian Avatarism is, indeed, a crude representation of the ascending scale of Divine creation. Such precisely is the modern theory of evolution.”9
Nineteenth-century Westerners who likewise stressed the overlaps between Eastern and Western evolution include Nobel-Prize-winning essayist Maurice Maeterlinck, and Oxford Sanskrit professor Sir Monier Monier-Williams.10 The latter said, “The Hindus were … Darwinians many centuries before Darwin … .”11
Meanwhile, even as the Western naturalism12 of Darwin and Huxley spread east, Eastern spirituality was spreading west, with many of its prominent promoters advocating at least some elements of Darwinism.
One such was the aforementioned Swami Vivekānanda, who interpreted Yoga Sutras (ancient Hindu texts) along Darwinian lines. He used Westerners’ eroded trust of scriptural authority in Darwin’s wake as an opening for promoting evolution-friendly Hinduism in the West.13 He wrote,
“At the beginning of the nineteenth century man tried to find God through reason, and Deism was the result. What little was left of God by this process was destroyed by Darwinism and Millism.”14
He outlined four types of yoga, describing them as four paths by which man may realize his ‘own divinity’.15 Such ideas fitted well with the Western occultist movements, then becoming popular as an alternative mode of spirituality following Darwinism’s challenge to Christianity.16 The result was to usher yoga into the West through promotion by Western mystics and New Ageists who themselves adopted evolutionary ideas.
Evolutionary mystics
Among these was Annie Besant (1847–1933). Once a clergyman’s wife, she became an active political reformer before turning to theosophy, an occultist movement rooted in Hindu teachings.17 A leader of the Theosophical Society, Besant was influenced by Helen Blavatsky, who advanced a spiritualistic, cyclic form of evolution and who wrote,
“Evolutionary law compelled the lunar ‘Fathers’ to pass, in their monadic condition, through all the forms of life and being on this globe … . These ‘Forms’ are called ‘Sons of Yoga,’ because Yoga (union with Brahmâ exoterically) is the supreme condition of the passive infinite deity.”18
Besant was, like Vivekānanda, a key originator of modern yoga, as well as a social Darwinist and eugenicist.19 She advocated yoga as a means of hastening the evolution of a Mother Race, which corresponds to “what used to be called the Aryan Race”.20 Hitler’s swastika is in fact an ancient Hindu symbol.21
Sharing this fascination with both Social Darwinism/racism and Eastern spirituality was John Woodroffe (1865–1936). He interpreted Sanskrit texts into books which helped catalyze Western adaptations of kundalini yoga and hatha yoga.22 Woodroffe also wrote The Seed of Race, outlining a Social Darwinian model which aimed to enhance humanity’s evolution through eugenics.18,23
Further highlighting the intersection between Eastern philosophy and evolutionary thought in the 20th century is the relationship between the prominent humanist Charles Francis Potter (1885–1962) and the American yogi-entrepreneur Pierre Bernard (1875–1955). Bernard was born Perry Baker in Iowa, before choosing a less pedestrian-sounding name for himself in promoting postural yoga, occultism—and himself. A godlike figure to many, he became known as ‘the Great Oom’.
The humanist Potter was once a Baptist minister who adopted increasingly liberal theology. He founded a Unitarian church, debated conservative theologians on topics including creation vs evolution, advised the lawyer defending evolutionary education in the Scopes Trial, and founded the First Humanist Society of New York and the Euthanasia Society of America. In advocating the abolition of the supernatural to leave humanism as ‘real religion’, Potter said that “the chief end of man is to improve himself, both as an individual and as a race”.
Interestingly, Potter was also so taken by Bernard’s ideas that he wrote an unpublished biography of him. What connects Bernard’s Eastern spiritualism with Potter’s evolutionary humanism?
The root—an ancient rebellion
Answering this requires digging straight to the root connecting the two worldview ‘trees’ we have been examining. A major hint is seen in the stated purpose of Vivekānanda’s four yoga paths, echoing Potter’s ‘chief end’ comment: man’s “realization of his own divinity”. This is a lie as old as Eden, first whispered in Eve’s ear when the serpent insisted, “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).
It is this rejection of a single, unmatchable, all-powerful biblical Creator that ultimately unites Eastern spirituality and evolutionary materialism. Both are manifestations of the same Genesis rebellion. But Eastern spirituality, unlike naturalistic evolution, has the advantage of recognizing a spiritual dimension. It can therefore tickle the human need for spirituality without requiring acceptance of the biblical Creator, or His moral standards.
It also stands in opposition to our need to recognize our own sinfulness and inability to save ourselves before coming to God through Christ. And it makes its appeal through a framework which shares many overlaps with evolutionary theory, even promising to help humanity reach a higher stage of evolution. No wonder Eastern spirituality appeals to so many in our evolutionized culture!
Conclusion
Ultimately, the only way to overcome the toxic fruits of these two ‘trees’ in our society is to acknowledge the root, reject the rebellion, and turn back to the Genesis Creator through the only way available: Jesus Christ.
Related Articles
Further Reading
References and notes
- For examples, see the list of articles at creation.com/qa#Social. Return to text.
- Renshaw, T.L., & Cook, C.R., Introduction to the special issue: Mindfulness in the schools—historical roots, current status and future directions, Psychology in the Schools 54(1):5–12, 2016. Return to text.
- Meiklejohn, J., et al., Integrating mindfulness training into K–12 education: Fostering the resilience of teachers and students, Mindfulness 3(4):291–307, 2012. Return to text.
- Waters, L., Barsky, A., Ridd, A. & Allen, K., Contemplative education: A systematic, evidence-based review of the effect of meditation interventions in schools, Educational Psychology Review 27(1):103–134, 2015. Return to text.
- Mindful Schools website, mindfulschools.org, accessed 4 August 2017. Return to text.
- Jain, A.R., Who is to say modern yoga practitioners have it all wrong? On Hindu origins and yogaphobia, JAAR 82(2):427–471, 2014. Return to text.
- Ramachandran, T., A call to multiple arms! Protesting the commoditization of Hindu imagery in Western society, Material Religion 10(1):54–75, 2014. Return to text.
- Vivekānanda, S. (1896), as cited in Killingley, D. H., Yoga-sūtra IV, 2–3 and Vivekānanda’s interpretation of evolution, Journal of Indian Philosophy 18(2):151–179, 1990. Return to text.
- Sen, K.C. (1882), cited in Killingley, ref. 8. Return to text.
- Brown, C.M., Colonial and post-colonial elaborations of avataric evolutionism, Zygon 42(3):715–747, 2007. Return to text.
- Monier-Williams, M. (1891), cited in Brown, ref. 10. Return to text.
- Another term for materialism; nature is everything, there is no supernatural realm. Return to text.
- Killingley, ref. 8. Return to text.
- Cited in Killingley, ref. 8. Millism refers to the agnostic John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), an influential liberal philosopher. Return to text.
- Newcombe, S., The development of modern yoga: A survey of the field, Religion Compass 3(6):986–1002, 2009. Return to text.
- Brown, ref. 10. Return to text.
- Annie Besant (1847–1933), bbc.co.uk. Return to text.
- Blavatsky, H., The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II: Anthropogenesis, p. 115, 1988, retrieved 29 July 2017 from phx-ult-lodge.org. Return to text.
- Singleton, M., Yoga, eugenics, and spiritual Darwinism in the early twentieth century, International Journal of Hindu Studies 11(2):125–146, 2007 | doi 10.1007/s11407-007-9043-7. Return to text.
- Besant, A. (1927), cited in Singleton, ref. 17. Return to text.
- For more on this, see Wieland, C., One Human Family: the Bible, science, race and culture, Creation Book Publishers, Powder Springs, GA, 2011. Return to text.
- Jain, A., From Counterculture to Counterculture, in Selling Yoga: From counterculture to pop culture, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 26–27, 2014. Return to text.
- For background to this subject, see creation.com/eugenics. Return to text.
Readers’ comments
Many Christianity-associated cultural practices have been claimed to have derived from pagan practices, but some of those claims are invalid, and even malicious—see:
The Western church is not the biggest body of Christian believers. The Christian populations of Africa and Asia are bigger, and most African and Asian Christian communities probably carry less extra-biblical Western cultural baggage than Western churches do.
No doubt there are aspects of Western cultural Christianity that seem normal and benign to us just by familiarity, but which are unlike the way Christianity was practised by the early church, who met in believers’ homes (e.g. Romans 16:3–5) and in outdoor locations (e.g. Acts 16:13), and later, famously, in the Roman catacombs. Nevertheless, I think we are close to the early church when it comes to theology.
I think you criticise past European portrayals of Jesus as a caucasian, is that right? In CMI’s materials we rarely portray Jesus, but when we do, we try to portray him with olive or brown skin which we think is more likely for a Jew of his era, rather than fair skin. See for example our pictures at creation.com/seven-cs-6. We frequently portray Adam and Eve, and we always portray them with a mid-brown skin tone. From our understanding of genetics, Adam and Eve could not have been fair-skinned or dark-skinned, but must have been brown-skinned.
Our article was not intended as a general article on all negative influences on the church. It is a specific article on one particular negative influence, one that is currently popular in the West, and which shares significant commonalities with evolution. Most of the over 10,000 articles on our website deal with countering the negative influence of evolution.
Eze_8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
John 14:6
...which part of 'no man' don't people understand?
At the Buddhist centre it was mostly Aussies and I discerned they were attracted to Buddhism because :
1. They were put off Christianity by anti-Christian propaganda promulgated by satanic forces
2. Some Christian tenets are inconsistent with the secular world view - creation vs evolution, miracles vs materialism
3. They still had a “God shaped hole” which they needed to fill
4. Buddhism does not require belief in a creator God – which does not disturb the western, world view
5. They can still believe in evolution/Darwinism and therefore maintain intellectual credibility
6. Buddhism conveniently explains the difficult question of suffering/bad fortune via the “law of karma” (which requires no repentance)
7. Buddhism does not require belief in the supernatural or miracles
8. Buddhist meditation requires a certain self-discipline, consistent with western work ethic
The western education system brainwashes our youth against Christianity and instils the materialistic, Darwinian, evolutionary belief system.
This causes a cognitive dissonance between the secular and Christianity.
The person abandons Christianity and pursues the secular belief system, which is nevertheless a religious belief - Nihilism.
However, the emptiness/meaninglessness of the materialistic world view is contrary to our true nature and provides no spiritual satiation
People feel empty and often fill themselves with drugs, alcohol, sex etc
Some who don’t ruin themselves with hedonism go to New Age/eastern religions, promoted by satanic forces as a proxy.
This is a challenge to reverse due to significant investment in this strategy by the enemy, who is dedicated to the long game.
Thanks for the article.
I think Kung Fu of the 70's & the Kung Fu Panda of the 21st Century were/are subtle teachings of influence & invitations to try something different & find the power within or the power of the universe. Guru's unite.
So close & yet so far when it comes to the truth & that is often how a clever deception works.The ancient world is very much alive today & the same battle ever-present. Enter the dragon/serpent.
Thank-you Tricia for a well written and well researched article.
A slight diversion from the article, but something that jumped at me while I was reading it, is how Satan used the popularity of The Beatles in the 1960s to introduce yoga and meditation into the 'Christian' West through their connection with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (who was the founder of Transcendental Meditation.)
Kudos for the occult practice of meditation was introduced into the 'Christian' West by mixing it with the popularity and hysterical mass following held by the Beatles.
The author then goes on to do just that. The church should be leading the way promoting mindfulness. There is nothing sinful about mindfulness. However, by abandoning the entire practice out of fear or bias because the "genetic fallacy" is sinful.
"It is nonetheless disturbing to see the extent of the enthusiastic penetration of such Hindu-derived practices, with at best minimal evidence of benefit."
Many academic studies of mindfulness have proven the benefits. So much so that prisons and public schools have no choice but to adopt these practices. It is a shame that, once again, the church has not stepped up and lead the way. The church will be disparaged for its intentional ignorance on this subject.
No. The reason the author concludes that these things (breathing practices, visualization techniques, ‘focusing’ exercises, transcendental meditation, mantra repetition, yoga) are anti-biblical is because they “tickle the human need for spirituality without requiring acceptance of the biblical Creator, or His moral standards.”
Completely secular techniques like “take a deep breath and count to three” for anger management, which involve no eastern-philosophical or anti-Bible baggage, are not what we are rejecting. But even the word ‘mindfulness’ carries eastern-philosophical connotations and the associated ‘allure of the transgressive’, so appealing to the sinful human heart.
For many decades now government schools have been moving away from the Bible and Christianity, to the point where Jesus, the Bible, and all things Christian are de facto verbotten. If mindfulness et al. were biblical they would not be flourishing in government schools the way they are.
No. The task Jesus gave us was “go into all the world and preach the Gospel” (Mark 16:15) and “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), not ‘go into all the world and teach mindfulness’ and ‘make monks in all nations’.
Perhaps no, perhaps yes. The Bible has a lot to say about our thought life—what we should think about and what we should avoid thinking about—but ’mindfulness’ as popularly taught and practised around the world does not involve thinking the way the Bible says to think. The Bible exhorts us to meditate on God’s Word (Psalm 119).
Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. The Bible exhorts us to fear God (e.g. Proverbs 9:10). And bias is unavoidable—everyone is biased. The important thing is, do we fear God or fear man? (Luke 12:4–5) And are we biased towards Godless things or biased against Godless things? “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9).
In fact, we do not reject the entire practice. I think most CMI staff probably accept that breathing and thinking in certain ways can help control emotions, and can have health benefits. Probably no one here has a beef with secular controlled-breathing techniques. But we do object to anti-biblical eastern philosophical terminology like ‘mindfulness’, and we do object to giving such techniques precedence over evangelism and basic Christian teachings.
In our opinion the evidence of benefits is minimal, and they are at best temporal benefits, not eternal benefits. And what good, ultimately, is a long and healthy life if used not in God’s service but against God? It is just more years of accruing sin. Just as morality without Jesus will not save us, so too spiritual practices that exclude Jesus are of no eternal benefit.
Wrong. They have a choice, and some schools and prisons choose to promote Christian teachings, giving both temporal and eternal benefits. What can really benefit prisoners and students is creation evangelism—see Prison power.
What is a shame is when people who profess to be Christian think it more important to promote spiritual practices that exclude the God of the Bible than to promote biblical meditation.
The church has always been and always will be disparaged by those who want to remove God from society. “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).
I do not believe churches are ignorant on this subject. Some churches are aware of mindfulness and other eastern-derived practices, and are adopting them enthusiastically. Many other churches are aware of such practices and strongly rejecting them because they do not align with the Bible’s teachings, e.g. as to what we should be meditating on.
With respect to thought life, the Bible says “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things”.
People want the spiritual benefits without the repentance and submission to Jesus that Christianity involves. That’s why so many prefer to ‘practice mindfulness’ rather than to “meditate on God’s word”.
The relations between Hinduism, Buddhism and evolutionism is just another evidence that modern day darwinism is actually unscientific Pantheism that believes nature itself is kind of a life producing and life progressing "womb".
In Buddhism, people can emulate and even surpass God and attain "Nirvana", a state said to be beyong words.
In Hinduism man can become real god themselves and surpass worldly existence and even attain "moksha" or become one with "brahma"-the very meaing of Yoga.
In either case, they advocate man's own pride and so called inner potential , and seek to be on par with God or even surpass God. This is the very theme in Eden where Satan deceived the first couple that they can become Godlike. What a gross lie catering to the carnal heart of pride.
So from a biblical point view, they have lost humbleness under God and fill their hearts with pride. And it is pride that stand in our way to recognize the true God just as Bible teaches us.
So these southeastern religions are just another example that shows our carnal hearts are prone to be proud of themselves.
Unlike western cultures, eastern people are more introverted so when they become pride in their hearts, they are more likely to imagine they can really become or surpass God， which is just another illusion. Because evolutionism and athesim likewise proclaim that there is no God， no Creator， so there are no higher existence for which we should be held responsible and there is no higher beings other than humans ourselves, which is just another form of human pride and vanity. For they want no higher beings and rules so they could lead their immoral way of life.
So great is the Bible teaching that pride is
really the enemy that keeps us from walking into true God.
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