A couple of weeks back I wrote about how right reasoning depends more on true premises than on a well-constructed argument. For example, “All horses can fly, all horses are tomatoes, therefore, all tomatoes can fly” is a well-constructed argument that’s based on two obviously false premises.
If it were just a matter of armchair philosophy, then it wouldn’t really matter. But falling for logical fallacies can have real-world consequences.
For example, if you think alignment with your true nature means only doing what feels good, then you end up reinforcing your attachments and aversions — two of the five obstacles to yoga — instead of transcending them.
The impacts of logical fallacies extend from the erasure of ethics in absolute non-duality to limiting our personal growth by believing that we are our own best teachers.
One of my “favorite” logical fallacies is one that shows up in conversations about cultural appropriation and de-colonizing yoga. Here’s the argument:
- Yoga originated in India as part of a specific cultural and spiritual tradition.
- Colonialism distorted and commodified yoga.
- Modern global yoga descends from the distortions of colonialism.
- Therefore, modern yoga is fundamentally inauthentic and perpetuates the mindset of colonization.
This argument feels convincing because it uses a morally compelling premise (respect for indigenous culture), resonates with broader postcolonial critiques, and follows a clean logical structure.
So what’s the problem with it?
There are a few highly questionable unspoken premises, the first of which is that there is a thing called “modern yoga.”
What do we mean by “modern yoga?” Do we mean Krishnamacharya’s synthesis of ancient hatha yoga traditions with Indian gymnastics, British military exercise, and physiotherapy in Mysore, India, during the 1930s? After all, Krishnamacharya is known as the “Father of Modern Yoga.”
Actually, “modern yoga” can mean a great many variations on Krishnamacharya’s innovations, from Iyengar Yoga to Bikram Yoga to Puppy Yoga, so the first logical fallacy is one of Hasty Generalization: the premise is too weak to support the conclusion.
Another implied premise is that yoga was an indigenous spiritual practice that colonists extracted from India and turned into a sellable product. Is this true?
Actually, yoga was originally brought to the West by Indian yogis who wanted to make the benefits of yoga available to the Western world. Starting with Swami Vivekananda to the swamis who became icons of the sixties counter-culture, they were all Indians who were connected to various traditional schools of yoga.
Then there’s the premise that India is the home of a specific cultural and spiritual tradition. Actually, India is home to a wide variety of cultural and spiritual traditions, many of which claim yoga, in one form or another, as their own. The idea that “authentic” yoga is only found in one fixed cultural expression is historically inaccurate.
The most obvious hidden premise, however, is hiding in plain sight: the proposition that yoga originated in India.
Confining the origins of yoga wisdom to a terrestrial location at a point in time, even 5,000 years ago, isn’t aligned with what the yoga tradition tells us about where it comes from and how long it has existed.
Vedic knowledge is considered apauruṣeyā (not from this place; of supernatural origins) and sanatana-dharma (eternal wisdom) rather than a historical invention. Ancient sages or rishis such as Vasishta and Vishwamitra experienced these truths during deep meditation and transmitted them in a state of samadhi (mystic trance).
In other words, if you think that yoga was invented by people living in the Indus River Valley, you’re looking at the yoga wisdom tradition through the same lens of modern historical consciousness that colonizers look at it through. You can’t logically honor the roots of yoga by ignoring what the yoga tradition says about its own origins.
Here’s a better argument:
- According to the Vedic yoga wisdom tradition, yoga originates in transcendence.
- Yoga has largely been disconnected from its traditional teachings by various elements of modern culture.
- The disconnection of yoga from its traditional teachings has led to distortions and commodification.
- Therefore, most commodified forms of modern yoga are disconnected from yoga’s traditional origin point.
I’ve admittedly left out of a lot of details and nuance for the sake of brevity, but you get the picture.
This is not to say that I’m against good-faith efforts to de-colonize yoga or rectify the ways in which the spiritual culture of yoga has been misappropriated. When we think of yoga in terms of spiritual culture — originating in transcendence — as opposed to Indian culture — originating on terra firma — then we can honor the roots of yoga with arguments that are both logical and true.
Wishing you all good fortune,
– Hari-k