ARTHUR KOESTLER TO THE RESCUE (October 3, 2008)

Suddenly remembering Arthur Koestler’s famous essay, “The Yogi and the Commissar” (1945), I searched my Residua on the World Wide Web with the word “revolution” on the one hand, and words “yoga” or “yogi” on the other. At first glance, the results are far from surprising, as the first word appears ever less often and the second two pop up ever more often as years go by. But details are still of some interest. Although the usage of the word “revolution” peaks in 1979, when it appears sixteen times, it rapidly declines in the early 1980s, and it pops up only a few times a year all the way to the present. However, it appears as many as eight times in 2006, which is worth investigating further. Now, words “yoga” or “yogi” do not appear at all before 1994, and they pop up ever more frequently ever since. More specifically, they appear eleven times in 2006, thirteen times in 2007, and fourteen times so far this year. As it seems, the peak is still some way away. Anyhow, Koestler’s essay seems to be worth rereading so many years later. Although he meant to shed light on two kinds of people, perhaps he inadvertently shed light on two ages of each person. Come to think of it, is there any difference between the two?