Who is John Galt?

In a recent marketing plan from yoga clothing company, Lululemon, they have had an outpouring of praise and unrest and even screaming opposition.  All to a not so simple question.  Who is John Galt?  For those of you that are unfamiliar, John Galt is a character from Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged".   Like many books that push the line, this book steps over that line.  For many, like myself, this book changed my life.  But you must look beyond what seems to be political ramblings and look at the philosophy behind what Rand is stating.  Then you get to something truly mind-blowing.

Putting the fact that a company is putting this out there… lets take a look for a second about the fundamental basis of not only the book Atlas Shrugged but the principles of yoga, based on classical texts such as the yoga sutras.

Who is John Galt? He was a man that didn’t believe that people were entitled to anything and that they had to work hard for what they did achieve. Some may call this a selfish path but isn’t this a path that we all should take? Isn’t this entitled mind set what got us all into the trouble we are in? We must do the work, stand by our work and fight for what we believe in.

I was driving home and heard mention of this uproar on the radio and how people are appalled that anyone would suggest those that are doing yoga are being asked to be self absorbed. “Yoga is a community building activity” is what they said. And I ask you… is it? In the Yoga Sutras it never talks about the community action. It only refers to the work the individual must do. Yes, yoga is a selfish practice. how lovely is that? Only with the work we do on ourselves can any change happen with in our community. So in the end, I agree that yoga is a community building activity but the individual work can not be overshadowed. We get what we work for. We are not entitled to anything within our community. If you do the work, you will see a positive outcome.

Look at the philosophy behind the reference. Yes, Ayn Rand was very political but that is not the only point. Politics does not equal Philosophy. The point is that it comes back to philosophy. And philosophy is sharing of thoughts. It was based on debate and opening your mind to create conversation. I am not entitled to my own opinion. I will do my work to understand something deeper then the surface.

And if anything else... congratulations to a company that has opened up the minds of so many to engage us into discussion.  Rock the boat and ask those uncomfortable questions that most are to scared to ask!