User:Stephen Thomas Coulson

The School of Economic Science is curently celebrating the 70th anniversary of its foundation and the time has come to remove any sense of secrecy or hidden agenda from the world-wide school.

The best way of doing this is to come along to Mandeville Place (or your local branch) and find out for yourself. Call in any time and speak with whomsoever is in the building at the time.

Yes there is a strong connection with the late Shantananda Saraswati the Shankaracharya of the North and the philosophy offered by the school is based on the concept of Advaita Vedanta. So far - so public knowledge. Only a simpleton would however say that practical philosophy is a specific philosophy or is Indian, because it isn't. This is to grossly misunderstand the nature of philosophy (which incidentally in its etymology means the love of wisdom).

As a member of the School since 1973 I can only state as baldly as is humanly possible that the philosophy on offer in the School is Universal in its scope and application. I promised myself upon joining the School that if ever I heard something unreasonable there I would leave and that was 34 years ago. Practical philosophy is the embodiment of human reason and rationality.

The one thing you will never be asked by the School to do is believe anything. Belief is belief and philosophy is philosophy - they are two entirely different animals. Having said that an organisation develops a persona almost in spite of itself and there is the whiff of India about the School, but I can assure anybody who is sufficiently interested enough to come along that they will in time discover that this is just a veneer to the serious work of true knowledge and personal spiritual liberation - which is the grist of practical philosophy.

Through the School I have come into contact with all sorts of writer, poets, artists and philosophers including Lao Tzu, Shakespeare, Emerson, Ficino, Socrates/Plato, T S Eliot and many, many more all of whom have the touch of the Universal Philosophy now spoken of so commonly and reflected in the Conversations with Shri Shantananda Saraswati. A brief browse in the Schoolbookshop will show the eclectic influences making up the study of philosophy - which is beyond time, place, culture and creed.

I am not saying that mistakes have not been made in the past - because I believe they have. The Hogg and Hounam book came about through one rightly disaffected ex-member of the School from Australasia, but since Donald Lambie has replaced the late Leon McLaren as the leader of the School the organisation has changed drammatically and I believe that we as students of the School can hold our heads up in any company and be proud of the achievements in the search for enlightenment through practical philosophy.

The School is truly a world-wide body these days having affiliated organisations in all continents.

Sceptics will say "Well he would say all of that wouldn't he?" but sceptics only have to raise a doubt without adducing any proof or evidence; the School is living proof of the openness and universality I have spoken of. Judge for yourself: the doubt of a sceptic and one with an axe to grind or the evidence of your own intelligence and humanity.