Leon MacLaren
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Leon MacLaren, born Leonardo da Vinci MacLaren (24 September 1910 – 24 June 1994), was a British philosopher and the founder of the School of Economic Science (SES). MacLaren was inspired by
Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...
,
Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...
, Francis Roles, Pyotr Ouspensky,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...
, and finally the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta through the Shankaracharyas of Jyotir Math. pp. 2, 34, 48 and 59


Early life

MacLaren was born in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
on 24 September 1910, but from the age of four grew up in the
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
suburb of
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
. He was the son of Andrew MacLaren, a Labour Member of Parliament who was a staunch advocate of Henry George.MacLaren Foundation web site
Schooled at
Rutlish School Rutlish School is a state comprehensive school for boys, formerly a grammar school with the same name originally located on Rutlish Road, Merton Park, and relocated in 1957 on nearby Watery Lane, Merton Park, in southwest London. History The s ...
in Wimbledon, MacLaren later became attracted to the law and trained as a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
. Maclaren said he was grateful to have inherited from his father three things: no religion, no education, and a strong desire to distrust experts. At the age of sixteen, MacLaren contemplated how his life could best be put to the service of mankind, a one-word answer came to his mind, the word was "School". Describing the experience when he was siting by a lake in Wimbledon Park when he says:
It became very clear to me that there was such a thing as truth, and there was such a thing as justice, and that they could be found and, being found, could be taught. It seemed to me that that was the most valuable thing that one could pursue. So I resolved to pursue this when I was twenty-one.
Years later, in 1936, aided by his father Andrew MacLaren, he began an economic study group based on the Socratic method of inquiry that became The School of Economic Science. MacLaren believed that the practical problems of the world could best be solved by transforming the nature of human beings.


Career

MacLaren's influences include his father Andrew MacLaren, Shantanand Saraswati,
Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...
, Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Francis Roles and
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...
. According to the Henry George Foundation, MacLaren joined the Henry George movement in London in 1931, serving on the executive committee from 1933 until 1937. At the 1936 International Conference of Georgist Organisations held in London, a contingent from the US presented a question-based method of teaching Henry George's ideas. MacLaren created a similar method and taught the course in London. In 1937 MacLaren left the Henry George movement and founded the School of Economic Science (SES) with the support of his father. p.65 In 1938 he was called to the bar and practised in Chambers at 2 Paper Buildings in the Inner Temple. In 1939 he was nominated to stand for Parliament against
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, when war was declared the election was cancelled. Some sources say MacLaren's father founded the school, while others state it was Leon. According to the SES web site, MacLaren introduced and developed philosophy courses to complement his economics courses. Over time the philosophy courses became SES's principal area of teaching. According to the group's literature, from the mid-1960s onwards, MacLaren presented, in addition to some of the ideas of P. D. Ouspensky, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, a philosophical theology of absolute non-duality as taught by the eighth-century Indian philosopher-theologian Śaṅkara.SES website
/ref> He later stood as the Liberal candidate for
Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...
at the 1950 election and then at Hendon South in 1951 without any success. According to the SES web site, MacLaren studied Advaita Vedanta philosophy in 1965 with Shantanand Saraswati the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math. MacLaren attended a lecture by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...
at the Albert Hall in London in 1959 and became a student of the Maharishi. On commentator states that in the 1950s, MacLaren met and was deeply inspired by an Indian guru, Sri Shantanand Saraswati, and henceforth the School of Economic Sciences curriculum combined Platonic and Neoplatonic mysticism with Eastern
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
philosophy.
Meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...
classes were taught alongside Socratic group dialogues. According to Practical Philosophy's (founded by MacLaren) web site MacLaren spent three months in the early 1970s traveling around the world visiting the SES affiliated schools. MacLaren's illness came during his final world tour. He was brought back to England from South Africa and died in a London hospital on 24 June 1994.Unknown autho
Practical Philosophy web site
accessed 4 February 2013
According to his foundation web site, MacLaren wrote a book called ''The Nature of Society''. In 2009 MacLaren's former personal assistant, Dorine Tolley, published a biography of MacLaren called ''The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work''. In conjunction with Frances Roles, MacLaren founded the School of Meditation in London. MacLaren was an enthusiast of the
Sanskrit language Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, stating "The grammatical rules of Sanskrit are also the rules of creation". He began Sanskrit courses at School of Economic Science. Today SES is the largest body of Sanskrit students in the UK. MacLaren said on teamwork "The first quality of a leader of people – always the first quality – is a devotion to truth." and on praise "From praise comes joy, from joy – strength, from strength – virtue, from virtue – purity and from purity comes realization of one’s full potential." Leon MacLaren is described as one of three men responsible for meditation being practised so widely in the west due to his early adoption of the practice and propagation of it globally via the School of Economic Science, the other two men being
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...
and Dr Francis C. Roles of The Study Society.) He also established the St James Independent Schools, consisting of the St James Junior's, Senior Girls' and Senior Boys' School. He taught until the last week of his life. In 1994, though ill, he flew from London to South Africa to lead a study week with the School's senior students. His visit was cut short when his health failed. He was flown back to London, where he died.


Personal life

According to MacLaren's foundation web site he married twice, had two daughters and lived in Hammersmith and later Hampstead and Oxfordshire. MacLaren had two unsuccessful marriages, both with Study Society members. Neither woman ever joined the School of Economic Science, preferring to stay with Roles, even after MacLaren officially split from Roles and his group.Petsche, Johanna J. M. (2015). "Gurdjieffian Overtones in Leon MacLaren's School of Economic Science". ''International Journal for the Study of New Religions''. 6.2: 197–219 He had a keen interest in music, he played the saxophone in a jazz band in his early life and also played the piano. He also composed several pieces inducing: "In The Beginning", "Isha Upanishad" and "Rig Veda", based on a seven-tone scale described as the "natural octave", based on Gurdgieff and Ouspensky's teachings.


Published works

* Nature of Society () * Music: The Foundations of Harmony () * "Reminders": Extracts from the Lectures of Leon MacLaren () *The Science of Economics: The Economic Teaching of Leon MacLaren ()


References


External links


MacLaren Foundation Official Web Site

School of Economic Science Official Web Site


{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaren, Leon 1910 births 1994 deaths People from Wimbledon, London Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Georgists Advaitin philosophers 20th-century British philosophers Transcendental Meditation exponents cs:Škola ekonomické vědy