Silence and stillness have the effect of conserving all the bodily forces usually wasted in unnecessary speech and action. You become for the first time conscious of the rhythmic flow of life's forces, and are able to hear the faint music they make on the harp of the body. -from "Silence" One of the most extraordinary figures of the popular intellectualism of the early 20th century, Claude Bragdon was an architect and designer who turned his mathematically fueled artistic bent toward the metaphysical. Here, in wise, insightful prose, Bragdon offers an introduction-first published in 1943-to the philosophy of yoga as an aid to expanding the human consciousness. From mastering the art of concentration to finding new depth in sexuality, this is a frank, perceptive call to rethink how we live our lives in the modern world. Other works by Bragdon available from Cosimo Classics: The Eternal Poles, Four-Dimensional Vistas, Projective Ornament, The Beautiful Necessity, Architecture and Democracy, Episodes from An Unwritten History, and A Primer of Higher Space (The Fourth Dimension). American architect, stage designer, and writer CLAUDE FAYETTE BRAGDON (1866-1946) helped found the Rochester Architectural Club, in the city where he made his greatest mark as a building designer with structures including Rochester Central Station, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the First Universalist Church; he also designed Peterborough Bridge in Ontario. In later life, Bragdon worked on Broadway as scenic designer for 1930s productions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Hamlet, among others.