Leon MacLaren
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Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) was a barrister, politician, philosopher and the founder of the School of Economic Science (SES)[1] MacLaren was inspired by Henry George, Socrates, Dr Francis Roles, Pyotr Ouspensky, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and finally the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta through the Shankaracharyas of Jyoti Math[2]
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[edit] Early life
MacLaren, christened Leonardo Da Vinci MacLaren,[3] was born in Glasgow on 24 September 1910. He was the son of Andrew MacLaren, a Labour Member of Parliament who was a staunch advocate of Henry George. MacLaren's father was a great influence on his life and his economic and political aspirations.[4]
Schooled at Rutlish School in Wimbledon, MacLaren later became attracted to the law and trained as a barrister.[5][6] At the age of 16 he said: “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 one could pursue.”[4]
[edit] Career
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[7].
In 1937 MacLaren left the Henry George movement and founded the School of Economic Science (with its former name of The Henry George School of Economic Science) with the support of his father.[8][9][9][10][11] In 1938 he was called to the bar and practised in Chambers at 2 Paper Buildings in the Inner Temple.[4]
MacLaren was nominated as a Labour candidate for Epping, where Winston Churchill was the sitting member but withdrew before the 1950 election. He instead ran for public office as a Liberal for Yeovil at the 1950 election and also in Hendon North in 1951 without any success.[4]
During the 1950s MacLaren became a member of the Society for the Study of Normal Psychology (usually known as the "Study Society") which utilizes the teachings of P. D. Ouspensky.[citation needed] In 1965, MacLaren studied Advaita Vedanta philosophy when he trained with Shantananda Saraswati, the 'Śaṅkarācārya of the North', in India.[12] MacLaren's influences include his father Andrew MacLaren, Henry George, Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Francis Roles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Shantanand Śāntānanda Sarasvatī, who was one of the Śaṅkarācāryas or spiritual leaders of North India.[13]
Beginning in the early 1970’s MacLaren spent three months of the year 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 June 24, 1994. (The tour was continued by his successor, Donald Lambie.[14])
In 2009 MacLaren's former personal assistant, Dorine Tolley, published a biography of MacLaren's life called The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work.
[edit] School of Economic Science (SES)
MacLaren founded the SES in 1937.[15] One reference claims MacLaren's father founded the school,[16] although elsewhere states it was Leon[17].
At SES, 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.[18] Advaita Vedanta is an idealist philosophy, and involves the assertion that only one entity exists, Brahman, characterized by existence, consciousness and bliss, and that our varied, daily cognitions are essentially erroneous.
After attending a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the Albert Hall in London in 1959, MacLaren and the Study Society began integrating meditation into the activities of the Study Society and the SES and founded the School of Meditation [1] in 1961. The SES prescribed disciplines involving many aspects of one's personal life, including diet, musical tastes and sexual behaviour.[citation needed]
The SES became controversial after the publication of the book Secret Cult by Peter Hounam.[19] In 1994 the SES was listed on a survey conducted by the Family Action Information Resource Review concerning New Religious Movements.[20] The SES was referred to in the Synod Report, confirming that the Church of England considers dual membership impossible, even when organizations said to be a new religious movements, present themselves as philosophies.[21] The SES does not regard itself as a religion, although some authors of books on new religious movements identify it as one.[citation needed]
MacLaren wrote a book called The Nature of Society, setting out the principles which were taught in SES schools.[4]
The current leader of the SES is Donald Lambie.
[edit] Reception
MacLaren was criticized for unreasonably applying his rules of diet, daily regimen, marriage and sexual absitinence as part of his method of developing self-knowledge and self-determination, as if they constituted a spiritual method. Rules about limiting sleep were sometimes applied as a rigid rule and are said to have caused some members of the SES to suffer from sleep-deprivation.[citation needed]
The SES began a school for the children of SES members and the public. In 1983 there was a controversy over the school's system of corporal punishment.[citation needed] A series of articles published in the London Evening Standard during 1982 quoted parents who complained of their children's punishments and bizarre homework.[citation needed] In some cases, MacLaren himself is said to have verbally disciplined the children in a harsh way.[citation needed]
It is difficult to obtain the syllabus taught by the School of Economic Science[22] However, in recent years the SES has published some information about its history.[citation needed]
[edit] Personal life
MacLaren married twice and had two daughters from his first marriage.[4] MacLaren lived in Hammersmith and later divided his time between Hampstead and Oxfordshire.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Henry George Foundation web site
- ^ Brian Hodgkinson (2010). In Search of Truth. Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers). ISBN 9780856832765. pp. 2, 34, 48 and 59
- ^ Brian Hodgkinson (2010). In Search of Truth. Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers). ISBN 9780856832765. page 2
- ^ a b c d e f g MacLaren Foundation web site
- ^ Dorine Tolley (2009). The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 1-4392-1030-6.
- ^ Practical Philosophy web site
- ^ Land and Liberty, Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, 1933 p 231; 1935 p89; 1936 p94.
- ^ Land and Liberty, Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, 1937 p97.
- ^ a b Land and Liberty, 1936, pp.129, 161 and 164.
- ^ John Stewart, 'Standing for Justice' page 65
- ^ Dorine Tulley, 'The Power Within' pp. 52 and 68
- ^ [http://www.schooleconomicscience.org/about/history/ SES official website
- ^ Dorine Tolley (2009). The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 1-4392-1030-6.
- ^ Practical Philosophy web site
- ^ Henry George Foundation web site
- ^ George D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions, Continuum International Publishing (1999), page 374.
- ^ George D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions, Continuum International Publishing (1999), p.293.
- ^ [http://www.schooleconomicscience.org/about/history/ SES website
- ^ George D. Chryssides Exploring new religions - p. 374
- ^ Arweck, Elisabeth (2006). Researching new religious movements: responses and redefinitions. New York: Routledge. pp. 137. ISBN 0-415-27755-8. http://books.google.ie/books?id=b7Yxva_VHm0C.
- ^ Arweck, Elisabeth (2006). Researching new religious movements: responses and redefinitions. New York: Routledge. pp. 222. ISBN 0-415-27755-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=b7Yxva_VHm0C.
- ^ Cresswell, Jamie; Wilson, Bryan (1999). New religious movements: challenge and response. New York: Routledge. pp. 170–176. ISBN 0-415-20050-4.
[edit] External links
- MacLaren Foundation Official Web Site
- School of Economic Science Official Web Site
- Leon MacLaren and the origins of SES
