A fellow MS student had his defense today. I saw his presentation that proceeded the defense; it was on cover crops. At the party afterwards (yes, he passed!), I thought about how nice it is in some ways to be in an academic environment. We're taught to think clearly, to understand really complex things and be able to answer questions about our methods in a straightforward manner. We have the same jargon, even if we come from different biological disciplines (NA=nucleic acid, AA=amino acid, etc). But, I guess I still kind of don't see the point in the end. It doesn't solve political, spiritual or environmental problems, only technical ones. Science can be interesting, and teach some things, but I don't think it helps make people happy in the long run. Interacting with our environment rather than studying it, and accepting things instead of fighting them, would do so much more. So, pros and cons, but what is, is for the moment.

So I am reading about samskaras. One description of the cycle is this:
Samskaras (subtle impressions) form part and parcel of the cycle of Karma. The cycle of Karma is this: Action (karma) --> Impression (samskara) --> Tendency (vasana) --> Thought Pattern (vritti) --> Action (karma).

So we cycle round and round. The different forms of yoga are supposed to act on various levels. With karma yoga, you work on the level of action---helping yourself by helping others. Meditation and poses work to clear out the internally-ingrained patterns. I am going to keep reading about this. I see my patterns spin round and round, repeating over and over again. They have to play out but you can change what happens after.