Definitions,
Origins, Purpose of Language
Definition of
Language
Language is a mental organisation in vital life. (MSS)
What Language
Communicates; Its Energy
-Being is the body, Consciousness is feeling as well as
thought. Ananda is Joy.
-Language essentially communicates thoughts and feelings.
-The energy behind language is the energy of aspiration to
relate by communication. (MSS)
Energy of Language
from Social Aspiration to Relate to One Another
The energy for the creation of the language and its growth directly
issues out of the social aspiration to relate with each other.
(MSS)
Emergence of Language
In language there are words
that are accepted and used. How do new words come into existence? To
answer that we must come up with a formula, which is this: Language has
developed each word at the stage where the collective sensitivity can
recognize individual sensibility. I.e. where society is in touch with the
individual's experience that reflects in new words in language, that word
is adapted by society.
(MSS)
Language as
Organization
To know language as an ORGANISATION as it exists today and how it grew
to create great poets is our own field. Knowing this that well and
seeing the structural adjustments in our physiognomy and anatomy is to
be comprehensive and integral.
(MSS)
Article:
Various Levels of Organisation in
Language
(MSS)
Language Used for
Further Evolutionary Development of Planes
All the developmental accomplishments of the world are physical. Earning
enormous wealth is the vital culmination of a mental idea. Language can
offer that result at the lower end of the vital or the higher end of the
mind or take the endeavour to its spiritual supramental super
excellence.
(MSS)
Definition of a Story
A story is an
imaginative piece of fiction around a plot, enacted by several major and minor characters,
at several locations, in a social context, where the interchange between
characters enables them to express their characters in terms of their
relationship with others and the existing circumstances. (MSS)
Techniques of Writing
Definitions of Aspects of Writing
(culled from various public sources)
LINGUISTICS:
-The science of languages, or of the origin, signification,
and application of words.
-The study of the nature, structure, and variation of language,
including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,
sociolinguistics, and pragmatics.
SEMANTICS/MEANING:
-The study or science of meaning in language.
-The meaning or the interpretation of a word, sentence, or other
language form.
-The meaning of a string in some language, as opposed to syntax which
describes how symbols may be combined independent of their meaning.
DICTION:
-Choice and use of words in speech or writing.
-Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction,
disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to
clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.
GRAMMAR/SYNTAX:
-The study of how words and their component parts combine to form
sentences.
-The study of structural relationships in language or in a language,
sometimes including pronunciation, meaning, and linguistic history.
-The system of inflections, syntax, and word formation of a language.
-The system of rules implicit in a language, viewed as a mechanism for
generating all sentences possible in that language.
IDIOM/STYLE:
-An expression
conforming or appropriate to the peculiar structural form of a
language; in extend use, an expression sanctioned by usage, having a
sense peculiar to itself and not agreeing with the logical sense of
its structural form; also, the phrase forms peculiar to a particular
author.
-A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar
to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual
meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.
-A style of artistic expression characteristic of a particular
individual, school, period, or medium:
the idiom of the French
impressionists; the punk rock idiom.
-The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of
a given language.
-A manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a
language.
-Regional speech or dialect.
-A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon:
legal idiom.
-The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of
people.
-A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people.
TONE:
-Manner of expression in speech or writing:
took an angry tone with the reporters.
-The quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that
reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author
On Writing
-Writing is a creative activity that can expand in all directions. It
clarifies many things previously addressed, even as it brings out new
concepts and issues that themselves require clarification. ["writing
maketh a perfect man" (MSS)]
-Thus creative writing, i.e. writing that allows for
creativity, raises as many issues as it solves. [Organisation is to
avail of the right side, contain the other side. (MSS]
This is stimulating to the writer who wants to learn more, go
further in his pursuits in that or related areas. It is one form of the
Delight.
-Writing is thus an instructional and learning activity ... for the
writer!
-Writing still does require at various points a rededication to one's
conception (conceiving possibilities), limitation (choosing from amongst
the lot of possibilities to hone in on), and absorption (focus on what's
been chosen), as part of the process of accomplishment.
-Insights derived from this process can eventually become a settled,
established, knowledge or skill that is integrated in the body.
-Insights of knowledge can be transferred to others through education
so it spreads to the collective for the betterment of society. A book or
curriculum can be a first step in that spreading of a new subject.
Physical, Vital, Mental, and
Spiritual Efficiency in Writing
We can develop physical, vital, mental, and spiritual efficiency in
writing.
-Physical efficiency -- shortening the length
-Vital efficiency -- avoid being verbose
-Mental efficiency -- acquire
diction; i.e. choosing the right words.
-Also, write in the proper idiom.
-Spiritual Efficiency --
Consecrate
your deficiencies (based on above), and watch as skills and talents
replace them. If there are still errors, correcting them will enable
perfect perfection. (Paraphrase of MSS)
Distinguishing Among
the Physical, Vital, and Mental-Based Language
It is a study by itself to learn to distinguish between the language of
the body, vital and mind. It will be a great exercise to learn to write
one in terms of the other. As this is the area of our present concern as
well as knowing how writers take the language to greater flights as
evidenced in their writings, it is worthwhile carrying on our study in
this area.
(MSS)
Expression
of Terms of Language at Different Planes
Take any term and you will see that it expresses differently at different
planes of consciousness, from the lowest, the physical upward to the vital
to the mental to the spiritual levels. E.g. "Love" at the physical level
is attachment and sensation; at the vital is emotion of feeling; at the
mental is high regard of principle; and at the spiritual is unqualified
self-giving. Or take "Silence." It is absence of sound at the physical,
but is a profound inner stillness at the spiritual.
In this way we can
reformulate language, or at least understand terms in their many
dimensions. In the ascent we see higher and higher expressions of the
term. In the descent we see how a universal principle gets degraded as it
is captured by the forms of the universe, i.e. us. An evolutionary
challenge for us is to live each term of language as it is expressed at
its highest level.
(MSS)
Condense & Expand
Mastery of language can be arrived at in
several ways. One of them is to condense the thought to a minimum size
as well as expanding it to the maximum length.
(MSS)
Power of an Analogy
Mother said to offer an analogy is to
mentalise an issue. (MSS)
Perfect Perfection in the First Round
I recall A's statement that one can create
perfect perfection even in the first round [i.e. draft]. If the ideas
are clear, and their illustrations are very real to one's experience,
then it is just a matter of accessing one's imagination and practicing
one's skill, making the entire effort effortless and supremely
enjoyable. It's a distant vision that is just beginning to become real
to me.
Process
of Creation of a Work of Non-Fiction
Organizing a book of non-fiction or similar work and its
subcomponents (i.e. chapters, etc.) by first conceiving
coherent ideas, then developing the logic of the arguments
for those ideas, then coming up with appropriate
illustrations to express the arguments, and then developing
a concise, yet dynamic and creative presentation of the
subject matter is to follow the essential process of
creation and accomplishment in life (which itself mirrors
the process of creation of the universe from a Divine
source).
Process of
Creation in Writing
The processes of creation are three -- self-conception,
limitation, and absorption. It can be applied to writing. E.g. -
We conceive a para or idea to write. I.e. Self-conception. We
focus on it and work on that task. We write it out, giving it the
necessary wideness and scope, yet confine our thought to that
inspiration. I.e. Self-limitation. We then tighten it up, bringing
out the essentials; moving it to perfection. I.e. Self-absorption,
in that we are able to get to the heart matter while excluding all
other secondary details and influences. We remove the superfluous
except for what is absolutely necessary for its expressiveness,
beauty and perfection.
On Writing about
Life Response
Life response is non-fiction that can be expressed with the energies
of the great story telling of fiction, because it involves stories.
Higher
Expressions of
Language
Immortal Literature
Poets who create out of their rich imagination create
immortal literature. (MSS) [e.g. Valmiki, Homer, etc. -editor]
Expressions of
Language from Vulgar to Sublime
·
One
characteristic of language is its capacity to lend itself to any version
of its use.
·
Confining them to our purpose and not extending it to the psychological
potentials of the user, language that expresses the same event can be
the lisp of the child, the shout of the dumb, the simple expression of
the fact, its sense impression, its selfish distortion, its wide
impersonal generosity, its capacity to describe the personality of the
event, etc.
·
Each of
them can be literal, metaphoric, figurative, simple unembellished fact,
conversational, colloquial, slang, dialect, wrong emphasis on one
aspect, false, true, casual, serious, etc.
(MSS)
Overcoming Physical
Consciousness in Language
The physical man WORKS, moving the body. His language will be confined
to objects and HARD, crude, brutal movements. House, tree, water, stone
are objects. Come, go, push, get out, strike are expressive of
movements. It is natural that this man thinks with his body. It is
equally natural that in the writings of modern man this element lingers.
It happens when an idea or emotion is expressed as a fact or by its
factual part. No linguistic progress can ever be made if in one's
language this element persists.
(MSS)
Moving Away from
Lower Expression of Language that Enabled Great Writing; Origins of
Grammar
Language moved from being a dialect to slang to good conversation and
written language before becoming excellent in its idiom. The great
writers have employed various ways by which they utterly weaned
themselves from the above two aspects of the language. Thus grammar was
born. Hence the importance of grammar. In any work like this where we
seek growth at the higher end to express perfect ideas – Real-Idea – the
very first necessity in a finished document is its flawlessness.
(MSS)
Greatness of Language
Amongst Great Writers
Jane Austen writes fiction. Her language has the benefit of the human
emotion to elevate itself. Churchill's is history where he finds
occasions to make his language expressive by his own eloquence. Martin
tries neither but concentrates on facts. Mathew Arnold speaks of
national glow of thought bringing in the brilliance of mental growth in
the life of the collective. Shakespeare makes the language speak by
making the personal experience a universal expression, putting the human
phenomenon into the divine context, speaking the wonder of the
individual elegance in the negative terms of the otherwise dull
phenomenon of life or giving a humourous turn to human cupidity.
Language has divine universality as well as Supreme infinite scope to
render the commonplace event a sparkling miraculous moment. Here as
elsewhere language has infinite scope, endless brilliance, and boundless
energy. The secret lies in expressing the infinity of expressiveness in
the finite garb. Picking out the greatness in these words is highlighted
when we consider side by side what the normal expression is. (MSS)
Perfection of
Language Seen in the Tone
Perfection in language is indicated by the tone that tunes in. It may be
high or low but there must be harmony in the tone.
(MSS)
Making the Language
Creatively Expressive
One who tries to raise his thoughts by means of language makes the
language expressively creative. All great writers resort to it. To
collect such expressions and study the process it has gone through and
compare it with the commonplace version will be of interest.
(MSS)
Language that Stirs
Conceptual thought of theory is dry. Language that stirs from inside
language or her words enliven the dry words with divine thinking.
(MSS)
Poetry of Language
Beyond Thought that Stirs
We may say that what cannot be reached by the logic of thought can be
reached by the poetry of language.
(MSS)
Holding the
Reader's Attention in Fiction is Paramount
In fiction holding the readers’ interest has to be the first and
foremost objective. Educative or informative value has to be in that
context unless the readers come to the book intentionally for
knowledge rather than entertainment. (MSS)
Experience that
Enlivens Language
The life of the inner accumulating creative energy of the enlivening
language should be saturated with lived experience. Normally in great
minds this is over a lifetime. Centred in Mother, it can be less.
(MSS)
Mantra as Highest
Expression of Language
Mantra is the highest expression of language because it expresses
spiritual power.
(MSS)
Condensing, Expanding the Thought
to Master Language
Mastery of language can be arrived at in several ways. One of them is
to condense the thought to a minimum size as well as expanding it to
the maximum length. Doing it in both ways, not only the thought is
mastered but language has infinite scope to blend itself with thought.
(MSS)
Expanding on the
Concept to Create Great Linguistic Expression
What is the key to great writing? It is to know at each point
the concept, the idea, the truth that is emerging, and to convey
that concept in an expansive language that is creative. So for any
writer we suggest that you review a point, extract the concept, write it
or rewrite it based on the inner vision of the concept, with language
appropriate for its expression. It will have a power that is enlivening,
penetrating, rooted in its deepest purport and meaning. This process
will enable the greatest linguistic expression.
(MSS)
Symbolism
Appreciated in India's Ancient Literature
In
India, symbolism* has been developed as a major vehicle of
communication. Our ancient literature is full of it.
Intellectuals are annoyed if an example is offered, as it is, at
least in their opinion, an affront to their comprehension.
Indians enjoy listening to an analogy. (MSS)
[*particularly in their epics, and often addressing the
meaning of life & spirit -- editor]
Language Changes, Man Remains the
Same
‘Personal Agenda’ is a phrase of the present time. Vested
interests, wheels within wheels, axe to grind are earlier
versions of the same idea. Language changes for the better,
becomes picturesque, captivating, but MAN remains the same in
essentials. (MSS)
Experienced Perception
of the Idea
One can write with greater
intensity and insight on an idea, when there is perception (experience of
the idea) beyond just mind's conception.
Our Experience of Acts
The best of these comments
can only comes as a result of our involvement in experienced acts in life.
Writing from One's Experience, Realization
It
is more enjoyable to write of a truth when it comes from
experience. When it comes from realization it becomes a
principle of life.
Writing that
Attracts the Audience
-Clarity, fluency, utility, and emotion of thought attract positive
life response from the reader. Interested individuals appear in droves
from seemingly out of nowhere.
-Thoughts that
relate to the emerging aspirations of the audience attract
abundantly.
Expanding on the
Concept to Create Great Linguistic Expression
What is the key to great writing? It is to know at each point
the concept, the idea, the truth that is emerging, and to convey
that concept in an expansive language that is creative. So for any
writer we suggest that you review a point, extract the concept, write it
or rewrite it based on the inner vision of the concept, with language
appropriate for its expression. It will have a power that is enlivening,
penetrating, rooted in its deepest purport and meaning. This process
will enable the greatest linguistic expression.
Shakespeare's Writing
Shakespeare has written
emotional ideas of life (adapted from MSS)
Expressively Expanding On the Concept
The faculty of dwelling on the concept behind the
expression, expanding it in enjoyable amplitude is a
linguistic faculty of mental
imagination. (MSS)
First
Principles
as Basis of Dynamic Expression
Underlying "first principles." Right philosophy, metaphysics,
etc. are not dead expressions; but the foundation of dynamic new
possibilities that are truly alive and creatively helpful.
Energizing the
Writing of Principles
It is relatively easy to energize stories, but to energize
principles is another thing. Maybe we can say that fact is one
dimension, emotion is the second, and emotion in the fact is the
Third Dimension; i.e. the resolution.
On Visual Representations
A
visual representation of ideas can make it more real than the
ideas as thought. And yet the reverse is also true, when we are
better able to understand a thing through language, which unlike
the visual does not entice the sense nor block the thought.
On
Paraphrasing Another's Insights
To paraphrase another's insight enables joy of further understanding and a
small degree of creativity, as well as a kind of subtle pleasure derived
from the humility of recognizing one's own ignorance.
Thoughts to Ideas to Wisdom
of Great Minds
At a ripe old age, one
sees that he [of great mind] does not
fumble for words. They flow into his speech as if preordained.
Examining the writings of a great author over a long period, one
sees the evolution of thought. Along with that appear elegant
phrases exactly expressing the ideas. Sri Aurobindo says histories
and biographies are great instruments of education. A scholar
collects valuable facts. A thinker follows the lines of development
of thought in the course of history.
Wise men begin their lives where thoughts give way to ideas and
ideas yield place to wisdom. In a great mind like Socrates or Ramana
Maharshi, the collective wisdom climbs to greater heights or a finer
perfection. In all minds, such a process is in evidence. (MSS)
The Future Power
of Language
Language
does not strike the ordinary researcher as Internet does; Internet
is still in the physical material plane as it works in electronic
space. Language exists in the subtle physical plane. It is a far
greater field. The miracles occurring in the field of language are
greater than in the Internet. We know Internet does not create
information, at least we believe so. We just do not see how Internet
bringing miraculously to us the information the world has, creates
NEW possibilities. The creativity of the Internet is not in the
creation of information but in the creation of new organisations. In
language it is easy to see MAN is constantly creative. He is
creative at his own level. He, who speaks fluently, creates more of
fluent speech where creative value is universally missed. Going
further even in the plane of language there are creative and
non-creative productive parts. What comes into our minds as new
speech is new to us, but is drawn from the stored speech of the
world in the subtle plane. We are oblivious of that. Our creativity
in that plane is what we miss. (MSS)
Article:
The Personality of the Writer
(MSS)
Article:
Highest Approach to Reading and
Writing Books (MSS)
Sri Aurobindo's 'The Future Poetry'
To understand what enables the greatest of poetry, even a future
spirit-based poetry, it would be helpful to read Sri Aurobindo's essays
called 'The Future Poetry.'
Imagination in Writing
Fiction and Imagination
Fiction is a product of
imagination.
(MSS)
Imagination and Surprise in Writing
Characters in the novels of this period use 'absolutely' in
its most appropriate sense where it expresses what no other
synonym of the word is capable of expressing. Surprise made
Darcy immovable at the sight of Miss Bennet on the grounds
of Pemberley. The author's observation is more comprehensive
and notices his moveless state in the context of his
surprise. Writers can see surprise and resort to their own imagination to describe it. (MSS)
True Stories & Imagination
The
true stories will not be so inspiring as the one created in
imagination.
Creative
of Eye of Fancy
Jane Austin used the expression "creative of eye of fancy,"
which is in essence a description of imagination.
Also See Thoughts on
Imagination
Great
Writing that Captures the Times of Society
How Great Writers
Immerse Themselves in the Society Around Them
Great writers dissolve their personalities in the social life and their
writing is instinct with the culture of that society. When their
language blends with the culture of that society, they become truly
great.
(MSS)
Great Writers Lasting
Works Have Life Knowledge
One becomes a great writer and his works come to stay because
he has life knowledge. (MSS)
The Age is Captured in
the Great Phrases of the Writer
A Russian writer said that an author is made in the crucible of
life. An age lives its experience in the writings of a perceptive
author. A whole population undergoes an intense experience of love for
centuries, which, in the process, gets crystallised and condensed into a
phrase, ‘love is blind’.
A great mind expresses it. He is the pioneer of thought. (MSS)
The Age is Captured
in the Great Phrases of the Writer
A Russian writer said that an author is made in the crucible of
life. An age lives its experience in the writings of a perceptive
author. A whole population undergoes an intense experience of love for
centuries, which, in the process, gets crystallised and condensed into a
phrase, ‘love is blind’.
A great mind expresses it. He is the pioneer of thought. (MSS)
Hugo and Social Vision
I am reading Les Miserables side-by-side with the writing and
marvel at the depth of his penetration and his capacity to integrate
his story with the evolving social life of the nation and the wider
character of life. No English novel can compare with Hugo for depth
of penetration and Dumas for vitality. Hugo has a vision of social
evolution derived from his lived experience in 19th Century France
which is fully consistent with Appa’s theory and anchors his story
in an ocean of life. (MSS)
Language,
Writing Expands as the Society Expands/Changes
Development of Prose and
the Development of Society
-Prose develops when life develops. Life did not develop [in South
India] until the end of the war and for 30 years after independence. Any
hope for the development of prose in Tamil lies in the future. I do not
subscribe to the view that Tamil is dying a slow death. Expressive
phrases simple or complex are born in intense social situations that
arise in a nation whose daily life goes through waves of throbbing
intensity.
-The
context of life, when it is intense or important or both, is an occasion
for an idiom to spring up.
-As social, commercial life develops and spreads, PROSE takes shape and
acquires refinement. (MSS)
After 1500 European
Prose Take Shape & Proliferate
It was after 1500 that Europe came to life and emerged out of the
Dark Ages. As social, commercial life develops and spreads, PROSE
takes shape and acquires refinement. This was true of all European
nations. During this period, Italy produced an epic, England threw up
Milton and Shakespeare, France fashioned the French language as an
intellectual tool, German became an expressive language of scientific
thought. Russia gave us Tolstoy and Pushkin. (MSS)
The Power of One's Mother Tongue
Limits of Learning a
Foreign Language
A child learns her language through physical influence and through the
subtle atmosphere. One who learns a foreign language misses the subtle
part. He can draw upon the subtle part of his own language if he is
perceptive.
(MSS)
Inspiration Comes
from Mother Tongue
Inspiration for writing cannot come in a foreign language,
especially when works of classical nature are to be brought out. It has
to emerge in the mother tongue.
Spirituality
that Perfects, Elevates Writing
Enabling Great Writing Qualities through Consecrated Effort
-The harmony with grammar, diction, idiom, thought, tone, etc. goes
with the tonality, massiveness, richness, fullness, figurative
pithiness, impersonal weight and poetic universality.
-Consecration at
this level is able to give us these skills as our own and will take
them to the final level of talent. As the consecration possesses you,
you will find your writing falling into this rhythm by itself.
-Should one see
this and avail of it, he reaches or out reaches the level of masters
in the field.
-It is obvious this is NOT an effort in
writing. By this fullness of endeavour, our work moves from life to
yoga.
-To be able to write an idea of several aspects from each aspect
comprehensively may be called integral capacity of writing. (MSS)
Physical, Vital, Mental, and
Spiritual Efficiency in Writing
We can develop physical, vital, mental, and spiritual efficiency in
writing.
-Physical efficiency -- shortening the length
-Vital efficiency -- avoid being verbose
-Mental efficiency -- acquire
diction; i.e. choosing the right words.
-Also, write in the proper idiom.
-Spiritual Efficiency --
Consecrate
your deficiencies (based on above), and watch as skills and talents
replace them. If there are still errors, correcting them will enable
perfect perfection. (Paraphrase of MSS)
Experience that
Enlivens Language
The life of the inner accumulating creative energy of the enlivening
language should be saturated with lived experience. Normally in great
minds this is over a lifetime. Centred in Mother, it can be less.
(MSS)
Spirit-Based
Literature
Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri'
'Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol' is Sri
Aurobindo's epic poem of 12 books, 20000+ lines
about an individual who overcomes the
Ignorance, suffering, and death in the world through Her spiritual
quest, setting the stage for
the emergence of a
new, Divine life
on earth. It is
loosely based on the ancient Indian tale of 'Savitri and Satyavan'
from the
Mahabharata.
Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri'
-Sri Aurobindo attempted and succeeded in expressing the Spirit in the
1000 page poem Savitri.
-Many of the hundreds, even thousands experiences expressed there were
his experiences
-His expression came from the silent Mind, and above that from the realm
of intuition and revelations of creativity and truth.
An Analysis of Sri
Aurobindo's Savitri
Other
Excesses in
Language
In linguistic zeal, excesses create clichés, platitudes or forms
without content. (MSS)
Language of
Gentlemanly Aristocracy
The English aristocracy has developed out of its sense of gentlemanly
propriety a language that suited table manners as well as drawing room
conversation. To a large extent, in true sincere contexts that language
shone like a bright jewel in the last century.
(MSS)
Right Language for
Book on Internet
In the book on Internet we do need a logical, reasonable language but
NOT philosophical. It should be a language suited to those who can take
interest in a book on the Internet.
(MSS)
English
English is neither a spiritual language nor a classical one. It
was developed by trade and parliamentary democracy. (MSS)
Plus and Minuses of Visual Representations of Ideas
A
visual representation of ideas can make it more real than the
ideas as thought. And yet the reverse is also true, when we are
better able to understand a thing through language, which unlike
the visual does not entice the sense nor block the thought.
(MSS)
My Aspiration for Great Expression of Language
Can we marry these thought
we are explaining to a language of poetry and beauty?
MSS
Articles on Language, Writing
Various Levels of
Organisation in Language
Reading and
Writing
RENOWN
LITERATURE AND FILM
(top)
General |
Shakespeare |
Jane Austin |
Hugo, Dumas |
Ayn Rand |
Other
General
(main)
On Literature
Literature is the form that contains all the force of life which
is the universe. Shakespeare lives forever as he knew this spiritual
secret. So do all the great poets of the world.
(MSS)
Levels of Greatness of Literature and the Character of Life
Entertaining literature
enthralls us with suspense, humor and the intense action of an
engaging plot. Superior literature transcends mere action. It
presents to the reader the author's insights into human character
and reveals the complex ways in which character and action
interrelate to generate chains of consequences and results. Still
finer literature reveals the complex interactions between action,
individual character and the evolving character of the society in
which the action takes place. The greatest literature goes still
further. It reveals not only insights of individual and social
character but of the character of life itself.
(MSS)
Advantage
of Literature to Help Us See the Deepest Truths of Life
Literature provides an easier and more revealing medium, for
it represents a detailed, often minutely detailed, record of
a particular set of events. While in life, we can at best
have access to our own inner workings and perhaps those of
our closest confidants; in literature, we are often privy to
the inner feelings, attitudes and opinions of several
characters. In a story, the action usually spans an interval
from the beginning to the end of a set of important events
ending in accomplishment or failure, though we may not have
access to all relevant information about antecedent
conditions in the lives of the characters or the society.
Because this record is written, we have the opportunity to
review it over and over again, weighing each word and event,
looking for correspondences and interrelationships that
occur very frequently in life but are often overlooked in
the whirl of the moment and soon buried in subsequent
events. For these reasons, literature provides a very
powerful medium for reflecting and discovering truths of
life. (MSS)
Truths
Portrayed Independent of Writers Intent
The writer, even the writer of fiction, is portraying
realities of life that possess a truth of their own,
independent of the ideas and intentions of the writer. (MSS)
Greatest Writers
Sri Aurobindo has rated the Shakespeare, Homer, and Valmiki (author of the
Ramayana) at the top of the pantheon of the greatest writers of all time.
Greatest Poets
Sri Aurobindo has said that
the greatest poets were Shakespeare, Homer, and Valmiki. To truly
understand their meaning and beauty of language the first requires a bit
of understanding of an older English, the second of classical Greek, and
the third of the Ramayana's use of Sanskrit.
Poetry
Poetry is the emotion of
pure thought. (MSS)
Superstitious Disapproval of Poets
Poets are always known to be visionaries. The
superstitious world has always disapproved of their visionary dreams.
(MSS)
Great Literature
Great literature educates by entertaining without appearing to
instruct. (MSS)
Great Literature Written in Mother Tongue
The mother tongue is buried in the subconscious. The
subconscious is saturated with the mother tongue. One hears
it all the time. Great literature usually emerges in poetry.
It does so even in prose to a lesser extent. Such literature
represents the fullness of the writer’s personality. It does
not issue from the surface mind. What is true of literature
is true of music also. Children can speak many languages. It
will be useful. But it all emanates from the surface mind,
which is shallow.
There is no evidence of great literature in prose or poetry
written in a language which is not the writer’s mother
tongue.
(MSS)
Fiction and Imagination
Fiction is a product of
imagination.
(MSS)
Literature & Imagination
It is a truth in literature that there is greater
life in what issues out of imagination than a historically
true event, as one is in the subtle plane and the other is
in the gross physical plane.
(MSS)
Great Literature &
Imagination
Literature is the cream of life created in the
imagination of a poet or a writer whose personality has
outgrown the social limits and extended itself into the
domain of impersonal consciousness. The individual we are is
the social expression of the human being whose real
existence transcends the social consciousness. Great poets
and writers create in their imagination that Real Man and
make him play a limited social role where he often peeps out
of his social personality into his universal individuality.
It is this extra dimension of those characters that is
fascinating to us and renders them immortal characters. We
see that the immortality of a character is his innate
universality. (MSS)
Fiction Writing &
Imagination
Fiction writing is the will of the imagination in the
mind.
On
Filmaking, Creativity, and Imagination
Filmmaking and the organisation it needs is my topic, but I
would like to mention the other social virtues of
filmmaking.
-It is entirely an art, a creative
art, creative in many or most respects of it.
-It
belongs to the creativity of imagination. (MSS)
French vs. English Novels
No comparison between the English novels and the French. The French
novels are full of vitality, ideas, ideals and aspirations. The
English are flat and physical. They live in the physical, though at
that level their values of integrity are extremely high.
(MSS)
Shakespeare
(main)
One of the Greatest
Writers
Greatest Writers
[The Indian sage and seer]
Sri Aurobindo has rated the Shakespeare, Homer, and Valmiki (author of the
Ramayana) at the top of the pantheon of the greatest writers of all time.
Greatest Poets
Sri Aurobindo has said that
the greatest poets were Shakespeare, Homer, and Valmiki.
(To truly
understand their meaning and beauty of language the first requirement
is a bit
of understanding of an older English, the second of classical Greek, and
the third of the Ramayana's use of Sanskrit.)
Portrays the Character of Life
Shakespeare Spoke the Eternal Truths of Life in
Immortal Statements
Shakespeare's
words have become household words today because
he spoke the eternal truths of life in immortal phrases, as ’Whoever
loved that loved not at first sight’. Nothing that Shakespeare wrote was
not found in proverbs, fiction and the wisdom of the culture. He brought
those truths to life in ordinary conversation in unforgettable words
that made them live forever. The word has a form and emerges in sound.
The form blending with sound acquiring perfection gives birth to a
melody which the human ear, having heard once, does not forget. It makes
an indelible impression. To be able to write from Parabrahman
[the Ultimate Reality] in such a way that the
Parabrahman in the reader will emerge
on the surface to receive it is great writing. All great poets are of
that mould. (MSS)
Shakespeare and the Character of Life
'Shakespeare’s genius lay not merely in his profound
insight into the workings of human character and nature, but perhaps
even more in his perception of the character of life.
(MSS)
Shakespeare's Intuitive Insight into the Character of
Life
The
pattern of interaction between character, action, and the results of
action reveals the importance of a crucial indeterminant which is
variously called providence, chance, fate, etc. What appears as chance
at the level of physical action is an expression of another dimension of
causality in the plane of life. Shakespeare possessed an intuitive
insight into this realm and into the role of individual character and
social consciousness as points of expression of the wider
character of
life.
Shakespeare's Writing
Shakespeare has written
emotional ideas of life (adapted from MSS)
Shakespeare’s
Perception of Action and Consequence
Every successful farmer, business leader, politician and statesman --
all those whose primary objective is accomplishment in social life,
rather than being confined to work on material substances or mental
formulations -- intuitively discover these truths [of action and
consequence]. Great writers of fiction, of whom Shakespeare is the
pre-eminent example, intuitively reflect them in the words and actions
of their characters and the consequences of those actions. (MSS)
Shakespeare's
Many Sided Vision
Shakespeare supramental-like
[i.e. all truths
integrated simultaneously] portrayed in his plays the varying sides of
the situation through a myriad of characters establishing the
multi-sided truth of the life he was addressing. And he did so
poetically. There lies his organizational and creative genius.
The Character of
Life in Literature (as related to Shakespeare)
Article on the Character of Life
Universalizes Human Character
Universal
Traits Portrayed through the Individual's Stories in Shakespeare
Shakespeare portrayed
universal
traits through the individuals in his stories. Shakespeare had the
creative organization in the subtle universal plane.
(MSS)
Shakespeare Makes Personal Experience a Universal
Expression
Shakespeare makes the language speak by making the personal
experience a universal expression, putting the human phenomenon into the
divine context, speaking the wonder of the individual elegance in the
negative terms of the otherwise dull phenomenon of life or giving a
humorous turn to human cupidity. (MSS)
Shakespeare
as Chronicler of
Human Character
It has recently been suggested that William Shakespeare was the first
writer (at least in the Western world) to chronicle human character.
Thorough extraordinary comedies, tragedies, histories, and poems he
delved into the inner character of the individual, and showed how that
character was inextricably linked with the circumstances and outcomes of
events and circumstances around them. (MSS)
Shakespeare’s
Perception of Action and Consequence
Every successful farmer, business leader, politician and statesman --
all those whose primary objective is accomplishment in social life,
rather than being confined to work on material substances or mental
formulations -- intuitively discover these truths [of action and
consequence]. Great writers of fiction, of whom Shakespeare is the
pre-eminent example, intuitively reflect them in the words and actions
of their characters and the consequences of those actions. (MSS)
Portrayal through Tragedy
Comedy and Tragedy of Shakespeare
Through comedy and tragedy Shakespeare reveals the vast expanses and
profound depths of the character of life. For him they are not separate
worlds of drama and romance, but poles of a continuum. Helene Gardner
writes, ‘Generalization about the essential distinction between tragedy
and comedy is called in question, when we turn to Shakespeare, by the
inclusiveness of his vision of life.’ Though the characters differ in
stature and power, and the events vary in weight and significance, the
movements of life in all Shakespeare’s plays are governed by the same
universal principles which move events in our own lives. Through myriad
images Shakespeare portrays not only the character of man and society
but the character of life itself. A.C. Bradley observes that
‘Shakespeare almost alone among the poets seems to create in somewhat
the same manner as Nature.’ His portrayal of the minutest details of
human character and life is true to life ‘and it is just because he is
truthful in these smaller things that in greater things we trust him
absolutely never to pervert the truth for the sake of some doctrine or
purpose of his own.’ (MSS)
The Negative
Life that Has Now Become Potential Positive Can Be Invoked through
Spirit
Life was NEGATIVE in Shakespeare's time. Therefore, his best works were
tragedies. After 1956 when the Supramental Force has descended into the
subtle atmosphere of the earth, life has become positive in potential.
The positive nature of life is not there on its surface as a Power of
Life for us to readily draw upon. One who invokes the Spirit
converts the potential into actual power. (MSS,
slight modification)
Life Revealed
Itself through Tragedies for Shakespeare
Shakespeare wrote 400 years ago. He wrote several comedies. The
life realities he wanted to give the world came out as his four
tragedies. (MSS)
Tragedy of Past for Individual Choice
2000 years ago life was murky, there was little opportunity for
individual choice. When Jesus chose the life of Love, he and his fellow
saints were destroyed. In Greece, where democracy was born, in Socrates
we see the mind of the individual was developed. He chose to express
himself. He was killed. The mind of the collective was developed in the
16th century, as represented by Hamlet. The social life was dark and
cruel. Shakespeare's wrote of these times in his tragedies. E.g. Hamlet
lived in these times, and expressing his will died with six others in a
tragedy. (MSS)
Progress
without Tragedy
Shakespeare could
only depict as tragedy what
now can be depicted as comedy or happy consummation. Now, however, man
has risen from his lower physical and vital nature, and has begun to
become mental, which enables him to learn from life, without undergoing
the torture of tragedy. Further still, if we are open to it, the Force
has come to help us escape from the torture, darkness, pain and tragedy
of mental life into a life of light and knowledge and joy.
(MSS)
The Tragedies of
Shakespeare’s Characters Mirror our Own Limitations
Shakespeare documented the causes of tragedy in many of his plays. He
chronicled the effect that an individual's character had in one's life,
and portrayed how a great character flaw was the cause of the
individual's undoing.
There are so many corresponding points in our character that lead to our
small or large tragedies. Whether it be indecisiveness (Hamlet),
over-attachment to a sibling (Lear), unbridled vital desire for another
(Romeo and Juliet), or weakness (Desdemona's in Othello), Shakespeare
reveals many, if not all, of the major character flaws in human beings.
Even qualities we consider "good" in, may not be good at all.
Tragedies in Literature
King Lear's tragedy was
due to the fact that he was attached to his one daughter. It led to his madness.
Hamlet's tragedy was that he could not
make a decision when he knew the truth. It led to other's
deaths, as well as his own. Othello's tragedy was
due
to his relentless, unbridled passion. It led to his mate's death. Romeo and Juliet's tragedy is
that they were in the crosscurrents of social conflict. It led to both
their deaths. Attachment, indecisiveness, physical passion, and the effect
of society are a but few of the factors that spawn tragedy in human life.
The Social
Atmosphere as Cause of Othello's Tragedy, and Achieving in Life
Othello’s tragedy is due to the negative social atmosphere that
came after his elopement of a black man to a white daughter of a
senator. The social forces far outweigh the good qualities of
Othello and Desdemona. Thus the tragedy. It is an indicator of
what one is up against when one wants to achieve.
Other
Shakespeare and
Accomplishment
We can learn much about our ability to accomplish in literature and in
the other arts. Shakespeare for one is a gold mine for viewing a variety
of situations and circumstances in which humans try to accomplish. (MSS)
Shakespeare vs.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride & Prejudice
does not attempt to penetrate beyond the boundaries of society and
human nature to reflect the greater powers or realities of the cosmic
order that we find in the greatest of Shakespeare’s works. There is no
supernatural element here, no perplexing confrontation with the
mysteries of darkness or evil, no overriding sense of fate moving the
action to an inescapable conclusion. Although we have attempted to point
out the deeper truths of life observable in the story, we do not imply
that the author was in any way conscious or intending to present them.
What she expresses is the keen observation and intuitive insight of a
creative writer who is in tune with the realities of life at the level
she depicts it. (MSS)
Shakespeare and Sri
Aurobindo
-When asked if he
was Sri Aurobindo in a previous birth, Sri Aurobindo did not reply.
-Shakespeare's
later plays were primarily in blank verse [unrhymed verse that maintains
a rhythm]. Sri Aurobindo's Savitri was completely in blank
verse.
-If Sri Aurobindo was Shakespeare in a previous birth, then
[Sri
Aurobindo's] Savitri
expresses the Bard's next step up, i.e. poetry of the Spiritual Mind and
beyond to the Overmind.
Shakespeare
and
Mahabharata
There
are many facets of human life which
Shakespeare
portrayed in all his plays. Mahabharata presented them in all details.
They remain unexplained.
Jane
Austin
(main)
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice
At the age of 19, Jane
Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, a novel where the Pride of a wealthy
aristocrat clashes with the Prejudice of young Elizabeth, whose fine
eyes he was unable to resist. The original was written before the dawn
of the 19th century, though it was published in the early years of that
century.
Some ten years ago, BBC presented that story as a TV serial and the
public still received it very well. The producer of that film said that
she had read the book several times, but each time the turn of events
held her attention with eager suspense. It is the stamp of a writing
that arises out of true inspiration. Her story is true to life at all
times, especially at the time of writing.
Those were days when women were not supposed to be authors. Women
writing under disguise was a known phenomenon then. It is a simple story
of five sisters without dowry longing for marital status, ardently
supported by a mother whose one ambition was that.
Jane Austen was born on December 16th in a pastor’s family. The heroine
of that story, Elizabeth, was cast in the very mould of the author in
every human detail. She remained unmarried. She had an elder sister just
like Miss Jane Bennet of the story to whom she was devoted. Elizabeth’s
courage in facing the formidable Lady Catherine has been an inspiration
to many timid girls of the present day.
Timidity cannot conceive of bold, courageous, ready answers to the
irrational tirade of a powerful titled lady. Mr. Collins’ proposal to
Elizabeth has stayed in the annals of literary criticism as a model of
exuberant stupidity in its enthusiastic outpourings. There is none to
equal its genius of construction.
Austen’s other novels do not carry the power of atmosphere. Pride and
Prejudice itself was conceived and written in the wake of the French
Revolution. As England had undergone her Revolution in 1688, the nation
had no impulse to follow the 1789 upheaval on the continent.
Darcy’s falling in love with Elizabeth was the aristocracy’s compromise
to condescend, perhaps to mitigate the revolutionary urge that was below
the surface. The Prince Regent could read the book sixteen times because
the fervour of the revolutionary impulse was just below the surface.
Even Disraeli read it as many times.
Jane Austen reconciled the Pride of Darcy and the Prejudice of Elizabeth
at the altar of true unselfish love and thus sublimated the bloodthirsty
French serfs who guillotined the members of the noble families. Life
becomes literature in the genius whose perception of the world is wider
than humanity.
Such a universal perception of a writer becomes an immortal work of Art.
Pride and Prejudice is one such eminently. (MSS)
Mr. Darcy's 180 Degree Change
Those who are dedicated to personal growth develop an aspiration to bring about significant change in their lives. That is one level of progress. There is an even greater one. Those who commit themselves to personal evolution and transformation have accepted the possibility of reversing their nature 180 degrees from its current status. It is such a stupendous undertaking -- it may even seem impossible to the uninitiated -- that it can only occur by connecting with and making use of the spiritual powers of life. In fact, developing a spirit-based super-Nature is that individual’s ultimate purpose and goal in life.
As a result of this staggering commitment, that person may change a dozen plus major character flaws; uplift and perfect all aspect of his physical, vital, psychological, and mental being; overcome a number of fixed habits that drag on him; shed wanting attitudes that demean him, and give up false opinions that limit him -- infusing all parts of his being, and every activity he engages with the Spirit. In the end, that individual comes to surrender his very life and purpose to the Divine Will and Intent. It is a stupendous effort for which he will be rewarded with ultimate pleasure, bliss, and delight (i.e. “Ananda” in the East); an astonishing power over every aspect of life; and the peace and serenity of Eternity.
Against this experiment in transformative living is the life of the normal modern-day individual. If we examine his life, we will see that if he changes but one single fixed habit or one virulent attitude, it is considered a significant achievement. In one sense, it is quite significant. And yet, it still isn’t 1/100th, or even 1/1000th of what the transformed individual will come to realize in the course of his life. Such is the low expectations we have for people to change.
And yet, on occasion there are individuals who make a significant inner change that far surpass the norm. For example, when we examine the literature and film of the world, we often see how the plot turns at the point where a person overcomes a critical limiting personal quality -- such as a wanting attitude, or a falsely held belief. As a result, life not only changes for the better for that person, but others are deeply affected as well. That transition and change in that individual’s life invariably attract instances of sudden good fortune, bringing the story to a happy and satisfying resolution. It is a mini-episode and instance of human progress.
Perhaps one of the reasons such works kindle our interest is that we subconsciously perceive the need to make related changes. Unfortunately, we are not prone to take up that challenge and effort, mainly because (1) we are not conscious of our defects, and (2) we are in the habit of enjoying who we are.
In Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, we see a dramatic exception to this rule in the person of Mr. Darcy. At first arrogant and filled with pride, by the end of the story he overcomes his limitations of character in full. It is an astonishing and rare change for any individual! As a result, life responds with overwhelming good fortune, as he wins over the woman of his dreams -- Miss Eliza Bennet. We see how life conspires with his efforts. Through a conscious decision to change an egregious part of his nature, he attracts the right circumstances that afford him an opportunity to save Eliza’s family from scandal. As a result, he is able to show her his true, noble character, which in the end wins her over, and culminates in their happy marriage. Actually, it leads to much more, as that marriage forges a new powerful alliance between the aristocratic and the gentleman-farmer classes of rural England; where earlier they were in an indifferent, if not contentious relationship. In other words, Darcy’s inner-psychological adjustment is so substantial that life not only responds and uplifts his own personal fortunes, but also those of the wider society around him.
Darcy’s formidable change is a distant echo of the ultimate transformative changes made by those who take to conscious evolution -- i.e. yoga. In one sense, both reverse themselves 180 degrees. The difference is that those who take to transformation will attempt to change every conceivable part of their nature -- physical, vital, mental, and spiritual, whereas Darcy has overcome but one or two major character flaws. And yet, what Darcy has achieved is still formidable for one who is essentially a non-seeker.
His overpowering internal change is also something that we can try to emulate. If Darcy can make such a great internal adjustment and then attract stupendous rewards from life, then we too can try to overcome at least one or two limitations in our own character. It is the minimum that life asks of us. Anything less and we are merely taking up space.
As a result of making that relatively modest effort, life will respond out of all proportion, as we will attract our hearts desire in no time -- whether through the sudden blossoming of our careers, or through a kindled romance (as was in the case with Darcy), or through some other area of our lives that Nature deems worth uplifting.
The question then is whether we are sincerely interested in such change, and if so, what part of being needs changing. If we take up that effort, life will certainly respond. Darcy took to overcoming wanting aspects of his character and attracted the woman of his dreams -- even as it influenced the course of society’s development. The modern, integral yogi seeks to change every part of his nature so he can attain a super-nature, becoming a harbinger of a new, spirit-oriented way of life. What wanting qualities do we seek to change in ourselves, and what efforts will we undertake to make that happen?
Darcy Becomes the True Individual
While the story is rich with
insights into life and human nature,
the most striking theme is the
subconscious transformation of Darcy
from a social character into a
psychological individual. Darcy
makes a progress in consciousness at
the psychological level akin to that
achieved in yoga at the spiritual
level. He renounces the false or
artificial sense of self-importance
he derives from his social position
and seeks to become a true, generous
and self-giving person worthy of
Elizabeth’s personal admiration. He
gives up social values in favor of
human values. Darcy becomes a true
psychological individual in the
sense that he no longer relies or
depends on society to define what is
good or reputable. He not only
changes his behavior, giving up that
which was offensive to Elizabeth,
but goes to the other extreme of
completely reversing it by embracing
that which was previously repulsive
to him. So real and great is his
change of consciousness, that he
acquires the magnanimity to accept a
vulgar Mrs. Bennet, a wanton Lydia
and a rogue Wickham as his own
relatives and refuses to
acknowledge, even to himself, their
past sins or present unworthiness.
Darcy’s individual transformation
becomes a catalyst for social
evolution in England. By his own
life and actions, he bridges the gap
between the classes that was bridged
only by the guillotine in
revolutionary France. He is a
representative pioneer whose actions
usher in a future of greater freedom
and equality for his countrymen.
(MSS)
The Pride and
Prejudice Project
Featured
In the last few years
Growth Online in collaboration with its sister organization Mother's
Service Society have launched an initiative to understand the deeper
meanings of Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice. The purpose of
the project is to bring out the underlying principles of personal, social,
and spiritual growth, development, and evolution that can be found hidden
between the lines of this great novel. Visit
Life Response in Jane Austin's
Emma
I watched the 1996 film version of Jane Austin's Emma. One
thought I had immediately thereafter was that Howard Roark
[of the Fountainhead] was a
man true to Himself which attracted life to him. Emma's
meddlesomeness created an endless series of disasters (i.e.
negative life responses, observable even at the gross/material
level, that had the character of returning the opposite of her
intention, leading to her own confusion and severe anguish. In
this way Emma is the inverse of Roark. She is not self,
venturing out to try to influence other selves, when her own
being is incomplete.
However, through a series of blows -- where every
scheme, arrangement, and strongly held perception of reality
proves to be false, coming back to haunt her as lovers come
together in their own pattern, not as she intended -- she comes
to see her own false ways. Her change in attitude and
consciousness enables her to shed her interfering nature,
attracting the very man, Mr. Knightley, who repeatedly warned
her about the merit of her false intentions and actions. It is
he, her best friend, whom she in the end falls in love with and
marries.
Love itself is a life response to her shedding of her need to
help others find love and husbands. It takes the form of Emma's
sudden and unexpected love for Knightley, and his sudden
revelation of love for her. (It was subconscious for both all
along.) Knightley's unexpected love coming to her is the
response of the reversal of her meddlesomeness towards others.
When she saw the falsehood of and shed the latter, the former
came.
One must find love in one's self before one can
find love for others.
At the end, her priorities were in the right
order.
Still one wonders if her qualities would rise
again later on in this marriage. Fortunately she has a husband
who is strong, at least in his willingness to bring her faults
out into the open, which could keep her the marriage in order.
If not, it could fall back to friendship or worse. These are
mere speculations.
I found this to be a very enjoyable story. Very
humorous. I thought this work of Austin was exceptionally sharp
and brilliant. A great character study.
I related very much to the idea that close
friendship could blossom into love and marriage. It seems rare
and precious. Perhaps, as this episode indicates, it requires a
real change for one or both parties. Then it can move to the
next level.
The Pride and Prejudice Project
Hugo, Dumas
(main)
Hugo and Social Vision
I am reading Les Miserables side-by-side with the writing and
marvel at the depth of his penetration and his capacity to integrate
his story with the evolving social life of the nation and the wider
character of life. No English novel can compare with Hugo for depth
of penetration and Dumas for vitality. Hugo has a vision of social
evolution derived from his lived experience in 19th Century France
which is fully consistent with Appa’s theory and anchors his story
in an ocean of life. (MSS)
The Growth of Jean
Valjean in Les Miserables
It is the story of a pure (but
positive) physical man evolving to vitality. He does it on a grand scale
with total sincerity. He saves Marius for Cosette even though he would
prefer to possess her for himself. He forces himself to overcome the
selfish impulse no matter how painful it is. The narrative of his travel
to Arras for the trial in the book is a masterpiece of literature.
(MSS)
On Victor Hugo
Romantic drama, in
Hugo
and in others, takes hold of life, strings together its unusual effects
and labours to make it out of the way, brilliant, coloured, conspicuous.
(Sri Aurobindo)
French vs. English Novels
No comparison between the English novels and the French. The French
novels are full of vitality, ideas, ideals and aspirations. The English
are flat and physical. They live in the physical, though at that level
their values of integrity are extremely high.
(MSS)
Ayn
Rand
(main)
The Fountainhead
Growth Online and MSS Notes on
the meaning of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
Spiritual Quality of Howard Roark in Ayn Rand's
The Fountainhead
Howard Roark (the hero) of The Fountainhead is spiritual in the
following senses:
-
He tells the absolute truth.
-
He never reacts to anything.
-
He never seeks anyone or any work or
anything. He lets things come to him. (MSS)
Other
(main)
Literature
A
Supramental Perception in Hesse's Siddhartha
Siddhartha’s
revelation [in Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha] that in every
truth the opposite is equally true is a supramental perception. (MSS)
Thoughts
from MSS on Siddhartha
Literary Criticism
on Literature at Mother's Service Society
Review profound literary
criticism on famous plays, novels, and films including King Lear, Romeo
and Juliet, and many others. Visit at:
http://www.motherservice.org/contents.htm
MSS
Literary Criticism on Literature
An Ideal Husband
(Trollope)
(MSS site)
The Count of Monte
Cristo
Jane Eyre
(MSS
site)
Pride and Prejudice Project
The Three Musketeers
(MSS
site)
Warden and Barchester
Towers (Trollope)
"Siddhartha"
(MSS site)
The Character of Life and
Shakespeare:
As
You Like It
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Film
Human Science Film Analysis & Commentary
(based on the Character of Life)
featured
I saw the film The Verdict again. I saw something new. At one point
his partner says that things looked hopeless -- and indeed -- they
did at one point. He also suggested that there would be other cases
in the future. Frank insisted that no, THIS was the case. THIS was
the case, he repeated over and over. The power of intention was so
great that shortly thereafter he discovered the missing witness in
the form of the former nurse that would win him the case. Also, the
betrayal by the woman who was his lover was suddenly revealed. It
was double good fortune for Frank. I.e it was life responding to the
release of these powerful inner energies of Will. His power of
intention was so great that it overwhelmed all else. His whole
existence which till that point had been a failure in his mind was
behind that staggering last-gap intention. He then attracted Truth
to his side, that nearly everyone recognized, even, in the end, the
crooked judge.
Thoughts from MSS on the Film 'The Verdict'
On Indian Film "Lagaan"
Energy and inner light
triumphant is demonstrated in the Indian film
Lagaan.
Light is there in the bodies
of the rural people of India.
Energy and skill wins in a
match of two teams or adversaries.
Energy can win even without skill if
the energy is great in abundance. The energy can come from physical energy
or from a sense of outrage. (Paraphrase of MSS)
Overcoming Indian Untouchability
Energizes Victory in "Lagaan"
That
which divided the castes - untouchability - is
overcome by the persuasive arguments of the hero of
"Lagaan." As a result, tremendous energy is released
thereafter that unites them all for an eventual
victory over their oppressors, the British team.
Out of
this movement of a negative turning positive (of the
shedding of caste) vast energy is released that
enables victory in another problem area -- the match
between the Indians and the British, that if the
latter win will trigger huge, unfair taxes on the
poor who are suffering under drought conditions.
We see
here how Nature works on multiple problems
simultaneously -- overcoming the internal caste
system of the Indians, and overcoming the external
oppression of the British.
The
scene where the hero allows the deformed member of
the untouchable caste to pitch in the cricket match
-- changing the fortunes of the Indian team -- is
the defining moment of the story.
Overwhelming
Success that Presages Emergences in Society
We see how an individual's pioneering effort brings out an emerging
element of the society that is subconscious to that society at the time.
The vast success of Darwin's book Origin of the Species (sold out
on the first day) lead the society out of parts of its folly, ignorance,
and falsehood. Margaret Mitchell's enormous success with
Gone with the
Wind's in which the heroine is a difficult, though liberated woman
presages the vast emergence of woman in 20th century. And Tom Peters
enormous, unexpected success in In Search of Excellence
helped
accelerate the liberation and freedom of the individual in the workplace,
an echo of the hippy phenomenon a few years earlier. Each was an
overwhelming success, presaging the corresponding new emerging element in
society.
If an individual
can catch the wave of the emerging element in society -- there is always
one or more -- he will have an overwhelming success in his work as these
individuals did.
Yes, Minister
Yes, Minister is the English
[TV}
comedy about an easily manipulated good man who is constantly undoing his
goodness through the scheming of bad men. And yet he eventually rises to
the prime ministership, a product of society's stupidity, and his inner
goodness and positive intent that the society subconsciously appreciates
and rewards.
