Who Am I? (What Am I? What is Life?) - Growth Online Interview

In this extensive six-part interview Roy Posner, President of Growth Online, asks a fundamental question of existence, "Who am I?," and then comes up with some unconventional answers which reveal the vast scope of our human makeup and potential. Created April 2002, and updated June 2004.

One way to begin is to think about how humans compare to other aspects of life. For example, recently there has been a lot of discussion about the similarity between the human being and the computer; well at least the connection between our thinking processes and the "thinking" of the computer. There's also been comparisons made between the mind's vast network of neurons and pathways to the circuitry of the microprocessor and other parts of the computer. There's even comparisons between software and human DNA, which is in essence the body's program of life.

There are also those who compare the person to the world itself, i.e. "mother nature." They refer to the earth, Gaia as a sort of self-conscious being. Then there's the comparison between us and the Creator, that we are made in his image. On one level that seems very silly, even dangerous; on another level, there is a profound wisdom hidden beneath the surface.

There do seem to be definite parallels, if not exact correspondences in substance, between the person and these other entities. So in a round about way such discussions do point to the various aspects of our nature. Perhaps future science and psychology and other fields of inquiry will bring out more of these parallels and correspondences.

Don't these parallels exist -- to a computer, society, the earth itself -- because we actually do have certain very real things in common?

Yes, there is of course at the deeper levels of existence a commonality to everything.

You've probably heard of Carl Sagan's famous quote that we are all made of star stuff. That is, that as the universe evolved from material forms, to animated life, to conscious animals and then to us humans, we still retained some of the original quantum particles that were there when the first galaxies were created.

At Growth Online we often discuss how the universe evolved, how the cosmos came into being.

There we have identified four distinct stages that emerged in creation -- a physical stage, which we know as matter; a vital stage, which we see as life, the animus of animated life forms in the universe, and the mental, which is a degree of self-consciousness among sentient beings. The fourth stage is the spiritual, which is a step beyond all of these, and is the final frontier of human consciousness.

So one after another these stages or principles of existence emerged in the universe after the creation began. Life, that is, the vital aspect, emerged from out of physical matter, and mind emerged from out of life.

(pause) One great mystery is why did life as we know it emerge out of matter? Why did the plant emerge from the stone, or the amoeba and the paramecium appear? We trace it scientifically to some combination and interaction of the elements, such as chemical reaction involving fire, heat, water, and so forth. We explain it through the scientific disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, and others. While all of this is of course true, it is only a surface truth. There must be some hidden quality or force or mechanism that enables this upward movement from one stage of existence to another; from matter to animus of life to conscious mind. Even scientists are beginning to question the view that mere measurable mechanical forces enabled one stage to emerge out of the other.

In this sense Darwin was right in the measure of the evolution, but he didn't perceive the essential process or even as essential that was enabling one stage to evolve into the next ; from matter to animus of life to mind and beyond.

(pause) Perhaps we can say that in the stone there is the potential for life; even a secret DNA-like code of life that cannot be understood or measured materially. In other words, buried in matter lies the potential of animated life to emerge. Then out of the forms that contain animated life there is a potential for self-consciousness to emerge; for sentience, or, the beginnings of what we perceive as thought, to emerge.

Perhaps we can take it a step further and postulate that in the rock there was some type of essence, or spirit. Perhaps it was even the very same spirit that caused the universe to come about in the first place; that force that compelled a universe to emerge from a Divine source. Well if that is the case, then not only can we say we are physical star stuff, perhaps we can also say that matter, that we, are hidden spiritual stuff!

Yes. And in that hidden spiritual stuff there is a kind of involved spiritual program that compels animated life to evolve out of matter. And in turn, in that animated life, there is the same spirit compelling a further stage, a sentience, a self-consciousness to emerge from it as mind and thought; especially so when just the right vehicle appears, which is us, as well as the slightly self-aware lower animal forms that preceded us.

(pause) So this view changes our perspective of creation, of evolution in the universe, of the makeup of things, of everything; even who we are. Existence is not then just a haphazard surface phenomenon that enabled the animus of life to emerge from matter, and a mental capacity to emerge from this animus. Instead it a conscious working of spirit, of some higher order, that for some reason wanted a physical universe to emerge, wanted animated life to emerge from the physical, and wanted life forms to become conscious of themselves.

If this is the case then we can say that Darwin was on the right track in understanding the outer progression, but did not perceive the inner essences that were enabling the process to move along. It was a profound process that he could not measure through his instruments on the surface.

Why would some higher order, some God or Divine Reality, want to create such a universe, one of such complexity?

The answer is quite simple actually. The whole process, this whole unfolding of matter, the animus of life, the self-consciousness in the thoughts and brains of humans, was created for the purpose of delight of being

Every time we as humans discover some higher purpose and meaning, some new idea, new discovery, new movement, we experience a sense of happiness and joy. That is the delight of discovery in creation that we are experiencing.

In fact I believe that delight is the very reason that the universe was created in the first place; why the universe emerged from a conscious Divine spirit -- for the potential of the experience of delight. As we humans, the crown of creation, experience this joy and delight in discovering something at a higher level than we knew before, such as the discovery of a higher level of achievement or knowledge than we had before, or when we rise to a higher level of awareness and consciousness, we are fulfilling the purpose for which the Divine manifest the universe -- delight of being

In other words, in our delight we fulfill the Divine's purpose, which was to create a universe so that it could experience even greater delight. So in our new discoveries, such as when we achieve at the next highest level, or when we come in closer touch with our true nature, we fulfill the Divine's original purpose for enabling a universe of matter, animus of life, and mind.

And for that eventuality of delight the Divine was able to infuse some sort of program of spirit in matter. That spirit then compelled matter at a point in the history of the universe to extend to a still higher level of consciousness as animated life. Then the same spirit in this animated life compelled it to release an even higher aspect -- mind. yes, there is a compulsion from the environment as Darwin suggested, but there is an inner compulsion to move to the next highest level of consciousness, from the physical to the vital to mind. As a plane get fully organized, it is ready to evolve a next plane. The spirit inbuilt in the plane already knows this. When the object of the plane is organized at the current plane, and is ready to move up, it checks with its internal involved program of spirit, which has the DNA for the all succeeding planes it can evolve to. Isn't that something!

It really is! It reconciles all of the competing theories of evolution; scientific, religious, process oriented, and so forth.

(pause) It would seem that humans are even now undergoing some sort of evolution?

Well, let's consider the movement up the chain from matter to animus of life, and now mind in sentient beings, especially we humans. With the development of mind from the animus of life, we now have a new power, a power of self awareness, and self consciousness, enabling us to perceive who we are. Through the instrument of mind, we have the power to become that which we wish to be, to rise to any plateau in life that we desire to. And perhaps most interestingly, as we make more use of mind or tap into the higher aspects of mind, we have an ever-accelerating capacity to experience the infinite possibilities of life, and the corresponding delight of being that comes through discoveries of the realization of these possibilities.

In the last several decades we are increasingly experiencing the power and wonders of the mental consciousness through our ever-accelerating technology, communications, and the Internet. As we experience this, we experience ever-greater, ever-accelerating delight in existence.

But it doesn't stop there, because we as mental-centered beings, are also developing new functioning and capacities beyond mind. Something in us is emerging, something new and unprecedented is slowly coming into our field of awareness. We are very slowly beginning to discover a higher mental capacity that takes the form of sudden descents of light into out being, our descents of the object of inquiry into our minds without thought, and others. These are powers above the main idea-crating capacity of mind. This is one movement toward spirit. There is also a more conscious movement toward spirit, in which we begin to move within to discover a wider and deeper consciousness, culminating in the discovery of our True Selves and soul in the deepest regions of consciousness within. Man can make the conscious choice to open to higher planes of mind, as well as discover the infinite powers of his inner consciousness. As he rises in this way, he has the wondrous joy of discovery, which enables a profound delight of being, which is in one sense the very essence and reason we are here on earth, fulfilling he Divine purpose.

I'm a little troubled by this. Doesn't your analysis make it seem that we are dangerously close to losing our capacity to choose, too exercise our free will; as if we were a kind of puppet on a string, manipulated by a Divine puppeteer?

Remember it's we who make the choice of whether or not we grow, develop, and evolve as people. It is our choice. We humans are after all more self-conscious beings, capable of setting our lives in directions we choose. We can decide if we want to become more aware; we have the choice of whether we want to improve ourselves and move toward our higher nature.

Yes, there might be some ultimate Divine unfolding in creation; a Force if you will compelling the evolution of life on earth. It is still up to us if we want to move forward. A power secretly may want us to, but it is our choice at every minute.

Then we become a victim of life's other power, the influence of Nature. Nature too is a divine sanctioned power of evolution, except it is slow and pain filled. When you look out at the world, there is conflict and contradiction Yet there is also resolution. This is the movement of Nature in action. It surely indicates progress, but slow and pain-filled progress. As we become more conscious, we replace Nature with our own conscious will, which puts us more in harmony with the spiritual will of the Divine in the cosmos.

Again, through this ever-accelerating power of mind, which empowers us to be self-directed, we can decide to take our lives in the direction we choose. In this way conscious mind can lead the evolution, not Nature. In this way it is positive, happy, rapid evolution.

(pause) Metaphysically we can say that through the finite details of our existence we have the free will to choose; yet that free will takes place within the determinism of the infinite spiritual Divine Reality.

Still I still don't know who I am or what I am at this point. I know that there was a Big Bang, perhaps compelled by some spiritual force; there is the emergence of motion and movement beyond matter, of rock, that enabled the oceans and photosynthesis and plant life and primitive animals and sentient being and us. But what am I? Am I this star stuff; a product of this emergence?

Yes, you are the product of this emergence. You are the product of the emergence of these three principles we have discussed -- the physical, the vital/animus of life, and the mind in the universe. Even society itself is a product of these three principles.

So how does a person's makeup correlate with the cosmos' makeup? To answer this, let's think about what we, as individual human beings, are made up of.

First of all I have a body. That's the form, the physical substance, the matter that I am made up of. So like the universe itself, and its first aspect of matter, I am also matter. It takes the form of a physical body. So there is this physical plane that I am made up of.

But I am more than a physical body. Something inside me is animated, living, breathing, interacting, feeling, wanting, desiring, yearning. This is my vital being, beyond the physical substance and pure physical sensations of the body. This is the plane of me that more or less parallels the emergence of the animus of life that evolved out of matter in the universe. I am a life form expressing this animus of life in the cosmos, on earth.

So I have a physical plane, my body; and I have a vital/emotional plane. But I also consist of a mental part. I am not just a physical form and a bundle of sensations, needs, and desires; I am also a sentient, somewhat self-aware, somewhat self-conscious being. This is the plane of mind, and it parallels the emergence of the principle of Mind, of universal mind, that emerged in the cosmos.

Let's then consider what each of these three planes of our being really do, what purpose they serve in our lives. That will help us better understand who we really are.

First, of course, the physical aspect of our being is the body itself, including its outer skin, inner muscles, skeleton, organs, bodily fluids, and so forth. But there is more to it than that. The physical also consists of our animal instincts, the basic drives of our nature, and our inherited character traits. Also, our physical bodies are there not only for our continued existence, but for our self-preservation and reproduction.

The vital on the other hand consists of our semi-conscious sensations, urges, desires, feelings and emotions; that which we are attracted to, like, desire, and are enthusiastic about. The vital, in essence, provides the energy for human action; otherwise we would be physical, inert beings, or, if not inert, then merely physical beings focused on our preservation and procreation. The vital gives us, or rather expresses the animated, moving energies in our life, the compulsion to move, to interact, interrelate; that gives us an essential animus and passion of living.

Finally, the mental plane of our being consists first as the fact gathering mechanism from which we absorb information from the outside world. Second, it consists of our actual thoughts, ideas, understandings, knowledge, comprehension, and insights. Third, it is the center of our beliefs, ideals and values. It is also in its fourth and highest parts that which enables us to self-conceptualize the world around us, i.e. conceive that which we want to be. And is also at the very top of the mental plane where we are able to engage in pure thought.

So we are made up of all three of these planes. Who we are is all of these aspects across all of these planes of our being.

(pause) Of course we are not simply a being of three distinct planes, each with their own private functioning, like three separate departments or divisions of a company. These three dimensions of our being overlap one another, interact with one another, affect one another, shape one another, much like departments or divisions in a company cooperate, coordinate, and integrate their activities.

Well in our fundamental nature we are all mostly alike. But obviously due to the endless variety of the properties that make up each of these three planes in our being we have the capacity of infinite diversity. Plus there are yet other factors enabling this diversity; the environment around us, the society and social context we live in, the movements and changes going on at the particular time in history we live in, our genetic inheritance, not to mention our very soul's purpose for taking on this body.

(pause) But we do actually see a few general patterns among people; certain typal aspects amongst people, reflecting the three planes we have discussed.

For example, some people are more physical-oriented; that is they are centered more around their physical being. These tend to be pretty limited, one-dimensional people. They are fixated on their own selves. They never learn, They are creatures of habit, oblivious to the truth. They act without thinking. They are living a life of utter ignorance and falsehood that they are completely unconscious of. In other words, they think with their bodies!

There are also vital emotional people, who are centered around their feelings, their energies, or their relationship to the social environment. They are passionate about life, but may live a kind of up and down existence. they are fixated on enjoyment and pleasure and expression of emotion. For example, they will learn when it is enjoyable, not when it is necessary. They will do when they feel like it, not when it is necessary. They can rise to the highest heights based on their emotions, and fall to the depths when the emotions fail them. Their thought patterns actions, et al are based on their feelings of enjoyment.

Then there are mental-centric people who are mainly centered on thinking, on ideas, on their beliefs, sentiments and values; on observing the world around them; on using logic; on conceptualizing new ideas and new possibilities.

So we have these three general types of individuals; or typal categorizations of individuals. Of course, there are all sorts of gradations in between. Each of us is a combination of each, though normally we tend to be focused one of the three. It is one way to identify the individuals you meet in life. That way you kind of get to know what to expect out of that person. For example, a physical-consciousness person will continually show their limited one-dimensional nature. An emotional person will move when he it is pleasurable to him. A mental person will more based on knowledge and ideas. E.g. he or she might tend towards philosopher, a mathematics, or social science.

Obviously, the higher the plane of consciousness the individual is centered on, the more he will succeed in life.

(pause) From another perspective we can say that the more that an individual is at his highest consciousness at all three planes, the more he will succeed in life. That is the more you develop higher capacities at each of these planes, the more you will have the attributes for great achievement and happiness in life.

You know we could probably analyze any person and measure him or her across all these myriad of qualities within each of these three planes, and get a pretty good snapshot of the person. It would be an interesting computer program. At Growth Online we've made a few interesting attempts in this area, with limited success. [editing point]

Well let's see. If, for example, a person wanted to become a better person, or acquire more wealth, or rise to the next level of accomplishment, then it might be very useful to know what qualities they are lacking in. Once we identify those areas that are lacking, a person could change his life for the better by making the concerted effort to improve one or more of these traits.

To improve ourselves we can either further build up our positive traits, or overcome our limiting, negative traits. I would argue that if we want to improve our nature, accomplish more in life, be happier, we should start by identifying a few negative traits, and try to overcome them.

But we're made up of so many traits. How can we ever learn to identify them, let alone overcome our weaknesses in them?

Well if we are honest about ourselves we can easily list five or ten major weaknesses that we have. Then if we are truly sincere that we really want to change ourselves, we can develop plans of action to overcome them, and then carry out the plans. That's in one sense the process by which an individual grows, the process of personal growth.

Take Mr. X. He's friendly, bright, energetic, and fun to be with. However Mr. X is also disorganized, has temper tantrums, and is unskilled in key areas in his work. Ms. Y, on the other hand, is organized, highly skilled, and wealthy, but she is also unemotional, unforgiving, and deceitful. If she can be honest with herself, identify her weaknesses, and makes the sincere effort to change them, she will surely grow as a person, and go much further and be much happier in life.

So we are an amalgam of traits, expressed positively and negatively, across three planes of our being.

But are we just that? Are we limited to what we are in a particular moment in time? Can't we be something different the instant we change ourselves? I think so.

So then the question of who I am becomes slippery, because I can very quickly be something else. We are in that sense both a being and a becoming.

If the person wants to grow then yes. On the other hand, we must also recognize that our limitations are not just restricted to our own unique limitations. There are also limitations that all of us share in common as members of the human race. We have inherited a number of limiting characteristics that have been passed down from our animal nature; even from the very material substance that was there when the universe unfolded. If we examine them closely, we can see these species-type limitations are also there at each of the three planes of our being.

For example, our physical consciousness tends to not want to change; its wants to repeat endlessly the same routines and engage in the same habits over and over. The physical consciousness is fixed, rigid, and inflexible. It's filled with inertia and obscurity. Not to mention the fact that the body is, as we all know, subject to illness, pain, and death. So the scope for change at the physical level is enormous, because it is the least evolved relative to the other planes.

The vital expresses these species-related limitation as well. Built into the vital is its tendency toward mindless passions, and unrelenting attachment. The vital asserts itself through non-cooperation, vanity, arrogance, disobedience, lack of discipline, and self-justification. It is also readily prone to anger, restlessness, despondency, jealousy, hate, fear, desire, and impulse. The list goes on! These are all pretty much hard-wired into our species at the vital level. It's perhaps only our education and mental control that subjects these forces to some degree of discipline.

We should also point out that through our vital center we engage with others. It is what enables us to be social creatures. However, as social creatures we can be obsessed and attached to what others want, to what the culture throws out at us and expects from us, and what we are compelled or are willing to accept from the social atmosphere around us. So our social connection to aid us or limit us.

Then there is the mental plane. It also shows these species-bound limitations. Though in one sense the mind is a higher plane than the physical and vital, the mind also shows itself negatively in many ways. Its very basis is rooted in ignorance, falsehood, and separateness.

For example, the mind tends to accept one truth, but not another truth. It certainly has no knowledge of the full truth of anything. Thus the mind sees things only in its partially, not its wholeness. It mistakes the part it knows for the whole. Thus it operates in ignorance.

Mind also only senses what's on the surface, what is superficial and obvious. It is oblivious for the most part to what expresses subtlely, deeper within us. That's because though mind interprets the data coming in from our senses, it is also limited by our sense orientation, to what the senses perceive as real. This sense-based mind, rooted in the subjectivity of the senses, inevitably leads to a partial understanding, a partial knowledge of the truth, or even a complete falsehood.

Also, mind tends to deny anything it has not experienced; that doesn't follow its rules of logic, what we thin of as common sense, and what we expect the normal laws of cause and effect to be. Life functions far beyond these bounds, and for the most part mind is ignorant of such workings, especially if one lives on the surface of life, rather than from the depths of one's being.

How did we land in such a mess? It's bad enough we each have our own problems; now we're saying that we've inherited a plethora of negative qualities just by being human beings!

Well you might be happy to know that in a way its not our fault (!), or the fault of the human race, because the source of all of these limitations were there when the universe emerged, long before we appeared. When the universe emerged from some Divine Source, it emerged in division and duality. In the universe that was created, where there was light, there was also darkness; where there was good, there was evil; where there was pleasure, there was pain; where there was Knowledge, there was Ignorance, where there was Life, there was Death, and so forth.

So everything we have become, the inertia of the physical, the unbridled passions, desires, and poor attitudes of the vital, and the ignorance of the mind are rooted in the very inconscience and unconsciousness of matter that was there in creation. That unconsciousness, ignorance, and falsehood is there kin all aspects of our being, from the body to the vital to our minds.

When I have a limited thought that doesn't have the full truth, it is because my nature is to be stuck on the surface, to my ego sense and separateness that is there in the vital, which in turn gets its own ego sense and limitation from the inflexibility and inertia of the physical. So each plane feeds the next plane with its own limitations; and we as mental beings are limited mental beings because we still are filled with the limitations of the earlier planes from which mind emerged.

What kind of Creator, assuming there is a creator, could have allowed such a thing?

Well there is a rather interesting answer to this. The universe emerged in division and duality in order to enable the greatest potential and possibility, the greatest diversity of forms.

Let me explain. Remember we are assuming that the universe was created from out of a Divine Source, in order that that a multiplicity, an endless diversity of forms -- culminating in us -- could experience the delight of being. To create the greatest quantity and diversity of such forms, the universe had to develop in division and duality. The more the divisions, the contrasts, the differences, the greater the possibilities. It's somewhat akin to the idea that the more races there are on earth, the greater the possibility and diversity of expression in culture.

Also the more forms, the more diversity and variations of those forms, including we humans, the greater the quantity and quality of delight as those forms.

So the irony is that in order for the universe, for us to experience the greatest potential of delight, we emerged with all of these contradictions, conflicts, and falsehoods in our being, inherited from the creation. On the other hand, as we evolve individually and as a race, we throw off these limitations, and experience the delight

So who we are, are the positive and negative expressions of human personality traits related to our own unique person; and who we are is also a series of positive and negative traits that we share in common with all humanity.

But what can I do in my life to overcome these limitations? I mean the list is endless. There are my own weaknesses, plus the weaknesses of being human itself. It seems rather grim.

There is hope. Humans have been around for 100,000 years or so; and it's only been 10,000 years since we emerged in true societies. But its only in the last 50 to 100 years that we are seeing the true emergence of mind in the individual. Only in recent times are we beginning to use our minds to perceive our greater capacities, and take control of our lives, to become masters of our existence. So we have the opportunity now to make great and rapid progress.

In one sense our mind is the evolutionary mechanism of Nature that enables us to finally overcome the limiting hand we have been dealt from creation. More specifically I would say that as we move to the higher capacities of mind, of reason, of being able to conceptualize new ideas, new possibilities, as we become more self-aware and rise in consciousness, we garner the means to overcome millions or billions of years of division and duality, ignorance and falsehood, pain and death.

Have you seen the film Educating Rita? No story more dramatizes how a modern person can change her nature, and overcome the limitations of the millennia. In one or two short years this woman changed from a primitive to a mental-focused being; gaining control of her life, and harnessing her great potential.

A likable, uneducated and somewhat crude woman, Rita aspires to become educated. Through her collaboration with a professor in England she learned to read, write, and understand. As a result of this accomplishment, she grew, developed, evolved, and ascended. She changed from a physical/vital centered being to a mental-centric, fully conscious, self-directed individual.

If this is an example of how rapidly one person can change in a few short years, then it is very possible that we can overcome much of the division and duality of the creation within a few short centuries, or even within our own lifetimes.

It's pretty rare when someone makes the giant leap upward that Rita made, but I think that's going to happen more and more in the future. It's actually happening now. A lot of people I know are making stunning progress.

We begin by recognizing our limitations, and then making the concerted effort to overcome them. Most of these limitations are in our attitudes, our skills, our knowledge, our energy, our values, our physical well being, our strength, our goodness and givingness, and so forth. It's especially there in the attitudes.

Most of us can identify at least a few of these limiting attitudes in our being. We are all aware of at least a few of our shortcomings. However, if we make a concerted effort to overcome that limitation, life will open up for us in many ways.

So if Mr. Z has a poor attitude toward another person, and if he changes that attitude, life will tend to respond instantly and miraculously.

We call this instantaneous miraculous response from life "Life Response." It is life's own hidden way of rapidly responding to a change in the person; to a change in our attitudes and behavior. So suddenly positive things start happening to Mr. Z, perhaps within moments of a changing of his attitude. If he also understands how changing an attitude enabled life to suddenly bring great fortune, he will also begin to perceive the deeper underlying realities and forces that are there in life.

So there is hope; a way out of conflict and difficulty that is therein life?

And there is more good news. We haven't yet spoken of the fourth plane, where the infinite possibilities of life rise -- the plane of spirit.

To truly know who we are, we must certainly account for this spiritual plane of our existence.

Levels of the being, ascending from the physical to the vital to the mental to the spiritual.

To help us better answer the question I'm going to go for a little walk in my mind.

I wake up, get dressed, grab some breakfast, and walk over to the park. My mind hasn't fully kicked in at this point. I am only aware of some of the physical things I am doing -- getting up, brushing my teeth, turning on the coffee pot, and so forth. These are the mechanical habits of my physical being, with perhaps a little input from my subconscious mind. What caused me to actually take this walk is a product of some decision, some will of being within me.

I'm now moving along pretty well with few thoughts in my head just yet. As I pick up speed I can sense that my physical body seems to almost have a mind of its own. Now that I am moving at a steady, brisk speed, there is a kind of relaxation settling in me. But after a short while the thoughts kick in in earnest for the first time that day. Thoughts about what's happening at the office; what needs my immediate attention, and others. Now for the first time this morning my mind is actively engaged, even as my body continues briskly on its way unencumbered by conscious thought.

Suddenly I see my friend Bob coming from the opposite direction. I slow down. He tells me something about a mutual friend, which causes me to react. I am upset, perhaps a little mad. My vital being has now been touched. Fortunately, I am able to come to my senses, realizing that being upset in this way is not part of my life plan! This awareness of what is right is coming from somewhere; perhaps from the logic of the mind, or a memory of a decision I had made, or perhaps even from something again unconscious rising in me, welling up from an inner, deeper hidden aspect of my being.

So Bob and I agree to get together for some tennis later in the week, and devise a plan to make it happen. That decision is in part a social response rooted in the vital need to have social contact with others. The decision is also in part a plan of organization developed in my mind. There is also in this mix perhaps a physical longing of the body to exercise, to tune or strengthen itself; maybe an anticipation of the physical pleasure of the playing and the experiencing of the outdoors.

As you can see from this little example, from this small moment in time, there is a complex relationship taking place between myself and the environment, including others. We also see that we are ourselves a rather complex organism. We see the complex interrelationship among the physical, vital, and mental aspects of our being. We also see that there is a complex functioning that goes on from the surface of life to the depths within us.

So I am a physical body, a vital being and a mental being; some of it is going on the surface, where we can perceive it; while some of it wells up from inside. We're a pretty sophisticated mechanism. But are we really any closer to understanding who we are? It seems more like we've developed a science of our workings, rather than a sense of who we really are.

Well I think that just being aware of such functioning is a big step toward understanding our nature. On the other hand, it doesn't exactly tell us who we are.

(pause) To know who we are is in one sense to be aware of things, to be conscious. The body itself is not really aware; it just goes and repeats its habits; it moves without an awareness. Its physical, not mental. The vital part of our being is not much better; it is not self-aware. It is engaged in its energies, passions, intensities, and feelings; not knowing, understanding, comprehending as in the mind. It's field of awareness is always shifting, changing, ephemeral in nature. It's not a very good instrument of knowledge, of comprehension, of consciousness.

Mind however is another story. It is of course the center of awareness in our being; the seat of knowledge and consciousness. It may be a faulty, a half-lit instrument of awareness, but its the only one we have!

In the little walk we took we could sense even there that the mind is a complex device of consciousness. For thirty years my friends at Mother's Service Society have studied the nature of mentality, and have come up with some significant, breakthrough observations.

One thing we have learned about mind is that it's a separate entity. It is still closely linked to the physical and vital parts of us. When I have a thought, it is rarely a pure thought. It is normally a kind of thought response to something in me, or something around me; to the inputs from my five senses, to my emotions, attitudes, perceptions, and other vital and physical phenomenon. In other words though mind requires these inputs, it's knowledge is also limited by, tarnished by these inputs from the physical and vital, by the inherent limitations and falsehoods of the vital and the physical body.

The Indian seer and sage Sri Aurobindo often noted the fact that the mind is burdened, is weighed down by the limitations of the physical and the vital nature. Therefore the information processed by the mind is itself filled with falsehood, half-truths, prejudiced truth, part knowledge, and ignorance. We require the inputs of the vital and physical to perceive reality, but through them we also lose the objectivity of that reality. Thus we become not rational, perceivers of objective truth, but irrational perceivers of our own subjective truth. Then the result of this limiting knowledge can extend into the next moment in time as erroneous assumptions, wrong conclusions, and stupid actions.

In our research we have been able to distinguish various parts of the mental consciousness. The part that is closely tied into the processing of this information of the vital and the body we call the sense mind; and its where most of us are stationed in our minds. And it's the cause of our half-lit, false understanding of the world.

(pause) Also when you are centered in the sense mind, with its interpretation of the physical and vital inputs, you are probably living very much on the surface of life. Rather than being focused in a deeper poise, from a deep calm or depth within yourself, you are living, reacting to the physical or emotional things happening in front of you. You are not so much mindful of things, but just recording and reacting to things. For example, you walk around your office, see something that catches your eye, and you immediately go toward it, perhaps taking you out of something significant that you were already doing. You reacted on impulse. If you were centered more deeply within, you would respond to it in the context of the greater picture.

Also when you live on the surface rather than the depths there is a tendency to see everything from your own perspective, your own self-interest. In that way you become more closely identified with your ego, that which separates you from the others, from the total truth of the situation, from the broader continuum of life around you, that includes other people, other events, situations, and circumstances.

If, on the other hand, you live more deeply within, you are not focused on your own personal perception of the world. Instead you open to a broader perception, to a greater possibility and harmony with the outer environment. Again, from that poise we come closer to perceiving not only the oneness of life, but the multi-faceted, multiplicity of life.

(pause) Yes, in fact we have identified three aspects of mind, of the mental plane.

Let's call the first level of mind, the most basic level of mind, the physical part of the mind, or physical mental. This is where the processing, organizing, and coordinating of the facts and information of the sense information takes place. It takes the inputs of the senses and organizes them into thought formations. By the way, it's processing functionality is somewhat akin to what the computer does.

Then there's the next highest level of the mind, which is the vital in the mind. It is here that we begin to perceive how life itself works. Because of our perceptions of life, the raw facts that were processed by the physical mind are now formulated into richer sentiments, values, and ideals. In other words, facts and thoughts are given vital meaning and purpose. Knowledge and understanding of the previous level become things we value, or ideal we aspire for.

Then there's the highest part of mind proper, which is the pure mind. It is here that pure thinking, logical thinking, takes place. At this level of mind there is no direct relationship any more with the inputs of the vital and physical parts of our being; with the senses we are engaged rather in pure thought. In addition, at this level of pure mind we have the ability to conceive the world; develop new idea, new conceptions of things.

Interestingly when we live at the depths within, we tend to be more centered at this level of pure mind. In the depths we are further away from sense mind, which tends to give us a half-lit perception of reality. At pure mind we are more likely to get truer ideas and knowledge; we understand the truer truth, rather than the partial truth of sense mind.

At Growth Online we have a little table that describes in detail these three levels of mind.

So the further we move our center of awareness from the sense mind, which is the physical and vital part of the mind, the further we move from the limitations of the physical and vital planes; from the body's inertia and unconsciousness; from the vital's limiting attitudes, passions, and attachments. We move from sense mind to pure mind by stationing our center of awareness in the depths of our being rather than living on the surface of life.

So who we are is, in one sense, where we choose to station our consciousness; on the surface of life or in the depths within ourselves. We are where we choose to focus our consciousness.

So if we move from the sense mind to this higher mind, then most of the problems of our existence will disappear?

Yes, it would certainly help. There are certainly approaches and techniques that we can adopt to help us live more consciously within, that would move us toward higher functionings of mind.

(pause) But remember the problems in life are more fundamental than that. The problem for most of us isn't whether we are focused on one part of the mind or the other, but whether we are centered in mind at all! For most people their center of awareness is not at the level of mind, but at the next level down, at the vital, emotional level. From that poise we are very much occupied or even consumed by our feelings, emotions, needs, desires, wants, and satisfactions.

Remember, at this point in our evolution human are basically vital beings who live for their own ego-centered needs.

So how can I make this knowledge of these different parts of me useful and practical in my life?

Well let's go back to our walk, and see if I could have improved things as a result of my knowledge of these different parts of the person.

Let's say that somewhere in my walk I realized that I had forgotten to make an important phone call. Instead of doing something about it, something in me just doesn't want to deal with it, it doesn't want to budge; my body just wants to stay in its walking routine, it's habit. Unless there is some compulsion of the vital or the mind, the body just wants to continue on as is. So now I am becoming more aware of my nature, of who I am at the physical level.

I could also take this approach for that moment later on in the walk when I got upset and angry. I would now have the knowledge and understanding that the emotions of my vital had gotten the best of me.

Perhaps at some point later on I would stop and think about what was it that got me upset in the first place; what was happening in my life that could trigger such an emotional response. It couldn't simply be what Bob said. I can now use the logical, common sense part of my mind, that pure mind that we spoke of earlier, to consider the source of the problem.

Also by stationing myself more deeply within I would be more distant from the limitations of my vital, even more distant from the senses. From such a poise I could never have gotten upset in the first place. In other words, living deep within enables me to be exceedingly mindful, rational, and objective.

So knowledge of what I am made up of, the parts that are at play at any point in time, can be very useful to success, harmony, and happiness in life.

So what we are saying in one sense is that who we are is knowing what we are made up of?

Yes. We are a complex being, made up of many parts; physical, vital, and mental parts; as well as an outer and inner being.

(pause) So far we have addressed the physical, vital, and mental plane of our being. We call this view of the person the vertical scale of consciousness. It's vertical in that it ascends upward in consciousness from the physical to the vital to the mental. It even goes beyond that to the spiritual.

Actually each of the three planes is really made up of at least three sub-aspects; for a total of nine levels. We've already identified three levels of mind. There are also three levels of the vital and the physical, for a total of nine levels.

Our nine level model at Growth Online starts at its base at the very physical substance of the body, and rises from there through eight additional levels in three planes, culminating in the highest level of mind, pure mind.

	#	Name	Description
M E N T A L	1	Pure Mental	This is where pure thinking, conceptual thinking takes place; where ideas are organized; concepts, ideas, possibilities are developed. There is no connection here to the senses of the body here as perceived in the sense mind below. It is pure thought. It is the center of our mental skills.
	2	Vital in Mental	This is where we gain a knowledge of life's workings; where the practical organized knowledge and comprehension of facts of level 3 is imbued with the emotions and feelings that turn organized comprehension into our interests, sentiments, values, and ideals.
	3	Physical in Mental	The processing, organizing, systemizing of physical, natural, practical facts of information from the senses into understanding, comprehension, and knowledge, used for decision-making, action, and accomplishment.
V I T A L	4	Mental in Vital	This is where emotions (of the next level) are processed into emotional thought, the emotions' perception of knowledge. It is where our attitudes, life intelligence, and higher emotions lie. It is the center of our vital skills.
	5	Pure Vital	This is where our feelings, emotions, passion, enthusiasm reside.
	6	Physical in Vital	This is where we experience the vital sensation of the nerves, the central nervous system, where we experience urge, desire, and fear.
P H Y S I C A L	7	Mental in Physical	This is the consciousness of the body, where it learns how to act, where it learns the primary skills needed for existence and action from movement. It is the center of our physical skills.
	8	Vital in Physical	This is the seat of our physical urges and sensations. It is where nervous sensation, pain, physical urge, hunger, lust, craving, physical possessiveness, and territoriality are rooted.
	9	Pure Physical	This is the pure physical, the body itself, our raw physical existence, consisting of matter. It is also where our movements originate.

If we look at our table of nine levels we would notice a few interesting things. For one, if we look at one of the planes, say the mental plane, we will see that it consists of three items, two of which have aspects of the other two planes. For example, within the mental plane, there is a physical mental level, and a vital mental level; physical and mental being the two other major planes of existence.

(pause) Remember our earlier idea that in the creation, that the vital emerged out of the physical, and the mental evolved out of the mental. Each emerging plane contained the seed of the following one. So in one sense that's why they break down the way they do.

So what are these nine levels? We can look at it from top down, or from the bottom up. Since we already talked about the levels of mind, let's start at the top and work our way down.

So we start at the plane of mind. As we mentioned earlier at level 1, we're at the pure mental, the highest or most evolved level of the mind, used for pure thought, where ideas take shape, and also from which we can conceive the world, new ideas, new possibilities. At level 2, vital mental, the mind is engaged in understanding how life works, it tinges the raw data that's gathered in level 3 and imbues it with feeling that turns those facts into our sentiments, values, and ideals. At level 3, the physical mental, we have the actual physical processing of data by the brain. It gathers, organizes, and processes the raw data of physical reality perceived through the five senses, and turns it into our knowledge and comprehension of the practical.

Now we come down to the vital plane, the realm of emotions, feelings, and sensations. At level 4, the mental vital, we experience the emotions' perception of knowledge. It is where our attitudes and higher emotions are expressed. It's where the raw emotions of level 5 are mentalized. At level 5, or pure vital, we experience our raw feelings, emotions, passions, and desires. At level 6, physical vital, we experience the physical aspect of our feelings and emotions; that is we experience the vital sensation of the nerves, the central nervous system, where we experience urge, desire, and fear.

Now we come down to the physical plane itself -- the world of matter, of the body itself. At level 7, the mental physical, we experience the consciousness of the body, where it learns how to act, and where it develops physical skills for action in life. At level 8, the vital physical we experience our physical urges and sensations, such as pain, hunger, lust, and craving. At level 9, the pure physical, we encounter the body itself, the physical matter that the body is made up of. There is no consciousness or sensation here; it is made of the unconscious material substance itself.

So we can see that we have a pretty complex and sophisticated makeup. By recognizing these levels we begin to get a better picture of who we are.

Could you imagine if we had learned this when we were young? We would certainly understand ourselves a great deal better. We learn about our skeletons, muscles, nerves, and organs, but little of the breakdown of the fundamental consciousness of our being.

(pause) So that's the vertical scale of our being. On the other hand, the horizontal scale of consciousness moves in another direction; it ranges from our outer, or surface existence, to the depths within ourselves, our inner existence. There is a vast world there too to discover. To know who we are, we must explore these regions as well.

Well not quite. As we move to these more subtle realms, it's a bit harder to track them or chart them across some continuum of understanding. However we have come up with a number of observations. I might point out that much of what we know about these subtle domains comes from the great insights of the Indian seer and sage Sri Aurobindo, as well as his partner known as The Mother. They were two of the great pioneers of consciousness. Through their vast experiences and realizations, they mapped out these subtle, yet powerful realms of hidden existence. The result of their research in the area of inner consciousness is a staggering revelation captured in over 50 volumes for the world.

They suggested that as we move from the surface of life and move into the depths of our being, we move into an inner physical, vital, and mental consciousness. They called these inner regions, the subliminal part of our being.

When we live on the surface of life we are completely unaware of the existence of these subtle levels, let alone how this inner existence interacts with our surface consciousness.

This inner mind and vital send out their powers or suggestions to our surface consciousness. These are often profound insights and perceptions, because this inner consciousness is in touch with universal forces, truths, and powers.

Most of what we receive from these regions happens unconsciously as information is sent up to the surface. However, we can become more conscious of this inner part of ourselves. As we go deeper within, as we station ourselves in these depths, we become more conscious of and become more open ourselves to their wider influences.

As we move more deeply within we also begin to lose our ego sense, that which divides and separates us from others, from the environment, from life itself. When we are withdrawn from our surface, separative ego-sense, we feel there a deeper sense of oneness; a unity with other beings and things. The deeper we center ourselves there, the more we perceive the world with clarity; the less the mind divides; the less the vital desires, imprisoned by its ephemeral attachments and passions; the less the body is caught in its inertia and habitual ways.

Also as we reach the very greatest depths within, we begin to touch our central being, our own personal soul state. At that point we experience our deepest, spiritual center of existence.

This personal soul that inhabits our person took on this particular body to further it's own progress. It has passed through many lives to reach its current state of being. And it seeks even greater development through the progress of this person, which it now inhabits. So it's an interesting idea that not only are we evolving but our personal soul is too!

Also that inner soul being unites us with the wider spiritual plane of existence; the infinite spirit of the infinite, timeless, spaceless, omnipresent Divine Reality.

(pause) So as we come in touch with our inner being, our psychic soul being, we not only have the universal forces and powers at our disposal, but we experience the peace, power, truth, love, bliss, and other spiritual qualities of the transcendent spiritual Divine, the spiritual essence that is the source of all creation.

So there is a kind of frontier of consciousness within; and as we go there, deeper within, there is this light and wonder.

Yes there is. Though that's not the total picture. There is one other part of the being that we haven't discussed. This is another hidden inner realm of ourselves. It is the subconscient realm, which is somewhat similar to what western psychologists refer to as the subconscious.

In any understanding of the makeup of the human being, a discussion of the subconscient needs to be considered. Though it is not technically part of any of the three planes of the human -- the physical, the vital/emotional, and the mental -- it plays a significant part in the existence of every person.

It is in this subconscient, this subterranean part of the human mental consciousness that much goes on, though we can't easily perceive it, because like the inner being it is below our normal levels of awareness. The only significant time that we come in contact with the subconscient's workings is when we are sleeping. When we dream, the information in the subconscient streams up, in unusual extrapolations of what we normally experience in life. In fact, if you were to wake up exhausted from sleep, you can be sure you've spend some time in this obscure region.

The subconscient, like the inner being, the subliminal, sends messages to the individual's outer consciousness. However, where the subliminal is generally sending or influencing the outer being in a positive way, with its broader illuminations and insights, the subconscient is projecting influences that are generally negative, since it is tied closely to the unconsciousness and limitations of our obscure physical existence including the obscurity and unconsciousness of matter itself.

The subconscient is actually where aspects of our waking consciousness are buried. For example, it is there that early childhood memories and attachments are stored. It's also where old memories reside; where old problems now overcome and long forgotten, bury themselves, only to rise on occasion in dreams, or to suddenly rush up to the surface.

The subconscient is for the most part an unevolved, ignorant, and false region, left over from the original inconscience in matter; the lack of consciousness that is there in our physical makeup born of the unconsciousness of creation. It's also the repository of the race memory of the human species; including our fears, our acceptance of the inevitability of death and all that implies. So a titanic pessimism is buried there, based on the past suffering of the human race and our animal forbearers.

The subconscient is also the seat of physical illness. When we are ill, it is the subconscient that controls the illness. Our attempt to overcome illness through our will, our power of mind, is not usually effective, because our minds, thoughts, and feelings have no power over this obscure region. It is however possible by a great determination of mind and will and a spiritual Force to overcome the subconscient influence. In fact, our ability to end illness, perhaps even death itself, may be tied to ending the pull and drag of the subconscient.

So now we've got some additional areas in our being on the negative side of the equation! Just what we need!

Yes, if you take these negative influences of the subconscient and add to it the limiting aspects of each of our physical, vital, and mental makeup, you see that there is much that weighs us down.

Personal growth, development, evolution, and transformation is the way we overcome these limitations, and find our higher nature. A purified and perfected physical, vital, and mental; a transformed subconscient; a more fully emerging subliminal; plus the inner and upward movement that connects us to spirit are the means by which we make the evolutionary progress and ascent.

That is true. Now we are beginning to see this multifaceted, multi-dimensional portrait of who we are.

First there is a vertical view, a vertical scale of consciousness, rising upward from the body to the vital to the mind; and then there's a horizontal view, going from the surface to the depths of one's soul.

Let's see. Let's try to sum up what we've learned so far. We said that the universe began as matter, which evolved into life, and evolved further as mind. We also stated that there must have been something, some force that compelled the evolution to move from one stage to the next, from the physical to the vital to the mental; something inherent in each preceding stage that compelled the next stage to emerge. We suggested that each stage had the seed of the next stage. Also we postulated there was a conscious spirit that was hidden or involved at each stage, compelling the emergence of the next stage.

So billions of years go by after the Big Bang. The galaxies are formed, which coagulate into stars and planets; forms of matter develop on earth, such as water and atmosphere. Then the first forms of life appear, and plant life, and then primitive animal life, and then primates, culminating in us, the self-conscious human being.

So man arrives as a physical being, sharing the physicality of all matter in the universe. He also has a vital being of emotions, attitudes, sensations, desires, and various energies; paralleling the emergence of animated vital life on earth and perhaps elsewhere in the universe. Man also has a mind; he is a mental being, which is perhaps unique in the entire universe.

However, he also shares the divisions and dualities of creation. Thus, though man is an evolutionary being, he is also a divided being. He experiences pleasure and pain; knowledge and ignorance, good and evil; life and death. Also, within each of the physical, vital, and mental planes, these dualities express themselves. For example, at the physical level his body is alive, and then it decays and dies. At the vital level he experiences great pleasure, and the opposite of emotional pain. And in mind he is limited to a part truth, a limited understanding and perception of what's around him.

Fortunately, we do have the ability to overcome our limitations. Through his power of self-awareness, through this emerging mental consciousness, we can learn to understand the limiting parts of our being; both the limitations that are unique to that person, and those we share with all humanity. That self-aware, self-determining individual has then the power to overcome any and all limitations. That is what we mean by personal growth, development, evolution, and transformation.

We've also concluded that though the human exists at each of these three planes, these levels interact with one another in a very complex way. Also, what we perceive as three distinct planes can be expanded to at least nine levels, three each within the three planes.

Thus we begin to see a continuum of consciousness and existence, from the most material reality of his body, to the highest aspect of his mind, to engage in pure thought and to conceive new ideas and possibilities.

As we strengthen ourselves at each level or move upward in our being among the levels, we grow and evolve. In that process of discovery we experience a great joy and delight of being. That joy, that delight, is in fact the very reason we are here. Some Omnipresent Reality or Divine presence manifest a universe in order for the inhabitants, us, to discover our higher nature, thereby through us fulfilling the purpose of creation -- delight.

Finally, we see that though there is a vertical scale of our being and consciousness that ascends upward to the heights of mind and beyond, we also have an existence that goes from the surface of life to the depths within. The more we live in the depths, the deeper our perceptions, the broader our perspective of life, and again, the greater the delight.

So we can take ourselves higher in the vertical scale and deeper within on the horizontal scale. Where we wish to go is up to us; it is our choice.

Ultimately who we are depends not only on what we are now, but whom we choose to be in the future. We have the choice of whether we wish to stand still or move forward. In that sense we are then what we are, plus who we wish to be. We are not just a being; we are also a becoming.

So it's up to each of us to take the bull by the horns. We're out there on our own, and its up to use to make the choice of what we want to be.

Well in one sense yes. However the picture gets a little more interesting here, because we are not completely on our own. There are other people out there; a society out there that has a big influence on who and what we are.

I would say that just as our makeup mirrors the makeup of the universe, so we also mirror the makeup and unfolding of the society we are part of.

In fact we could easily view our entire existence, the very nature of who we are, as a product of everything around us. We are in one sense the result of a process, an evolutionary social process that has been going on for at least 10,000 years.

Well to understand that we need to consider the stages of human evolution during these 10,000 years.

Let's go back to our creation theory for a moment. We've already said that out of the creation of the universe emerged four principles of life; physical, vital life, mind, and let's add spiritual. We also said that in the makeup of the human individual we can see a similar grouping of the four essential planes that make up the person -- the physical, the vital, the mental, and lets add the spiritual. In that light we can also conceive of a similar development in the evolution of the human race as a whole, for society.

Our own view is that the human race has passed through three consecutive stages -- again the physical, the vital, the mental, and lets add for the future, the spiritual.

So let's examine each of these. When humans first evolved on earth say 100,000 years ago, and in particular over the last 10,000 years, individuals were mostly focused on surviving. Everything else was secondary. Threats were perceived everywhere -- threats from nature, and threats from other tribes. The atmosphere was one of physical and psychological insecurity.

In this physical stage people's social awareness was pretty much limited to the tribe. To think and act outside of the tribe and its tradition was considered treasonous. In other words, humans had a very limited sense of their own selves. They were bound to the concerns and authority of the collective.

Over time humans overcame these threats from nature, from the outside. Plus they began to develop better cohesion and unity within the collectives themselves. Soon we began to master the basic productive operations of life. In other words, we began to gain control of the physical forces around us. This enabled the emergence of a new vital human. Another way of saying this is that humanity organized itself at a higher level at the physical stage, enabling a new, more expansive vital stage to emerge.

So what is this vital stage of society's development? In this stage we see a willingness of people to engage others who are not of their own tribe or collective. We begin to see the beginnings of trade with other collective. There was more interaction with other groups. This leads to the desire for more travel and exploration; to expand trade and acquire more resources.

Gradually there is an awakening that the individual can improve his own lot, and that he does not have to only focus solely on the concerns and needs of the collective.

So in this vital stage there is a broadening of these social interactions, of interchange with others. Also, we could now begin to focus on our own individual interests. We could become prosperous and enjoy life, to expand our energies in many more directions. There was thus a vast expansion of vitality; hence the vital stage of development.

Where the physical stage of life was the culmination of an evolution that began 100,000 or so years ago, and formed more fully around 10,000 years ago, the vital stage has only been there around 500 years, roughly corresponding to the Renaissance and the centuries of exploration and discovery around that time.

However, in the last 100 years, and in particular the last 50, there has been the rapid emergence of the next stage of human development -- the mental stage.

The first thing that we notice about the mental stage that we have now entered is that society begins to value the vast amount of knowledge accumulated from the past. So in this emerging mental stage the information, the knowledge base of the past began to be organized, codified, and made available to the population. Information that was formerly unfocused, scattered is now organized, systematized, and disseminated through systems of training and education.

That in turn energizes individuals to further advancement in their work, in their careers. That in turn accelerates people's achievement in life, which is expressed in the enormous developments in science, communications, and technology of recent years.

Then through that rapidly expanding technology base, through exposure to the vast knowledge base presented in media, in the Internet, people become even more aware of what can be achieved. They become more aware of possibilities for achievement. They see that others in their community, nation, or around the world are doing it, which leads to an era of rising expectations of people throughout the world. People want and demand more in their own lives because they see others having it.

This unfolding has actually been going on for a few centuries. Freedom, democracy are unstoppable forces that have emerged in the last century or two. These are products of the rationality of the mental stage; a stage reflecting the further emergence of mind of the individual. Now that same freedom is extending further, as each of us become aware of our ability to fulfill our individual dreams, to find self-fulfillment, to realize our human potential.

So in this emerging mental stage that we have now begun to enter, with its possibilities of freedom, human initiative, and self-determinism, we are very far from the determinism of the physical stage, where we deferred to the collective will in order to survive.

Yes there is a spiritual stage beyond the mental. That is obviously further out, but perhaps not as far out as we think.

As we begin to emerge through the mental stage, we begin to perceive that even the power of mind cannot be the ultimate salvation for humanity; for after all, the faculties of mind, as we have said, are decidedly limited. So there begins to develop a longing for some higher knowledge, some form of greater awareness and perception that mind cannot have. There is a subtle yearning for greater truths, greater insights, greater vision, greater happiness. There is a longing for deeper connection; an experience of spirit.

At some point individuals who have experienced an inner life of the spirit, who have begun to transform themselves to a higher physical, vital, and physical existence, who have experience the spirit in action in their lives, become the harbingers of a new collective life, a new divine life on earth.

This is the vision that Sri Aurobindo, the Indian sage and seer envisioned for the future. Of an emerging spiritual life beyond the mental. Of a spiritual stage of social development beyond the emerging mental based era we had now just begun to enter.

So we have these four stages of human development. Interestingly we see parallels of these stages to our own makeup; of our own physical, vital, mental, and spiritual makeup and progress. And human development and social development parallel the stages of development of the universe itself; of matter, animus of life, and mentality in the cosmos after the alleged Big Bang.

So this must indicate an extreme interrelatedness of all existence -- the universe, the society, and the individual. The evolution of these three must be closely interconnected.

The involution from the Divine; and evolution
of the universe, the individual, and society

Who I am is partly who I can be. The influence of society on who I can be is certainly great. Though in one sense I always have choice to determine who I can be, it is more likely to happen if society supports that choice.

In the mental stage which we have recently entered, society -- including our families, communities, government -- not only provide us with basic material well-being, education, and security, but it can also provide the proper environment for our success. Democracy, freedom, woman's liberation are movements in those directions. Society's value of fully supporting individual fulfillment would be another step in that direction. I believe it is coming.

So I can say that because of society, or rather within the social context I can be a free person, I can have the ability to choose, I can have the ability to determine my destiny, to fulfill my heart's desires in life. Whether this is true or not is in many ways determined by the social context in which I live.

We can also look at this from the perspective of the individual in his relationship to society. For example, in our research into the makeup of the person, we see that there are a lot of social factors that define the person. We call these social factors of the individual his endowments. Examples of individual endowments are whether or not I've had an affectionate family upbringing, whether or not there's been prosperity in the surrounding community, whether or not there's been a social environment that supports my fulfillment and development, and others.

Perhaps more fundamental than that is how I now personally relate to the social environment. I might ask myself which social entities do I strongly relate to. My family? My friends? My community? My country?

Which also raises the well-known psychological issue of whether I am outer directed by the social influences around me, or whether I am inner directed through my own aspirations and choices. Do I take my queues from the world around me, or are am I self-directed, true to my own interests, my own personal values and ideals.

Surely those who succeed the most have the proper blend of inner-directedness, mixed with a fundamental awareness of the world around him.

So the more we are self-directed, the better. On the other side, the more society supports our ability to be self-directed, our choice to be fulfilled, the better for all concerned. So the dynamic is interesting. We want to be able to self direct our lives to attain our potential, not depending solely on society's belief systems which can limit us, and yet society needs to support our ability to fulfill our potential, to support our ability to choose to take our lives in the directions we seek.

Well, let's talk about that society. Just as the individual is filled with the limitations and falsehoods he has inherited from the creation itself, so too the society has inherited its own falsehoods from creation!

Just as the human suffers the limitations of our physical, vital, and mental nature, so too the society had limitations at each of the physical, vital, and mental stages of its social development. And these limitations are still with us.

For example, the territoriality, brutality, domination, and submission is there from the physical stage in subtle forms. The egotism, passions, and greed of the vital stage is there too. These reflect in all of the divisions and dualities we witness in the world -- the disharmony, conflict, war, disease, and poverty.

(pause) We can see further parallels. The fundamental cause of suffering for the individual is his sense of separateness, born of his ego-sense that divides him, shuts him off from all other beings and things. Likewise it is the separateness of communities and nations, rooted in their own self-interests and egotism, which prevents greater harmony and development in the world.

All war and misery in the world is born of this lack of unity, rooted in ego. Sri Aurobindo said that all problems in life, including the relationships among social entities, are problems of harmony. If there is poverty in a nation, it might be less an issue of scarcity of resources, than one of lack of harmony amongst the player nations to work together to solve the problems in the first place.

So the more rapid society moves to greater harmony, the better for all of us. When social entities, such as companies, communities, and nations create greater harmony among themselves, then there is a more solid foundation established by which those social entities can also support us, support our individual efforts to fulfill our potential.

So who we are is in one sense determined by the social context in which we live. It's level of development, its harmony, unity, and integration with other parts, and in that sense is a key influence to who we are.

Also, what the society believes in effects us; though we have the right to ignore it!

Over the next decades and centuries we will continue to see the boon that society can offer every individual at birth. In such an improving environment, we are more and more likely to become all that we wish we can become.

So you do believe that society is growing, and can support our own growth in the future?

Remember society is also evolving. It is an entity like the individual. It has a deeper purpose, just as we have a deeper purpose. Our purpose on earth in one sense is to discover who we are by integrating the parts of our being so that we can accomplish more, be happy, enabling us to grow, develop, and evolve. Society is going through a similar process of development by which it organizes itself to higher levels of efficiency, by which it integrates and harmonizes with all related entities around it.

In the development of the individual and society there is a great discovery of what is possible, a great discovery that we are so much more than we thought, a great discovery of our infinite potential, including the spiritual potential that is hidden from us but which is emerging in the world.

And all of this discovery, by the individual and by society, is experienced as delight. This is the very delight that the Divine was seeking to occur when it created a universe from out of itself. So in that sense through their development the individual and society fulfill the very purpose of creation.

The sage Sri Aurobindo envisioned a point in the future where there would be, as he called it, a divine life on earth. At that point the individual would have reached an ultimate development, guided by the spirit. There would then emerge a growing group of such individuals; culminating in a new existence, this divine life on earth.

So who am I? I am the totality of my nature. And that nature extends in all directions; to my makeup, to my inner self, and outward to the world around me, and the universe itself.

We know that we are the product of a long process that began before creation. Some spiritual aspect of existence, call it the Divine, manifest a universe of forms for the purpose of delight of being. In our universe matter and then life and then mind developed. We are the product of that long evolution. Also, as we evolve, as we discover our true nature, we experience the very delight for which purpose the Divine created a universe. In that sense then, discovery of delight points to who we are and who we can be.

We also suggested that what we are made up of parallels the very nature of the universe itself. The universe consists of a physical aspect that is matter, a vital aspect that is the animus of life that evolved out of matter, and mind that evolved from the animus of life. We too consist of a physical aspect, in the form of our bodies made up of matter. We also have a corresponding vital being, which mirrors the animus of life in the universe. And we are the first embodiment of the principle of mind.

If we look more closely we can see that these three planes of our being can actually be broken out into nine divisions, ranging from the base physical matter to the highest level of pure thinking. Every individual has a status at these planes or levels, and as he grows and evolves he strengthens himself at these various levels, or even shifts his center of consciousness to higher levels; for example from the vital to the mental, or from sense-bound mind to pure thinking, logical mind. Also from our analysis we can make some general observations about people such as if the person is a more physical-oriented person, or more vital and emotional, or more mental. We have said that most people today are centered in their vital consciousness, of need, desire, want, social-connectedness, and vital attachment. Few are centered at the levels of mind, even though they, of course, use their mind all the time.

So each person has unique propensities within this vertical scale of consciousness. But we are also changing beings; we are slowly or more rapidly improving ourselves. So what I am is in that sense both who I am now and what I am becoming.

We have also have examined the person in terms of whether he is centered at the surface or the depths of his being. This gives us another perspective of who we are. As we move into the depths, we become a more aware, more understanding, more in tune with our surroundings individual.

On the other hand, these analyses up and down a vertical scale of consciousness, or from the surface to the depths of a horizontal scale of consciousness, don't tell us who the person is in terms of what his aspirations are, what he is trying to become, where he is headed in life. So if we examine the person in terms of these -- of what the person believes in, where he is headed to, what he is trying to accomplish in life -- perhaps that will give us a clearer snapshot of the person.

Fortunately we have done some interesting work over the years in this area. In collaboration with Mother's Service Society we have identified a number of the keys in a person's life that address these aspects of the person. If we understand these keys, then we can understand who we are from the perspective of our aspirations, direction, and purpose in life.

I think if we frame our discussion in terms of our attempt to accomplish more and succeed more in life, it will bring out these issues of our aspiration, direction, and purpose in life.

The first thing and perhaps the most obvious thing we have noticed about a person's ability to accomplish and be successful in life is that it is very much determined by his or her attitudes. Attitudes are a titanic aspect of our being. In some ways it is the ultimate determinant, or indeterminant, of who we are in life, and whether we can accomplish in life.

As you might recall the vital plane of our being consists of our urges, desires, feelings and emotions. Also centered in our vital being are our attitudes. Attitudes are kind of like thought-based emotions. On our 1-9 table, attitudes are within the vital plane at level 4, where the pure emotions and feelings of level 5 have been tinged or influenced by mind. In other words, attitudes are in essence mentalized emotions.

As you can imagine there are many attitudes that people have; and they dominate our very existence.

Yes, having a generally positive attitude is critical for success in life. People who bring a positive attitude toward a situation, or who tend to take a difficult situation and put a positive spin on things, definitely tend to accomplish and succeed, all things being equal, at much higher levels than pessimists and grumblers.

So knowing whether we have such an attitude will tell us a great deal about who we are. We can all simply ask ourselves whether or not we have a positive attitude in life.

Attitudes is obviously a very rich subject of inquiry. For example, beyond whether we have a generally positive attitude, we can also look at the many specific attitudes that we have. There are so many of them, and we seem to exist in them at every moment. So if I can identify how I express at each of these attitudes, then I can go a long way to understanding who I am, and what my character is at that point.

Well we have identified a few categories of attitude, which should make our understanding a bit easier. Specifically, we have identified attitudes about ourselves, about things and objects, about other people, and about life itself. We can certainly get a better idea of our nature and character by analyzing ourselves within these categories of attitudes.

Take attitudes towards others. For example, one woman I know had a bad attitude toward one of her fellow workers. She had a hard time shedding this feeling. Well one of the things about attitudes is that they can change. So she decided to shed this bad attitude. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, good things started happening to her. At work she was suddenly asked to work on new challenging assignments. Out of nowhere was called up by higher ups to get her opinions on things. She suddenly got a raise. At the home front good things also started happening to her family. This all started happening after she changed her bad attitude toward the other person.

Interestingly, no one really knew of, or experienced first hand, her change in attitude! Life had simply responded positively in kind, on its own, without the knowledge or cooperation of others, to her inner change in attitude.

This is, by the way, one of the great secrets of life. Change a limiting aspect of your being, and life responds in kind, instantly and miraculously; abridging time, space, and all of our conceptions of cause and effect, of logic. We discuss this instantaneous miraculous phenomenon of "life response" throughout the Growth Online site. I would urge our viewers to learn as much as possible about this extraordinary phenomenon of life. It is a great secret, and it is an amazing, energizing, fun, joyful thing to experience.

(pause) So that's attitudes about others. We also have attitudes about things and objects around us. For example, one person decided to overcome his attitude of reluctance to clean his dirty refrigerator, and saw life instantly respond by giving him six months worth of consulting work! Yet another person decided not to have bad feelings toward an important piece of machinery that had broken down, which had stopped all work for his crew for days, and was stunned when almost instantly after changing his attitude toward the machine it started working again, and better than ever before!

So there are attitudes we have about others, about things; as well as attitudes about ourselves and life itself. So who I am is in one sense how I measure up in my attitudes in life.

(pause) But it is true; there are so many individual attitudes that people have. So where to begin? One way to gain a better knowledge about what all of these attitudes are is to consider how others, in particular famous historical figures, expressed such attitudes. Henry VIII for one was renowned for the richness of his attitudes -- both good and bad! For example, by the later part of his life we can say that he had become a selfish, stubborn, indulgent, uncouth, even paranoid individual. These are some of his negative attitudes. Of course, he had a number of positive ones too.

So we can think about such famous individuals as Henry VIII, Lincoln, Elizabeth, and come up with a list of their positive and negative traits. Likewise we can of course also do the same for ourselves. If we are honest and sincere, we can think about our own positive and negative attitudes. Or if that's too hard, we can muster up some courage and ask others to give their evaluation!

So if you want to know who you are, then list your positive and negative attitudes, and evaluate the results. Especially notice the negative ones; and then consider way that you can break the attitude in your life. It's not easy, but it can be done, as a key to who you can become.

At Growth Online we have a table that lists most of the major attitudes. We can easily run down that list and see how we fare among them. That'll go a long way to determining who we are, what our nature and character is.

ATTITUDES		ATTITUDES
Positive expression	Negative expression	Positive expression	Negative expression
accepts authority	rebellious	jealous, not	jealous
affectionate	distant, cold	kind	mean
ambitious	self-satisfied	mature	immature
aspiring	self-satisfied	modest	vain
candid	closed, secretive	open-minded	close-minded
caring	callous	optimistic	pessimistic
considerate	inconsiderate	persistent	relenting
cooperative	uncooperative, combative	realistic	naive
courageous	fearful	respectful	disrespectful
courteous	rude	responsive	unresponsive
devoted	hostile	self-confident	lack of self confidence
does what is right	does what is convenient	self-directed	directed by externals
enthusiastic	unenthusiastic	self-disciplined	undisciplined, indulgent
expansive	tight, constricting	self-esteem, high	self-esteem, low
faith in life	life can't be trusted	self-giving	self-centered
faith in oneself	lack of faith in self	self-reliant	dependent
faith in others	others can't be relied on	selfless	selfish
flexible	inflexible, rigid, stubborn	sensitive	insensitive
forgiving	resentful, spiteful	serious	silly, trivial, petty
freedom given to others	authoritarian, controlling	sincere	insincere
friendly	hostile	social independence	social approval required
frugal	wasteful	sympathetic	unsympathetic
generous	stingy, selfish	takes others point of view	insists on own view
goodwill	ill-will	thoughtful of others	thoughtless, callous
grateful	ungrateful, treacherous	trusting	suspicious, mistrusting
honest	dishonest, deceiving	unpretentious	pretentious, proud
humble	arrogant, ego-centric	unselfish	selfish
interested	indifferent	willing does	stubborn, unwilling
involved	complacent	work comes first	convenience first

Fortunately we are not just who we are, but what we wish to become. So making any serious and sincere attempt to overcome a few of our key negative attitudes, will quickly change who we are. Plus such an effort will certainly lead to some dramatic turnaround or improvement in our lives. if our goal is more accomplishment and success in life, then there is no faster way of bringing it about than overcoming a key negative attitude. Life absolutely insists on responding in kind to a change in attitude. There is no greater way to elicit what we call luck in our lives than shedding our limiting attitudes. I can't emphasize this enough!

So attitudes seem like the big one. Its the big knot of our existence. If we can somehow loosen these knots, we can open ourselves to greater possibilities in life.

(pause) But you know even with all of the right attitudes in the world, you still might not succeed and accomplish in life. For example, I know a number of people who are quite positive in their being, quite positive in their attitudes, and yet they don't seem to come close to reaching their potential. One person I know of one is one of the sweetest people, has the softest nature, yet is not able to get over the hump, is not able to rise to the next level of success, because there are other things lacking in his nature.

One of those things is strength. I don't mean physical strength, but emotional or psychological strength. This is a trait that many lack. In particular, it is often lacking in very good people.

For example, there was a businessperson who had a partner. The partner was outspoken, crude, and not very easy to like. The "good" partner was conscientious, well mannered, and civilized. One day the good partner realized that what he himself lacked, the crude partner had in abundance. That was strength; strength to act, strength to stand up to adversity, and strength to take control.

When the well-mannered partner finally realized his limitations and exercised his strength, everything began to go right in the company. Orders suddenly came in, and energy increased all around him, throughout the company. Moreover, the crude partner stopped his crude behavior, and even cowered before him. Life had then surely responded in kind to his change!

So that's the power of strength in life. It is especially interesting to see how life responds when weaker people feel and act from a new born strength. It's remarkable!

Though strength might just seem like another attitude, it is really a different type of attribute in our being. It is certainly a great key that influences our ability to accomplish, succeed, and be happy in life.

So we can easily measure ourselves, of who we are, by our strength of character and being.

Yes. In fact for others the problem is not lack of strength, but too much strength, or rather an abuse of strength. For example a person can be strong to the point of being inconsiderate or intolerant of others. His problem is not lacking strength, but more likely to be an inability to be giving to others. He may need to consider his attitudes towards others, such as his respectfulness, tolerance, sensitivity, and good will toward others.

By the way I would add that the happiest people seem to be those who are the most giving to others. So we say that if you want to be happy, then shed all of your egotistic qualities, and reach out to others, and be giving. We know it's not an easy thing to change one's nature in such a way, but it can be done. The character Rita in the wonderful film Educating Rita went to a whole other plane of existence! Surely we can rise from selfishness and egotism to givingness. At Growth Online we are found of saying, "grow by giving."

So two of the keys to accomplishment, success, and happiness in life are one's attitudes and one's strength of being. They are centered in the vital, emotional part of our nature.

(pause) On the other hand an individual can have the highest, most positive attitudes in the world, be the strongest and most caring person, and still not really succeed in life. That person may be lacking in two key mental areas of his being - in his level of knowledge and skills, and the degree to which he is organized.

Take knowledge and skills. You may be most humble farmer in India who has the kindest feelings to others, who even has great strength to deal with the adversities of nature, and yet remains a poor farmer because he doesn't have the knowledge and skills to take him to the next plateau of success. If he were to acquire these, he would be well on his way toward higher achievement for him and his family.

So we can each ask ourselves: do we have all the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful in life? In particular, do we have all the necessary technical skills required of our work? Also do we have the optimal interpersonal and psychological skills, so we're better able to interact with others and deal with difficult situations?

In addition to skills we also have to consider if we have the necessary knowledge to be effective in life. How much do we know about things around us, goings on in the world, and so forth.. Then related to that is the question of whether we have the awareness of what is out there, what is possible for us. Perhaps even more fundamental than that is whether we are simply inquisitive enough in the first place to seek out new possibilities. Five hundred years ago Queen Elizabeth sent people around the world in search of knowledge. She did so because she was inquisitive by nature. She sought to know things other than what she or others already knew.

So in considering who we are we must consider our levels of skills and knowledge to function in the world, our level of awareness of what is possible for us, and our inquisitiveness to seek out what is possible. We can certainly measure who we are by evaluating ourselves in these areas.

It's actually really simple. Those who are organized have a far greater chance of succeeding in life than those who aren't. In these ever-accelerating times, life is becoming more and more complex; time is of the essence. These facts make it all the more important that each of us make the effort to continually raise our level of personal organization.

Our degree of organization expresses in a number of ways -- in our level of cleanliness and orderliness; whether or not we are punctual and on time; how we manage our time, our schedules; how we organize our work; how we plan for the future; even the very way we think and react, can be organized. The list goes on.

So in asking the question of who we are, we must consider what level of organization we are developed at. Just like our attitudes, our strength, our ability to give to others, our knowledge and skills, our degree of organization in life defines who we are. How many times have you heard someone say of another "gee he's a pretty disorganized person." Well whoever is saying that is defining that person in terms of his level organization.

(pause) You know organization is everywhere around us. The computer is a system of organization. The Internet on which our viewers are reading this interview is a vast amalgam of systems of organization. Our brain is a great system of organization. Even the universe, with its galaxies, solar systems, yes systems (!), is a form of organization.

On the surface organization might not sound exciting, but organization is everywhere, is in everything. It is in every process that exists in life; from the process of walking, running, and learning, to the process of creation, accomplishment, and perfection. I say that because a process is, after all, a formulation, an organization of steps, events that enable results to come about.

I would also argue that even the process that enabled the cosmos to emerge from out of a Divine Source, was and is a cosmic manifestation of organization. I think there's a whole world to discover in that idea!

Organization is also what enables the greatest efficiencies in life to occur; enabling time and space to be abridged. In these ever-accelerating times, we need to match that speed of unfolding with our own efficiency that will keep up. Organization is that ultimate efficiency for us, that can enable us to abridge space and time.

One could even say that organization is everything that makes life easier, faster, and most efficient. Perhaps the spiritual Divine itself is the ultimate organization, because if we open to its power. It has the greatest efficiency to bring the greatest results in the shortest period of time.

(pause) Then there's the other mental key -- direction. Perhaps the greatest of all of the key areas that determine success, achievement, and happiness in life is direction. Direction provides the answer to such questions as: What do I value in my life? Where am I headed? What do I want to achieve? How do I get there?

When we speak of direction we are essentially referring to one's focus in life. That focus begins with a vision of what one wishes to become, attain, or achieve.

So I must ask myself - what do I aspire for, what do I want to achieve? What is my vision of what I want to become in life? For one person the vision is to become more prosperous. For another it is to find meaning in life. Yet another wants to avail himself of opportunities in the world. There are endless visions; and surely we can define ourselves by our inner vision in our minds of what we can become.

Then once you have developed a vision of a becoming, you need to set specific goals to clarify and focus that vision. Such goals can be quantitative, objective goals, like "I want to make a million dollars this year," or "I want to move into the new house by July;" or they can be more qualitative, subjective goals, such as "I'd like to see a greater degree of harmony in my family;" or "I want to work with others more so I can feel less isolated."

Then you have to have the will and determination to see that your vision, your goals, actually come about in your life.

So the sum total of one's vision, goals, and determination to achieve them is our direction. The more direction you have in life, the more you are likely to accomplish at greater levels. Without direction, your energies are not focused; you are unlikely to go much of anywhere; in fact you may even regress.

Maybe people don't have direction because they don't know what's really important to them.

Yes, that's where personal values enter the picture. Without personal values it's pretty hard to have any direction. A person needs to know what he wants out of life; and that ties into what he truly believes in, where his sentiments lie, what he truly values.

So what is a personal value? A value is a sentiment, a belief, or a philosophy that is really meaningful to us. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work or self-reliance, to values such as teamwork or tolerance toward others or believing in service to the community.

When we examine the lives of famous people we often learn of the important personal values that guided their lives. We also realize that it was their personal values that propelled them to their great success and achievement. For example, one famous actor was motivated by his commitment to the value of social justice, leading to important acting roles related to that value. A famous business CEO was motivated by the personal value that computers should be easy to use for the average person, enabling him to initiate the computer revolution. Whatever the personal values were, it was ultimately their belief in and commitment to a value, plus a driving determination to see it through, that led to their great success.

So in asking who I am, I can easily ask what do I value, what is truly meaningful to me? That will tell you a great deal about who you are. I can't think of anything more important in defining what a person is at heart.

Finally I would add that if we were to think of ourselves at the most fundamental level, even more fundamental than our bodies, we are in essence energy.

Energy is the fuel of life. The more fuel we have, the more that we can accomplish in life.

Certainly if you are driven by personal values, have direction and motivation, are organized to the hilt, have all the necessary skills and knowledge in life, and have the right attitudes, you are likely to have more than abundant energy in your life!

So in defining who I am, I can examine myself in terms of my energy. Am I full of energy, or an energy-less person? Am I like the Count of Monte Cristo who is filled with energy, motivated by undoing a wrong; or am I listless, lifeless, merely going through the motions of life? Am I like the health advocate Jack Lalane, more energetic at 80, then 98% of the adult population of the world.

So our very aliveness can be measured in our level of energy. Can we define ourselves or measure ourselves in anything more fundamental?

we've got a pretty long list of attributes now related to our ability to accomplish.

Yes. In evaluating ourselves, in determining who we really are, we must ask ourselves these basic questions -

What do I truly value in life? These are my personal values. Do I have the aspiration, goals, and determination in life? This is my direction. Do I have the organization to maximize my efficiency in life? Do I have the skills and knowledge to succeed? Do I have the psychological strength to handle the challenges of life? Am I a giving person so that I can be happy in life? Do I have the proper positive attitudes towards others, things, towards life in general? And do I have the abundant energy that enables me to be all the things I wish to be?

When we can know the answers to these questions, then we can truly begin to know who we are.

(pause) I would just add one other point here. Though we have described a number of these keys to accomplishment in life, we have described them in isolation from one another. In fact they also work together in a very very special way.

I'd like to introduce the idea that just as a Divine Creator, followed a process that enabled the universe to come about, to be created, we in our lives are following a similar process of creation. If we understand this process of creation that enables all accomplishment in life, we will go a long way to understanding who we are, and what we are in the process of becoming.

We are all going through the process of creation in our lives. It is the process by which we create results from some starting point, such as a vision or decision. We go through this process consciously or unconsciously. 99% of the time it is unconscious. Over the course of time, we just do what we must do, compelled by life and circumstances. This is unconsciously following the process. An individual can go through a lifetime, and achieve a limited result, pushed by Nature and circumstances.

However, if that person consciously follows the process of creation and accomplishment, he can literally abridge a lifetime into a year, a few moths; even a day, or instantly! When we consciously follow the process, we gather the energy of our being, turn into a force, and then a power that gathers, coagulates, and then turns into results of accomplishment. When we follow the process consciously, we vastly expand, direct, and concentrate our base energy; we overcome space and time, cause and effect, resulting in great accomplishment and a great delight and joy of being.

The universe consciously followed this process, and it led to an entire universe! We can follow a similar process in our own being, which can lead to infinite accomplishment, success, joy, and delight in our lives. The very same secret process of creation that enabled the cosmos is there for our taking. It is a staggering concept, and it is perhaps the greatest power and process in all of life.

So if we can follow this process of creation and accomplishment in our lives we can create the greatest efficiency in life; so that the greatest results occur in the shortest period of time.

The process is how I move from what I envision, what I decide on accomplishing, to its actual coming about as results.

Even the specific steps involved in the process mirror to a great degree the steps of the Divine Source to manifest our universe. So to begin with Divine had in one sense a vision of creation; which in the end occurred as a result, our universe. Likewise can consciously follow a similar process in our lives to create great results from our vision.

For us then the process begins with a vision of that which we want to come about. That vision can be stated as the quantitative goals we want to see come about, such as wanting a 20% salary increase; or the qualitative goals we want to occur, such as wanting more harmony in my family, or wanting a higher quality of service in my business, or wanting to give back to the community. The qualitative goals we want to occur are in essence our personal values.

Once we have the vision of that which we want, expressed through our quantitative goals and personal values, the process continues, with our will and determination, and ultimately our decision to see that the vision comes about as real results. Without the will and the decision, the vision remains just that, a vision, something not turned into a reality.

So together we call our vision, goals, values, will, and decision our direction in life. Without a direction we are less than human. We are just the puppets of the long term, slow, and torturous process of Nature.

We can also restate this in terms of energy. We can say that it is through our direction in life that we take the starting energy we have at that point in time and convert it into a force for accomplishment. As a directed force that energy is now far more likely to coagulate at some point thereafter into results.

The process continues. In order for this vision/decision to come about, it needs to be developed further in detail, specifics and plan of execution. This is what we call organization. When we organize into specific details and plans the original vision/decision, the energy behind it that was a force, is now turned into power. The energy that has now been organized as coagulated and intensified power is ready to bear fruit as results.

So there is the vision/decision, which is the direction, and then organization of the direction in its details and plans of action. Still we have no results!

Results will depend on two things. First, our skilled execution of the details of the plan of action we have organized. Second it will depend on our attitudes we bring to carrying out of the details of the plan. If we carry out the plans of action that we organized, through great skills and higher attitudes, the results come in great abundance. Overwhelming accomplishment, success, and joy will abound. Life will respond seemingly from out of nowhere; instantly and miraculously. And as a result we experience once again the great delight of being; the reason for which we exist on earth.

At that point the energy that had directed as force, organized as power, materializes, becomes substance of results. If one followed the process to perfection then the results come from any and everywhere, appear suddenly, without regard to our normal notions of cause and effect, of space and time. We have tapped into the infinite power of creation, which enables infinite results, that appear to act in what Sri Aurobindo called "instantaneous miraculousness."

Actually, you can apply this process to any act in life, whether or not it is important. For example, I had been doing a hobby type project for myself for over a year to take photographs along the edge of San Francisco Bay in order to trace the interesting diversity of the bodies of water contained there; inlets, marshes, deltas, estuaries, etc. I hadn't worked on the project in a while. Then on one particular day I wanted to photograph the next significant shoreline north of my pervious location. This was in essence my vision and decision, together making up the direction of the act. I also decided that I wanted to study the location on the map before I set out, so I would know where I was going, where it was located, and its relationship to past areas I had taken photos of. In essence this was the organization of the details and plans of action. I also had a generally positive attitude about the idea, since I was more than happy to do this work; plus I had pretty much had the necessary skills needed to execute the act.

So I set out on carrying out my plan. When I arrived at the location it turned out to be an exceedingly beautiful spot, far surpassing my expectations. It had a beautiful hillside view of the bay, the weather was unusually warm and clear, the air was still, plus there was hardly anyone at the site, making it wonderfully serene and peaceful. Even the bathrooms were clean! In other words, the result was great, exceeding my expectations, because I followed the process of accomplishment and creation from beginning to end.

I had in essence turned a directed vision and decision, through organization, and skilled execution into material results. I had directed my energy into a force for accomplishment; organized that energy further into a power, and turned through skilled action and attitude that potential power of energy into substance of results. The results were life responding out of all proportion, with instantaneous miraculousness.

Plus there was that added benefit of great joy and delight. I was fulfilling the Divine's purpose, delight.

So yes I can consciously apply this process to anything in life; to any act, such as the photo shoot, which was just a hobby. It can be applied to any event, to any project, to any major attempt to improve my condition in life, even to an attempt to take my life to a whole new plane of existence.

When I apply this process I apply in essence the same process that enabled the universe to come about from a Divine Source. The key idea here is that by following this process, I create the most efficient method of taking me from vision to results. I in essence tap into the same process of efficiency that enabled an entire universe to suddenly burst out from a Divine Source.

In one sense as I engage that process of creation in various aspects of my life, I become one with the Divine purpose.

So as I utilize the process in my life, I open myself to the greatest efficiency in life; one that creates the greatest accomplishment in the least amount of time.

So who I am can in that sense be measured by my level of efficiency in life. Who I am is the ease, speed, rapidity -- that is the efficiency -- I make use of. By following the process of creation I create the greatest efficiency; I create the greatest efficiency of that which I am, and that which I am becoming.

Process of creation, accomplishment for the individual
(greatest efficiency on life)

Let's take a basic situation. A person is sitting around the dinner table; we notice his posture, how he holds his eating utensils, the way he defers to another in speech, whether he is polite and courteous. Those are his manners. The way he functions this way on the surface, in this social situation, toward another person, are his manners.

So if an individual is a developed social person, he is conscious of the importance of the social environment around him. Thus he tends to show courteous manners; he is a well-mannered individual. But remember these manners are more on the surface of things, of the social interaction than the deeper rooted, self-oriented, psychological part of the person.

No we can't, his manners are on the surface, and do not tell us much of anything of the person below. That's why one should not come to any conclusions about another based on his manners. That person can have perfect manners, but we cannot tell if he is an angel or a devil.

In the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin the heroine of the story, Eliza, a bright and insightful individual, is captured by the young man Wickham's manners and charms. It turns out that he was a total scoundrel! On the other hand, she was also miffed by another gentleman's haughty outer manner, unfortunately completely missing a good deal of the better parts of his character. Fortunately, this was the man she would eventually marry, instead of the treacherous and false Wickham. In either case, from the manners of the person, we don't know much more than the surface about the person.

Somewhat deeper than manners is the person's behavior. In this case the psychologically developed social person senses that he must not merely have manners, but that there is a purpose and truth in having such manners. When he senses this truth in social manners, he in essence acquires behavior.

Behavior is the way in which a person conducts himself, performs, or responds to a certain set of conditions. Behavior still is focused on the social perception, rather than being a reflection of who the person truly is. It is tied to the surface, to the social truth, instead of the person's deeper nature, his individual truth.

Moreover, the behavior of the person one day may be different than on another. For example, though most of my training classes go generally well, occasionally a few go poorly. If someone were to judge the way I conducted myself at that particular moment, they might have thought ill of me and judged my behavior perhaps to be slightly rude or uncouth. To truly know me, they need to know something of who I truly am as an individual, not merely as a social being. That something that emanates directly from the individual person is his character.

Then what is character? To answer this we need to know about the human traits that make up the individual. At Growth Online we have attempted to list out all of the major factors or traits that make up the person. This list includes one's attitudes, such as whether the person is friendly, or courteous, or caring; other attributes, such as whether he is punctual or organized; and endowments, such as whether or not he has had a good family upbringing, or his parents have been affectionate or prosperous. We have identified over 200 of these traits. Some of them express positively, such as whether he is tolerant and open-minded, while many others express negatively, such as whether he is stingy, rude, close-minded, intolerant, and so forth.

We have even made some limited efforts to create a computer program that measures the person this way; as a way to help a person lift himself to the next level in his life; but such efforts haven't gone very far, and are still there for us to pursue in the future. It's an exciting area of possibility for us.

So what does this have to do with character? Well, if we were to analyze a particular person across these 200 plus traits, we would see that some traits really stand out for that individual. For example, any family member who has been around that person would surely sense that person's unique, dominating traits.

It is a bit like the generic code. We have lots of genes. Some of the genes seem to be switched on, and others switched off. Some are more dominant, while others are more recessive. Likewise, if we were to examine a person's individual personality traits we would see that some are more dominant and visible, while others are less dominant or do not express at all. These dominant ones express that person's character. So one person's character tends to be idealistic, cerebral, and rebellious, while another is passionate and determined to achieve; and yet another is a self-indulgent simpleton; and another is a kind, caring soul. These are example of the character of a few different individuals.

So in thinking about who I am, I can ask myself who I am or how I fare across this continuum of the individual: How would I evaluate my manners? What form does my behavior take? If per chance you couldn't figure it out on your own, you can always summon up the courage to get someone else's opinion!

In addition, in determining who I am, I can ask what is the nature of my character? What dominant traits seem to express in me. This will give you a very important insight into knowing your nature, of who you are. One person's character might be idealistic, cerebral, and rebellious, while another's is kind, caring soul. But what is mine? What are the dominating traits that stand out for me? That will give you insight into your character.

One other thing we should note about character is that it tends to reflect on your capacities in life, such as your capacity to accomplish, succeed, and be happy in life. So if you were to identify your capacities in life, you would see how they are very much tied into your individual character.

One other thing we should note about character is that it tends not to change very much; its rather fixed in nature. That's because it is made up of the very substance of the individual. It is formed by Nature and life, rather than by our own self. The traits we have, including the dominant ones issue, which combine to make up our character issue from Nature own course and development, and is not really representative of something that we ourselves determined.

You know when I was an adolescent I won an award for having the most character of anyone in my graduating class. I was never sure precisely what that meant, though I was glad to receive it. In light of our definition of character, perhaps I understand a bit more about the truer meaning of the term, though I am not sure my school masters intended it that way!

Well, there are levels of being in the individual that even go deeper than the character of the person. Whereas character is the formed, organized part of the individual, there are more subtle deeper shadings of the individual that are less visible, less organized and formed in the person's being.

For example, sometimes in life we are confronted by something new. That something new might be a great challenge or a great difficulty in our lives. In such situations something in us can rise to meet this significant new occasion. That part of ourselves that rises to meet the new challenging situation we call personality. There is something deep down, in our being, that rises, coagulates from something, previously unformed, into something formed, to meet that challenge. Perhaps we can say that that what rises to meet the new reality issues from the essence of our character.

When Michael Gorbachev met the challenge of a crumbling Soviet state and internally changed it into a more democratic state, he was utilizing his force of personality. Some formerly unformed, unorganized part of his being, perhaps the idealism and insight that make up the essence of his character, coagulated, came together, rose to the challenge of the situation; enabling the unprecedented solutions he devised that changed the course of human history.

Personality then is the terrain from which greatness can be born, from which greatness acts. It is where originality stems from, such as any originality of love, courage, capacity, and creativity in the arts or in writing. Personality is where our original resourcefulness for accomplishment lays, outside of our formed character.

It's important to note that whereas manners, behavior, and character issue from Nature, from life, personality comes from the unformed essence of the self, of the individual.

By the way I should point out that by the word "personality" I am not referring to a person's outer mannerisms and behavior as in the expression "she has a great personality." Rather I am speaking of the deeper personality of the being, of the person.

Not quite. Beyond personality is the person's true self, his true Individuality, with a capital I. This is in essence his soul being. It is the part of him that connects to the spirit within him, and to the Divine spirit, to God.

When an individual is born, a soul enters into him. This soul or psychic being has existed in other bodies as well, in previous incarnations, and has now entered your body to continue its journey. Yes, that means our individualized soul is evolving too, just as we are. That soul takes on our particular body so that through our development, it can absorb the essence of that development, enabling the soul to further evolve. If there is no chance for that soul to evolve further through that individual, it leaves the person; the person in essence dies.

So the person's Individuality is his ability to be in touch with his individualized soul being. When a person moves to the deepest part of himself, into the deepest depths, away from the surface of life, he has the opportunity to get in touch with this personalized soul being, which Sri Aurobindo calls the psychic being. When the individual touches his psychic or soul being, what emerges is his Individuality, with a capital I. At that point he is in touch with the deeper, wider, subtler spectrum of forces of life; to the universal forces of the cosmos; and connects with the Divine spirit, the Divine Source of all creation, which we call the Absolute, Brahman, or God.

At this level of Inner Individuality one is far from the driving forces of Nature from which manners, behavior, and character issue. One is, in essence, in touch with the true self. When one touches the true self, he develops this Inner Individuality.

(pause) So we have this enormous scope, this continuum of being that goes from the surface to the depths from manners to behavior to character to personality to inner Individuality. Who we are is in essence how we express across this continuum of our being.

I believe we have now moved closer to the heart of things. In fact all of the areas we have discussed so far indicate who the person is. But when I ask the question who am I, am I asking what am I made up of; or who is the real me, the essence of me? That is a question we have only begun to address. That can only be answered by bringing in once again the realm of spirit.

(pause) We have described a number of views of the person. Yet if we were to examine each perspective we would see that the highest point in each view can be expressed as spirit.

Let's go back to our theory of creation again. We said that the universe was created from spirit, from an Omnipresent Reality, a Divine Source. Also in the forms of matter that manifest in the universe, spirit is there too; hidden, involved as potential, as seed ready to burst forth into higher forms of itself; from matter to life and from life to mind, and eventually mind to spirit. Spirit is not only the culmination of our development in consciousness, but it's also the force that compels each aspect to emerge out of itself. Spirit involved in the physical enabled the vital; spirit in the vital evolved the mental.

When the mental emerges, something great happens. He can now perceive, he can be conscious of the fact that there has been any emergence at all. The mind of the conscious human perceives where he has come from, and also has a small glimmer of the spiritual domains to which he can ascend. From that glimmer he can organize his being so that the spirit can further emerge, thus hastening the evolution of himself and human existence.

Just like the process of creation that we spoke of, this movement in the universe upward through these stages, is also a process. It's the process of human evolution. It's the process of evolution of the universe itself. In fact there are really two processes going on. The first is the process that enabled the universe to come about; the second is the process that happens after that.

Sri Aurobindo has described these processes. The first process he describes is the process by which the Divine manifest a universe of forms. This he calls the involution. When the involution is complete, when the universe first begins, the reverse process begins, the evolution. In the evolution we move from spirit to matter; and in the evolution we move from matter in the universe to life to mind to spirit.

One question that arises is why would he call this process that enabled the creation to come out of a timeless, spaceless, nameless Divine Reality an involution? It's because the source of all creation is spirit; spirit created the universe. However in creating it, spirit hid itself in the forms of creation. Spirit was hidden, involved in that which was created. Once the universe began, the evolution also began, with one aspect emerging from the other. As one aspect emerges from another, the spirit involved in each further emerges.

Everything! We too are involved spirit, which is hidden within us, that is waiting to emerge. Now in the mental stage of human evolution we can make a conscious choice to further bring out the spirit within us, within life, that is there throughout the universe, that is there unmanifest as a Divine Source, and manifest in everything in existence.

When we connect to spirit, we come in touch with our true nature; our truest essence.

So in defining who I am, I must ask to what degree I am connected with spirit. What I am is the degree to which I am in touch with my soul, and the Divine Soul that permeates creation. This is related to the Individuality, capital I, we spoke of before. This also related to the psychic, inner being, our soul being that we spoke of in the deepest depths of our being. This is also a form of higher, spiritual mind above our current level 1 functioning of mind. It is also the Divine spirit from which all creation came about. And it is also there as a new evolutionary Divine Force, a new evolutionary Truth consciousness that we can open to, that is at our disposal that can fundamentally change all aspects of our existence.

If spirit is our true nature, then how do we actually make the connection to the spirit?

There are many ways. The religions of the world have addressed this. So have the philosophies, the psychologies. There are so many approaches. Even Nature, life itself, is compelling us to find our true being; though that could take thousands of years, if at all, because Nature works very slowly.

Actually any of the ways that we have described in this discussion ultimately leads to the doorway of spirit. We can rise above the level of mind to spirit. That is, we can evolve beyond our mental consciousness to something higher that was not there before. We can also go into the depths of our being and find the inner being, our personal soul to find spirit. There we can not only experience our own personal soul being, but we can through that approach connect to the universal consciousness and even the transcendent spiritual consciousness that enabled a universe to come about.

(pause) Let's see if I can make this practical. Let's go back on our walk. I have awoken, dressed and am now I'm on my walk. It is a morning further in the future. As I walk on the path I feel something inside me, a spirit indwelling within me. Or, perhaps, I feel a connection to the Divine, to God, coming from the outside into me. In either case, as I walk, I a feel some spiritual essence; one that is different than the normal sensations of my body, the emotions and desires of my vital, or the incessant thoughts and half-truths of my mind. I am thus walking in spirit.

If I can also incorporate this experience in the various activities during the day, then I can incorporate the plane of spirit into my life. Whether I find spirit by going to the depths of my being or feeling it coming in from the outside, my center of consciousness has shifted. From that spiritual poise I am open to the wider possibilities that spirit enables. I connect more with others; I am further from my ego and its separateness, and more in tune with a wider existence. Also incidentally I may experience psychic phenomena in my day, such as synchronicity of events, sudden life response of good fortune, sudden bursts of intuition of knowledge and understanding, and others. I am thus operating from a great efficiency, because living in such a way I can abridge time and space; make the seemingly impossible possible. And of course in the process I feel that incessant joy and delight of being.

In addition to the spectrum of possibility that arises when one is in touch with spirit, we can open to and utilize the spirit's aspect of Force to create great accomplishment, success, and happiness in my daily activities. At various places at Growth Online we speak of "the Force." This Force is somewhat similar to the force they speak of in Star Wars, as in "Always remember the force, Luke." The Force for us is the dynamic aspect of spirit that can be utilized to accomplish. If, for example, you open to the Force before commencing an activity, you will see that activity go exceedingly well. In other words, life responds very positively by invoking this Force to that act. We call this process of invoking the Force into an act consecration.

I remember one class I was teaching where I used this technique of consecration. Everything was going wrong in the morning session. People were cranky, I was miffed, the lessons were all fowled up, the equipment was failing. It got so bad that I was hesitant to even show up for the afternoon session for the group. So I offered the whole situation to the spiritual Force. I said to myself "I am about to do this afternoon session. I offer it to you, this Higher Power, the Force. I will now go ahead without further ado and concern, and begin the session; with faith in your action." Well after around a half hour I realized that everything in the class was going perfect! All the problems of the morning session had completely evaporated! In addition, there was a supreme feeling of well being of calm, even peace in that room. There was a silence there that bordered on spiritual silence.

So one can open to this Force before commencing any activity, or any special event or situation. That's consecration. It's a great method for keeping spirit active and utilitarian in our daily existence. It produces great results.

I mention this because it is difficult to stay connected with the spirit, as I was doing on the hypothetical walk. For the whole day seems almost impossible. Our physical and vital nature pulls us back, especially as we interact with others and the environment. However, we can keep up the perfection in our work through this act of consecration before an act. I think if our readers try it, they will see that the results can be astonishing.

So if you can experience the spirit in the inner being, behind the heart the heart, or above and around you; or use spirit's power, its Force for accomplishment, it can be a great blessing for you in life. Some of us have had such moments. Very few are lucky enough to sustain it.

So we can say that who we are can also be measured by the degree we are connected with and utilizing the force and power of spirit.

But as you say, isn't the problem that though you can have momentary experiences, glimpses of the spirit, life pulls you right back down, and we're in our limiting, suffering nature again?

Yes, that's the big problem. Only a few experience the sprit on a regular basis. Some have glimpses, and then it falls away; or we fall back. So what can be done?

(pause) At that point we are trying to figure out what can sustain spirit, to enable its great powers and possibilities on a continual basis. To have a continuous, sustained connection to spirit we probably need some type of permanent change and transformation of our human nature.

There are so many approaches, but few, if any permanently establish spirit in the being.

Well, for one, it's certainly useful just to read an article such as this one, which makes us aware of the workings of spirit in the first place. If we are aware of spirit, we can recognize it more often when we experience it.

On the other hand, if we actually never experience it, our minds might just tell us that it doesn't exist. Well this will get us nowhere. So if we are non-believers we simply need to be open to the possibility that spirit really does exist. The mind likes to put up the argument that it doesn't exist because it doesn't experience it as a reality. But that's just the mind thinking within its own box.

Also, I do believe that if we aspire for spirit in our lives, it will come to us more often in or lives. If we really desire, aspire for spirit, it will certainly come in some form.

We can also connect to spirit through meditation, prayer, yoga, devotion, and other traditional techniques. Plus we can consecrate an event as we discussed earlier, and see spirit in action enabling great results. Having such an experience, when we see the startling results, will certainly have an energizing effect on the person, which will in turn spur us on in our interest in spirit, to try to make it a more central part of our lives. There are all sorts of ways to experience the Divine.

(pause) Still it is for the most part an ephemeral connection that we have with spirit. Spirit can suddenly disappear, and we're left wondering where such a wonderful experience could disappear to. That's because we are left to the influence of Nature, of life; we get caught in the hustle and bustle of life, of the goings on of the day, and we lose our center of consciousness. Or it's simply our limiting human nature, our limiting physical and vital consciousness that brings us right down into our old ways.

So how can we as humans make the decisive change so that spirit is a apart of us at every moment? So that we can say that just as I have a physical, vital, and mental aspect to my being, I also have a spiritual one, that is just as obvious to me, that is just as real to me at every moment as the other three?

That can only happen when the human nature evolves to, is transformed into the spiritual nature. At that point we move beyond occasional experiences and incidents and moments of connection, to a permanent realization and embodiment of the higher consciousness. At that point spirit truly becomes for us the fourth plane of our being; above the body, the vital, and the mind. At that point who I am would permanently include the plane of spirit.

Early on in his career the Indian sage Sri Aurobindo experienced and analyzed the major spiritual approaches, from concentration to prayer to meditation. He studied every major approach until he could find the one that could enable the permanent transformation for the individual into his spiritual nature. He discovered that none of the approaches developed thus far could bring the decisive change he sought; that could enable humanity to permanently overcome its limitations, and permanently establish spirit as a foundation of human existence.

For example, take the attainment of Nirvana. While the attainment of the state of Nirvana allows one to separate himself from suffering and pain, the nature of suffering and pain in the world still remains the same. One ascends into spirit or a void; but life is untouched. Spirit is certainly not established in succeeding generations. The attainment of liberation has no fundamental effect on life, and so the next generation must start again. The same is basically true for those living a cloistered or monastic life.

For Sri Aurobindo the question of how to create the decisive change that would enable the transformation of the individual, and hence the human race itself, remained. Some decisive change in the person had to take place so that suffering, pain, ignorance, and falsehood could never exist again on earth again; so that the spirit would be as real to us as our bodies, hearts, and minds are real to us.

After studying all of the major religions and spiritual traditions of the world, after delving into the modern developments in science and evolutionary theory, he came up with a procedure that could enable the decisive transformation of human nature, and make the spiritual plane a permanent part of the human condition.

To this end of a permanent transformation to spirit, he suggested a three-step process, which he called the triple transformation.

This is very interesting, but aren't we moving far afield from the issue of who we are?

(pause) I think it's important to bring this out because by understanding this process of transformation we will discover other realms of consciousness that we have alluded to but have not really discussed in any depth. This will certainly bring out the most profound aspects of our consciousness; one's that we can ultimately turn to and say "yes, that is what I ultimately am."

Also, I might add going through such a transformation is not for everyone. It is only for those who see the value in, and seek the spiritual plane to be a permanent part of their being. It is for those who seek the frontiers of consciousness; those who want to be harbingers of a new spiritual-based life on earth. But these are the people who will truly know who the are. And that's the purpose of this discussion.

Most would run in the other direction if they were offered such a thing! However, I do believe in the next century that the emergence of spirit, and the utilizations of its powers to effect life, will become the great development in human progress.

To begin with, we should acknowledge that we are mental beings, and as such we are capable of knowing who we are, where we are going, and in which direction we want to take our lives. So through our mental capacities as humans we have the ability to become anything we wish to be, including a spiritually transformed human being.

(pause) So the first stage is that we need to go within and find our inner existence, which is our inner physical, vital, and mental being; also called the subliminal being.

However we can go further. From these inner depths we can find our true inner being, our personal soul, our psychic being. In the heart of the subliminal, in what we perceive as a cave in the subliminal, lies this this inner being, our personal soul. At that point we touch the very essence of who we are. We touch the personal soul that has entered our body in this birth so that it too can evolve, based on our own evolution.

We need to establish a steady contact with our inner existence, including our personal soul being, which we also call our psychic being. As a result of this steady contact, we begin to establish the beginnings of a vast equality and calm. As we mentioned before, in that process of moving from the surface to the depths, we move away from our outer ego sense, our separateness, and begin to feel a wider connection with those around us and the environment around us. As a result we experience a sense of oneness with all, with others and our surroundings. Also as a result we are no longer set in our opinions, our assertions. From those depths we develop the wider view, have a broader and deeper foundation from which we can know, perceive, and act in the world. We sense wider possibilities and potentials. We perceive greater choices. There is a vastly wider scope of understanding of life and how to act in life.

I'll give you but a small example. The other day I read the paper. In the business section there was an article about how IBM had a total of $13 billion in sales, and that it was about the same as Oracle, but less than Microsoft. Well, I just laughed and said "oh another typo by the Chronicle," thinking that we all know that IBM has sales of nearly 100 billion. I smirked. On further analysis I realized that the article was only referring to IBM's software division. I felt foolish. It was obvious my mind jumping to conclusions. It was also obvious that it was doing so because I was living in that moment on the surface, not from the depths, where there would be a greater calm and balance, a greater tendency to do the right thing, in this case to read the right thing!

There are endless number of subtler incidents that reveal this truth, which occur all the time but which we are unconscious of. Living in the depths, we gain the wider view, see the deeper truths, make the right assumptions, and take the right actions that end in far better results. So if we can "hard-wire" living in the depths, if we can transform ourselves permanently in this way, it will have a staggering effect on our perceptions, our actions, our accomplishment, success, and happiness in life.

But there's more. Also, from that poise one can see one's current limitations at the physical, vital, and mental nature; our limiting attitudes, our limitations of behavior and character. We perceive our foolishness and falsehoods, we understand our limited opinions, we perceive that our understanding and knowledge are based on half-truths, we clearly see our false, ignorant actions in the world. In essence we are now able to watch our behavior from an "inner distance." In that sense the inner soul being becomes our guide, showing us our false movements, yet pointing the way to a higher way of living.

Also, from the depths of this inner existence we can sense the universal forces of the cosmos. We sense that we are not just an individual self, but a cosmic self that extends in all directions. We open to universal truths, influences, and powers, which take us far beyond our individual capacities, perceptions, and comprehension.

By the way this idea that we are not just an individual self but are also a universal self, a self that can have a universal consciousness, is another frontier that we can examine; which will give us another shading of who we are.

Further still from that deeper poise we can connect to the transcendent Divine; that which we normally call God. From that deeper status we are able to much more easily able to connect and sense and feel the Divine spirit around us and in us.

So the movement of going deep within and touching the personal soul is the first movement of transformation into the spiritual being. We call this the Psychic Transformation. We find the personal soul, have the wider connection to all, have the insight to change our outer nature, are removed from ego, expand out to touch the universal consciousness and its powers, and connect with the transcendent spirit, the Divine, God.

The second stage of this transformation into a spiritual being is the opening upward, above our current functioning of mind, the 1-3 levels we discussed earlier. In this second stage of the transformation we rise even above level 1 pure mind to higher planes of knowledge. We call these higher mental planes above pure mind, spiritualized mind.

As we move into the depths and connect to the inner being, these higher levels of mind begin to descend into us on their own. So as a result of the first stage psychic transformation, the second stage initiates and descends into our being on its own.

As a result of the earlier connection with our inner being, we began to experience a stillness in our being. From that stillness and silence, we are better able to ascend beyond our normal functionings of mind. We begin to open to planes above mind proper. I'm sure many of our viewers have had such momentary illuminations and intuitions in their lives. Many of the world's greatest discoveries, greatest ideas have come from such descents into our minds. The famous expression "Eureka, I've got it" is an example of such a descent. Now, however, rather than just an occasional experience, we are trying to make the connection to these planes permanent.

Let's take the first plane that is above pure mind. Whereas the mind proper understands through the thinking process, the first plane of spiritualized mind, the higher mind, understands and "thinks" in silence, without thoughts. In our work as we maintain silence and calm in our being, our thoughts, understanding, and comprehension arise quietly, which enables greater clarity and insight to our thoughts and ideas. We are not so burdened by the harsh thinking process that is there when we are in a state of agitation, restlessness, and movement.

So this is the first stage of the spiritual mind; higher mind. Over time this plane becomes a permanent part of our being. Who we are then includes the plane of silence of higher mind.

At a further point knowledge comes into our minds as illuminations of light, instead of the complex thought patterns of normal mind. When someone says that an idea came into his being "as a flash of light" or some such statement, he has in essence experienced knowledge from the plane of Illumined Mind. At this stage beyond the silence of higher mind, thought enters as illuminations of light; we experience a vision of knowledge, understanding, and insight.

Beyond the plane of Illumined Mind, knowledge descends into our minds as direct intuitions; where knowledge and wisdom enter directly into our consciousness, without the normal thought processes, without thought at all! What rationality explains through arguments, explanations, and examples, intuition reveals in a flash. Such intuitions occur regularly when we have risen to the plane of Intuitive Mind. Intuitive mind directly perceives the object of knowledge and understanding, and does not need the medium even of light. The complete object of knowledge simply appears in one's mind, giving the full, total understanding.

At that stage of spiritual mind we begin to approach the highest state of direct knowledge, a direct identity with the objects of knowledge we wish to perceive. This is the plane of truth consciousness, also known as Supermind.

(pause) So at that point we have come in touch with planes of consciousness that are beyond the physical, vital, and mental. We have risen above the normal functioning of mind, which we call mind proper, and have risen to the spiritual plane, also called spiritualized mind, and the supramental plane above that.

Needless to say at this point we are a very long way from the original sense-based mind, with its fumblings, half-truths, opinions, prejudices, and other limitations. We are in fact at the doorways of Sri Aurobindo's greatest discovery, the Supramental consciousness.

So if the first movement is within to find the true self, to have the true wider poise that also opens to the universal and transcendent, the second movement is to begin to move into the planes of spiritualized mind above our current mental functioning.

Once people are aware of the different aspects of our existence that we have explored, they will see that the method we are suggesting here is definitely attainable; and is the quickest path to the total transformation that humanity is moving towards. One, of course, doesn't have to follow such a deep transformation. One can instead opt for the "light" version, which is to live from a deeper poise within, discover your limitations, make the effort to overcome some of these, and continually open to the Force to enable great things to happen in your life. For 99% of the people, this will certainly suffice! I wish even 1% of this 99% would take it up! On the other hand, for those looking for the real change, the decisive change and transformation, that will enable a new type of individual to emerge from our current mental functioning, then following the three stage process, this triple transformation, is the powerful path that will lead to the great and permanent change in our nature.

(pause) The third and final stage is the complete transformation of the individual; from a physical, vital, and mental being into a whole new type of being; what we call the Truth Consciousness being, also known as the Supramental being. 'Supramental,' because the individual is centered in consciousness beyond mind.

This one is a little hard to explain, so please bear with me. However, it's the key to humanity's evolution and ultimate purpose.

First of all this one needs to aspire to, open to this spiritual power, this Supramental consciousness to come into one's being. Moreover, one needs to be courageous and willing to let the Power do what is necessary for the change. At some point its light, truth, and power descends into us, enabling the decisive change and transformation of our being. The transformation occurs in the mind, in the vital, in the body. Our nature becomes radically different.

You might recall that in the spiritual transformation, the second stage, we permanently establish a relationship to planes of spiritual mind that enables us to experience knowledge through silence, illumination, and intuition. Yet even at these stages, we might not have the full truth, the full knowledge of anything; we may only know part, or one shade of the truth. That's because the objects of our perception is still known through the mechanism of our mind, which is a dividing medium. Thus we don't have the full knowledge. So the question becomes how can we then have the full truth, the perfect, integral knowledge of that which we want to know at any moment?

Well, when one makes contact with and is filled with the light, truth, and power of the Divine Supramental plane, this Truth consciousness plane, that is in fact what happens. One does not simply gain a part knowledge as through ordinary mind, or even through silence, illumination, and intuition, but one gains the undivided, total, integral knowledge. Whereas our minds, even spiritual mind, knows the object of knowledge through the dividing mechanism of mind, Supermind, truth consciousness knows the integral totality of the object of knowledge, undivided, whole, and one.

If I can make a little analogy. The other day I was cleaning out my car with a vacuum. I saw dirt in the driver's area, and I cleaned it. My mind perceived this dirt as THE dirt. It knew part of the situation. It did not see all the rest of the dirt, which I could only see if I were sitting on the other side of the car, viewing things from another angle. At each point, at each angle then I have a partial knowledge of the totality of the situation. With supramental consciousness I would in essence have total knowledge of all angles, all aspects in my being simultaneously. I would also have all the knowledge in my mind on how to act based on that knowledge. So in that sense not only is knowledge whole and one, but it is in essence fused with will to action.

So this is an example of a supramental experience. A supramental being would constantly be experiencing such a oneness of knowledge, and fusion with of that knowledge with one's will to act. I realize this is an exceedingly difficult idea to comprehend, because it goes beyond all of our conceptions of knowing things. But living in such a poise is likely for a future humanity. Even now people who have intuitions of knowledge are on the path toward the supramental knowledge.

(pause) Also, there is perhaps something even more startling about having this Truth consciousness. Whereas mind and spiritualized mind perceives the objects of knowledge as outside itself, coming from out there to in here, in the Supramental Truth consciousness the object of knowledge originates from inside us! That means that which we want to know we are at once creating and knowing! This is I admit very hard to fathom, but it is I believe the evolutionary destiny of the individual to reach this state of consciousness.

In fact, I would even suggest that that's how the Divine created the universe; by at once conceiving it and knowing it, and at the same time creating it. When we reach the supramental plane there is a similar functioning going on. In that sense when we rise to this level, we are rising to the same level as the Divine itself. We reach our ultimate potential.

So is this the spiritualized, Supramentalized individual you mentioned before?

Well, what I have just explained is how one exists when the light, truth, and power of the Supramental consciousness has descended into the mind. That is only one aspect of becoming this spiritualized, supramentalized evolutionary individual. There is also the change in other parts of the being that will occur as we open to the Supramental power and consciousness.

For example, another aspect of that power is that when it enters the person, his connection to the outer environment also changes, as does his relationship with others. He in essence becomes one with them. He experiences their being as extensions of his own. He experiences their will as his own. He experiences that each person he interacts with serves an integral purpose to his own purpose. He sees the unique purpose each has relative to the totality. He perceives each person's inner spirit, and perceives how his own spirit is bound up in their spirits.

In fact his entire field of action in life is bound up in this oneness with everything. That in turn enables everything he does to end in perfection. Because he is functioning from a status of integral oneness with all parties involved of the action, because he is open to the widest possibilities, because knowledge and the will for action are one and fused, because he is in touch with the infinite power of the spirit, everything he undertakes or acts on ends in the greatest and most perfect perfection.

Eventually this truth consciousness power, this Force, the same force we spoke of before by the way, begins to permeate his outer and inner vital being, and then his outer and inner physical being as well.

At a later stage, when the Force enters into his body, his cells begin to change; the very organs and structure of his body changes. He eventually becomes, in essence, a new evolutionary being; perhaps even a species above what is now considered the human species. Or, perhaps we can say that it is the same species, but now radically transformed into a spiritualized being.

At that point he fulfills the purpose of creation. This is the staggering eventuality that Sri Aurobindo envisioned for the future of humanity.

Yes, this Supramental change is very difficult for us to perceive because the mind has little conception of it. It is so different from how the mind functions; how we interact with the world around us. I have not heard of anything remotely like this, even in science fiction literature. And yet it is somehow a logical extension to the emerging inner development and progress of man. It is also something that Sri Aurobindo experienced as a tangible reality; as he was a pioneer of consciousness, every bit as much the pioneer of the inner, as Gagarin, Edison, and others have been pioneers of the outer.

[Note: For a detailed description of how an individual would live after undertaking the supramental transformation, please click here.]

So these are the stages for the permanent establishment of spirit on earth?

Yes, those are the three stages of transformation that can enable spirit to be fixed and established in human consciousness. The individual through his stage one connection to his inner being, his personal soul; his stage two opening to the highest planes of spiritualized mind; and his stage three change to a whole other functioning, to a truth consciousness-based, supramental functioning being, permanently establishes spirit as a realm of consciousness above and beyond, perhaps even replacing, the current physical, vital, mental based individual.

I would also point out that when we are transformed into this new evolutionary being, this supramentalized being, we are in essence embodying the very power, the supramental power, which created the universe in the first place!

In our theory of creation we mention that in order for the Divine to create a universe, it extended itself a Supramental plane to initiate the process of creation.

When we connect with the Supramental plane in our own personal ascent, and when we become Supramental beings, Truth Consciousness-based integral beings we are in essence embodying the very force that enabled the universe to manifest from out of the original Divine Reality.

In our theory of creation we say that before the universe came about there was a timeless, spaceless, nameless, unfathomable Absolute, what we call the Divine. In order to create a universe that it conceived for the purpose of delight, the Divine extended itself into the plane of Supermind. Supermind would be the power and ordering mechanism that would turn spirit into the universe we know. Supermind is the ordering system that would enable the possibility of time, space, and the finite to occur in creation, in a potential universe that would manifest. Furthermore, to enable this possibility, Supermind conceived and developed the planes of Mind, Life, and Matter. In order for forms to be created in time and space, these planes needed to be created. In order for there to be structure to these forms there needed to be a plane of matter. In order for the forms to have life, there needed to be a plane of life. In order for us as humans to perceive these objects and our existence, there needed to be a plane of mind from which we sentient life would evolve minds.

So Supermind is not so much the creator of matter, as the ordering mechanism that enabled the systems that would enable a universe to function. By creating time and space, and the planes of matter, life, and mind it created the infrastructure of existence!

The contents of that existence, however, does not come from Supermind, but from that which Supermind itself derives from, which is spirit, the Divine, God.

Matter is God! Matter is the manifestation of the original spirit that is the Divine, God.

While Supermind developed the infrastructure and context of the creation and the universe that resulted, it did not develop the matter itself. Matter itself is actually the result of a parallel process by which the unfathomable Divine spirit extended itself into consciousness, and then into a force, which later intensified into a form of energy at rest, which later coagulated into matter.

In anticipation of the creation that it wished to see come about the Divine extended itself to a kind of self-consciousness. At that point spirit becomes consciousness. At a further stage that consciousness that is self-aware spirit becomes a force that wishes to manifest. Through the further actions of Supermind that force intensifies into a power, which is in essence energy at rest. When the energy begins to move, we in essence have the Big Bang or something similar, and the creation begins. Thereafter, matter forms out of the energy released.

So when the forms are created, when we are created, we are in essence embodied energy, which itself is really force, which is really consciousness, which is really the Divine itself! So all forms including ourselves are forms of consciousness, which is the same as saying we are composed of the self-awareness of spirit, the Divine, God.

By the way, the energy coagulated as matter because the plane of Matter was there to enable matter to be created. Supermind anticipated this!

So billions of years went by and life emerged from matter, through the plane of Life, and then mind emerged from life through the plane of Mind.

Now the plane of spiritual mind, Supermind, spirit itself is available to the self-conscious mental man, which would be a further evolution of that which began as matter.

So this entire process, in essence the steps that led up to the Big Bang, Sri Aurobindo has called the involution. From the Divine will, its real idea to manifest a universe for the purpose of delight, its extension to consciousness to force and to energy, Supermind's creating the context of creation, to enable space and time, by creating the planes of Matter, Life, and Mind, and the movement of energy that led to the point just before the Big Bang is in essence the involution. The evolution begins at the point where from which the energy at rest started moving, which coagulates into the forms we know as matter, further emerges as life in the universe, and then further emerges through humans and perhaps other species as mind and thought. It continues as we self-conscious humans discover spirit hidden within, utilizing the power of Supermind, to further enable the evolution of the universe.

So Supermind enables the involution and the creation from the Divine spirit, and Supermind is also the power that we discover in the creation that enables us to experience spirit and its myriad of powers and possibilities in our lives, furthering our development, evolution, and transformation. Supermind enabled the involution, and Supermind, that is the Truth Consciousness. is the great power that enables our evolution.

It is mainly the realization of the Indian seer Sri Aurobindo, who like Darwin, explored the unknown frontiers of existence and consciousness. He had the inner vision and experience to perceive the nature of the Divine, explained the reason the Divine wished to manifest a universe, explained the process by which the Divine did in fact manifest the universe, and traced the arc of evolution from matter to life to mind, to the future destiny of the individual that culminates in a new type of spiritual existence, a divine life on earth.

We have presented a multi-dimensional portrait of who we are, and of what we can become. I have emphasized much about what we can be because at any point we can in fact become more than we are. There is a fluidity in our nature, where being and becoming mix; where the material and the non-material intertwine; where our present and our future become less separate.

In essence we realize that we are the Divine itself; or rather, we are becoming a new form of, a new expression of the Divine.

As we go deep within and discover our personal soul, the spirit within; as we connect to the Divine spirit that permeates the creation; as we open to the new dynamic aspect of the Divine which we call the Truth consciousness power in the world which enables us to utilize the infinite powers of creation for accomplishment and success; as we discover the process of accomplishment and creation in our lives; as we identify with the emerging forces in society and the universe; as we transform our nature and overcome our physical, vital, and mental deficiencies, and enable the spiritual plane to emerge, we discover the secret of who we really are.

As we shed our old skin, we ironically find that our new skin is the very spirit that enabled the universe we live in. Now as we uncover that spirit we realize that we can use its essence and powers to enable unimaginable possibilities in our lives. And as we discover our true nature, the spirit in everything, we experience the ultimate purpose for our existence - delight of being.