Growth Online > Knowledge Base > Personal/Spiritual Growth > Keys to Achievement & Personal Growth > Acquiring True, Integral Knowledge
In this section of the Growth Online Knowledge Base, we present our original thoughts, as well as links to our original articles on the Personal Growth topic of "Acquiring True, Integral Knowledge." (If you wish, you can see our other Personal Growth categories.)
In the entries you see below, we discuss various Aspects of Knowledge from the various faculties of mind to what we mean by understanding, logic, reason, insight, truth, etc. Then we tackle the fundamental Ignorance of Man born of Creation, through which he falsely looks out into the world with very limited knowledge, leading to endless wrong or limited action. We explain how this came to be in the Creation, and how he can set out to uncover the true Integral Truth and Knowledge by become more conscious, ultimately accomplished through connection with Spirit. (Moving from Ignorance to Integral Knowledge - Featured). This is one of the most important insights in the entire Growth Online family of web sites, topics, and articles. After a section on the inner keys of Decision-Making, again dependent on knowing the full truth rather than the part knowledge of Man in his Ignorance, we cover the expression of the greatest knowledge through Genius and Original Thinking. We show how anyone can rise to this capacity.
ASPECTS OF MIND AND KNOWLEDGE
(top)
Origins of Mind | Faculties, Planes of Mind | How Mind Functions | Conception-Perception-Sensation | Experience vs Realization
Data [Facts], Information, Ideas | Thought & Thinking | Understanding | Reason | Logic | Insight | Rationality, Objectivity, Subjectivity
The True Rational Mind | Truth | Knowledge | Principles of Truth and Knowledge | Wisdom | Intelligence and Intellect
(Limits of) Intellectuality | Memory | Imagination | Miscellaneous
The Plane of Mind's Origin in the
Involution and Its Expression in Man in the Evolution
The way I understand Mind is that it is a universal
plane of being that emerged as an instrument of Supermind to divide
the Force (of Conscious-Force) in order to create the forms of
creation. It is the dividing intelligence that turns the Original
Energy into distinct patterns of that energy that produce the
distinct forms of atomic reality and matter. It is Knowledge
divided; whereas Supermind is knowledge united with itself and with
a conscious Will. Supermind is Knowledge and Will united. Mind --
i.e. the universal plane of Mind -- is Knowledge and Will divided
(which causes the original energy to withdraw, leading to separate
forms. (What I am saying here is not the full truth; merely my
current understanding.)
Planes,
Faculties of
Mind
(main)
Planes of Mind
Ranges of Mind on Various Scales
Mind ranges from mechanical thought processing, to emotionalized thought
such as beliefs, to rational and logical mind to the spiritual realms of
mind above it. We can even a level of mind in the life intelligence and
in the physical body itself. These are varieties of mind in a vertical
plane. We can also see mind on a horizontal plane from an outer
absorption in the sense data to the far more conscious inner realms of
mind, i.e. the subliminal ranges within.
Vertical Scale of Mind
-There
is the physical, vital, and mental planes of the individual. Each of
these can be subdivided into at least three more levels. This
is along a vertical scale of mind.
-The mind consists of a first level where thoughts are processed into ideas; a still higher level where thoughts are turned into sentiments, values, and ideals; and higher still where he engages in reason, pure thought, and can conceptualize new ideas, and that which he wishes to be. *By mind we mean mind proper, that does not include spiritual mind above mind.
ARTICLE and Diagram that Includes the Mental Planes on the Vertical Scale of Human Consciousness
Vertical and Horizontal Scales of Mind
Planes on the Vertical Scale -- There is the physical, vital, and mental planes of the individual. Each of these can be subdivided into at least three more levels. At the first level where thoughts are processed into ideas; at a still higher level where thoughts are turned into sentiments, values, and ideals; and higher still where he engages in reason, pure thought, and can conceptualize new ideas, and that which he wishes to be. (We are not including the ranges of spiritual mind here.)
Planes on the Horizontal Scale -- There is another range of mind from outer to inner; with the outer sense mind being least conscious, and the inner of the highest order. This is a horizontal scale of mind. The least conscious element of mind on the horizontal scale is the sense-based mind, involved in the interpretation of data provided by the senses. When we live on the surface, we are focused primarily in sense-based mind, rather than the higher rational, pure thinking mind, thus limiting our view of the world.
Vertical and Horizontal Planes of
Mind
Mind can be seen in scales across a vertical and horizontal planes.
Along the vertical scale there is the mind of the body and of the life
functionings, and above that the mind we commonly know. It ranges from
pure processing of fact to emotionalization of ideas (e.g. ideals and
values) to rational thinking. Above that is the spiritualized mind of
illuminations, intuitions, and knowledge by identity.
Along the horizontal scale we have a range from mind on the surface (Sense mind) to mind in the depths (subliminal mind.) The higher up on he vertical scale and the deeper within on the horizontal scale, the more conscious mind is. It is most conscious at the supramental plane (knowledge by identify) on the vertical scale, and in the deepest depths of the subliminal in the soul/psychic being on the horizontal scale.
Limits and Higher Functionings of Mind
Mind
is an instrument of
knowledge. On one side,
it is a limited, even
flawed mechanism that
prevents true knowing.
On the other, we see
that it has the
potential to function in
ways that can garner
infinite-like truth
about the object of
inquiry. Here then is a
rundown of several of
Mind’s limitations, as
well as examples of its
higher functionings,
including its spiritual
capacities.
Limits of Sense –
Mind is limited when it
is preoccupied with the
input of the senses,
causing us to constantly
come to erroneous
conclusions. E.g. you
enter a room, look
around and observe the
physical situation, and
comment to a friend
about what you think is
taking place. She then
tells you that your
observation is faulty;
that something quite
different has been
occurring. You
have thus been deceived
by the visual; of what
you observed with your
very own eyes. It is the
same with other sense
inputs, such as the
auditory and tactile,
which do not allow the
mind to ponder the issue
through rational and
right understanding, but
draw it to conclusions
that are false and
limited in truth.
Limits of the Vital and
Physical – Another
equally troubling
limitation of the Mind
is its tendency to
adhere to positions that
are dominated by our
vital and physical
parts. In essence, our
desires, needs, wants,
opinions, and prejudices
tinge and distort our
thinking, and hence our
ability to know the true
truth of a matter. For
example, when we discuss
an issue, we see that we
have come to conclusions
that favor our personal
wants, desires, and
attitudes, not the real
truth of that matter.
Thus, Man is dominated
by his vital and
physical being, with
Mind coming to
conclusions that support
its own emotional and
physical biases and
prejudices.
Limits of Single- Line
Thinking –
Similarly, the Mind in
its attempt to grasp the
truth of any object of
inquiry normally likes
to go down but one
particular path of
thought, ignoring all
other aspects of the
object under
consideration. There is
something limiting and
confining in the Mind,
which takes pleasure in
pursuing that one line
of thinking; missing or
being oblivious to all
others. For example, we
see how scientists are
very energized by their
one perspective of a
matter, often defending
it vehemently, while
dismissing all other
possibilities or
domains.
Limits of Part Perception – In a similar vein, conclusions that Mind arrives at are partial at best. It knows one or a few aspects of a matter, missing most of the others. Thus, it does not see the whole of what is under consideration, but only the part. For example, listen to a discussion and you will see how one person knows one aspect of a matter, with another perceives it from an entirely different perspective that is also true. And there may be a dozen truths, facts, and perspectives that are also valid concerning that matter. Our normal mentality has a limited capacity to grasp the multiple truths of a matter, let alone the whole or Essence of that object of inquiry. This perhaps more than anything shows our essential Ignorance of who we are, what we can become, and life’s nature and potentials.
Rational Mind – And yet there is a way out of Mind’s limitation. It is to engage in rational, logical thought. When Mind sheds the influence of the senses, and is not dominated in its conclusions by one’s emotions, feelings, attitudes, desires, demands, and attachments, it can engage in pure thought, in rational and logical thinking. Unencumbered by the sense inputs and the domination of the vital and physical, it can begin to know through reason that can perceive more of the truth of things; even begin to perceive the variety of sides that make up the whole of a matter. This purer mentality formulates truth though synthesis, analysis, and other logic formation to build arguments, perceive possibilities, and come to conclusions that lead to more sides of the object under consideration. Philosophers thinkers, and technical programmers are examples of those who engage in pure thought. Unfortunately, most of us make far too little use of this great mental capacity.
Silent Mind – While rational mind is a great mental capacity that comes closer to right knowing, there are higher forms of understanding that bring us even closer to a many-sided, integral perception. They are in essence ‘spiritual’ in nature. For one, when we halt our thoughts, still our minds, engaging in mental silence, we give ourselves mental rest. As a result, when mind is reengaged thereafter, it is not only fresh, but as a result comes to more inclusive, complex, and insightful conclusions. Mind bathed in stillness of thought comes up with the very best of thoughts that deliver more true truths of life.
Light, Intuition, Revelation – An even higher form of mentality still is where thought simply enters our mind as light, intuition, or revelation. Light comes when one perceives an image of truth knowledge in a flash,, as in Archimedes famous “Eureka, I’ve Got It.” Beyond these illumined experiences, one can have sudden intuitions and revelations of truth that just appear in the Mind without any flash; in fact without any thought at all. The object of knowledge simply enters the mind and known. E.g. while taking a walk, the entire problem I have been addressing over the past week just appears as a thought wave in my mind. No hard churning of thought is involved here.
Supramental Perception – Though intuition and revelation are sudden descents of knowledge of an object into the mind without thought, they usually provide only part, angle, or perspective of the truth. Garnering a complete many-sided, integral revelation in an instance is of a higher form, called by the Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo “Truth Consciousness” or “Supramental perception.” This is knowledge by identity, where we perfectly connect with and know the truth of the object under consideration from its myriad of sides; from its wholeness and essence, through a sudden revelation. In fact, it originates within one’s self anew, never having existed before. In addition, that integral knowledge of the object is accompanied by a power for that truth to manifest as a living reality in the physical world. Hus, in supramental perception one not only has integral knowledge of a things, but a will and power for its effectuation in the world.
The Subliminal Influence and Guide – Not only does thought emanate from our surface mind or the universal plane, but it also percolates up from our Inner Being. The subliminal as Inner Guide is constantly sending up positive messages to us of what to do, and what not to do. As we develop our inner, spiritual capacities, we more readily recognize and adhere to these subtle influences. As a result, we tend to more often make right decisions that lead to beneficial outcomes.
The Plane of Cosmic Mind – We think of Mind as something local inside ourselves. But Mind is a plane of existence that is there in and behind the universe, and existed before the physical cosmos came to be. The Cosmic Mind, sometimes referred to as the Mind of God contains universal truth of the Divine, and is a plane where all knowledge resides. It exists in the superconscient that is beyond our Mind capacities, but it can also exist in our mentality if we learn how to widen ourselves and open to it.
As we overcome our limited surface Mind and take to its deeper and higher faculties, we are increasingly in touch with the Real Ideas, Essential Truths, Integral Knowledge that is contained in Cosmic Mind. In fact, if we explore its nature, we will come to discover that Cosmic Mind is the instrument of the Infinite consciousness, enabling the forces and forms of the universe, seen and unseen, to come to be.
In the Divine Mind all knowledge is integral and One, a status of understanding that we are fully capable of realizing.
Ascending Levels of Mind
- Physical mind -- based on senses
- Thinking mind -- based on distinction, linearity, division, opposition
-
Higher mind to Intuitive Mind
- Reason = mind detached from physical senses
- Intuition = mind detached from the mental sense of understanding = it directly knows (MSS, slightly modified)
Progression to Higher
Knowledge
Understanding by sense data (outer)
Understanding by thinking (intellectuality)
Understanding by non-thinking -- thinking is a bar, silent contemplation (inner)
Direct intuition -- understanding is a bar to knowing -- what you don't seek comes to you. (spiritual) (MSS, slightly added to)
Buddhi, Thinking Mind that
Can See Beyond the Dualities
It is the sense mind that sees
the dualities including the inconscient and superconscient.
Mind that
acts on receiving the impressions of the senses is sense mind, manas.
The thinking Mind is buddhi.
Buddhi is Mind that can see unhampered
by the senses.
The Rishis turned off the senses and saw through the
buddhi the dualities.
The buddhi can see the dualities and can see
beyond the dualities, if it chooses.
Its not choosing to see beyond
the dualities is ignorance. (MSS)
Moving Away from Sense Mind to the
Inner Enables an Ascent Upward to Spiritualized Mind
The mind consists of a
part that interprets the inputs of the body's senses. The mind also
consists of the capacity for logic and self-conceiving new ideas, new
possibilities, etc. As the mind moves away from its connection to the
senses, it utilizes its higher mental functionings, and beyond that
functionings of spiritual mind. Knowledge from spiritual mind comes
through silence which enables knowledge to spring forth, through
illuminations and lights of knowledge, and through descents of the
entire object of knowledge as intuitions.
When one lives more within from the depths of our being, less connected to the surface, the senses, we open ourselves to intuitions form the higher planes, giving us direct perception of the object of knowledge.
Spiritual Mind
By spiritual mind, we are referring to the
very highest faculties of mind. It is a realm of our being that borders
and interfaces with the pure spirit. It is where knowledge enters our
minds without the churning thought processing of mind, but where
understanding and right thought comes through silence, or higher still
through descents of thought as light of knowledge (as in Archimedes
famous statement 'Eureka, I've Got it'), or higher still through
descents of intuitions of knowledge into our minds without the need for
any thought at all. Above spiritual mind is the universal consciousness
and pure spirit from which is the source of all knowledge.
Mental Energy
The forms of mental substance are waves of mental energy presented to
our cognitive faculties as thought-forms (mental sounds and images,
conceptions, mental perceptions, ideas, and the like). In mind, the
consciousness or knowledge content of the energy is quite apparent, its
energy content less so. (MSS)
Evolution of Mind in History
Mind was born in Greece. It made Europe seek science.
Mind was born long before that in China where Mind was taken to
its acme. But it was applied to life. Aristotle applied mind to
the inquiry of Nature. Hence Science was born. In India mind was
born earlier than in China. Its philosophic urges were famous.
Mind in India was applied to Spirit. What matters is not mind,
but what it is applied to. Neither China, nor India, nor even
Greece pursued the inquiry of Science. It was left to Europe.
The USA applied Science to work, organised work. Hence its
prosperity. (MSS)
More Thoughts on the Planes of Mind
Faculties of Mind
The Faculties of
Mind: Expressed Positive & Negative
-We know the faculties of Mind -- memory, thinking,
understanding, suggestion, discrimination, inspiration, revelation,
conception, perception, sensation, imagination, decision, determination,
commitment, organisation, planning, remembering, recalling, recognising,
responsibility, direction and many more things.
-Each of the
faculties have two ways of responding high and low. E.g. understanding
can be exercised to reinforce your past gains. It is lower.
Understanding can be exercised to acquire new ideas. It is high. In
fact, any faculty has infinite ways of functioning -- social, personal,
psychological, etc. etc. -- and each has the two ways of cleavage. Hence
the choice is of paramount significance. (MSS)
Range & Faculties of Mind
Within the ranges of mind are the multiplicity of faculties of mind.
See Thoughts on How Our Mental Faculties Express at Each of the Vertical Planes.
Mind vs. Higher Mind
Method of Thinking
Mind's habit is to think in terms of oppositions, of thinking in
terms of distinctions, of pairs of contraries. (Higher, spiritual mind
thinks in turns of harmonies, wholenesses, and the complementary nature
of opposites.)
The Limitations of
the Human Mind, which Causes Scientists to Creates Products of
Destruction
The human mind
tends to selectively choose one part of a multifaceted truth, leading to
misunderstanding and Ignorance. We each see the part, not all the parts,
and certainly not the whole. In the case of the scientist, he sees only
the physical, material part of truth, or otherwise only sees a small
part of the whole which causes him to come to come to partial
understandings, which in turn causes him to create products of
destruction to match every success he has -- e.g. nuclear power and
nuclear annihilation. When the scientist sees all aspects of any object
of inquiry -- physical, vital, mental, and spiritual -- he will move
from the part that sees only the material and will embrace all parts
that make up the whole, and then some. Then there will be a movement
beyond the current limited material science to a true Science of Life.
This same challenge awaits the individual, for our mind's are each
limited this way, and the ultimate cause of our essential Ignorance,
falsehood, and our suffering. If we take that great effort, we will
evolve out of our current Ignorance of Mind, and into the light of an
integral Truth consciousness.
Mind's Capacity
for Aggregation, & that Expression in Life
Mind's capacity for endless subdivision is
complemented by its capacity for continuous aggregation.
Mind has the ability to combine any number of smaller wholes and view them as the parts of larger wholes. Thus, electrons, protons and neutrons combine to form atoms, atoms combine to form molecules, molecules unit to constitute organelles, cells, organs and living organisms. Thus, individuals, families, communities, castes, classes, professions, sexes, ethnic and religious groups combine to form nations and the international community. We construct organizations along the same pattern, be they the organizations for governance, business, education or even religion. (MSS)
How Mind
Functions
Mind is an instrument of
ignorance seeking knowledge.
Mind coordinates several facts to fashion a thought, several thoughts to forge an idea.
Several ideas enlighten the will with knowledge to create a Real-Idea.
In coordinating facts or thoughts, mind resorts to selection.
Selection implies rejection.
(MSS)
How Mind Knows
Linearity
-- Mind tends to think in a linear, unidimensional manner and pursue one
line of truth, ignoring other complementary sides, viewing all reality
from a single viewpoint.
Division -- Mind knows by Division & Aggregation
- It knows by dividing each whole into parts and taking each part as a whole for further subdivision.
- This leads to reductionism
- Leads to overspecialization and fragmentation of knowledge.
Polarization
- It knows by contrasting one thing from another
- Dualities -- Mind can function only by creating dualities
- Mind progresses by creating opposition -- by contrasting its position with those of others
- Creates a negative for every positive
- Tends to see things in polar opposite terms as either black or white, right or wrong
- Every partial truth attracts its opposite to restore Oneness
Part vs Whole -- mind mistakes the part for the whole
- Loses site of the greater whole
- Whole is greater than the sum of its parts (MSS)
Implications for Science:
- Subdivides reality and knowledge into an infinite number of specializations
- Loses sight of the whole (MSS)
Limits and Higher Functionings of Mind
Mind
is an instrument of
knowledge. On one side,
it is a limited, even
flawed mechanism that
prevents true knowing.
On the other, we see
that it has the
potential to function in
ways that can garner
infinite-like truth
about the object of
inquiry. Here then is a
rundown of several of
Mind’s limitations, as
well as examples of its
higher functionings,
including its spiritual
capacities.
Limits of Sense –
Mind is limited when it
is preoccupied with the
input of the senses,
causing us to constantly
come to erroneous
conclusions. E.g. you
enter a room, look
around and observe the
physical situation, and
comment to a friend
about what you think is
taking place. She then
tells you that your
observation is faulty;
that something quite
different has been
occurring. You
have thus been deceived
by the visual; of what
you observed with your
very own eyes. It is the
same with other sense
inputs, such as the
auditory and tactile,
which do not allow the
mind to ponder the issue
through rational and
right understanding, but
draw it to conclusions
that are false and
limited in truth.
Limits of the Vital and
Physical – Another
equally troubling
limitation of the Mind
is its tendency to
adhere to positions that
are dominated by our
vital and physical
parts. In essence, our
desires, needs, wants,
opinions, and prejudices
tinge and distort our
thinking, and hence our
ability to know the true
truth of a matter. For
example, when we discuss
an issue, we see that we
have come to conclusions
that favor our personal
wants, desires, and
attitudes, not the real
truth of that matter.
Thus, Man is dominated
by his vital and
physical being, with
Mind coming to
conclusions that support
its own emotional and
physical biases and
prejudices.
Limits of Single- Line
Thinking –
Similarly, the Mind in
its attempt to grasp the
truth of any object of
inquiry normally likes
to go down but one
particular path of
thought, ignoring all
other aspects of the
object under
consideration. There is
something limiting and
confining in the Mind,
which takes pleasure in
pursuing that one line
of thinking; missing or
being oblivious to all
others. For example, we
see how scientists are
very energized by their
one perspective of a
matter, often defending
it vehemently, while
dismissing all other
possibilities or
domains.
Limits of Part Perception – In a similar vein, conclusions that Mind arrives at are partial at best. It knows one or a few aspects of a matter, missing most of the others. Thus, it does not see the whole of what is under consideration, but only the part. For example, listen to a discussion and you will see how one person knows one aspect of a matter, with another perceives it from an entirely different perspective that is also true. And there may be a dozen truths, facts, and perspectives that are also valid concerning that matter. Our normal mentality has a limited capacity to grasp the multiple truths of a matter, let alone the whole or Essence of that object of inquiry. This perhaps more than anything shows our essential Ignorance of who we are, what we can become, and life’s nature and potentials.
Rational Mind – And yet there is a way out of Mind’s limitation. It is to engage in rational, logical thought. When Mind sheds the influence of the senses, and is not dominated in its conclusions by one’s emotions, feelings, attitudes, desires, demands, and attachments, it can engage in pure thought, in rational and logical thinking. Unencumbered by the sense inputs and the domination of the vital and physical, it can begin to know through reason that can perceive more of the truth of things; even begin to perceive the variety of sides that make up the whole of a matter. This purer mentality formulates truth though synthesis, analysis, and other logic formation to build arguments, perceive possibilities, and come to conclusions that lead to more sides of the object under consideration. Philosophers thinkers, and technical programmers are examples of those who engage in pure thought. Unfortunately, most of us make far too little use of this great mental capacity.
Silent Mind – While rational mind is a great mental capacity that comes closer to right knowing, there are higher forms of understanding that bring us even closer to a many-sided, integral perception. They are in essence ‘spiritual’ in nature. For one, when we halt our thoughts, still our minds, engaging in mental silence, we give ourselves mental rest. As a result, when mind is reengaged thereafter, it is not only fresh, but as a result comes to more inclusive, complex, and insightful conclusions. Mind bathed in stillness of thought comes up with the very best of thoughts that deliver more true truths of life.
Light, Intuition, Revelation – An even higher form of mentality still is where thought simply enters our mind as light, intuition, or revelation. Light comes when one perceives an image of truth knowledge in a flash,, as in Archimedes famous “Eureka, I’ve Got It.” Beyond these illumined experiences, one can have sudden intuitions and revelations of truth that just appear in the Mind without any flash; in fact without any thought at all. The object of knowledge simply enters the mind and known. E.g. while taking a walk, the entire problem I have been addressing over the past week just appears as a thought wave in my mind. No hard churning of thought is involved here.
Supramental Perception – Though intuition and revelation are sudden descents of knowledge of an object into the mind without thought, they usually provide only part, angle, or perspective of the truth. Garnering a complete many-sided, integral revelation in an instance is of a higher form, called by the Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo “Truth Consciousness” or “Supramental perception.” This is knowledge by identity, where we perfectly connect with and know the truth of the object under consideration from its myriad of sides; from its wholeness and essence, through a sudden revelation. In fact, it originates within one’s self anew, never having existed before. In addition, that integral knowledge of the object is accompanied by a power for that truth to manifest as a living reality in the physical world. Hus, in supramental perception one not only has integral knowledge of a things, but a will and power for its effectuation in the world.
The Subliminal Influence and Guide – Not only does thought emanate from our surface mind or the universal plane, but it also percolates up from our Inner Being. The subliminal as Inner Guide is constantly sending up positive messages to us of what to do, and what not to do. As we develop our inner, spiritual capacities, we more readily recognize and adhere to these subtle influences. As a result, we tend to more often make right decisions that lead to beneficial outcomes.
The Plane of Cosmic Mind – We think of Mind as something local inside ourselves. But Mind is a plane of existence that is there in and behind the universe, and existed before the physical cosmos came to be. The Cosmic Mind, sometimes referred to as the Mind of God contains universal truth of the Divine, and is a plane where all knowledge resides. It exists in the superconscient that is beyond our Mind capacities, but it can also exist in our mentality if we learn how to widen ourselves and open to it.
As we overcome our limited surface Mind and take to its deeper and higher faculties, we are increasingly in touch with the Real Ideas, Essential Truths, Integral Knowledge that is contained in Cosmic Mind. In fact, if we explore its nature, we will come to discover that Cosmic Mind is the instrument of the Infinite consciousness, enabling the forces and forms of the universe, seen and unseen, to come to be.
In the Divine Mind all knowledge is integral and One, a status of understanding that we are fully capable of realizing.
Ignorance of Mind vs. Integral Knowledge and Power of Supermind
Though Mind is a great development in the evolution of consciousness from out of the physical and vital realm, it is still a limited instrument of understanding and knowledge, and one day is likely to be passed over. Sri Aurobindo calls this next stage of mentality in human evolution 'Supermind,' or Truth Consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo tells us that though Mind has served a great role in our progress, it is still an instrument of Ignorance. For one, it does not give us direct knowledge of things, but instead goes through a process of hard churning of thought and mental contortions to arrive at understanding that is still far short of full integral knowledge and perception of that thing. As a result of this fundamental Ignorance of Man rooted in our limited mental capacity, there is far too much error, miscalculation, misconception, falsehood, and even evil in life. Consider the limitations of Mind compared to the staggering knowledge capacities of Supermind:
The normal human mind essentially takes facts of information and tries to aggregate and synthesize it into ideas. Or it takes a whole of a matter and attempts to break it down into parts. Mind thus constantly engages in a difficult and complex process of synthesis and analysis to come to an understanding about any object of inquiry. In addition, Mind also tends to stay in one line of reasoning, in a linear direction, missing all other tracks and possibilities. As a result, mind's understanding not only comes through effort and strain, but what it does perceive is normally very partial and incomplete. This is what leads to ignorance, falsehood, and evil.
Now consider Supermind. It knows the object of inquiry in toto, directly, without having to gather facts and data and build them up or break them down. In Supermind, one does not need to engage in the hard churning of thought, as the details and whole simply appear in one's consciousness whole and complete. It garners knowledge of the object of inquiry through direct identification with it. Thus, time, space, and effort are overcome and replaced with instantaneous, integral, many-sided perception of any matter. This is the future of 'thinking' and knowing as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo, and experienced today by an infinitesimal yet slowly expanding number of individuals.
Consider a practical example, Imagine you are trying to understand the nature of a case. Our current. limited Mind tries to synthesize what is available or analyze or breakdown information to get at an understanding of it. Though that process, it may only come to a very part understanding. And it also may take weeks, months, or years just to come to that limited, part understanding. Now consider Supermind. It perceives the totality of the case inside without the necessity to garner external facts. It just knows. Moreover, it knows all sides of the case, and how each part relates to the other parts, as well as the Whole of the matter. In Supermind one garners instantaneous and integral knowledge of any object of inquiry complete without the hard churning our current mentality. It knows the object perfectly and completely from all sides and in relation to its whole and essence in a flash without analysis, synthesis, and other forms of reason. In fact, reason is abandoned altogether for its own Super-Reason that transcends the necessity of logic.
There is one other notable quality of this supramental Truth Consciousness. It not only has instantaneous, integral knowledge of a thing, but also has the power for its complete realization. When I know in Supermind, I have the full power to manifest that knowledge, making it real. Thus, not only do I have the integral understanding and knowledge of a case in a flash, but now have the instantaneous power to solve and win the case, as life tends to cooperate with any efforts on my part from any and all directions.
Conception-Perception-Sensation
(main)
Untitled
We can know things at
three levels -- conception, perception, and sensation.
Understanding at Three Levels: Conception-Perception-Sensation
Karmayogi offers an ascending scale by which we understand a matter or subject in life: Conception-Perception-Sensation
To conceive is to have a mental understanding of a matter, principle, etc.. To perceive is to experience it. Sensation is to embody it naturally in our being without thought or feeling. (I.e. it is just a natural truth to us.)
Here is an example. There is the principle or concept of 'The Marvel,' which is to see how all things good AND bad things in life serve the unfolding and are indispensible for progress. To read the principle and understand with the mind is Conception. Perception is to have the experience (of the Marvel.) For example, I have a bad boss who creates chaos, and yet I realize that without him two of my friends could not have risen in the company, and that through his meanness, I have become a stronger person. Sensation is to see that whenever I come across such "bad" individuals, I accept it as part of the flow of life, and the necessity of progress. I.e. this comes natural to me. It is in essence to realize 'The Marvel.'
To understand each of Sri Aurobindo's and Karmayogi's ideas, we can progressively move from conception to perception to sensation (i.e. realization) of it. As we make these discoveries, we will experience ever-increasing Delight in our lives; which they both indicate is the very reason we are here on earth.
Conception,
Perception, Sensation
Conception is to have a
mental concept, an idea of a thing. Perception is to experience it
beyond thought. Sensation is to realize it. (Example: After I have been
told that the building is blue, it is a concept in my mind. When I see
the building, and see that it is in fact blue, I have experienced the
truth of that fact. Whenever the issue of the building arises, I
absolutely know or it is fully assumed in my being that the building is
blue.)
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To know something is the
first step. To truly know it is to feel it, and that is experienced
knowledge, which is a greater knowing. To experience it as sensation is
to truly know the thing. Thus we know in a scale that ranges from
conception to perception to sensation. E.g. we can know God as a
conception, sense it as perception, and feel it in our very bones as
sensation. The same is true for "knowing" anything.
The individual working in the field of his work "knows" more than the man studying the field. And yet studying creates a great solid basis for a future perception and sensation.
Conception-perception-sensation
When we have the sensation
of a fact or idea it is usually far more powerful than mere mental
conception of it. When we perceive and experience the fact, the
knowledge moves from being an idea to it being a true idea, an
experienced idea in our minds. At that point we have fully embraced the
veracity of the idea.
Conception-perception-sensation 2
To truly understand and
know an idea, one must have more than the mental conception of it, but
it must move to the perception of the vital, and, ultimately, to the
sensation of the body.
Conception-perception-sensation 3
When an idea has moved
fully from conception to experienced perception and then to sensation he
has fully embodied, and thus realized the idea.
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The form of sensation is
beauty.
Mind can comprehend beauty.
Therefore, mind comprehends the form of sensation, i.e. beauty; not the
sensation of it. (Adapted from MSS)
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A teacher can only explain
so much to a student, to aid in his conception. At some point the
student must experience the veracity of the truth of the idea as
perception and sensation.
Education and
Conception, Perception, and Sensation
Conception of ideas,
such as we get through education or learning anything for that matter,
will always be useful, even before we have the experienced perception
and the embodied sensation. Perhaps the best education we can get can
also provide perceptual and sensational experiences as well.
Integral Knowledge of
the Idea
When a concept moves from conception to perception to sensation, and
further to fully embodied sensation, which is realization, we truly
know. And true knowing is integral knowledge of the idea,
which is accompanied by our ecstatic delight of being. When it is
embodied as skill and then acted on in life through our higher
capacities, character, and consciousness, it can enable a vast success
that leads to endless joy and delight.
Genius through
Realization of an Idea
By having the permanent realization of the idea, one can become a genius
in his field, whether it be a particle physicist or an organic farmer.
[Genius is born of being connected to the Universal, Cosmic Mind and
Consciousness.]
Idea as Sensation
When an idea has moved fully to sensation he has fully embodied, and
thus realized the idea.
Truly Know an Idea
To truly understand and know an idea, one must have more than the mental
conception of it, but it must move to the experienced perception of the
vital, and, ultimately, to the embodied sensation of the body.
Conception,
Perception, and Sensation; Mental, Vital, Physical
A human essentially consists of a mind, a
vital/emotional component, and a physical body. In terms of our inquiry
into the nature of true knowledge we can say that I have the conception
of an idea with my mind; I have perception of the ideas through
my vital, i.e. in my feelings, emotions, sentiments, and
psychological status; and I have sensation of the idea through my
physical body, including my five senses.
Conception,
Perception, and Sensation
We can know things at three levels -- conception, perception, and
sensation. At conception the idea is a thought, at perception it is an
experienced idea, and at sensation it is an embodied idea where we know
it in its fullness; where the experience has been realized in our being.
At the level of sensation the idea has become a skill that we can invoke
when it is necessary. We just know it instinctively.
Individual's
Achievement and Conception, Perception, and Sensation
The more a person is directed and organized for
achievement, i.e. the more he is self-directed, the more he has
ambition of that which he wants to achieve, the more he is invigorated
and has the will to see things carried out in his life, the more he is
likely to have the experiences that move him from conception to the
actually vital experience and physical sensational embodiment of it. So
one's ability to have a fuller, integral knowledge of a concept or idea
is related to the level of consciousness of the individual.
Power of Experiencing
Ideas in Action
You can hear about a new, breakthrough product, but it is only when you
see and use it that it becomes fully real to you. It is similar with an
idea. It is only when you experience that idea in action, does the
knowledge, wisdom, even the profundity contained in it become real to
you. It is the experience of perception and sensation, rather than mere
mental conception.
Experience vs Realization
(main)
Experiences vs.
Realizations
Experiences occur
periodically. They give a glimpse of a truth or reality. Realization is
the culmination of experience or experiences. It is the full embodiment
of the truth or reality.
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Any person in his chosen
field and occupation can truly know and realize something, when the idea
related to his field becomes a permanent realization of sensation of
that knowledge. By having the permanent realization of the idea and by
connecting to the universal planes of consciousness, one can become a
genius in his field, whether it be a particle physicist or an organic
farmer.
Experienced Knowledge
Communicates Well
When an individual
actually experiences the ideas that he propounds, then his writings has
a added power; it's meaning will more be communicated to others;
i.e. they will understand more deeply. If others move into the
atmosphere of his statements, they gain that energized knowledge which
is power. If they then experience it in their own lives it creates true
wisdom as results.
Power of Experiencing
Ideas in Action
You can hear about a new, breakthrough product, but it is only when you
see and use it that it becomes fully real to you. It is similar with an
idea. It is only when you experience that idea in action, does the
knowledge, wisdom, even the profundity contained in it become real to
you. It is the experience of perception and sensation, rather than mere
mental conception.
Data
[Facts], Information, Ideas
(main)
Data, Information,
Idea, Knowledge
Data are unrelated facts accumulated.
Information is organised data so that it can be readily used. The
essence of various information is idea. An idea becomes knowledge when
it becomes practically usable.
(MSS)
Facts/Data to Information to Ideas
When I organize this current project I start with facts
[data], a "haze of information," which are then organized into
ideas, with more facts added as support information, which clarifies and
expands the ideas.
Facts
vs. Useful Information
Facts are valuable but not usable until they are organised into
useful information. (MSS)
On Opinions
vs. Facts
Obviously opinion is ours, not necessarily the fact of the
situation. There is a report about a theft. It comes to us. As we hear
of it, our past experience receives the facts - assuming they are
correct facts - and arrives at a conclusion.
That becomes our opinion. Our opinion of an event reported to us
is our version of it in the light of past experience, valid to us only.
To know the facts of the situation, one needs to shed that opinion. He
who desires an open mind must be able to prevent opinion formation. He
who forms an opinion prejudges the event. It becomes a prejudice. To
insist on that prejudice is to have a closed mind. (MSS)
Ideas
Entering the Mind from the Atmosphere
Ideas are afloat in the atmosphere. They enter
conducive minds. We mistake such outside ideas as our own ideas. There
is nothing our own. What is our own is our receptive mentality. If those
ideas are powerful, they fulfil themselves. It is the power of ideas.
Some people speak about the future. It comes true. (MSS)
Idea Power
Thought has an intrinsic value. Or better yet, when thought
matures into an IDEA -- i.e. when it is conjured up in the mind
through thinking -- then it is certainly valuable. It remains a
thing in potential to be manifest.
Karmayogi says that
POWERFUL IDEAS have the power to manifest on their own; to be
fulfilled. What makes an idea powerful is a question. Here's one
clue:
Sri Aurobindo speaks of Real Ideas, inherent truths
of the Infinite consciousness. When Supermind then
rendered/renders them in creation as forms of force, they have
power of effectivity. Among them are Knowledge, Wisdom,
Creativity, Peace, Harmony, Love, Delight, Beauty, Power,
Timelessness, Infinity, etc. These are Source ideas and
determinants of Satchitananda. There are infinite ideas that can
manifest in infinite ways in an infinite cosmos. They are
constantly moving toward fulfillment because they are powerful
Ideas. They still need an instrument for fulfillment, like a
receptive person who has will of its manifestation of some sort.
In this way,
our own ideas are the Divine expressing Itself through our
personalized Mind.
Ideas and values are very closely
related. Gandhiji's ideas of freedom for India was a deeply
ingrained value he believed in that came to pass through his
will and effort. (So was Ahimsa -- nonviolence--, though it was,
as Sri Aurobindo and Karmayogi have noted, a false one in its
context that hurt India and divided it through partition. So
ideas and even values can be positive and negative.)
A
thought is a mind pulse. An idea is a thought, a gathering of
facts into a concept. Gathering multiple ideas together lead to
an INSIGHT. Above that are illuminations, intuitions, and
revelations. In Supermind, the Idea/knowledge and the Will are
one for ultimate effectivity, and life response power.
Every idea we come up with is an act of creativity at the level
of Mind. Beyond that, it waits for the will and action for its
execution and manifestation. Powerful ideas are self-fulfilling.
Ideas and Knowledge
An idea becomes knowledge when it
becomes practically usable. (MSS)
Deducing Theory from Data Is Invalid; Theory Itself is More
Powerful
-Theory is of the Mind. Data
are physical facts. To deduce a theory from data is theoretically
invalid. The right sequence is data can be called upon to confirm a
Theory.
-Reliance on data is like relying on the past to know the future.
-Those who relied on data expected socialist revolution in Great Britain. The Revolution not only eluded Britain, but evaded all industrialised nations and then chose a very backward, rural Russia.
-No amount of observation and collection of data could have led anyone to conceive that it is the earth that goes around the sun.
-In any Sherlock Holmes story, the police, the victim, the onlookers and readers invariably arrive at a rational conclusion based on available data. Holmes reaches another conclusion.
-No poet, artist, great musician, or creative political leader has ever reached his goal working from data.
-Data is of the known; our search is for the unknown.
-Technology can be said to be the real cause of the success of some [of these] companies. Moving away from the concrete inputs of Technology, Market, Money to invisible ingredients such as humility and determination itself shows that one needs to move away from the visible Data to the invisible ideals, values, etc. (MSS, extracted)
(See
MSS Theory of Data for Complete
Article)
On the Fundamental
Nature of Thoughts
Thoughts as Basic
Unit of Mind
-- The
basic unit of mind is the individual thought. Like atoms and acts,
thoughts combine to form larger, more complex structures variously
termed concepts, ideas, theories, etc. When we delve into the nature of
the individual thought, we find that the substance of thought resolves
into energy waves.
Thoughts in Relation to Other Elements in the Fabric of Mental Consciousness -- No thought exists in isolation from a complex fabric of sensations, perceptions and conceptions, and that a slight modification in a single piece of data or a simple thought can have significant impact on a much wider structure of understanding. The activities of cognition, thinking, conception, perception, understanding, and imagination constitute a single web or fabric of mental consciousness. Unravel any single thread, ever so tiny, and eventually it will modify the entire mental formation which we variously refer to as understanding, thinking or knowing. (MSS)
Origins
of Thought
When the mental activity is separated from the sense, thought is born.
(MSS)
Thoughts are Not Ours, They are Universal
Yoga
says thoughts are not ours, they are universal and they pass through our
minds. (MSS)
Thinking
The Process of
Thinking
To take two or more facts and relate them in the mind is the process of
thinking. (MSS)
How Thinking Mind
Knows
Thinking mind knows through a linear process that moves from one
thought-form to the next and finds it extremely difficult to handle
higher order concepts consisting of complex interrelations interacting
in multiple dimensions.
Thinking mind also knows by a process of division and aggregation. The mind studies and knows things by distinguishing them from other things. (MSS)
Not Identifying with
Thought by Its Consecration
Thought comes from outside. We accept the thought and think, thus we
identify ourselves with the thought and become THE THOUGHT and cease to
be ourselves. We have to shift from the thought not even to the mind,
but to our being. We can enable this this by consecrating the thought.
(Paraphrase of MSS)
Mental, Vital, and Physical Thinking
Mathematics is thinking entirely centred in the MIND -- mental
thinking. Philosophy is such. Poetry is the mind thinking in the vital
(No. 2). Reclamation of land, mining, insight into prospecting are pure
examples of thinking with the body. (MSS)
Also See Higher Formulations of Thought for Achieving
Higher
Thought, Thinking and Life Response
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A
higher formulation of thought will attract a sudden positive
response of life from a corresponding field, domain, or
sphere.
Thought that Evokes
Ultimate Response
The mind does not normally work alone. It operates in relation to our vital and physical being. It is in fact normally dominated by and a slave to their needs and desires. Wanting attitudes, emotional desire, and physical need and attachment influence our thinking every step of the way. This is normal life. Life responds positively, neutrally and negatively to these; usually a mixture.
It is rare to have pure thought that is devoid of these limiting influences. Pure, logical, rational thought is practiced by few, as the vital and physical influences dominate our thinking. Yet when we engage in rational thinking, we come to the best conclusions and have the deepest insights that when acted upon have a power to attract more positive and beneficial results.
Beyond rational, logical thought is silence of the mind, light, intuition, and supramental perception. As we move to these mental heights, we not only experience ever-increasing revelations of knowledge without thinking, but there is a tendency for the knowledge to manifest as something tangible in the physical world.
How then do we make contacts with these higher, spiritual realms of mind and thought? Sri Aurobindo tells us that if we forge a link within, to the deepest depths of our being, our mind rises to the heights of spiritualized mind, absorbing both full, integral knowledge of the object under inquiry, and also evoking a will and power for it to manifest in life.
Sri Karmayogi further argues that it is difficult to arrive at the deepest depths on our own, so he advocates practicing the act of consecration, which is to offer any upcoming or existing matter to the spiritual Force, which not only sets right its conditions, and carries with it vibrations of peace and harmony, but over time widens the inner channel of our being to our deeper selves. Stationed in the depths more often, our mind then tends to open to the wider universal planes, where we garner profound insight, and greater still, revelations of many-sided truth. In other words, we come in direct contact with the object of inquiry, unencumbered by space, time, or mental effort. In addition there is a will and power for that truth and knowledge to manifest as real. E.g. it is suddenly adopted and becomes a practical value of the community, or it becomes a new strategy, or even a new service or physical product adopted by that or another individual, group, or institution.
Another life responding power of thought comes from those same depths of our being; as a subliminal influence. When we are conscious, we perceive subtle, yet important influences percolating up from within, telling us what to do and what not to do. It is an indication that we have made contact with our Inner Guide, which is itself in touch with the cosmic plane of Mind that contains ultimate wisdom and truth. Following these influences also tend to evoke positive life response, as they are based on truth of action or inaction in that moment, out of which come positive life response results.
In addition to subliminal thought waves, there are also intimations from the Heart center, from which arise higher emotions and feelings, such as self-givingness, generosity, gratitude, and goodwill. Like the thoughts of subliminal mind, these are in essence inner responses to outer circumstance that wash over us. If we then take heed of their advice, we tend to attract further good fortune -- for others and ourselves.
There is also the power of human Values, which is also of the mind, which can saturate our thinking and drive our lives forward. They are similar to our attitudes, but of a higher order, more of the mind's capacity to embrace and believe in certain true truths. They can be thought of as emanations of Divine qualities like harmony, oneness, wisdom, knowledge, creativity, beauty, love, delight, timelessness, etc. A directed thought saturated with values, such as honesty, self-reliance, organization, innovation, etc. creates great benefit, especially if it is aligned with outer social and environmental forces. Values have a great power to manifest as sudden good fortune when they are taken to in earnest.
Imagine living in the depths, engaging in constant consecration, with truth emanating from below and above as constant revelation, that is saturated with values, that when acted upon attracts an endless procession of positive conditions. This is the new life of integral truth power that Sri Aurobindo and Sri Karmayogi have offered the world.
Thoughts, Thinking, and Life Response
-Thoughts
have little power in life without the vital urge of some
sort; i.e. the urge of belief in it, for it to manifest
as a living reality; etc.
-Thought
then can be reinforced by an intention/will, attitude, a
motive, a value, etc. These are the determinants of the
power of thoughts.
-When there
is intensity behind the thought, then it becomes alive.
It gains the sanction of the emotions and will.
-In that
way, our aspiration and intention attracts.
-Attitudes,
which are part thought, part vital, have vast life
response power, positively and negatively, and often
attract instantaneously.
-High
values-shaped thoughts have vast power of accomplishment
in the long run, particularly if the atmosphere is
supportive and there is intensity to make it real.
-A thought
consecrated to Mother has causal power. It there is also
aspiration/intention, will, intensity, right attitude
behind it, then the response can be overwhelming,
changing the core of life.
-Thought of
itself merely attracts more knowledge and thought if it
attracts anything,
-Thought
with will expressing an intension attracts vital results
(sales, money, romance, etc.).
-Even
thinking only positive thoughts is an attitude or value;
a spiritual attitude/value. It also attracts.
-Thought can
attract life response when one organizes it; e.g.
understanding a concept not understood before; breaking
a mass of knowledge into categories, etc.
-An instructor organizing this
way attracts work. And yet even there it is often an
overcoming of an attitude of breaking a reluctance or
working harder that elicits the result.
-Intuition
is a response of knowledge coming in without thought. It
just appears in the mind. It is a kind of response of
the spirit.
-Supramental
thought has the complete, integral knowledge of a
matter, and the complete power for it to manifest and
become real. It has causal life response power to
attract.
-Thought can
move from conception (an idea) to perception (an
experience of the thought) to sensation (realization of
the thought as an essence of one's being).
-Reducing
thought is a spiritual movement. It attracts.
-Silence of
thought and will ("Silent Will") also attracts.
-Moving from
the individual to universal plane puts one in touch with
universal knowledge/thought, coming through as insight,
vision, intuition and supramental perception.
-Moving to
the depths, culminating in the psychic being (evolving
soul) enables the mind to rise and thought to come in
without thinking.
-Constant
consecration opens one to the depths, and therefore
enables one to rise beyond mind to spiritual mind where
knowledge pours in.
-Knowledge
pouring in (without hard churning thought) is what we
seek. It is a kind of life response.
-Also
personal values of the mind (i.e. vitalized beliefs)
becoming real is another thing worth bringing about.
-The first
spiritual movement is not to react; i.e. to have no
thought (or feeling).
-In
stillness all thought tends toward the positive, as the
vital status, particularly the attitude is purer.
-Silencing
the mind, constant consecration will open one to the
pure, helpful thoughts. The attitudes will change
commensurately.
-Patient
learning of principles of life and inner growth is also
helpful. They build up consciousness that allows for
right and positive thinking and doing that attract.
-It is helpful to now the planes
of mind and their relationship to the types of thought,
thinking that emanates from each. E.g. facts are
processed in the physical mind, values in the vital
mind; pure thinking in the mental mind; light,
intuition, and revelation in the spiritual mind.
-Thought, or
rather knowledge is not of the brain; but of Mind, which
is everywhere.
-Negative
thoughts not only come from the vital, but from the
subconscient mind which is pessimistic, carrying for
millenia of pralaya and dissolution.
-Thought, or
rather knowledge is not of the brain; but of the Mind,
which is everywhere.
-Many
thoughts we think are ours are coming from others around
us.
-Mind is a transitional
instrument. It is limited, weak, exclusive, dogmatic.
The thoughts it generates are only partial truths.
Integral knowledge always knows the full truth of
things. Thoughts generated there are multi-faceted and
integral; connected to the essence and truth behind.
Constant consecration enables this, as it creates an
opening in the depths and above.
-Through
higher consciousness comes right thought. If there is a
vital urge and intensity behind, then life also moves
(at the subtle plane). Adding Mother, the results are
dynamically different and new, occurring at the causal
plane.
-We can build up our nature and
consciousness to have right and positive thoughts all
the time. Life will respond to the degree that there is
an urge for the idea to manifest in the world.
Greater Formulations
of Thought Attracts Positive Life Response
When one's
area of interest or work is formulated from an organized mass into a
formed thought or an idea or an understanding or other framework, life
responses tend to be invoked (especially when the idea is perfected).
(At the subtle plane things can be accomplished with very little expenditure of energy, compared to (e.g.) the greater efforts required at the gross plane. Thought has this capacity for being subtle. Formulating thought out of something that is unorganized, not understood, etc. has the tendency elicits life responses at the subtle (occult) plane.)
-Organization of
one's impulses, silent thoughts, sensations, etc. elicit even greater
life responses.
LIFE RESPONSE EXAMPLES
-A man goes through difficult materials for his teaching profession. He
must learn new ideas. As the he gains a grasp of the concepts,
especially new concepts he never knew about, fathomed, or understood
before, he notices that positive life responses occur thereafter.
-A writer developing ideas for his audience on the web notices that when
he takes ideas and notes and formulates them into a easy-to-understand
concepts for his audience, positive life responses start occurring (such
as more work).
-A
colleague took up an initiative to explain in a book line-by-line
significant meaning. He then gets an email from an associate on the
project saying that he has also [suddenly] taken upon the reading
of that book (which in turn makes the colleague happy when he finds this
out).
-A man made the effort to figure out the nature of a complex
metaphysical issue. The next morning he received a note from his
teacher, who had no knowledge he was making such an effort, perfectly
explaining that which he tried to understand.
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Precision of thought that is communicated to another has
the tendency to attract instant positive response from
the receiver, if not from a wider sphere.
Discriminatory Choice Enables Life Response
If you are in a situation where you are trying to extract
the
best decision from a plethora of possibilities, and then
discover, and then act on that right choice, life has a
way of suddenly responding on the outside commensurate
with your choice. Also, if you examine the response, you
can see that it involved a corresponding discriminatory
decision on the other party's part.
Definition of
Understanding
Understanding is an
organization of the mental energies around an idea that takes a
direction so that future thought and action will have its full benefit
of support and sure guidance. (MSS)
Understanding in Higher Mind is through Silence
The medium for
understanding in the human mind is thinking while in the Higher Mind it
is silence.
Non-Thinking to Understand
As the running thoughts are a
disturbance to thinking, thinking interferes with understanding.
Understanding is facilitated by SILENCE.
Understanding and Intuition
Direct understanding is called
Intuition.
Light
is Source of Understanding Ideas
Knowledge is the source of light
as light is the source of understanding ideas.
(MSS)
Understanding
To express another's understanding is understanding. (MSS)
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When you explain things
[to others] you already know, the understanding grows in the mind
occupying the corners it has not occupied. (MSS)
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A visual
representation of ideas can make it more real than the ideas as thought.
And yet the reverse is also true, when we are better able to understand
a thing through language, which unlike the visual does not entice the
sense nor block the thought.
How the Body, Vital, and Physical Understands
- Body understands by the repeated movements remembered.
- Vital understands by the success or failure of its impact.
- Mind understands sensation and thought. (MSS)
Memory of
Understanding
Understanding is
based on a logic and each point well understood by the very strength of
its understanding moves it to the next point, NOT on the strength of
memory. This [approach of logic] may be called the Memory of
Understanding. Memory of understanding is unfailing as its facts are all
integrated. The Memory of Understanding is situated in the subtle mind
where various facts relate themselves automatically and get integrated
when the intelligence exercises itself on them. (MSS, somewhat
reorganized)
Success and Gaining
Fullness of an Idea
If you are interested in success, then when you learn some new idea, you
should aspire to know the idea in its fullness; i.e. experience the idea
and then embody it in your being as a spontaneous available skill.
Understanding and
Insight
The gathering of the many-sided plethora of details of the objects of
inquiry enables understanding and the possibility of insight to emerge.
A many-sided and objective analysis is the cornerstone of one's
insight into what is right and true.
Four Ways to Truly
Know
The more we are open to the multi-sided facts around us, through our
true objectivity of these facts, the more we are able to gain insight
from those facts. Second, the deeper we live in our consciousness
within, the more likely we are able to be objective in the first
place, to be open to all the facts, which in turn gives us the
many-sided view, and which inevitably leads to understanding and
insights of those facts. Third, the more insight we have, the more the
chance of spiritual experience of mind such as illuminations,
intuitions, and revelations of knowledge, which enables one to acquire a
multi-faceted, multi-dimensional
integral knowledge. And fourth, the more we live deep within, the
more we open the portals of spiritual mind on an ongoing basis.
Skills vs. Ideas vs.
Spiritual Ideas
A carpenter
acquires physical skill. It is remembered by the PHYSICAL memory. Mind
memorises formulas. Neither is knowledge; both are skills. Deep
ploughing takes the roots down, preserves moisture, gives a great yield.
This is not merely information, but an idea based on information. The
Westerner discovered that pleasing the customer increases business.
Though selfish, it is another man's point of view,
a spiritual idea, as the Spirit considers the other
man's profit as one's own welfare. (MSS)
Reason
(main)
On
Reason
Reason is to exercise our
minds in a logical pattern to develop understanding and truth.
On Reason
Reason is the intermediary between the instincts/impulses of the
life-mind and the higher intuitive character of spiritual mind.
(Paraphrase of Sri Aurobindo)
Moving to Deeper
Consciousness Enabling Multi-Sided View and Insight
By going
deeper within, into our deeper consciousness will enable can help
us move from our sense-based mind -- rooted in our feelings, emotions,
judgments, and prejudices -- to the higher part of mind proper, where we
see things objectively and rationally; where we engage in pure
rational thought, rather than emotional thought. From that
inner poise and status we can see the abundant myriad of facts around
us, which in their multiplicity and variety lend themselves to insights.
And from insights we can have integral insights and illuminations
and intuitions that lead to ever greater conclusions, until we reach
what we call the "integral knowledge and understanding" that Holmes
seemed to have had at the end of every case.
On Logic
Logic is a rational
pattern, sequence of thought for the purpose of coming up with the right
understanding and knowledge.
Logic
Logic is a pattern of
thought independent of our subjectivity. It is rational and impersonal.
On Logic
Logic is an impersonal
system of thought, transcending the normal human way of functioning.
(Paraphrase of MSS)
Power of Logic to Accomplish
- Logic is the right relation between things.
- Logic demands complex thinking.
- It makes man wise, gives birth to the Idea.
- Logic does not see the isolated process.
- It observes the wider process. It is a complex process.
- It leads to accomplishment.
- Socially creative persons accomplish.
- They become thinkers; if sentimental, they become poets. (MSS)
On Logic and Being Human
-Logic is an impersonal system of thought, transcending humanity.
-Logic distinguishes us from animals not by humanity but by
impersonality. (MSS)
Communicate from Status of Logical Mind
Whenever you react in anguish to an inquiry, it
proves you are living in the vital or sense-based mind. When you calm
down and use the logic of mind, then you will know the true truth that
the other person was trying to convey. Perhaps also a period of patient
quiet will fill in any missing pieces, reducing the chances of
misunderstanding and miscommunication.
Logic of the
Infinite
We perceive the logic of common sense, of cause and effect in the
gross/material plane, but they are pale in scope, in truth, in power, in
creativity, in dynamism, in variety, in possibility and actuality to the
"logic of the Infinite."
Rationality, Objectivity, Subjectivity
(main)
Objectivity Engenders
Multi-Sided Truth and Insights
We need to move our center of consciousness from what
we call the
sense-based mind to a higher status of mind, where we are using
the more logical, rational parts. From that higher rational,
conceptual status of mind we are more objective, more likely to see the
varied sides of a truth, which enable us to get at most of the facts
that lead to unending insights. Most of us don't live in this rational
mind.
Living in Vital
Creates Subjectivity and Prejudice
People are centered in their lower vital
consciousness of need and desires and attachments; of strong opinions,
judgments, and negative attitudes. When we think from such a poise, we
are filtering out many of the objectives facts that don't meet these
vital standards, or we are twisting the incoming information to suit our
ego-centered, prejudiced outlook.
Limited
Rationality of Our Thinking and True Rationality/Rational
Thought
We live in the limited rational part of
the mind that is bent towards one's prejudices and points of
views rather than the varied, many part integral truth of
things. That is so because our mind is the slave of our
opinions, desires, needs -- i.e. our vital and physical
parts - which delimits what the mind accepts. True
rationality has the many sided, integral view, where logic
and thought is pure, unburdened by the lower nature.
Living in the Rational Part of Mind
We live in our emotions.
Or, if we are centered in our minds, we live in the lower, sense-bound,
prejudiced part of mind, instead of the rational, logical, conceptual
higher part of mind, where emotions, judgments, and sentiments are in
balance with pure objective logic and thinking.
Objectivity
Reason devoid of sense impressions becomes objective and rises
to Intuition. (MSS, extracted)
Subjectivity
vs Objectivity
Subjectivity is to understand the world from
our point of view. Detaching ourselves from our own
understanding, looking at things as they are, is objectivity.
Youth accepting a new philosophy or religion and embracing it will find that creed is the ultimate TRUTH in the world. It is mental subjectivity. (MSS, extracted) [The Spiritual view, on the other hand is true objectivity]
A
True Rational Mind
-A rational mind is necessarily true. It entertains no falsehood of any
type or shade.
-An open mind is good. A rational mind is great.
-The Force enters very much a rational mind. To fully receive the Force, one should go further to Supermind. (MSS, extracted)
Subjectivity
vs. Objectivity in Life
-Subjectivity is to understand the world from our point of
view. Detaching ourselves from our own understanding, looking at things
as they are, is objectivity.
-The earth is flat for our
perception. It is often cited as an example of human subjective
perception. The sun going around the earth is a classical example of
ocular evidence disproved by scientific objective calculation. It may be
possible or easy to be objective with material objects, not so easy when
we study our feelings, emotions and attitudes.
-To maintain one's
objectivity with respect to other nations, races, religions, and schools
of thought is not so easy.
-Youth accepting a new philosophy or
religion and embracing it will find that creed is the ultimate TRUTH in
the world. It is mental subjectivity. [The Spiritual view, on the other
hand is objectivity]
-Reason devoid of sense impressions becomes
objective and rises to Intuition. (MSS, extracted)
Rational Men Do
Not Yet Exist
The world has NOT developed RATIONAL MEN in Action. If
R stumbles upon anyone, I wish to know. Sri
Aurobindo has seen the possibility of the Supramental Being even before
the Rational Mental man has evolved.
-- Men of action are there in great number.
-- Emotional men too are there in equally great number.
-- Men who will plead for Rationality are there. Some of them irrationally plead.
-- Men with several elements of rationality are there, not all.
-- Among the scientists, no complete rational man exists today. If there is one, he should be able to see that what is considered Science today is NOT fully rational in its action. (MSS)
Moving from Subjective to
Objective View of Another
There is a subtle difference between thinking
about another person in terms of the truth of what truly IS, of rational
fact about the reality of the other, and the feelings, often negative,
that arises from your ego-sense, that prejudices your view of that
individual.
We can make the small daily effort to learn to be observant and vigilant of such tendencies, and stop them in their tracks. Not an easy think to do, and a very easy thing to forget. However, if we are serious for change in our lives, and learn to live within in the depths of our being down to the personal evolving soul, where such false attitudes and movements are rendered obsolete, we will move from this prejudiced, hostile, subjective human perception of another to objective observation and insight rooted in higher consciousness.
Limits of
Rationality in Man
Most
men are rational in affairs that do not touch their own personality,
which means they have the rational faculty. When it touches their own
personal affairs adversely, they act like others, with a closed mind or
led by prejudice.
Sincerity of
Purpose: Beyond the Vital to Rational Views
A forward thinking man was advocating that men and women should
be free to decide their actions uninhibited by social moorings or moral
compunction. This annoyed all his friends, married and unmarried. When
he got married, wisdom dawned on him. He confessed to his friends, 'I am
ashamed of having thought of free action by men and women before my
marriage. It looks barbaric now that I am married.' He was sincere in
his convictions before and now. But it was the sincerity of vital
feeling, not rational thinking. The phrase Sincerity of Purpose has a
wider implication, wider than the thinking Mind. It speaks of Truths not
locally valid for a context or person, but eternally valid.
Sincerity of Purpose is of the Spirit. We are in our vital emotions.
Rarely in issues that do not bother us personally, rational minds speak
rationally... (MSS)
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes at all
points along the way is completely objective in his pursuit of truth. He
keeps all emotions at bay, making his research an exercise of true
objectivity. In that way he has married the many-sided plethora of
details to an unscrupulous mental objectivity. This enables true insight
to emerge. By turning aside one's prejudicial subjectivity, and making
the full, unfettered effort at objectivity, one arrives at insight.
Accomplishment and
Objectivity
If we want to be great accomplishers in life, very successful people,
bright stars and geniuses in our field, then we must be objective.
The Coming Super-Rationality of 21st Century Man
The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo explains how the universe emerged from a Divine source as divided forms, a process he called the Involution, and how the cosmos is moving out of its inconscience and insentience in an upward ascent from matter, to animated life, to mind, and to spirit, centrally through human beings, which he called the process of Evolution.
That evolution can occur slowly, i.e. through the slow and painful method of Nature, marked by division, duality, strife, pain, and conflict, or through Soul, which occurs through the exercise of the higher consciousness of Man, marked by harmonious integral progress. The choice is ours as to the method we progress. For most of history, Nature's way has been the central way of moving forward, marked by war, disease, and every other form of strife; with small glimmers and outbreaks of the more conscious Soul-based progress.
How do we then progress and evolve through higher consciousness -- i.e. through Soul? Ultimately, we can utilize the Spirit. However, before Man reaches that stage, we can move from Nature to Soul-based progress by becoming rational beings. What does it mean be rational? It is to use the reasoning power of mind to determine our actions, instead of resorting to ignorance, folly, falsehoods, and evil. It is to move from force, emotions, and desire, to the powers of mind that attempt to engage the truth that is unfolding around us.
Though rationality is a great step beyond dogma, superstition, passion, fixed perspective, et al -- a stage that we are in fact now moving through -- it is not enough to overcome human progress through the difficult path of Nature. To progress through higher consciousness, i.e. Soul, we must make a far greater leap -- from rationality to super-rationality.
Rationality means using reason over passion and prejudicial view. Super-rationality is to fully incorporate the many-sided, integral truth of things at any moment of time. It is to know in any given instance all truths related to a matter, and to accept them all in full in developing our position. This is not the way we normally function. We may be rational, but we still harbor one view over another, taking to single truth we are attached to, excluding all others. In that way, we are ideological in all manners of life. Think about it; on virtually every subject we have a point of view, which we believe is rational; but it is really only one perspective out of many, and even it may be false. Super-rationality embraces all perspectives of a subject, deriving from it an integral true, multi-sided understanding.
There is perhaps no man alive who functions by embracing every single truth related to a matter. It would be difficult indeed, for he has no obvious mental faculty to enable it. Rational mind itself cannot do it. It can be rational, in can be thoughtful, but it can only embrace one or several views on a matter. We can only have the many-sided, full integral view when we seek all truths of a matter simultaneously. This can only occur when we transcend the normal functioning of mind, even rational mind, and embrace the universal plane from which intuitions of knowledge can come.
In a descent, we can know one or several additional sides of a matter, or we can grasp the heart of the matter. From there we can further use our minds to relate insight to insight and move to the integral truth of things. At that point, we have an almost encyclopedic understanding of a matter, knowing not only its essence, but the salient details at once. We have the many-sided integral knowledge of the subject. Now when we act, we does so from a higher understanding, which enables more perfect actions, that are devoid of strife of Nature's way. It is progress through higher consciousness; i.e. Soul via super-rationality.
How then do we engage such super-rationality? When we move to our deeper consciousness within -- though meditation, concentration, or other means -- we move away from the surface of life and engage the universal plane where illuminations, intuitions, and revelation of knowledge descend, providing us with the many-sided truth of things. Then we have the integral material that enables us to know a matter from the widest and deepest perspective from which we can take to right decisions and actions that lead to overwhelmingly positive results. At that point, we hasten the progress and the evolution of the world around us through movements of our consciousness, through Soul, instead of the painful way of Nature. This will increasingly be the approach and method of the 21st century Man. It will enable the infinite potential of life to emerge at all planes -- material, psychological, mental, and spiritual.
Living in Depths and
Rationality
By going deeper within,
into our deeper consciousness can help us move from our sense-based mind
-- rooted in our feelings, emotions, judgments, and prejudices -- to the
higher part of mind proper, where we see things objectively and
rationally; where we engage in pure rational thought, rather than
emotional thought.
Communicate from Status of Logical Mind
Whenever you react in anguish to an inquiry, it
proves you are living in the vital or sense-based mind. When you calm
down and use the logic of mind, then you will know the true truth that
the other person was trying to convey. Perhaps also a period of patient
quiet will fill in any missing pieces, reducing the chances of
misunderstanding and miscommunication.
A Man's True
Rationality
Who can truly know a man's True Rationality
till we see him from all perspectives; e.g. from the character he
demonstrates which is known by his intimate friends and spouse, to the
psychological and social biases he might hold, to the way he reacts to
things, to the way he solves the problems he is confronted with in life
(through his personality, and in other ways. Ultimately perhaps we can
say that he can be measured by
the rational utility of the results he produces in life, which can be
seen in response of life. If they are
rational results, they must emanate from a rational man or woman. The
sum total of those results, or the purity of that totality can be said
to be the measure of the rational man.
On Insight
When we study a topic from all sides, neutrally without prejudice, we gain insight. Having insight on that topic makes us ripe to experience descents of intuitions of spiritual mind, where the deepest truths, the object of integral knowledge that we sought to know when we undertook the endeavor just enters our being.
Insight comes from knowing the facts and ideas from all sides, plus knowing the subtle phenomena and truths of life that effect things. To know thusly the outer and the inner forces, gives one the most solid basis
Untitled
Insights are the
foundations of truth; not the true, full, integral truth of the thing,
which is born of insight.
Untitled
Acquiring objective,
many-sided facts lead to insight on a topic or idea. Insight can then be
the foundation for a completer, integral knowledge that can come through
hard thinking or without thinking as intuitions into the person of the
complete object of knowledge.
Objectivity and
Emergence of Insights
By turning aside one's prejudicial subjectivity, and making the full,
unfettered effort at objectivity, at an objective effort to get
the many-sided facts, one arrives at understanding and then bursts of
insight.
On
Insight
Insight is the capacity to place the event in its original psychological
context and not in its social appearance.
The activated mind thinks as everyone else's. The silent mind refuses to bring in the popular prejudices. That invites the Silence of the Spirit. The Spirit by its atmosphere enables us to have the insight into the circumstances which others are denied. When five people have been searching for a lost object for some time in vain, your silent mind will give you the capacity to catch sight of the object. It is the insight of vision.
Insight generally comes as a thought, but can arise through any of the senses. Alert senses avail of insight. Intuition is a greater and more powerful faculty than insight. Insight serves as a door that opens on Intuition. (MSS)
Untitled
Perhaps Sherlock Holmes'
greatest genius however was his ability to observe a situation, see it
from its myriad of sides and subtleties, and from this cornucopia of
details was able draw them together into a series of insights, from
which he could come up with an integral analysis and thereby a solution
to the situation at hand.
Understanding and
Insight
The gathering of the many-sided plethora of details of the objects of
inquiry enables understanding and the possibility of insight to emerge.
A many-sided and objective analysis is the cornerstone of one's
insight into what is right and true.
Four Ways to Truly
Know
The more we are open to the multi-sided facts around us, through our
true objectivity of these facts, the more we are able to gain insight
from those facts. Second, the deeper we live in our consciousness
within, the more likely we are able to be objective in the first
place, to be open to all the facts, which in turn gives us the
many-sided view, and which inevitably leads to understanding and
insights of those facts. Third, the more insight we have, the more the
chance of spiritual experience of mind such as illuminations,
intuitions, and revelations of knowledge, which enables one to acquire a
multi-faceted, multi-dimensional
integral knowledge. And fourth, the more we live deep within, the
more we open the portals of spiritual mind on an ongoing basis.
Developing Intuition
Intellectuality matures into intuition through insight. (MSS)
Insights Not Full
Truth
Insights are the foundations of truth; not the true, full, integral
truth of the thing.
Intuition
Crossing the faculty of intellect through the aid of insight, one enters
the zone of Intuition. (MSS)
Becoming Expert in
Field
If you want to become a true expert, a genius in your field, then look
at the object of inquiry from every conceivable perspective, without any
prejudice; be unscrupulously objective; not care about what society
says, and pursue your interests with great interest and intensity. Great
insights will emerge, putting you far ahead of the game, far ahead of
your peers or rivals or associates, enabling you to be a true leader in
your field; enabling you to accomplish beyond your wildest expectations
and dreams.
Gaining Knowledge
of Deeper Truths of Life through Higher
Consciousness
In life, our
knowledge of past and future events, the thoughts, attitudes and
intentions of other people, and even much of our own deeper motivations
lie beyond the bounds of conscious knowledge. The discovery of the
deeper truths of life requires the development of greater
self-consciousness and consciousness of others, keen observation of
human behavior, and deep insight into human motivation. (MSS, slightly
modified)
Also See Thoughts on Creativity
Nature of
The
True Rational Mind
The
true rational mind is not influenced by the
surface, not moved by the society, has inner control of emotions, thinks
logically, has thought processes that flow through logic, is open to the
intuition, is non-intellectual, argumentative, cynical, and sarcastic.
It is calm and clear; it is open to the emerging truths; it sees the
past affecting the present and the potential arc towards the future. It
is open to all sides even if it doesn't know them. It is practical and
has common sense in that it sees the utility of all things. It can
accept that inner or unseen forces and currents, including the Spirit
can be objective facts; that the subjective is part of the objective,
which together is the real Truth. At some point beyond perhaps he is
moved to discover the Integral Knowledge.
Super-Rationality
Rationality means using reason over passion
and prejudicial view. Super-rationality is to fully incorporate the
many-sided, integral truth of things at any moment of time. It is to
know in any given instance all truths related to a matter, and to
accept them all in full
in developing our position. This is not the way we normally function. We
may be rational, but we still harbor one view over another,
taking to single
truth we are attached to, excluding all
others.
In that way, we are ideological in all manners
of life. Think about it; on virtually every subject we have a point of
view, which we believe is rational; but it is
really only one perspective out of many, and even it
may be false. Super-rationality embraces all perspectives of a
subject,
deriving from it an integral true, multi-sided
understanding.
There is perhaps no man alive who functions by embracing every single truth related to a matter. It would be difficult indeed, for he has no obvious mental faculty to enable it. Rational mind itself cannot do it. It can be rational, in can be thoughtful, but it can only embrace one or several views on a matter. We can only have the many-sided, full integral view when we seek all truths of a matter simultaneously. This can only occur when we transcend the normal functioning of mind, even rational mind, and embrace the universal plane from which intuitions of knowledge can come.
In a descent, we can know one or several additional sides of a matter, or we can grasp the heart of the matter. From there we can further use our minds to relate insight to insight and move to the integral truth of things. At that point, we have an almost encyclopedic understanding of a matter, knowing not only its essence, but the salient details at once. We have the many-sided integral knowledge of the subject. Now when we act, we does so from a higher understanding, which enables more perfect actions, that are devoid of strife of Nature's way. It is progress through higher consciousness; i.e. Soul via super-rationality.
Limitations of Mind
to Know Whole Truth
The mind accepts one truth out of all truths, and asserts that truth as
the whole. And it's because our minds are normally rooted in the
prejudicial nature of the vital consciousness, which asserts its
separateness, its ego, and, therefore, its prejudicial predilection to
the facts.
Living in Depths and
Knowledge
By going deeper within,
into our deeper consciousness can help us move from our sense-based mind
-- rooted in our feelings, emotions, judgments, and prejudices -- to the
higher part of mind proper, where we see things objectively and
rationally; where we engage in pure rational thought, rather than
emotional thought. From that inner poise and status we can see the
abundant myriad of facts around us, which in their multiplicity and
variety lend themselves to insights; and from insights to greater
conclusions, to what we call the "integral knowledge and understanding"
that Sherlock Holmes had at the end of every case.
Many-sided Objectivity
Acquiring objective,
many-sided facts lead to insight on a topic or idea. Insight can then be
the foundation for a completer, integral knowledge that can come through
hard thinking or without thinking as intuitions into the person of the
complete object of knowledge.
Four Ways to Truly
Know
The more we are open to the multi-sided facts around us, through our
true objectivity of these facts, the more we are able to gain insight
from those facts. Second, the deeper we live in our consciousness
within, the more likely we are able to be objective in the first
place, to be open to all the facts, which in turn gives us the
many-sided view, and which inevitably leads to understanding and
insights of those facts. Third, the more insight we have, the more the
chance of spiritual experience of mind such as illuminations,
intuitions, and revelations of knowledge, which enables one to acquire a
multi-faceted, multi-dimensional
integral knowledge. And fourth, the more we live deep within, the
more we open the portals of spiritual mind on an ongoing basis.
Accomplishment and
Objectivity
If we want to be great accomplishers in life, very successful people,
bright stars and geniuses in our field, then we must be objective, live
deep within, and have our insights coagulate into illumined and
intuitive descents of ultimate truths.
One's
Focus and Direction Utilizes Rational Mind Which Attracts Descents of
Knowledge from Universal Mind
Normally
our minds are governed by the outside, by the input of the senses, and
by the emotions. However, when we make a movement away from these
influences, and move toward rational thought, we can see that life
responds positively in kind. One example of this can be seen in the fact
that when one moves to mental focus and specific direction in life, life
responds through descents of illumination and intuition into our minds
of what to do next. For example, a man was confused about where he
should take his work. He was ruled by the inertia of the body and the
whims of his emotions. Then he decided to focus, and give direction to
this life; i.e. he utilized the rational, non-sense aspect of mind.
Within a few minutes of his focus, he had a sudden illumination of an
idea of how to specifically implement his plan with a particular client.
Perhaps we can say that the focused direction of mind has a greater
capacity to go out to Universal Mind, from which he receives
illuminations, light, intuitions of knowledge, without thought, of what
to do next.
Understanding and
Insight
The gathering of the many-sided plethora of details of the objects of
inquiry enables understanding and the possibility of insight to emerge.
A many-sided and objective analysis is the cornerstone of one's
insight into what is right and true.
Objectivity and
Emergence of Insights
By turning aside one's prejudicial subjectivity, and making the full,
unfettered effort at objectivity, at an objective effort to get
the many-sided facts, one arrives at understanding and then bursts of
insight.
Rational
Mind and Spirit
Rational mind is a doorway to spirit.
Becoming Expert in
Field
If you want to become a true expert, a genius in your field, then look
at the object of inquiry from every conceivable perspective, without any
prejudice; be unscrupulously objective; not care about what society
says, and pursue your interests with great interest and intensity. Great
insights will emerge, putting you far ahead of the game, far ahead of
your peers or rivals or associates, enabling you to be a true leader in
your field; enabling you to accomplish beyond your wildest expectations
and dreams.
Incongruities and Dualities of History that Defy Normal Mind
There are many incongruities and dualities of history that show false or
evil men acting good, and good men acting foolishly. It defies the mind,
which likes to have a single view of things -- including the main
characters and events of history. Mind that is flexible, rational, and
spiritualized can however embrace the many sides simultaneously.
Here are some examples of incongruities and dualities of people in
history:
- Stalin helped save his country and Europe from the onslaught of Nazism, even as he had 30 million of his own countrymen shot (as expression of his own extreme paranoia).
- Hitler marched across Europe, perpetrating the greatest evil in history, which ironically helped bring about the unification of Europe very soon thereafter, an outcome that might have taken centuries if ever to have come about.
- Saddam Hussein brutalized his people and neighbors, even as he was the chief leader advocating non-religious governance in the Middle East, who's opposite is now one source of its scourge.
- Gandhi brought independence to India through non-violence, even though his action delayed the exit of the British, which enabled the partition of the country, leading to the death of millions, and bringing about two nuclear foes across the border from one another.
- Nixon, who brutalized nations of the world including Vietnam, and sought to oppress forces of freedom and progress in his own country, went to China and helped open up that land to modernity.
- Churchill saved the world from fascism, even as he advocated the imperial power of the Empire, which collapsed in the wake of WWII.
- Gorbachav saved the world from nuclear annihilation by ending the Cold War from within without a single casualty -- an event unprecedented in world history -- and yet he is eminently unpopular in his own country!
- The British who are genteel, are extremely dignified, and demonstrate culture on the surface have been diplomatically insincere to the extreme for the last 100 years.
There is Truth in life, which expresses not through a single side of an issue or matter, but includes all aspects that make up its Whole. To perceive all sides of an issue or personality is to open to the wider, truer truth of things. Being ideological or intellectual is to engage the primacy of the lower aspects of mind, which sees only a part not the Whole, believing that single part to be the Whole of the truth. This is the case of our ignorance.
True Rationality on the other hand, has an integral vision of the many-sided details of the whole of the truth of any matter. It even sees each detail relative to the Whole. This is, in essence, the expression of a spiritualized mind -- i.e. the ability to perceive all truths of an object that resides in the universal plane of Mind. To see history, an event, or even the circumstances of our own lives from the many-sided integral truth of things is to become a true Rational Individual that has a spiritual quality.
We can begin to develop the capacity to absorb the many-sided truth of things (and the perception of the Whole which they reflect) when we move to a deeper consciousness within. From that deeper status, we are able to perceive the multiplicity of truths unfolding around us, rather than the surface truths we perceive or the limiting attitudes and habits we are attached to. From that deeper poise of calm and silent mind, of 'witness consciousness' to the unfoldings of life, we have greater access to integral understanding, insight, knowledge, and truth, as we are more in touch with the multiplicity and integrality of that that truth that is here behind at the level of the universal plane of Mind.
Truth in Cosmic Creation: It's Spiritual Source
Knowledge
Knowledge is truths of life acquired by the
Mind.
Origins of Knowledge
Knowledge exists without mind, as it arose prior. It appeared when the
Consciousness of the Being emerged into Knowledge as a step in the
process of creation.
Knowledge in Creation,
for the Individual
Knowledge describes truths we can cognize as well as an original truth
state that emerged from Consciousness (i.e. Sat) of Sat-chit-ananda.
On Knowledge
- Knowledge is above, not below.
- Knowledge is the expression of light in the Mind. (MSS)
Knowledge as
Source of Light
Knowledge is the source of light as light is the source of understanding
ideas.
(MSS)
Knowledge as Light in Mind
Knowledge is the expression
of light in the Mind. (MSS)
Knowledge as Source of Light
Knowledge comes
to us as lights. We call it enlightenment. Knowledge is the source of
light as light is the source of understanding ideas.
Knowledge
as Spiritual Quality
Knowledge, i.e. full comprehension of the
truth on a subject, is of the spiritual qualities of the Divine that we
can possess. It can be experienced as Light. Others spiritual qualities
include Peace, delight, Love, Power, beauty, Infinity, and Eternity.
Integral Knowledge and Ignorance
Our current way of knowing in life is fairly close to the opposite of Knowledge. That opposite we call "Ignorance." In the Ignorance we have extremely limited knowledge that is there, that is unfolding at any moment in time; we have false and error-filled knowledge; non-integral, related to the whole knowledge. We are living in one millionth of our knowledge potential at any moment. In that way we are closer to the insect than the potential human being living the Integral Knowledge.
Knowledge from Various Planes of
Mind and Spiritual Mind
The mind consists of a
part that interprets the inputs of the body's senses. The mind also
consists of the capacity for logic and self-conceiving new ideas, new
possibilities, etc. As the mind moves away from its connection to the
senses, it utilizes its higher mental functionings, and beyond that
functionings of spiritual mind. Knowledge from spiritual mind comes
through silence which enables knowledge to spring forth, through
illuminations and lights of knowledge, and through descents of the
entire object of knowledge as intuitions.
When one lives more within from the depths of our being, less connected to the surface, the senses, we open ourselves to intuitions form the higher planes, giving us direct perception of the object of knowledge.
Development of Knowledge from
Data, Information, Idea
Data are unrelated facts
accumulated. Information is organised data so that it can be readily
used. The essence of various information is idea. An idea becomes
knowledge when it becomes practically usable.
(MSS)
Progression to Higher Knowledge
Understanding by sense data
Understanding by thinking
Understanding by non-thinking -- thinking is a bar, silent contemplation
Direct intuition -- understanding is a bar to knowing -- what you don't seek comes to you (MSS)
Truth-based Knowledge
Truth based thought,
understanding, conclusions is reflected by-
-
correct assumptions
-
Impeccable logic
-
well-reasoned argument
-
correct analysis
-
being in touch with reality
-
comprehensiveness, completeness in scope
-
all sides considered
-
embracing the full, integral truth of the matter
-
consistency
-
matches one's actions
-
infinitely helpful
-
unexpected, negative consequences considered
How the
Physical, the Vital, and the Mental Know
The physical knows through reception of sense data, sensations, that
arise from within the body, are generated by our thought processes, or
impinge on us from outside. The vital knows through direct, subconscious
perception of vital energies that arise from the body or the mind or
impinge on us from outside, such as the subtle sensibility that people
may refer to as a hunch or gut feeling. So too, the mind knows through
formulation of thoughts, reception of thoughts arising from the
subconscious physical and vital, descending from higher levels, or
impinging on us from outside.
The physical and vital 'know' things directly as a recognized contact with vibratory energy, without need for the intermediacy of thought. But for mental knowledge, the vibratory impact needs normally to be translated into thought forms intelligible to the mental understanding. (MSS)
Progress that is
Towards the Whole
All progress arose
in humanity only when partial knowledge embraced a wider part, a
movement towards the whole. Knowledge must seek the whole; it is not
enough to move towards a greater part.
(MSS)
On Knowledge of the Whole
Knowledge means power. The
knowledge that is not converted into power is partial.
Scientific knowledge makes us understand the world of nature
better, it increases conveniences and comforts of life
enormously, but it is not capable of solving the problems it
raises nor is capable of solving the problems of life or
abolishing pain, suffering and death. To refuse to inquire
into a phenomenon we do not understand is superstition. In
that sense, scientific thinking dismisses any number of
valid phenomenon -- supraphysical, spiritual, even life
phenomenon such as clairvoyance, telepathy, life in plants
and metal. I do not think science has attempted a definition
of Life, Mind and Spirit. Even the definition of Matter is
incomplete.
Sri Aurobindo's knowledge of science is a knowledge that is converted into power in life. The inquiries of science are from the periphery, not from the center, so by definition they will not be able to arrive at the solution. The major problems of the world -- terrorism, pollution, financial crisis -- are approached from their appearances not from their root causes. The Society studied employment and has come to the conclusion that unemployment of men is the result of unemployed resources. Instead of studying employment as a human problem, it is presently studied as an economic problem, which is a partial approach which can never arrive at the solution. The financial crisis is the result of understanding money as an abstraction, ignoring the fact that money is part of the economy, economy is part of the society, society is created by Man. This is a superstitious approach. Approached from the human center, we will discover that there is enough money to abolish all poverty and money cannot cause a problem unless man becomes a slave of money. (MSS)
Knowing in Life
What helps us truly know
in life? First, education and learning helps because it helps us learn
the process of concept formulation. It also gives us a base knowledge.
Second, experience of the ideas in life helps because it turns concepts
into real realities for us. To fully and permanently embody these
experiences is to see that idea open the gates to infinite possibilities
in our lives. Finally, to be an evolved, integrated person helps because
then one has the necessary attitudes, drive, will, and direction to
constantly move our lives forward; in this case to move the idea we know
into a realized experience.
Practical Utility of
Knowledge
The attraction of knowledge is enhanced when its practical utility is
seen. (MSS)
Untitled
To know one is ignorant
is knowledge (MSS)
Raising Intelligence
Knowledge is power, Intelligence brings knowledge, as does education.
Education can also raise intelligence, if it is subtle
education.
Gaining Knowledge
of Deeper Truths of Life through Higher
Consciousness
In life, our
knowledge of past and future events, the thoughts, attitudes and
intentions of other people, and even much of our own deeper motivations
lie beyond the bounds of conscious knowledge. The discovery of the
deeper truths of life requires the development of greater
self-consciousness and consciousness of others, keen observation of
human behavior, and deep insight into human motivation. (MSS, slightly
modified)
The Organization of
Knowledge
When I organize this current project I start with facts, a "haze
of information," which are then organized into ideas, with more facts
added as support information, which clarifies and expands the ideas.
Categories are developed, and ideas and principles are grouped in them,
etc. etc.
At a further level one sees the interrelatedness of such principles to one another (as we can take each of His principles in Life Divine, and know them in terms of every other). This is a further step toward Integral Knowledge, which sees each object of knowledge in relationship to one another, as well as to the whole.
To enable this process to occur in the mind there is fact gathering, understanding, insight, relating the insights, etc.
So unorganized "information" through mind is broken out into facts, ideas, principles, categories, and ultimately related to one another and to some Whole.
In the course of our evolution this organization of "something" begins through mind in the body, continues in mind in the vital, and then in mind itself through man. Then, as man evolves mind further we create the mechanism to divide ideas and principles into ever-truer objects of knowledge.
Thus overall there is unorganized knowledge which is a mass which is organized through mind into divided elements, but then there is a kind of reversal towards synthesis and relatedness.
This process is in many ways the reverse of the process of the involution where Consciousness became Synthesized and Related Unitarian Knowledge that became divided higher objects of knowledge that became lesser objects of knowledge, insights ideas, understanding, ignorance down to no knowledge in the inconscient state of matter.
When I organize my thoughts I am organizing knowledge in the ascent, which can culminate in unitarian, integral knowledge more particularly a unitarian, integral object of knowledge.
I am moving toward the Consciousness of the One when I organize an endeavor, including objects of knowledge, to its ultimate possibility.
Thus, there is no limit to which a thing can be organized.
Ultimate perfection is ultimate organization of a thing, including the perfection of organized object of knowledge.
There is the ability to develop organization of knowledge or object of knowledge through mental silence, intuition, and by identity. As a human I would need to break through my Ignorance by overcoming sense mind to pure mind to spiritual mind. In that way I can ultimately organize an endeavor, project, object(s) of information, etc.
Supramental organization of knowledge is Integral Knowledge. It is Perfect Knowledge.
As the mind becomes more organized in its Knowledge of Existence, it can create principles that are of themselves more organized, more perfect, which are in essence more pure essential objects of knowledge. Then relating these objects to one another creates even greater Knowledge Objects of Pure Insight.
The Questioning
Western Mind
The Western mind questions because Mind thinks by questioning.
Standing before knowledge questioning even in the shape of a
doubt turns the questioner off. He is closed to knowledge.
Supermind lies four levels beyond Silence.
(MSS)
Knowledge
Beyond Its Utility Enables Ultimate Utility
Knowledge is of value when it is
untainted by use value, the ideal of a mercenary nature. The
West is material that degenerates into it. In gathering
knowledge, the motive should be knowledge for its own sake. When
it is so gathered and formulated, it acquires power when
expressed in action. Earlier attempts to convert it into
practical application either prevent its complete formulation or
prompt faulty partial formation. (MSS)
Gaining
Knowledge by Being Open as We Grow Older
Your comparison of youth and age is
very true and insightful. Young people have the energy,
enthusiasm, openness and sense of adventure without the
knowledge to use them to best advantage. Older people have
the knowledge born of rich life experience which generates
wisdom, but usually lack the openness and spirit of
adventure to utilize that knowledge properly. Why is that?
Experience generates knowledge, but not always. It generates knowledge when we are willing to learn from our experiences, recognize our own errors and deficiencies and alter our behavior accordingly. In Pride & Prejudice, Darcy, Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet show the willingness to learn from their experiences, whereas Mrs. Bennet, Lydia, Wickham, Collins and Lady Catherine blame others for everything that goes wrong and insist on repeating their old patterns of behavior till the very end.
When we are receptive to learning, experience can generate knowledge of great value. But at the same time it often generates a sense of self-importance and fortifies the ego. Older people assert their superior knowledge as well as their right to be treated with greater importance. Each successful experience in life generates knowledge, but it also generates a sense of accomplishment which the ego appropriates as its own. When the soul aspires, the Divine responds with luck and Grace that the soul delights in. At the same time the ego tries to misappropriate the accomplishment, claiming it as its own and taking credit for what has been achieved, elevating its own status and importance.
This is true even when we fail in life. The soul gains as much knowledge from failure as from success, often greater knowledge that leads to its growth. But the ego despises failure and feels abused. It seeks to compensate by blaming others for its failure or discovering some explanation that affirms its superiority. Lady Catherine proclaims that had she ever learned music, she would have been highly accomplished. Her ego converts her failure into a sense of superiority.
It is not age that makes people closed. It is the seeking to reinforce our own value, our seeking for security instead of adventure, our ability to assert and exercise power over others, our bitterness at the achievements of others that makes us feel inferior in comparison.
The remedy for aging is to acquire greater self-knowledge as well as greater knowledge from each experience. Human Nature is ignorant, dark, false and filled with impurity and imperfections. Self-knowledge reveals to us more and more of our own imperfections, ignorance, selfishness, falsehood and incapacities, which only Mother can overcome. When we are sincere, each experience generates greater knowledge that we can use for accomplishment along with greater self-knowledge that we can use to overcome the ego.
When we are sincere to Mother, the more we progress, the more we learn and the more humble we become. Sincerity and humility keep us always open to Mother. (MSS)
MSS Articles on
Knowledge and the Mind
Knowledge
Subtle Knowledge
Mind in its Purity
Mind the Organiser
The Occupation of the Mind
Memory
Knowledge of the Future is
There in the Past
Intellect Acquiring Subtle
Instinct
Intellect and Intelligence
Also See Having Integral Knowledge and Overcoming Our Essential Ignorance
Also See Knowledge that is Fused with Knowledge Accomplishes
Principles of Truth and
Knowledge
(main)
Several
Principles of Truth
and Knowledge
-Man knows the Part.
He needs to know the
Whole, which is the
multiplicity of
parts and the
essence.
-To know the truth, accept the other man's point of view.
-A thing is true. So is its opposite. A thing and its opposite are true.
-Negatives are positive in disguise. They are more intense positives.
-An irrational man knows without mind. A rational man knows through his opinion. A spiritually rational man knows through Truth that embraces all sides and all opposites.
-Higher consciousness sees contradictions as complements.
-Life moves forward through the dance of opposites.
-Ignorance is to perceive life through contradiction and division. Integral knowledge is to see life through complementariness and oneness.
-Mind knows through division, by breaking the whole of existence, matters into parts.
-Division is an illusion of the mind. There is only Oneness.
-The inner and the outer are One. They share the same continuous stream of existence. Therefore, if I change the inner me, the outer instantly changes.
-Cosmic Mind existed previous to human mind. The mind of God originated as Consciousness that produced the force of creation.
-Cosmic Mind divided the force, and produced Energy that was/is the basis of the universe and all its forms.
-We can rise from ordinary Mind to spiritualized Mind and be in touch with Cosmic Mind.
-Through spiritualized Mind we know directly, without the churning of thought, through light, illumination, intuition, and revelation.
Wisdom and
the Mind
Wisdom is the ultimate goal for the mind. (MSS)
On Wisdom
- Where knowledge and will join together wisdom is born
- Wisdom is the point where knowledge becomes power
- Looking at life from the perspective of the Transcendent One
- To have wisdom is different from living it.
- Tamil poem: Experienced man who has become humble and cultured is wise
- Tirukural has 10 definitions of wisdom. Mahabharata probably does too. (MSS)
Intelligence and Intellect
(main)
Intellect and
Intelligence
We know from our reading
of Sri Aurobindo that consciousness has arisen from the impact of force
of form coming into contact with force of form, which creates sensation.
In the earliest period of the formation of consciousness, sensation was
limited to the immediate experience or event and had little or no
observation, reflection or thought associated with it.
As life emerged, the quality of consciousness changed as a result of a build up of experience of sense events, which awakened observation, reflection and even a basic understanding of events over time. As sense mind continued to emerge, consciousness continued to expand and develop. The early forms of consciousness were subject to distortions caused by the limits of sense knowledge and the influence of the physical and vital nature, which created superstition, irrational thought/feelings and other forces that confined humanity to a life of ignorance unaware of the true nature of the reality in which it lived.
Gradually consciousness evolved additional higher functions like discrimination, discernment, memory and others, which provided man the tools to escape from the shackles of these lower forms of ignorance. Over the past few thousand years, humanity has increasingly tried to purify its capacity of observation, reflection and its subsequent understanding of sense knowledge through the use of objectivity and reason which have emerged as higher functions in mind. Through years of discipline and effort humanity has endeavored to evolve a more objective knowledge of sense information and the true nature of existence.
As rational mind emerged, other higher forms of abstract understanding became a part of human consciousness. Rational and objective knowledge has gradually become the basis of what we call modern intelligence and intellectual activity, which can be observed in a wide cross section of mankind.
If we step back and evaluate the roots and process of intellectuality and its form of knowledge, we understand that it is built upon matter and the interaction of forms of matter that have created a constructed intellectual understanding of reality over time. Intellectual knowledge by its very nature can not provide the answer to the fundamental questions on the nature of reality which humanity seeks to understand since its knowledge is based on matter and not on consciousness, which has created all that exists.
Humanity must understand the limits of its intellectual knowledge and find the true seat of consciousness in the inner being that is not dependent on matter and sense but knows the answers through direct knowledge of identity. (MSS, Bob Macfarlane)
On Intelligence
Intelligence
is inherited and its quality is decided by the quality of what is
inherited. The longer a society is used to education, the greater is the
quality of intelligence it can pass on
to its successive generations. The post-war world has witnessed
widespread extension of education in all countries. The post-war
generation in USA is endowed with a greater
intelligence and comes into a society where activities that
foster general growth of mental capacity are in a great abundance. The
youth of each decade is far better equipped mentally than the previous
decades. This is reflected among other things by the number of
international prizes won in USA annually. At least in one year all the 5
Nobel prizes went to USA. That appears to be an indication of the
exhaustion of mental effort in the horizontal plane.
(MSS)
Untitled
Memory is
intelligence.
(MSS)
Gradation of Human Intelligence
Human
intelligence, faculties of the mind
can be arranged in some gradation or some sequence and each stage of
civilisation can be attributed to that. That offers us a scale. (MSS)
Western Intellect vs. Indian
The Western intellect is highly developed, whereas the Indian
lives in the vital which is full of falsehood. (MSS)
Beyond the Capacity of the Intellect
There are thoughts or
ideas that baffle the intellect. The mind feels challenged. The
phenomenon before it is beyond its known capacity. At such times the
mind swings into action and the result is intense thinking.
Beyond Human Intelligence
Our first decisive step out of our human
intelligence, our normal mentality, is
an ascent into a higher Mind, a mind no longer of mingled light and
obscurity or half-light, but a large clarity of the Spirit.
(Sri Aurobindo)
Beyond Intellect
Sri
Aurobindo
also assumes that we must abandon the harsh thinking processes of mind
itself. He assumes that we must move to yet
higher levels of mind, beyond thought itself,
into the realms of the silent mind, or the
mind of light or intuition, where understanding doesn't come
through the pure logic and
reasoning of the
intellect,
but through silence, and through descents of
knowledge into our minds devoid of any thought!
MSS Article: Intellect Acquiring Subtle Instinct
Accepted Givens of Modern Life are Being Thrown Out
Several such statements -- a leader is born,
intelligence does not grow, the throne
is not for us, you must be born into the royal family - are giving way
to the modern realities. In modern times, all kinds of people are
becoming heads of state, PhD is awarded to people not innately
intelligent, based on training. It means leadership and
intelligence are acquired. (MSS)
Great Leadership &
Emotional Intelligence
-What makes a leader
great? A commanding presence? Technical brilliance? The drive to work 80
hours a week? Or spending thirty minutes each day in self-reflection?
The answer is self-reflection. Follow that up with highly trained
listening skills, persistent optimism and a bit of empathy and you have
a leader who's not only great, but superb.
-A steady stream of research over the past decade has consistently identified emotional intelligence as a much more powerful predictor of professional success than intelligence or expertise. Highly emotionally intelligent managers retain workers and encourage the productivity and innovation that make a company shine. Instead of trying to micromanage, effective leaders bring people together and inspire them.
-You must create an environment where people feel valued to be creative.
-Individuals' self-interest diminishes empathy and limits ability to see the big picture.
-The most capable leaders demonstrate modesty and even shyness, giving credit to the organization and their co-workers before themselves.
-The self-management aspect of emotional intelligence includes acting with honesty and integrity, especially in difficult situations. Executives must be flexible, and know when to walk away.
-An executive who surrounds himself with 'yes' men, creates a morally neutered environment. The emotionally intelligent leader, in contrast, is aware of others' feelings and is willing to admit mistakes.
-Emotionally intelligent executives maintain accountability and are committed to ethical business practices while they increase a company's profits. (East Bay Business Times, extracted)
Life Intelligence
Beyond the physical/body plane is the Vital plane. It is a
substance of subtler substance and higher consciousness than the raw
material substance and aspects of the physical plane. Its first subplane
is the Physical Vital in the form of sensations of the nerves as
urge, desire, and fear. These reflect for the individual in society as
action, relationship, adventure, conquest, etc. From this emerges
the Pure Vital subplane (i.e. the vital proper) where there is
even more subtle substance and consciousness than the previous plane's
sensation of nerves in the form of human emotions, feelings, passions,
including their expression of the emergence of intense human
relationships in the social sphere. A step up from this is Mental
Vital, where there is the development of emotional thought in the
form of our personal attitudes, our life
intelligence, as well as other higher emotions.
The Live Divine and
Intellect
[Sri Aurobindo's] 'The Life Divine'
was written to explain the mystic secrets of creation to the intellect,
particularly the European intellect.
(MSS)
Overview
Limits of Intellectuality
Intellectuality-
-
Is a logical argument/conclusion that is mistaken for reality itself.
-
Is an internally consistent way of arguing that justifies its own assumptions.
-
Sees complementary aspects of the whole as polar opposites or mutually exclusive contradictions. (MSS)
Examples of Intellectuality
-
Efficient Market Theory -- two Nobel prizes have been awarded to economist/mathematicians that developed more power computer trading programs capable of destabilizing the entire world of finance, without ever considering that financial speculative is inherently destructive of economy and society.
-
Mutually Assured Destruction -- MAD was justified by McNamara, Kissinger and other intellectuals on both sides as the one and only way to protect national security by producing 70,000 nukes, sufficient to destroy the world a 1000 times.
-
ICPF report argues that the internal logic of competitive security paradigms is inherently destabilizing because each nation's effort to enhance its own security increases the insecurity of other nations at the highest possible cost, whereas cooperative security is a higher logic that reconciles the security of all nations at the lowest cost.
-
Mr. Bennet's [in Pride and Prejudice] refusal to prevent Lydia's trip to Brighton is argued on rational grounds that are completely divorced from the reality of her character and the situation. Later his logic looks like total foolishness but he convinced himself at the time.
-
Mr. Bennet's decision [in Pride and Prejudice] to repay the Gardiners what they paid for Wickham's wedding is irrational since he lacks the means to do so, but it is true according to a higher logic and is rewarded by life eliminating the need for him to pay. This is not intellectuality.
-
Collins [in Pride and Prejudice] uses intellectual arguments to convince Elizabeth she should accept his marriage proposal, e.g. you only have 50 pounds and may never get another proposal, blind to the fact that marriage is not based on logical considerations and certainly not advanced by insulting the bride to be.
-
Darcy [in Pride and Prejudice] argues rationally that he is justified in interfering in Bingley's marriage to Jane, but acts opposite to his own conclusion when he proposes to Elizabeth and then justified interference again when he marries Lydia to Wickham.
-
Eliza's analysis [in Pride and Prejudice] of Wickham's behavior and her own conduct when she reads Darcy's letter at Hunsford is an example of intellectuality at its best - objective, dispassionate capacity to reflect on one's own subjective condition objectively.
-
Eliza and Jane's justification [in Pride and Prejudice] for not exposing Wickham is completely at odds with life realities, so it backfires badly.
-
Charlotte's rationale [in Pride and Prejudice] for accepting Collins' proposal is based on sound argument and realistic assessment of her aspirations and his capacities. (MSS)
Intellectuality and Truth Consciousness
Intellectuality concludes in what is less than
the full, integral truth
consciousness concerning a matter. There are thus gradations
of it.
Intellectuality-based Arguments
Intellectuality
based reasoning or arguments are one or more of:
-
error prone
-
misguided assumptions
-
faulty logic
-
divorced from reality
-
less then well-reasoned argument
-
limited in scope
-
non-consideration of all sides
-
inconsistent
-
opposing or opposite of the truth
-
hypocritical to one's actions
-
destructive
-
non-consideration of unexpected consequences
Intellectuality at Odds with Life
Intellectuality is more often than divorced from, not at
odds with life realities.
On What Intellectuality Does
Intellectuality is to organise sense
impressions into infallible facts.
(MSS)
Limits of
Intellectuality
Intellectuality is inert, is an efficient bar to knowledge. (MSS)
Limits of
Intellectuality
Iintellectuality is dry and insipid. (MSS, paraphrase)
Intellectuality
as Bar to Knowledge
The world knows not how totally
intellectuality is a bar to Knowledge.
Blindness of
Intellectuality
Intellectuality does not see the gaps
in its conviction and shuts a blind eye to it.
Intellectuality and
Arguments
Intellectuality awaits development of
arguments as eagerly as an audience awaits the development
of the plot in a story. Further scenes in a story are
further arguments in the argument of the plot.
Stories are intellectual exercises for the masses.
Limits of Process of
Intellectuality
As rational mind emerged, other higher forms of
abstract understanding became a part of human consciousness. Rational
and objective knowledge has gradually become the basis of what we call
modern intelligence and intellectual activity, which can be observed in
a wide cross section of mankind.
If we step back and evaluate the roots and process of intellectuality and its form of knowledge, we understand that it is built upon matter and the interaction of forms of matter that have created a constructed intellectual understanding of reality over time. Intellectual knowledge by its very nature can not provide the answer to the fundamental questions on the nature of reality which humanity seeks to understand since its knowledge is based on matter and not on consciousness, which has created all that exists.
Humanity must understand the limits of its intellectual knowledge and find the true seat of consciousness in the inner being that is not dependent on matter and sense but knows the answers through direct knowledge of identity. (MSS, Bob Macfarlane)
Truth
Beyond Intellectuality
Truth is more than the limited
rational thinking of intellectuality -- that is divorced
from life, from reality, that is inconsistent, partial, and
error-prone. Truth is perception and knowledge of the actual
conditions of existence. It is an exact mental
representation of the objective status of a matter. It is
garnered through true rational thinking without its limiting
aspects, as well as (in an increasing scale) through
insight, illumination, and intuition. Supramental perception
is truth consciousness and is beyond these. It is to be one
with truth status of the object under consideration, knowing
its full integral truth.
What Intellectuality Is
Intellectuality is the function of
mind which takes the data from the various senses and
coordinates them in the mind.
When one confines the data of one's thought to sense perception,
then intellectuality arises. (Paraphrase of MSS)
Sense
Impressions of Intellectuality Limit Understanding,
Knowledge
Limited to sense impression,
intellectuality produces understanding that is faulty,
error-prone and limited. Sense input and sense mind that
perceives it is of this nature.
Moving from Intellectuality to
Rational Thought
Truth
Beyond Intellectuality
Truth is more than the limited
rational thinking of intellectuality -- that is divorced
from life, from reality, that is inconsistent, partial, and
error-prone. Truth is perception and knowledge of the actual
conditions of existence. It is an exact mental
representation of the objective status of a matter. It is
garnered through true rational thinking without its limiting
aspects, as well as (in an increasing scale) through
insight, illumination, and intuition. Supramental perception
is truth consciousness and is beyond these. It is to be one
with truth status of the object under consideration, knowing
its full integral truth.
Intellectuality to Thought: From
Mental Sensation to Mental Thought
Intellectuality can be upgraded to
Thought, which means the mental sensation is upgraded into
mental perception or even conception partly.
Intellectuality vs. Insight
Intellectual statements exclude
facts of insight as they belong to the subtle plane and
intellectuality is material thought.
Intellectuality matures into intuition
through insight. (MSS)
Moving from
Intellectuality to Intuition
When intellectuality tries to fill in
the gaps in its understanding, gradually it develops
intuition.
Other
Moving from
Subconscient to Conscient
Detachment from senses and detachment from
intellectuality makes
one move from the subconscient to the conscient. (MSS)
Memory and Mind
Mind cannot
know the past directly (in the present), so it creates memory of
it, a pale substitute.
Memory and Past Time
Past, present, and future are one
continuous stream of existence of time. Mind can only
perceive the present, even then partially, and has no direct
connection to past or real perception of the future. To
accommodate its inability to perceive past directly, it has
organized a memory of it.
Memory
and Consciousness
Memory is only a process, a working of
consciousness.
Memory is a crutch upon which
Mind supports itself in moving through Time.
-Memory is a mental device that brings
the past before the present to the mind in the movement of
successive events.
-Mind needs no memory as memory is ever-present in it.
-It is only the surface mind when it becomes finite tearing itself away from the infinite that forgets. (MSS)
Memory Making Up for Limits of Mind
-Memory is only one of the many powers and
processes of mind.
-
Memory is the first faculty of the Mind to be born and the last
faculty to disappear. It is the stamp of Time on Mind. (MSS)
Memory in Becoming that Reminds the Mind
Becoming is a continuous movement of which the surface mind
catches figures, as the camera catches some figures of an
unbroken existence. Memory is the album that reminds the Mind.
(MSS)
Memory is
primarily mental, but extends to the subtle plane as well as the physical
material plane.
Surface Mind
Forgets
Memory and Theory of Creation
Memory in Creation
Memory is the chief action of Consciousness-Force in our
dealings with self, world and Nature. (Sri Aurobindo)
Memory and Conscious Being
Memory understands the eternity of the Conscious Being in terms
of Time. (MSS)
Limits of Consciousness that is Memory
Limits of Memory
By memory, Mind can only know itself in the past.
From its past it can only infer, not truly know the future.
Memory is the insincerity of the mechanical functioning of the
brain. Lack of fullness of the present is the memory
of the past. (MSS)
Inactive Memory that is Lifeless Thinking
Thinking that has disappeared will leave behind inactive memory.
Memory is lifeless thinking.
Untitled
Memory prevents us from living.
Limits of Memory to Grow in Consciousness
Memory keeps one on the surface, human, preventing him from
entering into yogic consciousness.
Memory and Possessiveness
Memory is an effort to possess.
Running Thoughts and Memory
Running thoughts issue from memory. (MSS)
Dissolution of Memory through Higher Consciousness
Disappearance of Memory and Moving to Depths
Memory disappears when we move away from the surface. (MSS)
Dissolving of Memory in the Heart
Memory fixes us to the mind. Moving to the back of the heart,
memory dissolves. (MSS)
The Utility and Unnecessity of Memory
Memory brings events to the mind as long as one needs to learn
from them. It goes out of his memory the moment he has learnt
everything he needed to learn. (MSS)
Memory and Change
Memory goes back to a particular period of the past and stays on
it for a while, before it changes. (MSS)
Higher Memory
Limited Utility
of Memories
Memories are not worth dwelling on except what we can learn from
the past.
Memory
of Self
-There is memory of self and of experience.
-Memory of self relates to the divisions of time --
past, present, and future. It renders itself in terms of time.
When Memory Works Best
Memory is a faculty
which generally operates with the help of another or when seen
in coordination with another factor.
When that factor is SELF, memory works best.
'Man remembers what affects him most.'
Observation and
Memory
-Those who enjoy observation are endowed with greater memory.
-O
-The un-understanding man, who enjoys observation, is often a
tale-bearer or a gossipmonger and at best a conscience keeper who all delight
in being in the flow of life for its own sake. All those people are usually
devoid of understanding of any type.
Understanding as Higher Form of Memory
- All knowledge, learning and work are based on memory
- We use the memory all the time. Almost everything we learn is based on memory of one form or another. The so called 'understanding' is only a higher form of memory.
- Forgetfulness is a weakness. You must eliminate it at any cost. Trained and systematic memory will help you to remember anything you want to.
- You cannot forget anything of which you are conscious. [E.g. a lawyer knows all the facts, a salesperson all of the details of the product, a speech giver all of the points he wishes to make, a consultant all of the theories and anecdotes to support, a doctor all of the aspects of health, etc.)
- When you consciously try to memorize, you give split-second conscious attention to the things on hand. That is more than enough to produce powerful results. The memory systems do work. They will never let you down. They work infallibly if you know both the theory and practice.
- Acquisition of any powerful mental skill will immediately attract great life responses. (MSS, extracted)
Utility of Positive
Memories
Our life is in perpetual motion and
never-ceasing transformation. All that is currently happening in
our lives - all the actions and events - will soon pass away and
become memories. And memories are nothing but intangible mental
impressions of events, places, objects, persons, experiences,
etc, which get stored somewhere within our
mind or soul. So whether we are going through good times
or bad, we can rest assured that they will soon pass. It means
each moment is fleeting and none of us can hold on to time. Nor
can we ever hold on to any specific experience, event, place,
object,
person,
circumstance, action, etc.
However, there truly is a blessing contained in every memory.
Whether it reveals itself as a lesson or an insight, it is a
blessing, still. But to be able to see the blessing contained in
any memory, we should have a spiritual outlook to life. Because
a man with a spiritual outlook will easily understand that
change is the law of life and the resulting memories are the
consequences that enable us to remember what really occurred.
Though memories have no physical existence and may elude our
understanding, negative or distressing or annoying memories do
have the capacity to cause pain and misery as well as heartache
and depression. On the other hand, positive and constructive
memories have the potential to make us happier, optimistic and
confident. Obviously, no one wants to lead a painful life full
of sufferings and misery.
Everyone aspires to have a happy, cheerful, optimistic and
confident life.So if we can ensure that negative,
distressing, annoying and irritating memories or imagery
do not seep into our minds, we would have accomplished 50 per
cent of the task that is required to keep our lives free of pain
and sufferings. And simultaneously, if we can also accumulate
lots of positive, joyous and constructive memories, they will
definitely go a long way in ensuring us a happy, cheerful,
joyous, optimistic and confident life.
All these are easier said then done. To be able to achieve the above, we need to become conscious of our thoughts and the resulting actions. If we do not become conscious of our actions, then we will always be victims of circumstances. So ultimately everything boils down to consciousness. (MSS)
Surface and Subliminal
Memory
Surface and Subliminal Memory
Memory is like a register. This is surface memory. The
subliminal memory is the knowledge of family members of the
others and family history, none of which is recorded. (MSS)
Surface vs Subliminal Memory
To think of oneself is ego. To consider the past is to be in
Time. Memory binds us to mind. Time, mind and ego are of the
finite surface. Memory keeps us on the surface. Ever-present
memory of everything is of the subliminal. Self-forgetfulness is
bliss. Self-aware oblivion is Delight. All-aware
self-forgetfulness is higher Delight. (MSS)
Subliminal Remembering with Dissolution of Memory
The subliminal remembers all after memory dissolves.
Untitled
Memory brings us to the surface from the subliminal.
Expressions of Memory
What is Remembered and Forgotten in
Life
-At all turning points in life, such
as job, marriage, first visit to a town, etc. the events of such
occasions will be remembered or stick to the memory by
themselves.
-You can forget a person who was your roommate for a long time, but remember a brother of his whom you saw for a few hours if he had touched your life.
-Members of our caste, habits, style of dress especially during periods of change will be retained by the memory.
-Professionals will remember the work not the person; the doctors the disease, lawyers the cases, etc. as their own interest is not in the person.
-Fans will remember minor details of actors for years.
-Dislike may work in the reverse. A wife's birthday or even her name can be forgotten.
-People will remember other members of higher social standing for decades even if they are non-entities now like caste in India, aristocracy in England.
-Every small detail spoken by a VIP will be remembered for his sake.
-Important facts spoken by unimportant people will be remembered, but the person, however close he is, even if he is now talking to you will be totally forgotten.
-It is sin to remember small people.
-A fact will be sweet in the nth repetition as having spoken it umpteen times it will actually be forgotten.
-Mean people remember all the defects of others so as to use them readily later.
-Obligations are necessarily forgotten. (MSS)
Other
Factual Memory vs. Impression of Memory
Factual memory differs from the impression of memory which
appears to be false, but all ideas and impressions are formed
out of the latter. (MSS)
Memory, Intelligence, and Rationality/Reason, Intuition
-Memory remembers facts; intelligence understands them; logic
sees the connection between the facts which is understanding.
Logic becomes valuable by its rationality. Memory and
intelligence subserve rationality which reveals the logic of a
situation. (MSS)
-Memory, intelligence, reason and intuition
are the grades of understanding. (MSS)
Untitled
Memory is a neutral faculty. (MSS)
Recurring Memories is that of Arrears
A memory that recurs is a reminder of psychological arrears.
Work lies there, not in taking initiative or pursuing personal
interests. Memory, Mother says, is insincerity. (MSS)
Memory of the Present
Memory can be of the present too. In that form, it is most
acute. (MSS)
Mother says there is a place
in the subtle world where the memory of the earth is stored.
(MSS)
MSS Articles on Memory
On Memory
On Imagination
- Imagination is a more powerful faculty than thinking.
- Poets who create out of their rich imagination create immortal literature.
- Ambitious men daydream that they have conquered the world. Whether it is ambition or aspiration, the faculty is the same - imagination. In one case, it is put to an undesirable use, in the other to uplift the soul.
- One who is deeply in love -sees- his beloved everywhere. It is almost a hallucination. On rare occasions, the force of imagination brings his beloved to many places of his visit.
- Ardent devotees have an active relationship with their gods. Mother -saw- Krishna walking behind Her. They are not fantasies. In the life of the Spirit, it is a spiritual experience. The reality of this faculty mostly shows itself in dreams. To those sincere devotees, their dreams come true. Should this faculty gain strength and permanence, it becomes clairvoyance.
- The Mother asks us to send Her to our work places ahead of us. [It is to use spiritual imagination, which sends out the Force to create great results -- i.e. Luck.) (MSS, extracted, plus additional)
Imagination Can Produce Using Mother/The Force
A certain devotee had
applied for government permission. On that depended her future in a
certain important sense. She had no one who could do it on her behalf,
nor was she in a position to go to such places chasing the paper. Even
if she had gone to those places, she could do nothing. There was an
inordinate delay.
She finally decided to move as the paper
itself. In her imagination, she became the paper and moved from table to
table, office to office. It took six months of this inner work or
labour. At the end of six months, news came to her that the paper was
sanctioned and she achieved her goal.
What she had not known was
in the government 'scheme of things', it had been decided NOT to
sanction this paper and all such papers. Her spiritual yearning sent to
the paper through the faculty of her own imagination carried Mother's
Force to those places, changed the mind of the government and secured
sanction for her paper. As a rule, when Mother sanctions something to
one devotee, all those in a similar position receive the benefit.
(MSS)
Imagination as Faculty of Mind that Can Abridge
Time
Imagination is the most powerful faculty of the mind.
Sri Aurobindo says imagination is the faculty that gives life to a
future possibility. As it brings the future into the present, it has the
characteristic of conquering Time. (MSS)
On the
Power of Imagination
-Imagination is described as a faculty of
mind by Sri Aurobindo that is able to see a future possibility and
energise it with mental power. That way, one's imagination has the power
to actualise what it imagines when that imagination captures a true
possibility of the future.
-Imagination is not fantasy. Imagination, based on precise knowledge and power of mind can realise itself. By opening to the Spiritual Force, it can always have an extra benefit. (MSS, extracted)
Imaging
What We Can Become
As a TOKEN or in his imagination, he may try
to envisage how he would function, what his emotional attitudes would
be, and how much his own personal traits are eager to widen their scope,
etc., if he assumes a global context in which he is brought to function
as the chief.
It can have the least semblance of reality if he moves from here to there in his imagination based on real emotional attitudes. It is true a few things will refuse to take on reality, even in one's imagination. An ordinary man will shake in his limbs thinking himself to be standing before a vast audience. If it is real to his imagination, it will become real later. (MSS)
Workings of
Mind & Imagination
The mind in the physical matter, if you can
call it material mind, is very slow to perceive but perceives everything
without fail. From its perception of facts around, through imagination,
it chooses a form of action that would facilitate its work. Through
trial and error, it arrives at a success and on that basis the
organisation of action. The vitality in the body energises this choice
and the physicality endorses it in action. (MSS)
Literature & Imagination
It is a
truth in literature that there is greater life in what issues out of
imagination than a historically true event, as one is in the subtle
plane and the other is in the gross physical plane.
(MSS)
Planning & Imagination
Planning for the future is the will of mind exercised by foresight in
imagination. (MSS)
The New Creation & Imagination
The new creation is never a fixed possibility. The entire atmosphere
is ripe for the imagination to exercise itself. It is not as if there
are a few or many alternates from which one is chosen. It is an open
situation in which something new is fashioned. (MSS)
Also See Thoughts on Writing and Imagination
See Insights on Creativity for
the Individual and Society
Definition of
Curiosity
Curiosity is intelligence directed to the unknown. (MSS)
Levels of Wisdom
To do is
the body's wisdom. To think about what to do next is the mind's wisdom.
To know what to do at every moment is mind's wisdom in spirit. To be is
the wisdom of the pure spirit.
How Types of Individuals
Learn
The physical person does
not want to learn. The emotional, vital person learns when he wants to.
The mental person is always willing to learn. The mental person is the
fastest and most dedicated learner, and absorber of facts and ideas.
Thus he is at the forefront of our evolution. [He also has the most long
term impact on the development of society.]
Learn from a Discussion
Our goal should not be to win a debate, bit to learn from the
discussion. Inner Silence, silent Will, and taking the other person's
point of view are spiritual techniques that will certainly go a long way
to achieving this goal.
Interviewing One's Self
(On the technique of interviewing
one's self; as if by a radio or tv personality.)
This is an excellent way to know your mind better so you can apply its wisdom in a practical way. I do this often myself when walking or driving long distance.
What is startling is that you will see that you know much more than you thought you know, often bringing out startling, innovative insights.
We rarely organize our mind, as we might our desk, work area, closet. But through this Interview technique that is what happens.
Instincts of (Pure) Mind,
Mental Life
Pure Mind's proper instincts are change, self-enlargement and
self-improvement. It has faith in perfectibility, and its watchword is
progress. Pure mental life concentrates on the aesthetic, the ethical,
the intellectual. Mentality is idealistic a seeker after perfection.
(Paraphrase of Sri Aurobindo)
Don't Predict,
Anticipate
We are not here to
predict, but to understand and develop the Knowledge to anticipate.
MOVING FROM
IGNORANCE TO INTEGRAL KNOWLEDGE
(top)
|
Source of Ignorance in
Creation
Ignorance in the Individual Human
The Nature of Ignorance (vs. Knowledge)
Exclusivity of Mind; Perceiving the Part, not the Whole |
Source of Ignorance in
Creation
Click
here
Ignorance in the Individual Human
The Nature of
Ignorance (vs. Knowledge)
Integral Knowledge vs. Ignorance
Our current way of knowing in life is fairly close to the opposite of Knowledge. That opposite we call "Ignorance." In the Ignorance we have extremely limited knowledge that is there, that is unfolding at any moment in time; we have false and error-filled knowledge; non-integral, related to the whole knowledge. We are living in one millionth of our knowledge potential at any moment. In that way we are closer to the insect than the potential human being living the Integral Knowledge.
Moving
from Ignorance to Integral Knowledge
We live in an essential Ignorance born of creation,
perceiving only a tiny glimpse of that which is
unfolding around us, or of the object we are
trying to know. To make matters worse, we are
also overly attached to that extremely limited
perception, which reflect in our limited actions
and their finite results. In fact, the limited
aspect(s) we believe to be true out of the
infinite reality that makes up the truth is
likely to be error filled or even downright
false.
In this way, we know a tiny fraction of the truth of what is
occurring around us at any moment, or the nature
of the object that we are trying to know. It is
an astonishing mental inefficiency born of
creation. In this way, we are actually far
closer to the primate than to being a fully
realized mental human being.
The cause of this fundamental Ignorance
of
Man is rooted in the essential limited nature of
Mind,
which is exclusive and does not seek to know all
sides of the truth, but that which neatly fits
our physical and vital needs.
Fortunately, by rising to a deeper consciousness, we can overcome
our limited perceptions, enabling mind to
overcome its narrow focus and exclusive nature;
embracing the many sides of truth unfolding
around us. From that status, we will have a far
vaster understanding and knowledge of the
conditions we come upon, enabling powerful
insight, and perfect decisions that lead to
enormously successful outcomes.
Progressive Movement Out
of Ignorance
The New York Times
raised this question
recently:
Why do so many people believe they can drive safely while
using cell phones but
don't believe that
others can do the same?
The simple answer is
that it is human nature
to see the flaws in
others, but not in
ourselves. Of course,
others see our flaws
quite clearly! This in
turn raises many issues;
one of which is our
inherent Ignorance born
of creation.
When the Infinite consciousness
descended to create a
universe of forms, it
shed its Awareness. When
material forms were
created, there was
virtually complete
unconsciousness; an
Inconscience in Sri
Aurobindo's terms. The
Supreme consented to
this unconsciousness to
allow for the greatest
diversity of forces and
forms, from the
unconscious to the
conscious; from less to
more positive; from
false to true. When
these forms evolved --
particularly us -- we
would discover our
higher nature, develop
greater awareness, which
would elicit in us deep
delight. In this way,
the Static delight of
the Infinite Divine
could express a Dynamic
Delight through the
forms of creation,
including us In other
words, for the
expression of infinite
forms of Delight,
Ignorance was allowed.
In fact, it was very
necessary for this
process.
Because of our inherent limited
consciousness, each of
us has a limited field
of Awareness. It
expresses from the
material to the mental.
Our material
consciousness focuses us
on our own distinct
selves at the expense of
others. Our vital
desires, needs, passions
again separate us from
the same in others. When
Mind enters the picture,
then our separation
becomes insidious, as
our ego takes form; and
there is an aggressive
desire to defend our own
interest at the expense
of others. In this way,
we perceive the Truth of
things through a
distorted lens. We
perceive the small Part
of any matter, not the
many parts, let alone
the Whole of the Truth.
Thus, our being is blind
to our own defects
because we miss the
total view of ourselves;
filtered by the
distorting lens of ego
and sense mind.
In this way, a person while driving can
glance to the side,
dial, and talk on his or
her cell phone,
oblivious to the wider
truth that we are
putting others at risk.
It is one of a thousand
ways we express our
Ignorance born of
creation. It is an
instance of how we are
limited to a perception
of the small part,
though others see the
parts we are missing --
about ourselves, as they
perceive our
selfishness, ego, error,
falsehood,
obliviousness, and a
thousand other faux pas.
And yet our future evolution is to outgrow our fundamental
Ignorance, which can
progressively grow into
an Integral knowledge.
The intervening stages
require us to take
specific inner actions,
such as shifting our
attitudes from the
negative to the
positive,
to be more self-giving
rather than taking (i.e.
shedding our
selfishness),
to have an open
rather than a closed
mind, to take the other
person's point of view,
and so forth. This would
be a tremendous
achievement, and a sure
sign of human progress
and evolution.
And yet this is just the first step to a
further stage of
spiritual evolution,
which requires a
disciplined yogic-like
effort. In this
transmutation, the very
nature of our mind would
have to be changed, as
it would evolve from an
instrument of the part,
of division, of
separation, of
exclusivity to one
capable of embracing the
totality of Truth. It
requires an opening to
higher planes of mind,
beyond rationality and
insight to intuition,
revelation, and
supramental perception.
I.e. multi-faceted,
integral knowledge just
comes to us from out of
nowhere without the hard
churning of thought. The
many parts of a thing,
the whole, the essence,
just appear in our Minds
in a continuous flow of
Truth.
Needless to say, at that stage, there
will be little or no
possibility of driving
dangerously while on the
phone, for our own
selves will have merged
with the Selves of
others in an
inextricable Oneness.
Untitled
Man worships at the
shrine of his own Ignorance.
Ignorance and Integral Knowledge
Ignorance is lack
of Knowledge that is an inherent state in all people. It is born of
creation. We humans know one part of a matter or thing, and defend it
vociferously. The emotionalizing and defense is falsehood and evil
respectively. That which they defend is the part, which is Ignorance.
Even the part knowledge may be false. The scientist discovered the
infinite-like power of the atom, but then went ahead and developed evil
weapons out of it. That part knowledge was Ignorance. We demonstrate it
in every part of life we interact with. We know a small part of the
whole, and express it intensely in our opinions and attitudes. Instead,
we need to know all parts, including the Whole, which will bring us to
Knowledge.
We begin to do this by moving within, by learning all life's laws, by
elevating ourselves to our highest consciousness.
In the supramental consciousness there is no Ignorance as all parts are
there and each part is connected to one another and its essence. There
is also there a power of will and effectuation of that which is known.
It is according to Sri Aurobindo a state in which we experience Integral
Knowledge. It is a consciousness and power for the future of humanity.
We can begin to move from Ignorance to Integral Knowledge by first
becoming truly rational, i.e. by being open to the truth of all sides of
a matter, not the one small part we egotistically defend. Listening to
others, seeking the truth of things, educating ourselves, taking the
other person's point of view, focusing on the needs of others, etc. are
various methods of achieving it.
Exclusivity of Mind; Perceiving the Part, not the Whole
Exclusive Thinking
People virulently defend what they already know, missing completely what
they don't know. Such exclusive thinking is the root cause of Man's
perpetual Ignorance.
Mind as Instrument of Division Confines Itself to the Part
Mind is an instrument of division. Whenever an object is presented to
it, it looks at one part of it and dissects that part out of the whole
and entirely confines itself to the part, considering that part to be
the whole. (MSS)
Ignorance
Rooted in Exclusivity of Mind
Ignorance is rooted in the exclusivity and particularizing
nature of mind. It is a concentration of consciousness, of Conscious
Force that is absorbed in a part knowledge or action,
excluding the rest from its awareness. A wall of exclusion is
created, limiting itself to a single field, domain, or habituation of
movement.
Mind's Exclusivity, Ego, and Ignorance
Mind,
though a great instrument of consciousness of life, is also a
flawed instrument. It doesn't see the whole truth of any
situation; it sees but a part of any truth. It tends to pick one
side and say that one side is the whole truth, when there are in
fact a multiplicity of sides that it rejects. Thus mind
particularizes things, and most negatively for our inquiry, it
is exclusionary. It is this exclusionary nature of mind
that in life is the source of the movement away from the unity
and truth of the integral Knowledge.
Whenever we live in ego, there is the greater likelihood that Mind will manifest its exclusionary tendency. The more we are in ego, the more Mind tends to be exclusionary, moving away from the true truth, the whole truth, the myriad of truths; reinforcing our Ignorance. When we live on the surface of life, it supports and fortifies our separateness, hence ego, which reinforces the exclusivity of Mind that is the basis of Ignorance. By withdrawing from the surface of life to the depths, we overcome our ego and separateness, which enable Mind to move from its exclusionary Ignorance to exclusionary, integral Knowledge.
Exclusivity of
Mind
Life has a peculiar way of evolving. It
moves from the part to the Whole. Nature's (i.e. Life's) great
method is to find two parties that each know a part and have
them come together in contradiction and conflict. Each side
knows what the other does not. Still each knows a part. Through
their mutual contradiction, they move from the exclusive belief
to the other side's understanding; i.e. the greater truth, which
is the Whole. As a result, there is a further progress in life,
which is Nature's intention. They have moved through their
conflict; resolved their contradiction. Interestingly, from the
perspective of the Whole, there was never contradiction, only
complementariness. I.e.
they helped one another in their progress, to enable the Whole
to emerge, which is the further progress in life. To see how conflict is the method by which
we move from the part to the Whole, we can examine any event in
life. Say I go for a walk and come upon what looks like a
disturbance, with police cars and fire trucks. My senses tell me
one thing. I come to a conclusion. I walk away from the scene
having this perspective. It is the part. The reality and truth
of the situation was not at all what my senses indicated. The
security teams have merely come together to devise various
strategies. There are other reasons as well. That is the Whole.
We knew the part, through the false impression the visual sense
drew into the Mind. It is our essential Ignorance born of
creation. However, when we move to a deeper consciousness
within, we separate from sense and from within perceive more of
the possibilities unfolding around us. The scientist sees matter.
He believes in the empirically true. He understands the
mechanistic workings of life. He does not see the influence of
emotion, psychological movements, the power of ideas, the subtle
workings and principles of life, not to mention the Spirit that
is the source of all, and to which we are evolving. He is blind
to all of these. He thus sees the part. Life however is a Whole.
Spirit and matter are integrated and makeup
a Whole. We believe in matter. Some of us believe in the Spirit.
Each us a part. The whole is to perceive the Spirit moving in
the details of life, through matter. To perceive not just the
spiritual being and the Becomings of life, but the Being in the
Becoming. The One in the Many, as well as the Many in the One.
It is to perceive the ultimate Reality, Brahman, the Absolute.
The Creator and Creation as One Integrated Whole.
It
is not even in seeing the part (instead of the whole) that is the source
of the Ignorance in Mind. It is rather its exclusivity, its insistence
on its own part, supported by ego, that chains us, keeps us apart
from True Knowledge in life.
In any object or matter, there are two elements -- the
various parts, as well as the whole of those parts. The Mind of
man is limited. It only sees a Part, not the Whole. It divides
and grabs onto the part it finds convenient, missing the other
elements, not to mention the overall Whole or the deeper
Essence. As a result of missing the Truth of any matter, Mind
resides in a perpetual state of Ignorance. To perceive all of
the parts, the Whole, and the Essence of any object or matter at
any moment in time is to perceive the Truth. To ascertain it we
must rise above Mind moving to intuition and an ultimate Truth
consciousness. Sri Aurobindo calls it the Supramental
Consciousness.
Perceiving All Sides of a Matter
Man is not inclined to embrace all sides of an issue, only the
one that meets his current attitudes and beliefs. A San
Francisco newspaper recently published a letter to the editor
from a nearby Berkeley group indicating the displacement of
people and corruption involved in building dams in Burma and
Guatemala. On face value, who can argue with such sentiments?
Unfortunately, they conclude that the dams cannot be built; in
fact that dams overall are not a wise approach to meet the needs
of the public. Somewhere else, people argue vehemently for the
need for new dams in parched areas -- a noble and useful
aspiration indeed -- yet ignore the problems generated,
including the effect on people and the environment.
The truth is that we rush to protect our side of the argument,
failing to embrace the
totality of truth available to us. Why not see the benefit
of dams to help the flow of water around the nations for
agriculture, the poor, the cities, etc. while acknowledging that
tactics being used in their development may in fact be harmful.
The Berkeley people see little benefit in building dams; the
other side is blind to corruption and negative influences of
such construction. A rational mind embraces all sides, and comes
to the right conclusion. Liberal democracy has its roots in such
a many-sided view. It is also a spiritual capacity for the mind
to embrace all sides, while also seeing the Totality and the
Essence.
Mind is a dividing mechanism. It also tends to be exclusive.
I.e. my truth and understanding is the best and I will defend
it. We each do it all the time. We defend our point of view
instead of learn, seeking out all sides of an issue. It is the
vital ego that asserts the side it knows, not perceiving its
essential Ignorance in that matter. We are like this in endless
way - as we are unwilling or uncurious to know all sides of an
issue; where we so certain of our position, even though the
multiplicity of truths both beckons and eludes us.
And yet we have the capacity to develop an inner poise from
which we can develop a level of mindfulness and awareness that
has the natural tendency to seek out all sides of an issue. It
is Inner Curiosity that is spiritual in nature, as the Mind
rests in quietude, open to and allowing True Knowledge to
descend into it from all sides. Practically speaking, each time
we are in a meeting, or reading a paper, or taking in
information, we should be willing to absorb the multiplicity of
truths of a matter, holding back that tendency to look for the
ammunition of fact that supports our own limited attitudes and
beliefs. A true rational person absorbs knowledge in mental
silence, perceiving the possibilities, the deep arguments, the
justification and flaws in logic, the Essence behind, as well as
the Totality. It also includes our ability to have illuminations
and intuitions of truth and knowledge that come into our minds
without thought from the universal spheres. This is the next
level of human consciousness beyond Mind proper that we are
evolving towards.
Floating in the universe is the complete Object of Knowledge
that we are addressing; its essence from all sides, its totality
and details integrated. Our higher, spiritualized mind is
capable of being in Identity with that integrally complete
object. It is our evolutionary destiny to move out of Mind's
exclusivity through inner spiritual means and continually grasp
that total object of knowledge on any matter or subject that
comes to our attention. It will be a sign that humanity has
risen to the next stage of evolution. That at any moment in time
we are able to grasp the totality of knowledge of a matter,
enabling deep, integral understanding that leads to perfect
decisions that result in extraordinary outcomes in life.
Perceiving the Whole Beyond the Pat of a
Matter
-We know things in isolation to other related things.
Thus, we live in Ignorance.
-When we expand ourselves, we move beyond our
limited perceptions and see that many-sided
integral relationship.
-The problem is that we see only a part of a
matter, let alone the integral relationship of
all parts.
-Our ego creates seperative nature, which causes
us to be exclusively attached to the parts we
know.
-We first need to move from the limited part to
the many parts related to a thing.
-We can then begin to know how each part relates
to all others, as well as the Whole and Essence.
-Then we move toward integral knowledge of a
matter.
-At the spiritual level, each thing is
integrally related to every other and the whole.
-The conscious Being is aware of this, but not
the forms of creation it enabled, including us.
-In the lower consciousness, our normal status,
we miss this integral relationship.
-Thus it becomes humanity's mental challenge for
the next thousand years.
-Just now she doesn't even know its a problem.
-When we overcome ego, time, mind, and
finiteness, we move rapidly to this supra-mental
state of integral perception.
-Infinite success and and deep joy spring from
this transformational status.
-Practical application: Listen. Keep the mind still when interacting
with others. Embrace the other person's point of view. Seek to know all
sides of a matter. Be self-giving rather than self-taking and asserting
ego.
Limitations of
Mind to Know Whole Truth
The mind accepts one truth out of all truths, and asserts that truth as
the whole. And it's because our minds are normally rooted in the
prejudicial nature of the vital consciousness, which asserts its
separateness, its ego, and, therefore, its prejudicial predilection to
the facts
Ego Reinforces
this Exclusivity
The Ignorance, created by the exclusivity, is
reinforced by the ego. When we live on the surface of life, it
engenders separateness, hence ego, which reinforces the exclusivity that
is the basis of Ignorance.
Arriving at Integral
Truth of a Matter
I
find myself striving to
embrace all sides of an
issue, all truth related
to that matter so that I
can arrive at a true
integral understanding
of it. Mind, even
rational mind does not
strive so; only seeking
to assert its own
limited truth. It is the
mind of tomorrow.
Living in Vital
Creates Subjectivity and Prejudice
People are centered in their lower vital
consciousness of need and desires and attachments; of strong opinions,
judgments, and negative attitudes. When we think from such a poise, we
are filtering out many of the objectives facts that don't meet these
vital standards, or we are twisting the incoming information to suit our
ego-centered, prejudiced outlook.
Mind's Partial Knowledge
To insist that Mind's perception is ultimate is to insist on partial
knowledge. Partial knowledge or knowledge of the part cannot claim to be
pure knowledge or a valid one.
(MSS)
Holding a
Thought in Our Mind and
Its Opposite
It is
difficult to hold two
thoughts in our mind
that contradict one
another. If they are
opposite, how can we
subscribe to one or the
other? And yet the
spirit-oriented
individual who has
transcended ordinary
thinking tends to
embrace
all
sides of an issue that
make up the Whole,
rather than the
exclusive part
ordinarily subscribed
to. By moving our center
of awareness inward away
from the surface, we
enable such
multi-opposing
perceptions of truth.
Mohandas Gandhi was the redeemer of India, bringing her to independence in 1947 after years of hard-fought battle. Can anyone but admire; no, revere the Mahatma? And yet his practice of "Ahimsa" -- non-violent action -- caused a 30 year delay in Indian independence, the partition of the nations into two (including Pakistan), with nuclear missiles pointing at one another. Also immediately after Partition, millions died in the separation. When the British were on the ropes years earlier, and were on the verge of leaving the country through Indian force, Gandhi stepped in and halted that action because it was not derived through non-violence. Thus, independence was delayed in the name of the gimmick known as Ahimsa, bringing great suffering and problems in its wake.
It is difficult for the mind to hold these two apparently conflicting ideas -- Gandhi's greatness and his tragic error -- together. And yet that is the truth that overcomes our propensity to see only one side of an issue. For example, China annihilated the Tibetans in the 50s and 60s when she tried to make her way towards independence. The Dalai Lama and followers were forced into India. China had undertaken the most despicable actions to defend her territory: an abuse of the collective ego. And yet at the same time, the Dalai Lama realized that Tibetan Buddhism had become crusted over. In India and his travels around the world, he came to perceive a modern, new evolutionary perspective that he never would have enjoyed if he remained with his people in Tibet. Because he was forced to run, life compelled him into a new, dynamic perceptive of the religion he led. It is an irony of history that only an open mind -- i.e. a multi-side perceiving spiritualized mind -- can fully appreciate.
Each of us are tethered to a limited view of things. We stick to it fiercely. Yet Nature works on multiple fronts simultaneously -- enables what seem to be contradictory occurrence to happen at the same time. E.g. the EU might not have ever come about, or if so in hundreds of years, if the Nazis in the guise of evil hadn't rampaged through Europe.
Man in the 21 century and beyond will begin to unshackle the propensities of exclusive mind, and embrace a true hyper-rationality of spiritualized mind, which is willing to look at all sides of an issue, and embrace each of those truth, no matter how contradictory they may seem on the surface.
Even the brute Nixon went to China to open up that once-closed land.
Mind's Prejudice
Mind, in approaching an issue, understands its own
prejudices about that issue, not the issue at all. (MSS)
Limitation of Mind and the Ignorance
Our minds, though the essential instrument of human consciousness
to perceive and comprehend life, is a flawed instrument. It
doesn't see the whole truth of any thing; it only sees a part
of any truth. It tends to pick one part or side and say that one part or
side is the whole truth, when there are in fact a multiplicity of parts
or sides that it rejects. Thus, the mind particularizes things, and most
importantly for our inquiry into Ignorance, it excludes things.
It is the
exclusionary nature of mind that is in life the source and cause of the
movement away from the unity and truth of the integral Knowledge. This
exclusionary aspect of mind is the cause of our Ignorance.
Seeing the Multiplicity that Make Up the Whole
"The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold
two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the
ability to function."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
One person wants to fight terrorism by wiping out the perpetrators. Another wants to stop them by eliminating the root cause -- poverty. Is it not possible to believe both simultaneously: i.e. to end terrorism by going after them even as we eliminate the cause, which is poverty? To hold two (or more) ideas in the mind is not only a test of a first rate intelligence, but the beginning of true knowledge, which is a spiritual quality. True knowledge is to see the multiplicity of factors behind a situating or subject, and to see their interrelationship, and to see their connection to an essential whole of truth relative to the subject. To see the integral whole of possibilities rather than the single part is a sign of the emergence of the spirit in the mind. To see the single part is the root of Ignorance, which leads to falsehood, folly, and wrong action. This is the normal status of humans. To see the multiplicity/Whole is to discover the Truth. When we move out of ego, we begin the process of accepting the multiplicities, and see the Whole. We move out of ego when we move away from the surface of life, to the depths within, where we discover our True Self and Soul.
Holding Opposites in Our Mind to Know
the Whole Truth
It has been said recently that blacks
in America have substantial opportunities to rise, but have become
complacent and self-satisfied. If one is honest, one must see that this
is true in the current environment (2005). It is said by others that
blacks in America are being ignored by the society, indicating a
virulent contempt and callousness of the government and the people.
If one is honest, one must accept that this too is true. Then which is
it: one or the other? They appear to be contradictory beliefs.
Is it not possible that both are true, but that the human mind cannot hold these contradictory opposites together at once. The human mind, supported by a irrepressible negative vital/emotional being takes a side -- holding its one truth in opposition to all others, despite the wider understanding of the whole that includes all truths. This is unfortunately the way the mind of man functions. It is exclusive to all other possibilities other than its own. It takes one side out of a myriad of truths, and takes delight in REINFORCING its opinion whenever possible.
On the other hand, the person of higher consciousness moves out of the exclusivity of mind and embraces the full truth, whatever that might be; even, as in the example above, where the truths appear virtually opposite one another. The higher spiritualized mind embraces all truths because it seeks them; even what appears as contradictory opposites. In the lower consciousness, however, one is adamant about one's own position. In this world, all is divided existence, opposites opposing one another; me vs. you. In the higher consciousness, opposites, contradictions are complementaries, i.e. they work together to make a fuller, more whole, more integral truth. As man evolves, he will move to the spirit in mind that that can hold all truths, including contradictory ones. Then he will take a big leap on the road to his further evolution and transformation.
We can begin that process by moving to our deeper consciousness within, away from the surface bubblings, to silence; and then deeper still to the evolving soul. There one sees beyond the contradictions, embracing all sides, seeing to the True Truth that lie beyond the surface view. From there, all decisions made will be great ones, that inevitably benefits all.
Moving from the Part to the Whole
We perceive life as a part, not as a
whole, in an endless variety of ways. For example, we readily accept
life in the form of matter -- as material formations such as the earth
and our bodies -- but we tend to close ourselves off from the
non-material existence, including the subtle and the spiritual. On the
other hand, there are spiritual aspirants and seekers who live a
cloistered existence and commune with a Higher Reality, but are unable
to integrate their experiences into normal, everyday life -- i.e. in the
world of matter.
And yet we are fully capable of bringing the parts together and living the life of the Whole -- of an integral existence; of full knowledge that when applied tends to attract vast success and individual fulfillment. For example, in the example above, if I were to connect with spirit, and then bring that truth and power into my work, I would accomplish it much more quickly, and far more effectively. When we embrace all sides of a matter or subject or aspect of life, we have far greater insight and knowledge, and are therefore able to produce infinite-like results. On the other hand, when we embrace only the part -- i.e. the limited view -- we constrict life; we reduce our effectiveness, blocking true insight that can breed abundant success.
We can see this principle at work in many areas of life. For example, at the level of society, we value progress -- in particular, economic progress and development that brings material well-being. We -- especially Americans and Westerners -- like anything that speeds up that process; while disdaining things that slow it down. Thus, we rush to market an ever-growing array of products and services. This acceleration is a fine development at the material level, but it embraces only the Part. The Whole includes consideration of the effect of that process on the well-being of Man. E.g., when we bring products to market rapid fire, we would also consider whether the workers are being treated right; whether the products safe; whether the environment is maintained or degraded; whether it is creating disruptions and displacements in society; whether it meets the real needs and aspirations of the people; whether it reflect important individual and social values, and so forth.
The Whole then addresses not only material, but the psychological and social factors as well. It considers and embraces all sides, all interests, all concerns -- not just the limited things we are aware of, or are overly attached to. It in essence includes the gamut of human values -- from the material to the spiritual. Interestingly, when we widen ourselves and embrace the multiplicity of truths related to a matter, we not only understand it better, but when we act from that knowledge, what we produce is of a far superior quality. In addition, negative outcomes are avoided.
Here's another example. America is a great country with powerful material values. Through those values, she has brought out the infinite in matter, and enjoys unprecedented economic success. It is also, however, an example of the limitations of the part. As a result of focusing on the material alone, she struggles at the non-material level -- including the psychological, the social, and the political. Her limited view not only creates harmful side effects such as pollution and proliferation of weaponry, but psychological instability as well. If she were to embrace the full spectrum of values beyond the material, she would not only expand on her physical abundance up to infinity, but would enjoy profound social harmony and deep psychological fulfillment.
To see the Whole is the integrative view of life. It creates the most benefit with the least negative effect. If this is so, then why are we not able to embrace this many-sided, integrative view of life? It is because we are limited in consciousness. Driven by our negative or false attitudes and beliefs; by our ego that creates rampant selfishness; by our preoccupation with the surface of things, we are cut off from the many-sided view of life. We miss the variety of truths that surround any subject or matter that are essential for integral, moment-to-moment comprehension.
The truth is that we like what we know, and are indifferent to or reject what we don't know. As a result, we live in ignorance and falsehood. I.e. we have an exceedingly limited understanding of a matter, which limits our scope for success, while also attracting unintended negative consequences. (One principle of life is that when we embrace the part instead of the whole, the parts we overlook manifest as negative outcomes.)
One way out of this conundrum, is to step back and look at any endeavor or matter, and consider it in terms of four essential aspects -- the material, the vital, the mental, and the spiritual. Doing so will tell us if we are embracing the whole or just the limited part. Let's define each and see how they serve our purpose.
By the material, I mean matter -- i.e. the physical component, in any subject or undertaking. The Vital is the movement of life, including the effects on our emotions and feelings; our desires and needs; as well as our associations and interactions with others and the world around us. The mental is knowledge and understanding; our ability to comprehend; the thoughts and ideas we have; the values we cherish and the goals we subscribe, to name several. The Spiritual is beyond all of these. It is a subtle power that permeates all the other planes, and can be experienced as Oneness and Unity with environment; as feelings of Love towards our others; as creations and expressions of Beauty; as utter Delight in being alive; and as Timelessness, Infinity, Silence, and Goodness.
Let's say that I am embarking on a project. At various points, I decide to evaluate the undertaking from each of the four planes. For example, I have obtained all the material resources required to get the work done - including machinery, funding, etc. Thus, the material view of things is in good order. However, when I consider the work from the vital standpoint, I realize that I have been unwilling to listen to others; that I guard my own entrenched view of things feverishly; and, in general, I am not very communicative. In addition, when I consider the social aspect, I realize that I have didn't really consider the impact of the project on the people who were working on it. These are additional vital aspects or parts at the social plane that haven't received proper attention.
Then I consider the next plane up -- the mental. I wonder if the essential assumptions I have made about the phases of the project are accurate; or whether the completion date is reasonable; or whether its achievement will truly meet the goals and values of the company. Finally, there are the spiritual aspects to consider. For example, I wonder if I have been self-giving on the project; and whether I have demonstrated a level of gratitude towards others for the work they have done; and whether I have been calm and equal when big changes come, or when difficult situations arise.
As I consider my reality from each of these planes -- material, vital, meant, and spiritual -- I begin to move out of the limited part view, and embrace the whole. Along the way, I even come to perceive the true Essence of the matter - including the true purpose of my undertaking has served; what it indicates for the future; even what it has brought out about my own character and what that means in terms of my future progress.
As a result of making this effort, I acquire a more integral view of the things I am engaged in. Through my comprehensive understanding and knowledge, I become more aware of the multiplicity of truths I am grappling with, of the variety of factors that are at play in any given situation. This in turn gives me the knowledge power to make the right decisions that lead to powerful positive results.
As I follow this thread and seek out the multiple dimensions of any matter, I begin to truly value the power of the Whole. Also, as I obtain vast positive results by acting on that knowledge, I feel a deep sense of fulfillment and joy in life. As a result, I am energized to no end, and eagerly look forward to the next challenge.
Example: Perceiving Only the Part in Health
Though we always want to maintain good health, Our focus is always on a
a minute aspect (part)
of health that is
disease.
We spend all our energy in
suppressing the disease rather than attaining health by
adopting positive way of living.
We know only about disease, we don't know the power of life in
maintaining our health.
Most of the diseases
that are plaguing the humanity as a whole are the result of this
overlooking the whole and concentrating on the part.
(JA)
The Part and
the Whole as in Selfishness vs. Self-Givingness
The part and the whole have their own attitudes. The attitude
appropriate to the whole is Selflessness. It can mature into
self-giving. The part's attitude is selfish. Selfishness can hurt others
or all. Selflessness in one can hurt no one. The selflessness of the
part cannot hurt others or the whole. (MSS)
How the Small Opens the Portals of the Infinite
In any given moment,
there are large and small acts related to a significant event.
E.g. at the time of a medical emergency, there is not only the
suffering party and the rescue operation, but the unobserved
arrival of a supervisor, a nurse ordering a batch of medicine,
and an elderly patient joking in his wheel chair. Thus, there
are closely related as well as seemingly unrelated, disparate
activities occurring simultaneously. And yet in such
circumstance, every and all events are in fact deeply
interconnected, no matter how unimportant and distantly related
they seem to be. And any one of them -- even the smallest, the
most innocuous, and contrary -- can determine the final outcome.
To be sensitive to this process is to have a vision of the
life's true workings, which gives one a staggering power to
control the world around us. Here is an example that illustrates
this point.
The TV series
Numb3rs
(pronounced 'Numbers') is a crime show whose outcomes are determined by
the strategies of a genius mathematician, Charlie Eppes. In one
particular episode, we see how the small and absurd determine
the final outcome. In Los Angeles, a bus is hijacked and a
nefarious gang holds passengers for ransom. Charlie's brother,
FBI captain Don Eppes works with his staff to solve the looming
catastrophe. Don's energies are completely focused on saving
lives, as he interacts by phone with the evil ringleader who is
aboard the bus. Meanwhile, Don's math genius brother Charlie is
as usual helping on the case through his brilliant analysis
intuitively derived.
There is an added subplot to the story; this one involving the
father of Charlie and Don -- Alan Eppes -- as well as Charlie's
good friend, theoretical physicist Larry Fleinhardt. It turns
out that earlier the entire group had agreed to form a think
tank, and at this point, father Alan and physicist Larry are
debating -- actually
arguing -- over its future direction. One aspires to start
the project with the practical, the other the theoretical. In
fact, they carry out this mental debate in front of the very
preoccupied Charlie and Don, completely oblivious to the
dangerous situation. At one point, they even implore Charlie to
solve the dilemma for them. As we watch their comic-like
callousness, we can only shake our heads. This dynamic repeats
throughout the episode, adding to the tension of the already
dangerous situation.
Then circumstance turn grave when the abductors threaten to kill each hostage one by one. And yet Alan and Larry persist in their seemingly ridiculous request that Charlie solve their problem. How can they be so oblivious! This time however, rather than tell them that they have to settle their squabbles on their own, Charlie is struck by something in their debate. He is shaken by the fact that Alan and Larry seemed to be locked in a 'paradox,' and that the hostage situation he and Don are involved in has a similar dynamic. As a result, Charlie now understands that everything he and Don assumed about the case is faulty. When the two brothers act on this hunch, they discover that the bus abduction was actually a hoax: that they were in fact chasing the wrong bus, and that the real hostages and villains were aboard a stationary bus in a warehouse! As a result, they are now able to move in on the villains and save the hostages.
As we see, in this case, the small and the innocuous solved the case.
That which seemed unimportant and irritating was the means by
which the greater problem was resolved. Because Charlie opened
his mind and paid attention to the small -- no matter how silly
and absurd -- he garnered the clue that enabled him to solve the
case.
In every situation in life, every element that presents itself
serves a purpose. Thus, the smallest thing -- even that which
seems
negative and opposed to our intent -- can me a means for its final
resolution. In that way, we cannot deny or be irritated by
anything -- for the smallest of the small can provide an opening
to the infinite.
If this is the case, how can we become more mindful of the variety of
elements, movements, and activities in a given circumstance? It
all comes down to our level of consciousness. It takes an open
mind and acute sensitivity to perceive the utility of each act
in relation to the whole of any event. That in turn depends on a
still and silent mind, as well as a calm and steady disposition.
Think Sherlock Holmes. And through that keen, mindful,
multi-sided perception, one becomes aware of the role of the
smallest act in the outcome of a situation, problem, or event.
To perceive this many-sided whole, rather than the obvious one
or two parts is a spiritual quality known as 'integral
knowledge.'
Indian spiritual philosophy tells us the infinite can arise out of anything -- whether the large or the infinitesimally small. To the infinite Consciousness and Being, there is no distinction between the two. Thus, the innocuous and silly, the trivial and trite, and the negative and hostile also serve as instruments for progress and change. If we can learn to perceive this dynamic in our daily lives, then we will have a glimpse of the Marvel of existence.
Man at the Center of Life
The world economic system is
undergoing a severe shock. It was caused to a large degree by
Man's ignorance and greed. Though its vast expansion and success
has been rooted in the infinity that comes from individual
freedom, it was tripped up by missing human values that could
make the system Whole. Because the Human Being has not been at
the center of our economic system, only the Part could express,
which invariably breeds failure.
Freedom and
collaboration are human values. They represent Beingness and
Oneness of the Spirit functioning in creation. One without the
other cannot succeed. Freedom is fulfilled through
collaboration, and vice versa.
Without their integral union,
there is only a Part and therefore failure. Thus, Communism came
to an inglorious end, and
Capitalism is going through its
current upheavals.
Nature in Her
evolutionary wisdom seeks to move from the Part and create the
new, the dynamic, and the Whole.
Human values are not however limited to freedom and collaboration. They are endless. There is also truth, knowledge, tolerance, compassion, love, beauty, delight, and a hundred others. Our economic system has been primarily focused on material values alone -- not the psychological, including the fulfillment of the individual. When we shift our consciousness and put the Human Being at the center of life, then upheaval and convulsion will be reduced, and life will progress smoothly, harmoniously, and infinitely.
On Common Sense
Common Sense is COMMON to more than one factor, or to all factors, which
means the primary coordination within one factor is extended to all
factors that are outside. (MSS)
Embracing the Whole not the Part of Spiritual
Individual that Leads to Wondrous Results
-One who is centered in the Spirit cannot be partial, but to the
whole. His full attention will be there on all fronts, though the
results will be seen only in one area.
-One indication of his
paying attention to the whole is those who leave him for other pastures
- not those who try to ruin him by opposition from inside - will always
flourish far beyond their wildest expectations. (MSS, somewhat modified)
Principles of the Part and
the Whole
The common sense idea that the sum of the parts will be equal to
the whole is not always true, and what is truer still is: The whole is
more than the sum of the parts because the whole belongs to a higher
plane than the parts.
For those who want to accomplish in life and to those who want to see that life is a science , this knowledge is basic. Without going into the details, this can be easily illustrated. A dismantled machine can be gathered in a basket as separate parts. It will not be the machine.
A part that is useless suddenly becomes very useful when it meets with its complement, e.g. a nut joining with a bolt.
When a part which is a whole in itself and is useful in a limited way coordinates with another such part, it becomes useful in a wider dimension, as when an individual citizen becomes a Member of Parliament.
Knowledge of the part is incomplete knowledge and can even become a bar to greater knowledge.
- The tree produces a seed; the tree grows out of the seed. Scientists know all the processes in this cycle. This is considered to be knowledge.
- A mechanic who has thorough, precise knowledge of every part of the car may not know how a car is made or designed or invented. His consummate knowledge of the parts may prevent him from being anything greater than a mechanic.
- One who passes an examination and obtains a degree education by memorization is effectively preventing him from obtaining real education.
Each new organisation, such as The Internet, readily integrates with the existing organisations such as army, government, business, etc. So also, each part that is a whole and a part of a whole readily integrates with such other parts generating higher capacities to function in a higher plane.
- The introduction of Money in the form of paper currency was responsible for the growth of banks and other allied financial institutions. Money that was a part, aligning itself with business and banking gave birth to the joint stock companies which made public savings available for private enterprise.
The part and the whole belong to two different planes, the whole always remaining at a higher level.
There are certain relationships between a part and the whole by which the entire whole can be moved by moving that part.
- The relationship between the part and the whole is like that of a child and parent in which the child always outgrows the parent. (MSS)
Various Expressions
of the Mind's Ignorance
Limitations of (Physical, Sense-Based) Mind
Key! Linearity
-- Mind tends to think in a linear, unidimensional manner
and pursue one line of truth, ignoring other complementary sides,
viewing all reality from a single viewpoint.
Weaknesses of the Mind
Mind Perceives
Succession of Events, not Process of Development
Mind
Misses Greater Truths
Mind Sees in
Opposites; the Higher Worlds in Self-Existences
Metaphor of Ignorance
A Closed
Mind, Limitations of Mind to the Value of Information -One is
unable to know essential information because when the mind
travels on one line, it loses the habit of seeing around. It is
common knowledge that what one system of medicine fails to cure,
another system cures. The mind used to one system is incapable
of thinking of another system. For most of our affairs, we go by
what we know and do not seek professional help. -The advent of the web and Internet has widened the scope
of information infinitely. Still, the use [to discover necessary
information in life] is only minimal. (MSS)
Close-Mindedness
Opening the Locked Box
The truly Rational Man
however operates much
differently. Logic
dictates that he
continually examines
his positions and points
of view. He continually
opens that box and lets
in the light of day; or
rather the light of
truth. He does not keep
that box shut for a
lifetime, as every one
of us do, refusing to
absorb new knowledge and
insight.
By considering its
contents,
that man fulfills his
life's obligation to
grow as an individual --
giving his soul
nourishment in its
evolutionary ascent.
When we keep the box
locked, we waste the
precious life that has
been given us. On the
outside,
we live lives of error,
falsehoods, and evil.
Inside the box, truth
calls out for its
release, yearning for
the Light.
Division -
Mind knows by Division & Aggregation
Polarization
Part vs Whole
- mind mistakes the part for the whole
The
following weaknesses of the mind will be of interest to us:
The human mind perceives whatever has happened so
far, i.e. development as a set of events, rather than a process which is
continuous. Human mind is not conscious about the way that development
process is happening and how the human being himself/herself is
contributing to this process.
Mind
proper generally fails at discovering the greater, true truths; the
unmasking and revealing of any great, ultimate truths and conclusions.
Mind does not know, or cannot know light without
darkness. Darkness cannot exist without light as it depends on it. There
will be no shadow if light is not there. Shadow needs light for its
existence. Light does not need shade or darkness for its existence. It
is self-existent light. The higher world has self-existent Ananda,
self-existent knowledge, etc. So its infinity too is self-existent. It
is not the opposite of finite, but the Self-Existent. (MSS)
"Imagine a man tossing stones over a tall wall. The
stones fall on the other side to injure people and destroy property.
When told of the damage he is doing the man denies it, exclaiming
indignantly, 'I see no damage!' A blocking wall exists in man's mind,
preventing him from seeing the damage he does to himself and others... "
(The Daily Guru) [Emerging from our fundamental individual, universal,
and transcendent Ignorance towards it opposite, an Integral Knowledge,
will overcome such a status.]
-A closed mind refuses to benefit by the known
information. A cloistered life is impervious to comforts open to
all. In these days that can very well be described as modern,
five of a family lost sight because they had no idea that
cataracts could be cured by a simple operation.
Their
belief in karma made them hide their shame. This is an age of
information. To know how much the concerned people miss because
of ignorance created by circumstances is amazing. Information is
of value.
Lack of openness is a closed mind.
Each of us have perhaps half a dozen cherished beliefs we
subscribe it. It can be about life overall, or in a given field like
economics. One well known financial expert who has a syndicated radio
show believed in low interest rates by the Federal Reserve, the anathema
of taxes, and safe, incremental investment. Some seemed true, others
decidedly not so. We each then advocate those views unchanged throughout
our lives. In essence, we take those half dozen positions, opinions, and
put them in a box that we then lock tightly. We then subscribe to none
others. As a result, our thoughts, opinions, and attitudes are fixed and
false. In addition, we never venture to open the box and consider their
veracity - i.e. by excluding the wanting ones, or adding new ones of
truth.
Other
Untitled
To become conscious of the mind's limitation of clinging to a part of
the whole truth can elicit a kind of shame for our former mental
certainties, engendering a new found mental humility. Spiritual humility
before the Divine can be a next step.
Origins
of Thought
When the mental activity is separated from the sense, thought is born.
(MSS)
Roots of
Intellectuality
When one confines the
data of one's thought to sense perception, then intellectuality arises.
(Paraphrase of MSS
Also See Thoughts on the Limits of Intellectuality of Mind
Mind's Humility
Mind
should grow in humility expressing it in the body's submissiveness.
(MSS)
Our Limited Empirical
View of Things Rooted in the Physicality of Mind
Having risen to the heights of mind, people begin to worship the
physical details of it and go to the length of declaring that
there is no other fact in life than the empirical one. It is the
physicality of the mind. We see this in all avenues of life,
including science. (MSS, modified)
The Nature
of Empiricism
Thinking is a process in which mind
consciously coordinates facts. When a certain coordination does not work
out, meaning, does not bring out the right result, it tries other
coordinations. This is the basis of empiricism. Practically, this is a
very long process not sure of success for a long time.
Ever Increasing
Subtlety of Mind
Our growth is to move from the empirical, measurable
physical data supplied by sense mind to the subtle mind of purer
thought, logic, ideas, devoid of sense. Beyond that you can move to even
greater subtlety experiencing the Silence in mind; a silence in in the
mind's faculties of observation, thinking, understanding, and
observation. Beyond that one moves to greater subtleties still, where
thought itself is abandoned as knowledge descends through light,
illumination, and intuitions of objects of knowledge. Beyond such
ultimate subtleties one comes upon the causal plane of Supermind where
there is knowledge by identity, where the object is simply there in
one's self as creator, where life responds in instantaneous abundance.
Pain Seen through the
Gross/Material, the Subtle, and the Causal planes
The physical mind of the senses which is in the gross/material
plane sees pain; the subtle mind sees the process involved, the
reason behind it, and its necessity; while the causal in
Supermind sees the pain as Grace.
Rational Mind and Spirit
Rational mind is a doorway to spirit.
Meaning of Integral Knowledge
Integral knowledge is that which explains each item in terms of every
other item or aspect. It presupposes a belief that all are interrelated.
The equilibrium of that interrelation is harmony. (MSS)
Also See Entries on the (Spiritual) Source of Knowledge and Ignorance in Creation
Also See
Entries on What Knowledge Actually Is
The
Limited Nature of Physical, Sense-Based Mind
(main)
Limitations of Sense-Based, Surface
Mind
The lower aspect of
mind is the sense-based mind, involved in the interpretation of data
provided by the senses, which are turned into ideas. When we live on the
surface, we are focused primarily in sense-based mind, rather than the
higher rational, pure thinking mind, thus limiting our view of the
world.
What We
Normally Mean by Mind
What we [normally] call Mind is our surface mind. (MSS,
extracted)
Unconscious
Sense-Based Mind
-Mind looking at senses for a knowledge of matter is looking out
and is unconscious.
-Now mind is on the surface bound to Time, ego and the finite form. (MSS)
The Delusions of
Sense Mind
Today I was driving on the
highway, when I noticed that a car up ahead in the lane to the left of
me had come dangerously close to the car preceding it. In fact, he
was so close that his break light came on, and it came somewhat close to
hitting the car in front of it. I assumed at that moment that he had
gotten himself in that position because he was tailgating, i.e. not
allowing enough space between him and the car in front of him. After
observing this scene, I cautiously passed the car on the right. A moment
later, however, I too had to slow down because I suddenly saw a whole
lot of debris on the road in front of me. Apparently, a garbage bag had
fallen from a vehicle, had broken apart, and was now littering all lanes
of the highway, including my own. Then I made my way through the
obstacle course of litter, and resumed my drive towards my destination.
Just few moments after this episode, it occurred to me that I had completely misjudged the situation. I had assumed that the car was tail-gating and the drive had acted in an uncivil manner, when in fact he had actually slowed down to avoid hitting the car in front of him who also slowed down to avoid the very same debris I had waded through. Furthermore, I realized the reason I had come to this wrong conclusion. I was so overwhelmed by the input of data streaming in through my senses when the event occurred, that my mind unconsciously jumped to the wrong conclusion. In that situation, my mind was unable to distance itself from the sensation of the situation, and perceive it for what it was. In particular, I jumped to the conclusion that the car acted in a hostile manner by tailgating when this was not at all the truth of the situation.
When mind is calm and relaxed, it is more likely to engage in sensible, rational thought. We could call this the engagement of rational mind. However, when mind is preoccupied with sense data, rather than observing through stillness, calm, and detachment, it tends to thinks reflexively, which causes it to come to questionable conclusions, missing the wider truth of things. We could call this the action of sense mind, which is the cause of so many of our errors of perception, and, as a result, bad decisions and wrong actions.
If you were to observe yourself in the course of the day, you would see how often sense mind is in the fore, and therefore how often you come to wrong conclusions. The number of minor wrong suppositions we jump to in the course of day through this reflexive action of sense mind is utterly shocking. E.g., one time I observed myself over the course of an hour, and I noticed that I had come to at least half a dozen wrong conclusions! Whether it was about the status of a missing cup, a conclusion about a particular email, or the meaning of a news story I was watching story on TV, I continually was coming to the wrong conclusion. Each time my mind saw things, and reflexively jumped to conclusion that proved to be false.
In the course of weeks, months, and years, we make thousands of such errors. Unfortunately, some are major, which we pay dearly for. From this perspective, life is an unending series of wrong associations, misjudgments, and wrong conclusions leading to ill-fated decisions and failed actions. It is a nightmare of continuous falsehood and failure that we are for the most part unconscious of!
When we live on the surface of life, as we normally do, sense mind is in the ascendance. Error and falsehood follow. When we move to a deeper poise, through concentration, meditation, by stilling of thoughts and moving to silence, our minds become truer witnesses to the occurrences of life. From that poise, we are able to perceive more of the truth unfolding around us. We perceive the multiplicity of facts, rather than the one conclusion sense mind has made -- which is itself often misplaced.
The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo said that man was born of an essential Ignorance of being. He is unconscious at so many levels -- of his place in the world, of his true nature, of his purpose; and, as we have just seen, of the true nature of life around him. He concludes that long as we look out at the world through the lower functions of sense mind, we will live in perpetual ignorance, which will leads to error, falsehoods, and even evil. However, when we move to a deeper poise within, we begin to move out of our essential Ignorance, and come in contact with the wider truth of life around us. We avoid error-prone conclusions, perceiving the true truth, the wider multiplicity of truths, even its deeper meaning, but which enables us to make decisions and take to actions that attract achievement and success - including the infinite potentials of life.
Withdrawing from the Surface of Life
When we
live on the surface of life, it supports and fortifies our separateness,
hence ego, which reinforces the exclusivity of Mind that is the basis of
Ignorance. By withdrawing from the surface of life to the depths, we
overcome our ego and separateness, which enable Mind to move from its
exclusionary Ignorance to exclusionary, integral Knowledge.
Problems Created
by Living on the Surface of Life
We live on the
surface of life. We are too outer, reacting to everything
around us. From such a poise we are constantly reacting, rather
than being rooted in calm and silence and peace. When we live on the
surface of life, our bodily ego is constantly asserting itself. When we
live on the surface of life, our bodily ego is constantly asserting
itself. That sense of 'I', of 'me' is out front, creating a separateness
that disengages us from the totality and wholeness of what is happening
around us. When we live too close to the surface of life we see things
through a haze of our own needs, our own wants, our own prejudices and
inclinations; not the full, moment-to-moment emerging true truths,
multi-sided truths around us.
Right
Action from the Wider Perspective of
the Whole
In
1938 the British Cabinet was planning for prosperity and Churchill who
was pleading for building bombers was dismissed as insane. Had the
Cabinet looked at the issue from munitions [i.e. a wider perspective of
the whole] they would have seen that they had 238 bombers while Hitler
had raised his to 758. What was considered intuition in Churchill was
commonsense from facts. (MSS)
Falsehood, Error, Superstition
Ego as Source of
Ignorance, Falsehood, and Evil
Untitled
(main)
The human ego which focuses on things that merits
its own self-oriented needs, creates an almost inexhaustible distortion
of truth. Thus there is Ignorance. Out of ignorance comes a
wrong consciousness, which gives a wrong dynamic reaction to the contact
with the outside world; answering only to unenlightened mental and vital
suggestions or in accordance with the ego. This is the source of
Falsehood. With the development of a seperative life being; i.e.
with the vital ego asserting its devise; and with a primitive
unrestricted action uncensored with truth or what's right, this
vitalized falsehood of knowledge becomes a power of Evil.
Wrong will and action is thus the basis of evil.
Error, falsehood,
superstition, and evil issue out of the essential Ignorance of man.
Ignorance, Error,
Falsehood, and Evil
-Ignorance is our essential condition
of mis-knowledge about life and who we are. It is there in the creation
in the universe, of which we are apart.
-One type of ignorance is of the truths that are unfolding around us.
-Error are the mistakes we make through our ignorance of the world around us.
-When we embrace and believe in our wrong knowledge, we move to falsehood.
-When we act on our falsehoods, we embrace evil.
Ignorance, Falsehood, and Evil
What we call Falsehood and Evil
are simply extensions of Ignorance. What we call Falsehood
is a result of our attachment to our Ignorance
and unconsciousness. What we call Evil is a
result of acting on the unconsciousness of Ignorance and
Falsehood.
This separateness,
rooted in ego and enabled by the limiting action of mind is the root of
all falsehood, and evil.
On
Falsehood
When
you emotionalize your ignorance you create falsehood. e.g. you are
bothered by someone's statement and instead assert your own, which is
only a part truth. That ignorance of the full truth which you
emotionally assert through the part knowledge is an example of falsehood
expressed. If you materially act on it at he expense of others, you
begin to engage in evil.
Believing Falsely
Reflects Inner Falsehood
The capacity to believe false information from life is an external
reflection of the vibration of falsehood inside, whether it expresses as
a capacity to deceive others or a capacity for self-deception. (MSS)
Falsehood of the
Superstitious Person
The superstitious
person adores its wisdom and goes to the extreme of calling the wise
stupid. (MSS)
Attachment to
Falsehoods
We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and
then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so
as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry
on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that
sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually
on a battlefield." (George Orwell's 1946 essay "In Front of Your Nose")
[Comment: We go through our whole lives this way. It is so widely applicable; from the individual to the players on the world stage. It's a type of physicality that does not yield to mind. It also shows that intellectuality has an element that attracts the false. Higher regions of mind are more friendly to truth, eliminating the inevitability of having to overcome falsehood through Nature's harsh methods.]
On
the Nature of Superstition
Science arose with one significant aim of ousting superstition. A
movement that is against an ideal subconsciously becomes a victim to
what it fights. To define superstition, classify it into its varieties,
and explain its origin theoretically will offer us enough field of
inquiry. Superstition is to --
-
believe what is not a fact.
-
take a sense impression as a physical fact.
-
accept a one time experience as a valid fact forever.
-
grant credibility to social opinion.
-
concede scientific validity when an eminent person endorse an unproven fact.
-
be illogical.
-
be unreasonable.
-
validate the rule of another plane in this plane.
-
believe what one likes.
-
hesitate to examine a proposition as rigorously as it requires.
Absence of courage to adhere to KNOWLEDGE will inevitably lead to superstition. (MSS)
On Superstition 2
Absence of courage to adhere to KNOWLEDGE will inevitably lead to
superstition.
(MSS)
End
of Superstition and Facts
The prevalence and absence of superstitions of diverse nature is in
direct proportion to the facts available. (MSS)
Emotion Enables Contradiction
Mind influenced by emotion experiences issues as dualistic
contradiction, leading to side-taking, blocking the true truth of
the integral whole.
Irrationality Turning to Opposite When Pressured by Strength
-Irrationality has a way of suddenly changing into its opposite when faced with pressure of strength.
-What does not yield to argument yields to strength. (MSS)
Overcoming Our Illusions and
Superstitions that Replaces the Finite with the Infinite
Each of us carry around our own illusions and
superstitions. Quietly, we even revel in it. It is one of the
tragedies of Man. It is not so much because we have these deficiencies,
but that we are unaware of them; as each of us are blind to our own
individual illusions and superstitions. Another person can plainly see
our particular weaknesses, even as we recognize theirs. They even
perceive how we indulge
it, relish it, nurture it! They shake their head
in disbelief, as do we of them!
What is the way out of our limited view of things -- whether it takes shape as a wanting attitude; a part knowledge of something that we believe is the real, full truth o a matter; and our readily available limited opinions on the concerns of the day? First, it is a willingness on our part to be aware of these deficiencies and a desire to shed these illusions. If, e.g. we take inventory of several of them, and then make a concerted effort to overcome them, we will begin our journey out of our individual ignorance, as well as out of the essential Ignorance shared by all humanity. That will be difficult enough, for who is brave and sincere enough to confront his limited attitude, opinions, beliefs, illusions and dogmas, and superstitions. If one takes up that humbling yet radically effective effort, life will reward one in so many ways -- i.e. it will respond out of all proportions, often instantly, and fulfilling that which we have longed for a lifetime.
At an even deeper level, one can shed these wanting attributes by moving one's center of consciousness from the surface to the depths -- e.g. through concentration and meditation -- which enables us to be more in tune with our situation in any moment in time, more open to the possibilities that are unfolding before us, more connected with other individuals, more likely to absorb the multiplicity of truths related to a subject that will give us the full truth that will enable right decision and action, and more likely to have certain spiritual experiences of mind, such as the sudden descent of a vision or illuminations of thought, or intuitions of the full truth of a thing without thought.
One could simply say that just by shedding our illusions, we can bring vast success in life. As we shed negative energies, and release positive ones, the finite realities we see before us will be replaced by the infinite potentials of life. Vast success -- as well as the joy and delight that come from the experience -- will be our ongoing reality. Who will come forth and shed his or her first illusion?
On Stupidity
Wise men of the world have known that stupidity views itself as
exceptionally wise. (MSS)
Ignorance,
Falsehood, Evil
Attachment to ignorance
is falsehood. Conscious acting on falsehood is evil.
Definition of
Superstition
The capacity to enjoy being ignorant commonly is superstition.
(Paraphrase of MSS)
Superstition,
Fanaticism, and Religion
Superstition forms and takes hold of people at all levels of
insufficiency. There is a 'proper' superstition to each level of
maturity or immaturity.
Superstition makes men fanatics. After
the end of the World War, as well as the Cold War, there appears no
valid reason for fighting.
Still, isolated intense fights, or
rather attacks are there all the time. In the absence of prosperity and
education, religion does havoc to the mind through the instrumentation
of superstition.
On Superstition
[The following was addressed to a mostly
Indian audience]
To believe in something non-existent is superstition. Village people refuse to go near trees, as they believe there are ghosts in them even when they see others do it. The ghosts are in their imagination. It is a physical superstition, to believe in the existence of what is non-existent. To educated persons, mental superstitions matter. Superstition exists even at the level of Spirit. The commonest of superstitions are of the vital. It is true that a dead man's spirit haunts the place if he has committed suicide there. For that reason to shun all trees is superstition. Superstition is the arch enemy of rationality. Till the 15th century the world believed that the sun goes around the earth. It is the finest example of superstition. Spiritually, the most obvious superstition is vegetarianism. All over the world Saints including Jesus have eaten meat. In North India too the orthodox communities eat meat or fish. Only in South India there is a belief that meat eating disqualifies one for spirituality. Even in South India that belief came from the Jains, not one in the tradition. An academic degree is a symbol of mental superstition. Degree shows you are educated in a college, but knowledge is not confined to degrees. All religious heads and saints are wise, carry the highest wisdom. We do not evaluate them by their academic education. One can be learned without a degree and one can enjoy no learning in spite of high academic qualifications. People DO believe that a degree confers on one learning. These are the commonly known superstitions. But there are others, more pernicious as we are oblivious of them. It is the honest belief of many that men in high places or even those who have earned academic degrees are GOOD men. It is a supposition, which has grown to be a universal superstition. V R Krishna Iyer asked, 'How do you suppose a supreme court judge to have greater intelligence than when he was a sub-judge?' Power, in our eyes, goes with wisdom and goodness. It is downright false. Excellent external manners are often, maybe always, mistaken to be the inner endowment. Its grossest expression in India is one who is fluent in English is mistaken to be a talented personality. In recent days many Westerners and Americans have come to India. Half of them are penniless. In the eyes of the Indians, an American is invariably a millionaire. Examined closely we can see that we take many such superstitious beliefs for granted. It is common knowledge but it is rarely perceived.
Let me try to give a sample of them.
1. A fair complexioned boy or girl is handsome.
2. Parents always desire the progress of children. Children will, as a matter of fact, conceive of an intense love of the parents.
3. The court will be fair and offer us justice.
4. Friends are trustworthy.
5. Brothers and sisters cannot be jealous.
6. Man will always be influenced by money.
7. The written word is sacrosanct.
8. Age is wisdom.
9. Love will last forever.
10. The Westerner is talented and capable.
11. Old is gold.
12. An Avatar knows everything and is omniscient.
13. The poor have no higher values.
14. Land alone is property, not money.
15. Fine dress makes a lady or a gentleman beautiful.
16. The greater the jewels one carries, the greater is the status.
17. Whatever is printed is true.
18. Advertisements tell us the truth.
19. Karma is inescapable.
20. Money invariably achieves.
21. A miser cannot be generous in some area.
22. Secrets are necessary for accomplishment.
23. A beard makes one saintly.
24. More ghee in the cooking makes the food tasty.
25. Friendship will last forever.
26. An unknown man is unreliable.
27. Man will be invariably selfish.
28. God is not for the householder.
29. Servants will steal.
30. Elders will not lie.
31. Whatever is written in the Scriptures is the word of God. (MSS)
OVERCOMING IGNORANCE & RESTORING INTEGRAL KNOWLEDGE
(top)
Begin to Overcome
Ignorance by Moving to
Depths (to Overcome Physical, Sense-Based Mind)
(main)
Ignorance is
Overcome by Moving to the Depths
Withdrawing from the Surface of Life
From Ignorance to Integral Knowledge through the Path of the Within
-Sri Aurobindo's path for overcoming our fundamental
Ignorance born of the exclusive nature of Mind, begins with a movement
within, away from the surface, which enables a corresponding opening to
the higher planes of spiritual mind from which we develop the inclusive,
many-sided, integral full Knowledge.
When we move
our center of consciousness into the
depths within,
sense-based thinking is overcome,
our ego begins to wane, and
our exclusivity of mind is overcome. In that
way our essential Ignorance born of creation
begins to evaporate, and we move to a
many-sided Integral Knowledge.
When we
live on the surface of life, it supports and fortifies our separateness,
hence ego, which reinforces the exclusivity of Mind that is the basis of
Ignorance. By withdrawing from the surface of life to the depths, we
overcome our ego and separateness, which enable Mind to move from its
exclusionary Ignorance to exclusionary, integral Knowledge.
-Living on the surface causes us to be exclusive and
hence more Ignorant, while living in the depths enables inclusiveness,
hence there is more integrality is our Knowledge.
Go Inward to Soul to Move Upward
in Mind to Truth
An animal looks around;
hears sounds and responds to the situation. Its knowledge is
limited to what it perceives through its five senses. Any mental
deliberation is limited in large part to this sense data
streaming into the mind. We humans inherit this limited
capacity. We are prone to see what is around us and come to a
wrong conclusion. We arrive on the scene of a police incident
and make a conclusion based on what we see. As a result, we come
to the completely wrong conclusion, We do that a dozen times a
day, and it occurs billions of times an hour across the world,
creating a stupendous stream of universal falsehood. More
astounding still is the fact that we humans are unaware that it
is happening.
However, if we shift our consciousness inward away from the
surface bubblings, perturbations and impacts of the visual and
audio on the senses, we are better prepared to deliberate on the
variety of possibilities before us. I.e. we are more likely to
use rational thought, and think about and perceive the variety
of possibilities and truths of that moment. Thus, the more
inward our orientation, the more likely we will be able to
perceive events and come to right conclusions.
As
we move deeper within -- whether through concentration,
meditation, prayer, etc. -- and away from the surface of life,
we are far more likely to consider more than one side of an
issue or thing. Thus, we get closer to the truth of that object
in that moment. As a result, we have greater knowledge to make
right decisions that end in positive outcomes.
And
yet we can go deeper still, to the subliminal being and the
Evolving Soul within which is in touch with a
super-consciousness. As we do so, our mind expands further, as
we more frequently have illuminations and visions of insight and
knowledge. Archimedes "Eureka, I've got it!" is one famous
example, as in a flash he grasped the solution to an issue he
was grappling with. It is sudden truth knowledge coming into our
thoughts as light. Further still, one can have direct intuitions
of the object truth without the need for thought at all. The
right knowledge simply appears in our mind, giving us direct
access to the object of inquiry or matter. It is direct truth
cognition; direct contact with the object of inquiry; and an
indicator that we have moved to the deeper parts of our being.
The
principle then is simple: the further we move within and
distance our self from the frothings of the surface, the more
our mind expands. By moving to a deeper consciousness and poise,
we move from limited, animal-like sense mind; to rational,
logical thinking; to clear thinking in silence; to light,
illuminations, and vision; to intuition of truth through direct
identity with the object. Thus, the deeper in we go, the higher
we climb in the scale of mentality, and thereof far more
effective we are in our understanding, decision-making, and
actions. It is also the path that will take us from our current
human condition to a supramental capacity to change the
conditions of life from within.
Living on the Surface
When we live too close to
the surface of life we see things through a haze of our own needs, our
own wants, our own prejudices and inclinations; not the full,
moment-to-moment emerging truths around us.
Living in Depths and
Knowledge
By going deeper within,
into our deeper consciousness can help us move from our sense-based mind
-- rooted in our feelings, emotions, judgments, and prejudices -- to the
higher part of mind proper, where we see things objectively and
rationally; where we engage in pure rational thought, rather than
emotional thought. From that inner poise and status we can see the
abundant myriad of facts around us, which in their multiplicity and
variety lend themselves to insights; and from insights to greater
conclusions, to what we call the "integral knowledge and understanding"
that Sherlock Holmes had at the end of every case.
Living in Depths and
Knowledge2
Living in the depths
enables clear thinking, insight, and ultimately the final truths or the
whole truth that we are seeking. When we live in the depths of our being
we begin to see the emergence of a way of thinking that is even beyond
rational, pure thought. It is where we enter the realm of spiritual
mind.
Living in Depths and
Knowledge
By withdrawing from the
surface of life to the depths, we overcome our ego and separateness,
which enable Mind to move from its exclusionary Ignorance to
exclusionary, integral Knowledge.
Reason Becomes
Intuition Shedding Senses
The mind consists of a
part that interprets the inputs of the body's senses. The mind also
consists of the capacity for logic and self-conceiving new ideas, new
possibilities, etc. As the mind moves away from its connection to the
senses, it utilizes its higher mental functionings, and beyond that
functionings of spiritual mind. Knowledge from spiritual mind comes
through silence which enables knowledge to spring forth, through
illuminations and lights of knowledge, and through descents of the
entire object of knowledge as intuitions.
When one lives more within from the depths of our being, less connected to the surface, the senses, we open ourselves to intuitions form the higher planes, giving us direct perception of the object of knowledge.
Discovering the
Depths Within and the Movement Toward Knowledge
When we move to the depths, our highest functioning,
mind -- that is, pure rational and conceptual mind -- takes over
the center of our consciousness from our traditionally vital/emotional
center and its accompanying the ego-centered existence and its
accompanying separateness from others and the world. Our fundamental
Ignorance of the ways of life and cosmos begins to be replaced by the
beginnings of a truer and deeper and more integral perception and
Knowledge.
From Ignorance to Integral Knowledge through the Path of the Within
-Living on the surface causes us to be exclusive and hence more
Ignorant, while living in the depths enables inclusiveness, hence more
integral is our Knowledge.
-Sri Aurobindo's path for overcoming our fundamental
Ignorance born of the exclusive nature of Mind, begins with a movement
within, away from the surface, which enables a corresponding opening to
the higher planes of spiritual mind from which we develop the inclusive,
many-sided, integral full Knowledge.
The Delusions of Sense
Mind As I continued on, it quickly occurred to me
that I had completely misjudged the situation. I had assumed
that the car was tailgating, and the driver had simply acted in
an uncivil manner; when in fact he had actually slowed down to
avoid hitting the car in front of him, who had also slowed down
in order to avoid the very same debris that I myself would wade
through moments after. Furthermore, I also realized why I had
come to this faulty conclusion. I had been so overwhelmed by the
input of data streaming in through my senses -- in this case my
eyes -- that my mind unconsciously jumped to a wrong conclusion.
In the situation, my mind was unable to distance itself from the
sensation my senses perceived, i.e. from what I was seeing, and
thus came to the erroneous conclusion that the driver had acted
in a hostile manner, instead of the truth that he was trying to
avoid the debris. Then what would have enabled me to have
perceived the truth of things? It turns out that when the mind
is calm and relaxed, it is more likely to engage in sensible,
rational thought. That is the power of a rational
mind. When mind however is preoccupied with sense data
- instead
of observing through stillness, calm, and detachment -- it tends
to thinks reflexively, which leads to faulty conclusions,
causing us to miss the true truth of things. This is the lower
action of mind, which I call sense-mind. It is the
condition that is the cause of so many errors of perception,
that lead to faulty decisions and failed actions. If you were to observe yourself in the course
of the day, you would see how often sense-mind is in the fore,
and therefore how often your conclusions, decisions, and actions
are wanting. The number of minor wrong suppositions that we jump
to in the course of day through the reflexive action of
sense-mind is utterly shocking. E.g., one time I observed myself
over the course of an hour, and I noticed that I had come to at
least half a dozen wrong conclusions in that period alone!
Whether it concerned the status of a missing cup, or the
whereabouts of an email, or my interpretation of the meaning of
a news story, I was continually coming to the wrong conclusion.
Each time my mind saw things, and reflexively jumped to a
conclusion that proved to be false. In the course of weeks, months, and years, we
make thousands of such errors, so many of which go undetected.
Though all are important for successful living, unfortunately
some are major, which we will in the end pay dearly for. From
this perspective, life is an unending series of wrong
associations, misjudgments, and conclusions that lead to
ill-fated decisions and failed actions. It is a nightmare of
continuous falsehood and failure that we are for the most part
unconscious of! When we live on the surface
of life, as we normally do, sense mind is in the ascendance.
Error and falsehood follow. However, when we move to a deeper
poise, through concentration, meditation, or by otherwise
stilling our thoughts, our minds become a truer witness
to the occurrences of life outside ourselves. From that poise,
we are able to perceive more of the truth unfolding around us.
We perceive the multiplicity of facts, rather than the
one conclusion sense-mind has identified -one that is itself
often in error.
The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo said that
man was born of an essential Ignorance of creation. He is
unconscious at so many levels -- of his place in the world, of
his purpose in life; and, as we have just seen, of the true
nature of what is occurring around him. He concludes that so
long as we look out at the world through the lower functions of
this sense-mind, we will live in perpetual ignorance, which will
leads to error, falsehoods, and even evil. However, when we move
to a deeper poise within, we begin to move out of that essential
Ignorance, and come in contact with the wider truths of life
around us. At that point, we move from being the victims of life
to life's Master.
Today I was driving on the highway, when I noticed that a car up
ahead in the lane to the left of me had come dangerously close
to the car preceding it. I assumed at that moment that he had
gotten himself in that position because he was tailgating, i.e.
not allowing enough space between him and the car in front of
him. After observing this scene, I cautiously passed on the
right. A moment later, however, I too had to slow down because a
pile of debris had suddenly appeared on the road in front of me.
Apparently, a garbage bag had fallen from a vehicle, had broken
apart, and was now littering all lanes of the highway, including
mine. And so I then made my way through this obstacle course of
litter, and once clear, resumed my drive.
We are constantly jumping to such erroneous conclusions. Imagine then a company of hundreds of employees, where thousands of such flawed conclusions are being made every day. Now multiply that by every organization in the world, and you have hundreds of billions, if not trillions of misconceptions born every month. Imagine that over a year, or decades, or centuries! What accumulated ignorance and falsehood!
We live in a world of perpetual ignorance, in which we misperceive things, are therefore led to wrong conclusions, followed by misguided decisions and failed actions. Is there a reason for this? Yes, it is this: The mind looks out on the world and is incapable of seeing the truth of things; of what is really going on. Part of the reason that it fails to perceive the true nature of the current situation, is that it is incapable of knowing how the past has brought about the present conditions, nor where the future course of the event lies. In that way, we miss the wider whole truth of things, only perceiving a very small portion of the event.
This is the case because we observe the world through superficial eyes. We are overwhelmed by the inputs of our five senses -- i.e. of what is seen, heard, felt, etc. -- and miss the true sense of what is playing out. This causes our minds to jump to false conclusions. Mind responding to sense data tends to know only the surface reality, not the deeper truth of things. 'Sense-oriented mind' takes a snapshot of the present surroundings, missing what has occurred before that led to the current situation, nor comprehending where events are headed. Overwhelmed by sense input, mind is incapable of careful consideration of what is truly playing out, leading to snap judgments that are filled with error.
When we live on the surface of life, we are hypnotized by the inputs of our five senses -- by the dancing lights, images, and sounds around us -- and constantly come to the wrong conclusions. It is from that surface poise and status of mind that we are exceedingly error-prone. However, when we move to a deeper poise within, we are less likely to engage life through sense-mind, and thus are far less swayed by the surface inputs. In that deeper poise, sense impressions are muted; life around us is softer; and therefore we are less likely to jump to hasty conclusions. Instead, we tend to observe life, and become a detached witness to the situation. This enables a level of mindfulness that allows us to perceive the variety of, the multiplicity of possibilities before us, rather than drawing one hasty conclusion of the surface. As a result, we come to more reasonable judgments, and right decisions that in turn lead to greater success.
If withdrawing from surface living is the first step out of our ignorance, how do we accomplish that? We must redirect our concentration away from surface images, sounds, etc., and discover a modicum of stillness and silence within. In any moment in time, we can observe how we are looking out at life, draw our concentration inwards, still our thoughts, and observe the world from the witness consciousness that emerges. Now we will have the mindfulness to judge any situation more correctly. Now we will be able to perceive the variety of possibilities in the environment, which will enables us to judge the situation from a wider and more penetrating perspective.
In this way, billions and trillions of misjudgments in the world can be avoided, replaced by vastly greater knowledge, accomplishment, and satisfaction. It is in fact our collective evolutionary destiny to move in that very direction.
Untitled
We live in our emotions.
Or, if we are centered in our minds, we live in the lower, sense-bound,
prejudiced part of mind, instead of the rational, logical, conceptual
higher part of mind, where emotions, judgments, and sentiments are in
balance with pure objective logic and thinking.
Stepping Back within for More
Conscious Living
Most of you live on the surface of your
being, exposed to the touch of external influences. You live almost
projected, as it were, outside your own body, and when you meet some
unpleasant being similarly projected you get upset. The whole trouble
arises out of your not being accustomed to stepping back. You must
always step back into yourself - learn to go deep within
- step back and
you will be safe. Do not lend yourself to the superficial forces which
move in the outside world. Even if you are in a hurry to do something,
step back for a while and you will discover to your surprise how much
sooner and with what greater success your work can be done. If someone
is angry with you, do not be caught in his vibrations but simply step
back and his anger, finding no support or response, will vanish. Always
keep your peace, resist all temptation to lose it. Never decide anything
without stepping back, never speak a word without stepping back, never
throw yourself into action without stepping back. All that belongs to
the ordinary world is impermanent and fugitive, so there is nothing in
it worth getting upset about. What is lasting, eternal, immortal and
infinite -that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth
possessing. It is Divine light, Divine love, Divine life- it is also
Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete
Manifestation as the crowning. When you get the sense of the relativity
of things, then whatever happens you can step back and look; you can
remain quiet and call on the Divine Force and wait for an answer. Then
you will know exactly what to do. Remember, therefore, that you cannot
receive the answer before you are very peaceful. Practise that inner
peace, make at least a small beginning and go
on in your practice until it becomes a habit with you.
(The Mother)
From Ignorance to Integral Knowledge through the Path of the Within
-Living on the surface causes us to be exclusive and
hence more Ignorant, while living in the depths enables inclusiveness,
hence more integral is our Knowledge.
-Sri Aurobindo's path for overcoming our fundamental Ignorance born of the exclusive nature of Mind, begins with a movement within, away from the surface, which enables a corresponding opening to the higher planes of spiritual mind from which we develop the inclusive, many-sided, integral full Knowledge.
Moving from Ignorance
to Integral Knowledge
Going into the depths is
the secret of moving from our 99% Ignorance to the total, many-sided,
100% integral truth and knowledge at any point in time. It is what
enables us to know and succeed at one hundred, one thousand times and
upwards our current level of accomplishment and success.
Untitled
When you go within, you sense
the meaning of the unfolding of all around you, you perceive the right
relationship of things, and the emerging higher harmonies peeking
through.
Living in Depths and
Knowledge
Living in the depths enables clear thinking, insight, and ultimately
reveals the final truths or the whole truth that we are seeking.
Untitled
The deeper within you are centered, the less likely you are
to defend your own position.
Living in Depths
Enables Experiences of Spiritual Mind
The deeper we live within the more we enable such
descents from the various levels of spiritual mind. Also, as we use
conceptual mind to analyze gathered thoughts, we gain a greater
understanding. If there is a multi-sided perception of those facts, then
insight comes about. If we are centered within, then those insights will
attract even greater insights as the illuminations, intuitions, and
revelations of spiritual mind.
Moving from Subjective to
Objective View of Another
There is a subtle difference between thinking
about another person in terms of the truth of what truly IS, of rational
fact about the reality of the other, and the feelings, often negative,
that arises from your ego-sense, that prejudices your view of that
individual.
We can make the small daily effort to learn to be observant and vigilant of such tendencies, and stop them in their tracks. Not an easy think to do, and a very easy thing to forget. However, if we are serious for change in our lives, and learn to live within in the depths of our being down to the personal evolving soul, where such false attitudes and movements are rendered obsolete, we will move from this prejudiced, hostile, subjective human perception of another to objective observation and insight rooted in higher consciousness.
Moving from Data's Part to
Intuition's Whole
Mere
acquisition of data (e.g. in a company strategizing) cancels intuition.
I.e. the data driven approach, known as the science of management,
insists on the part, and then subdivides the part. We want to move from
the part to the whole. When we develop the intuitive sense we gain
such perspectives (Paraphrase of MSS)
Knowing Cause and
Effect on Various Planes
We do not perceive
cause and effect in the vital and mental realm as well as we perceive it
in the physical unfoldings of life. If we move away from the surface to
the psychic and spiritual consciousness, we will know begin to know the
rules of cause and effect on these planes, or rather the rules that
transcend them.
Truth Belies our
Certain Opinions
Even things we were so certain of in our opinion, such as perceptions of
what is best for society, can lie shattered in pieces of ignorance when
the truth arrives. It is a humbling phenomenon, once again showing the
need for an inner status and the higher guidance to show us the myriad
sides of any truth.
Untitled
In the more conscious state the mind would be withdrawn from the senses,
and be more centrally gathered within, separated from the bubbling of
the surface life. From there one can think in a more rational way. One
has a
less reactive vantage point; more inclusive and integral view.
From here one sees things in their right relationships; one is more open
to the wider unfolding of possibilities, one is better able to see the
many-sided nature of things, of the flow of life around us. We are more
open to others, and their inputs and points of view. We become more open
to, and in tune with, the events presenting themselves to you in the
outer environment.
Moving to the
Depths and the Subliminal
As we move to the
depths there is greater and greater rising of positive influences of the
subliminal being rising to the surface. The subliminal is in touch with
the great positive universal forces.
Moving to Deeper
Consciousness Enabling Multi-Sided View and Insight
By going deeper
within, into our deeper consciousness will enable can help us
move from our sense-based mind -- rooted in our feelings, emotions,
judgments, and prejudices -- to the higher part of mind proper, where we
see things objectively and rationally; where we engage in pure
rational
thought, rather than emotional thought. From that inner poise and
status we can see the abundant myriad of facts around us, which in their
multiplicity and variety lend themselves to insights. And from insights
we can have integral insights and illuminations and intuitions
that lead to ever greater conclusions, until we reach what we call the
"integral knowledge and understanding" that Holmes seemed to have had at
the end of every case.
Instincts of (Pure) Mind,
Mental Life
Pure Mind's proper instincts are change, self-enlargement and
self-improvement. It has faith in perfectibility, and its watchword is
progress. Pure mental life concentrates on the aesthetic, the ethical,
the intellectual. Mentality is idealistic a seeker after perfection.
(Paraphrase of Sri Aurobindo)
Also See Moving to the Depths Within (Concentration)
Mind's Movement out of Ignorance
(main)
[this subsection needs further organization in
relation to previous and next sections]
Limits and Higher Functionings of Mind
Mind
is an instrument of
knowledge. On one side,
it is a limited, even
flawed mechanism that
prevents true knowing.
On the other, we see
that it has the
potential to function in
ways that can garner
infinite-like truth
about the object of
inquiry. Here then is a
rundown of several of
Mind’s limitations, as
well as examples of its
higher functionings,
including its spiritual
capacities.
Limits of Sense –
Mind is limited when it
is preoccupied with the
input of the senses,
causing us to constantly
come to erroneous
conclusions. E.g. you
enter a room, look
around and observe the
physical situation, and
comment to a friend
about what you think is
taking place. She then
tells you that your
observation is faulty;
that something quite
different has been
occurring. You
have thus been deceived
by the visual; of what
you observed with your
very own eyes. It is the
same with other sense
inputs, such as the
auditory and tactile,
which do not allow the
mind to ponder the issue
through rational and
right understanding, but
draw it to conclusions
that are false and
limited in truth.
Limits of the Vital and
Physical – Another
equally troubling
limitation of the Mind
is its tendency to
adhere to positions that
are dominated by our
vital and physical
parts. In essence, our
desires, needs, wants,
opinions, and prejudices
tinge and distort our
thinking, and hence our
ability to know the true
truth of a matter. For
example, when we discuss
an issue, we see that we
have come to conclusions
that favor our personal
wants, desires, and
attitudes, not the real
truth of that matter.
Thus, Man is dominated
by his vital and
physical being, with
Mind coming to
conclusions that support
its own emotional and
physical biases and
prejudices.
Limits of Single- Line
Thinking –
Similarly, the Mind in
its attempt to grasp the
truth of any object of
inquiry normally likes
to go down but one
particular path of
thought, ignoring all
other aspects of the
object under
consideration. There is
something limiting and
confining in the Mind,
which takes pleasure in
pursuing that one line
of thinking; missing or
being oblivious to all
others. For example, we
see how scientists are
very energized by their
one perspective of a
matter, often defending
it vehemently, while
dismissing all other
possibilities or
domains.
Limits of Part Perception – In a similar vein, conclusions that Mind arrives at are partial at best. It knows one or a few aspects of a matter, missing most of the others. Thus, it does not see the whole of what is under consideration, but only the part. For example, listen to a discussion and you will see how one person knows one aspect of a matter, with another perceives it from an entirely different perspective that is also true. And there may be a dozen truths, facts, and perspectives that are also valid concerning that matter. Our normal mentality has a limited capacity to grasp the multiple truths of a matter, let alone the whole or Essence of that object of inquiry. This perhaps more than anything shows our essential Ignorance of who we are, what we can become, and life’s nature and potentials.
Rational Mind – And yet there is a way out of Mind’s limitation. It is to engage in rational, logical thought. When Mind sheds the influence of the senses, and is not dominated in its conclusions by one’s emotions, feelings, attitudes, desires, demands, and attachments, it can engage in pure thought, in rational and logical thinking. Unencumbered by the sense inputs and the domination of the vital and physical, it can begin to know through reason that can perceive more of the truth of things; even begin to perceive the variety of sides that make up the whole of a matter. This purer mentality formulates truth though synthesis, analysis, and other logic formation to build arguments, perceive possibilities, and come to conclusions that lead to more sides of the object under consideration. Philosophers thinkers, and technical programmers are examples of those who engage in pure thought. Unfortunately, most of us make far too little use of this great mental capacity.
Silent Mind – While rational mind is a great mental capacity that comes closer to right knowing, there are higher forms of understanding that bring us even closer to a many-sided, integral perception. They are in essence ‘spiritual’ in nature. For one, when we halt our thoughts, still our minds, engaging in mental silence, we give ourselves mental rest. As a result, when mind is reengaged thereafter, it is not only fresh, but as a result comes to more inclusive, complex, and insightful conclusions. Mind bathed in stillness of thought comes up with the very best of thoughts that deliver more true truths of life.
Light, Intuition, Revelation – An even higher form of mentality still is where thought simply enters our mind as light, intuition, or revelation. Light comes when one perceives an image of truth knowledge in a flash,, as in Archimedes famous “Eureka, I’ve Got It.” Beyond these illumined experiences, one can have sudden intuitions and revelations of truth that just appear in the Mind without any flash; in fact without any thought at all. The object of knowledge simply enters the mind and known. E.g. while taking a walk, the entire problem I have been addressing over the past week just appears as a thought wave in my mind. No hard churning of thought is involved here.
Supramental Perception – Though intuition and revelation are sudden descents of knowledge of an object into the mind without thought, they usually provide only part, angle, or perspective of the truth. Garnering a complete many-sided, integral revelation in an instance is of a higher form, called by the Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo “Truth Consciousness” or “Supramental perception.” This is knowledge by identity, where we perfectly connect with and know the truth of the object under consideration from its myriad of sides; from its wholeness and essence, through a sudden revelation. In fact, it originates within one’s self anew, never having existed before. In addition, that integral knowledge of the object is accompanied by a power for that truth to manifest as a living reality in the physical world. Hus, in supramental perception one not only has integral knowledge of a things, but a will and power for its effectuation in the world.
The Subliminal Influence and Guide – Not only does thought emanate from our surface mind or the universal plane, but it also percolates up from our Inner Being. The subliminal as Inner Guide is constantly sending up positive messages to us of what to do, and what not to do. As we develop our inner, spiritual capacities, we more readily recognize and adhere to these subtle influences. As a result, we tend to more often make right decisions that lead to beneficial outcomes.
The Plane of Cosmic Mind – We think of Mind as something local inside ourselves. But Mind is a plane of existence that is there in and behind the universe, and existed before the physical cosmos came to be. The Cosmic Mind, sometimes referred to as the Mind of God contains universal truth of the Divine, and is a plane where all knowledge resides. It exists in the superconscient that is beyond our Mind capacities, but it can also exist in our mentality if we learn how to widen ourselves and open to it.
As we overcome our limited surface Mind and take to its deeper and higher faculties, we are increasingly in touch with the Real Ideas, Essential Truths, Integral Knowledge that is contained in Cosmic Mind. In fact, if we explore its nature, we will come to discover that Cosmic Mind is the instrument of the Infinite consciousness, enabling the forces and forms of the universe, seen and unseen, to come to be.
In the Divine Mind all knowledge is integral and One, a status of understanding that we are fully capable of realizing.
Consciousness in Depths Overcome
Mind's Ignorance
To overcome the exclusive nature of mind, and therefore its
ignorance requires a higher consciousness, rooted in the depths within.
Causes and Nature of, and
Overcoming Ego
-Ego divides us from the Oneness of life
-The separative material consciousness is the source of ego.
-Because we were born separate forms, ego came into play.
-Ego supports our sense of separateness -- from others, and the world around us.
-Ego contributes to our Ignorance because it supports our tendency to take a limited view -- i.e. the part -- and believe it is the Whole.
-Connecting to our deeper consciousness within, reconnects us to the Oneness of life, dissolve ego, and in turn helps overcome our sense of separateness, and begins to break the limitations of our inborn ignorance.
To Raise the Level of
Mind
To
raise the level of Mind:
-One should resort to the whole of the Mind
from its part.
-Higher faculties of Mind make it more efficient.
-Withdraw
of identification with the Mind is the most powerful method as it is
endless. (MSS)
Truth Consciousness
and Integral Knowledge
In the highest spiritual consciousness,
the Truth Consciousness, there is knowledge of all parts, the whole, and
the relationship of the parts to the whole for any object of knowledge.
In Truth Consciousness there is Integral Knowledge.
Mind's Original
Capacity, its Descent into Ignorance, and Its Liberation
Mind is of Supermind which has the vision of
the whole. Mind being a part of it has the ability to see one part of
the whole at one time and can see the other part if it chooses. This is
the original capacity of Mind. When it refuses to see the other side,
Ignorance is born which is more and more organised as below.
-Mind's identifying with itself is to make the Ignorance entrenched.
-It can identify itself with its workings at a further stage.
-The
identification can be extended to life and Matter where Ignorance is
full.
The liberation of the
Mind is a reverse process which can start at the mental plane.
-Withdrawal from the identification of thoughts
- [which is]
Silence.
-Withdrawal from sense identification -
[which is] Pure
faculties of Mind.
-Withdrawal from Mind, life, Matter are the
further sta