{"id":3728,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3728"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:45","slug":"07-intellectual-knowledge-and-spiritual-truth-vol-04-fourth-series-1951","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/04-fourth-series-1951\/07-intellectual-knowledge-and-spiritual-truth-vol-04-fourth-series-1951","title":{"rendered":"-07_INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND SPIRITUAL TRUTH.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nSECTION THREE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nINTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSPIRITUAL TRUTH<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIntellect, Mind and Truth<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nINTELLECT is part of Mind and an instrument
\nof half-truth like the rest of the Mind.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n22-8-1932<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Intellect and the Truth<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT you have said is perfectly right. To see the
\nTruth does not depend on a big intellect or a small
\nintellect. It depends on being in contact  with the
\nTruth and the mind silent and quiet to receive it.
\nThe biggest intellects can make errors of the worst
\nkind and confuse Truth and Falsehood, if they
\nhave not the contact with the Truth or the direct
\nexperience.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1-8-1932<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-79<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Need of Controlling the Intellect<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE point is that people take no trouble to see whether their intellect is giving them right
\nthoughts,
\nright conclusions, right views on things and persons,
\nright indications about their conduct or course of
\naction. They have their idea and accept it as truth
\nor follow it simply because it is their<\/i> idea. Even when
\nthey recognise that they have made mistakes of the
\nmind, they do not consider it of any importance nor
\ndo they try to be more careful mentally than before.
\nIn the vital field people know that they must not
\nfollow their desires or impulses without check or
\ncontrol, they know that they ought to have a conscience
\nor a moral sense which discriminates what
\nthey can or should do and what they cannot or
\nshould not do; in the field of intellect no such care
\nis taken. Men are supposed to follow their intellect,
\nto have and assert their own ideas right or wrong
\nwithout any control; the intellect, it is said, is man’s
\nhighest instrument and he must think and act
\naccording to its ideas. But this is not true; the
\nintellect needs an inner light to guide, check and
\ncontrol it quite as much as the vital. There is something
\nabove the intellect which one has to discover
\nand the intellect should be only an intermediary
\nfor the action of that source of true Knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n23-3-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-80 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Spirit, Life and Intellect<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIN the sphere of the Spirit are only the eternal
\ntruths\u2014all is eternally itself there, there is no development,
\nnothing unrealised or striving to be fulfilled.
\nThere are no such things as possibilities therefore.
\nIn life, on the other hand, all is a play of possibilities
\n\u2014nothing is realised, all is seeking to be
\nrealised\u2014or if not yet seeking, then waiting behind
\nthe veil for that. Nothing is realised in its highest
\nform, in its truth or completeness, but all is possible.
\nAll these possibilities are derived from the truths
\nabove, e.g., the possibility of knowledge, the possibility 
\nof love, the possibility of joy, etc. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIntellect, will, etc. are intermediaries which
\ntry to catch something of the hidden higher truths
\nand bring them into life or else raise life to them
\nso that the possibilities of life here may become the
\ncomplete realities that are already there above.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-3-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage–<\/i>81 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>The Supreme Knowledge and the Lower Ignorance<\/font><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE mind in its higher <\/b> part is aware of being one with the Divine, in all ways, in all things\u2014having
\nthat supreme knowledge, it is not disturbed by its
\nown ignorance and impotence in its lower instrumental
\nparts; it looks on all that with a smile and
\nremains happy and luminous with the light of the
\nsupreme knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe consciousness of union with the Divine is for
\nthe spiritual seeker the supreme knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Utility of Mental Knowledge<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMENTAL knowledge is of little use except sometimes
\nas an introduction pointing towards the real knowledge
\nwhich comes from direct consciousness of
\nthings.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-6-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Greater Perfection in Knowledge<\/font><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT (greater perfection in knowledge) can come only
\nby further development and the activity of another
\nkind of knowledge communicating itself to the physical and taking up gradually the functions of the
\nmind in all its parts. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n13-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-82<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Spiritual Knowledge and Worldly Ignorance<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT does not help for spiritual knowledge to be
\nignorant of things of this world. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Mental Knowledge and Psychic Perception<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is not a mental knowledge that is necessary but a
\npsychic perception or a direct perception in the
\nconsciousness. A mental knowledge can always be
\nblinded by the tricks of the vital.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n26-6-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-83 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Mental Perception, Mental Realisation
\nand Spiritual Experience<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou have to know by experience. The mental perception and mental realisation are different from
\neach other\u2014the first is only an idea, in the second
\nthe mind in its very substance reflects or reproduces
\nthe truth. The spiritual experience is more than
\nthe mental\u2014it is in the very substance of the being
\nthat the experience takes place. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n11-6-1933<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Utility of Mental Realisation<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMENTAL realisation is useful at the beginning and
\nprepares spiritual experience.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt can help too at the beginning\u2014but also it can
\nhinder. It depends on the sadhaka. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Touch of Realisation and Higher Knowledge<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYES, it happens like that. A touch of realisation
\nis enough to set the higher mind knowledge or the
\nillumined mind knowledge flowing. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n25-5-1936. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-84 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Half-light of Idea and Complete Truth<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTHE idea is not enough. It gives only a half-light
\n\u2014you must get to all the Truth that lies behind the
\nidea and the object together. Being, consciousness,
\nforce\u2014that is <\/b>the triple secret.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n19-3-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Idea\u2014Force\u2014Consciousness<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is a power in the idea\u2014a force of which the
\nidea is a shape. Again, behind the idea and force
\nand word there is what is called the spirit,\u2014a
\nconsciousness which generates the force. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Knowledge and Divine Consciousness<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nALL consciousness comes from the one Consciousness
\n\u2014Knowledge is one aspect of the Divine Consciousness.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n21-8-1933<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-85<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Mind, Vital and the One Consciousness<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMIND and vital are two different processes of one
\nconsciousness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n24-4-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Intellectual and the Emotional Man<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIF the intellectual will always have a greater
\nwideness
\nand vastness, how can we be sure that he will
\nhave an equal fervour, depth and sweetness with
\nthe emotional man? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt may be that homo intellectualis<\/i> will remain
\nwider and homo psychicus<\/i> will remain deeper in
\nheart (even when the latter’s inner mind opens up).
\nDo not confuse the higher knowledge and the
\nmental knowledge. The intellectual man will be
\nable to give a more wide and more orderly expression
\nto what higher knowledge he gets than
\nthe homo psychicus;<\/i> but it does not follow he will
\nhave more of it. He will have that only if he rises
\nto an equal width and plasticity and comprehensiveness
\nof the higher knowledge planes. In
\nthat case <\/b> he will replace his mental by his
\nabove-mental capacity. But for many intellectuals, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-86 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nso called, their intellectuality may be a stumbling
\nblock as they bind themselves with mental conceptions
\nor stifle their psychic fire under the heavy
\nweight of rational thought. On the other hand,
\nI have seen comparatively uneducated people
\nexpressing higher knowledge with an astonishing
\nfullness and depth and accuracy which the stumbling
\nmovements of their brain could never have allowed
\none to suppose possible. Therefore, why fix beforehand
\nby the mind what will or will not be possible
\nwhen the above-mind reigns? What the mind
\nconceives as "must be" need not be the measure
\nof the "will be". Such and such homo intellectualis
\n<\/i>may turn out to be a more fervent God-lover than
\nthe effervescent emotional man; such and such
\nan emotionalist may receive and express a wider
\nknowledge than his intellect or even the intellect
\nof the intellectual man could have harboured or
\norganised. Let us not bind the phenomena of the
\nhigher consciousness by the possibilities and probabilities
\nof a lower plane. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-87 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n<\/a>Doubts and Arguments in Yoga<\/font><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs to doubts and argumentative answers to them, 
\nI have long given up the practice as I found it
\nperfectly useless. Yoga is not a field for intellectual
\nargument or dissertation. It is not by the exercise
\nof the logical or the debating mind that one can
\narrive at a true understanding of Yoga or follow it.
\nA doubting spirit, "honest doubt" and the claim
\nthat the intellect shall be satisfied and be made
\nthe judge on every point is all very well in the
\nfield of mental action outside. But Yoga is not a
\nmental field, the consciousness which has to be
\nestablished is not a mental, logical or debating
\nconsciousness\u2014it is even laid down by Yoga that
\nunless and until the mind is stilled, including the
\nintellectual or logical mind, and opens itself in
\nquietude or silence to a higher and deeper consciousness,
\nvision and knowledge, sadhana cannot
\nreach its goal. For the same reason an unquestioning
\nopenness to the Guru is demanded in the Indian
\nspiritual tradition; as for blame, criticism and
\nattack on the Guru, it was considered reprehensible
\nand the surest possible obstacle to sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf the spirit of doubt could be overcome by
\nmeeting it with arguments, there might be something
\nin the demand for its removal by satisfaction
\nthrough logic. But the spirit of doubt doubts for
\nits own sake, for the sake of doubt; it simply uses
\nthe mind as its instrument for its particular dharma, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-88<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand this not the least when that mind thinks it is
\nseeking sincerely for a solution of its honest and
\nirrepressible doubts. Mental positions always differ,
\nmoreover, and it is well-known that people can
\nargue for ever without one convincing the other.
\nTo go on perpetually answering persistent and
\nalways recurring doubts such as for long have
\nfilled this Ashram and obstructed the sadhana, is
\nmerely to frustrate the aim of the Yoga and go
\nagainst its central principle with no spiritual or
\nother gain whatever. If anybody gets over his
\nfundamental doubts, it is by the growth of the
\npsychic in him or by an enlargement of his consciousness,
\nnot otherwise. Questions which arise
\nfrom the spirit of enquiry, not aggressive or self-assertive, but as a part of a hunger for knowledge
\ncan be answered, but the "spirit of doubt" is
\ninsatiable and unappeasable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Value of Mental Questions in Yoga<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOUT of one thousand mental questions and answers
\nthere are only one or two here and there that are
\nreally of any dynamic assistance\u2014while a single
\ninner response or a little growth of consciousness will <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-89<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndo what those thousand questions and answers could
\nnot do. The Yoga does not proceed by upadesh<\/i> but
\nby inner influence. To state your condition, experiences, 
\netc. and open to the help is far more important
\nthan question-asking. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n4-6-1936
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Mental Understanding and <\/b> Inner Help<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWHAT I write usually helps only the mind and that
\ntoo very little, for people do not really understand
\nwhat I write\u2014they put their own constructions on
\nit. The inner help is quite different and there can be
\nno confusion with it, for it reaches the substance
\nof the consciousness, not the mind only.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Right Way of Understanding the Workings
\nof Consciousness<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIN the things of the subtle kind having to do with
\nthe working of consciousness in the sadhana, one
\nhas to learn to feel and observe and see with the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-90<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ninner consciousness and to decide by the intuition
\nwith a plastic look on things which does not make
\nset definitions and rules as one has to do in outward
\nlife. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n7-4-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Mental Constructions and the Truth<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPEOPLE do not understand what I write because the
\nmind by itself cannot understand things that are
\nbeyond it. It constructs its own idea out of something
\nthat it catches or that it has caught and puts
\nthat idea as the whole meaning of what has been
\nwritten. Each mind puts its own ideas in place of the Truth.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n6-6-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-91<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Action by <\/b> Higher Force in the Still Mind<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWHEN the personal mind is still, whatever mental
\naction is needed is taken up and done by the Force itself which does all the necessary thinking and
\nprogressively transforms it by bringing down into it a
\nhigher and higher plane of perception and knowledge.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n18-12-1936
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/a>Action in Emptiness<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(1)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWHAT you describe is not at all a drawing away
\nof life-energy; it is simply the effect of voidness and
\nstillness caused in the lower parts by the consciousness
\nbeing located above. It is quite consistent
\nwith action, only one must get accustomed to the idea
\nof the possibility of action under these conditions.
\nIn a greater state of emptiness I carried on a daily
\nnewspaper and made a dozen speeches in the course
\nof three or four days\u2014but I did not manage that in
\nany way; it happened. The force made the body do
\nthe work without any inner activity. The drawing
\naway of the life-energy leaves the body lifeless,
\nhelpless, empty and impotent, but it is attended
\nby no experience except a great suffering. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n13-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-92<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nNot necessary at all. It is perfectly possible to do
\nwork in an entire emptiness without any interference or activity of the lower parts of the consciousness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n16-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Action in Silent Mind<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIT is in the silence of the mind that the strongest
\nand freest action can come, e.g., the writing of a
\nbook, poetry, inspired speech, etc. When the mind
\nis active it interferes with the inspiration, puts in
\nits own small ideas which get mixed up with the
\ninspiration or starts something from a lower level
\nor simply stops the inspiration altogether by bubbling
\nup with all sorts of mere mental suggestions. So
\nalso intuitions or action, etc. can come more easily
\nwhen the ordinary inferior movement of the mind
\nis not there. It is also in the silence of the mind that
\nit is easiest for knowledge to come from within or above, from the psychic or
\nfrom the higher consciousness.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n9-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-93<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Observations on Prof. Sorley’s Comments on <\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSpiritual
\nExperience and Intellectual Judgment<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI FIND nothing to object to in Prof. Sorley’s
\ncomment on the still, bright and clear mind, for it adequately
\nindicates the process by which the mind makes itself
\nready for the reflection of the higher Truth in its undisturbed surface or
\nsubstance. One thing perhaps  needs to be kept in view\u2014this pure stillness
\nof the mind is always the required condition, the
\ndesideratum, but to bring it about there are more
\nways than one. It is not, for instance, only by an
\neffort of the mind itself to get clear of all intrusive
\nemotion or passion or of its own characteristic vibrations or of the obscuring fumes of a physical
\ninertia which brings about the sleep or torpor of the mind
\ninstead of its wakeful silence that the thing can be
\ndone\u2014for this is only the ordinary process of the Yogic path of knowledge. It
\ncan happen also by
\na descent from above of a great spiritual stillness
\nimposing silence on the mind and heart and the
\nlife stimuli and the physical reflexes. A sudden
\ndescent of this kind or a series of descents accumulative in force and efficacy is a well-known
\nphenomenon<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-94 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof spiritual experience. Or again one may start
\nprocess of one kind or another for the purpose which would normally mean a long labour and be seized,
\neven at the outset, by a rapid intervention or manifestation of the Silence with an effect out of all
\nproportion to the means used at the beginning.
\nOne commences with a method, but the work is
\ntaken up by a Grace from above, from That to
\nwhich one aspires or an irruption of the infinitudes
\nof the Spirit. It was in this last way that I myself
\ncame by the mind’s absolute silence, unimaginable
\nto me before I had its actual experience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is another point of some importance\u2014
\nthe exact nature of this brightness, clearness, stillness,
\n\u2014of what it is constituted, whether it is merely a psychological condition or
\nsomething more. Professor Sorley says these words are after all metaphors
\nand he wants to express and succeeds in expressing
\nthe same thing in a more abstract language. But
\nI was not conscious of using metaphors when I wrote
\nthe phrase, though I am aware that the words could
\nto others have that appearance. I think even that
\nthey would seem to one who had half the same
\nexperience not only a more vivid but a more
\naccurate description of this inner state than any more
\nabstract language could give. <\/b> It is true that metaphors, symbols, images are constant auxiliaries<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-95<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsummoned by the mystic for the expression of his
\nexperiences: that is inevitable because he has to
\nexpress, in a language made or at least developed
\nand manipulated by the mind, the phenomena of
\na consciousness other than the mental and at once
\nmore complex and more subtly concrete. It is this
\nsubtle concrete, supersensuously sensible reality of the phenomena of that
\nconsciousness to which the
\nmystic arrives, that justifies the use of metaphor
\nand image as a more living and accurate transcription than the abstract terms which
\nintellectual
\nreflection employs for its own characteristic process.
\nIf the images used are misleading or not descriptively accurate, it is because
\nthe writer has a force
\nof expression inadequate to the intensity of his experience. The scientist
\nspeaks of light-waves or
\nof sound-waves and in doing so he uses a metaphor,
\nbut one which corresponds to the physical fact and
\nis perfectly applicable\u2014for there is no reason why
\nthere should not be a wave, a constant flowing
\nmovement of light or of sound as well as of water.
\nBut when I speak of the mind’s brightness, clearness,
\nstillness, I have no idea of calling metaphor to my
\naid. It was meant to be a description as precise
\nand positive as if I were describing in the same way an expanse of air or a
\nsheet of water. For the mystic’s experience of mind\u2014especially when it <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-96 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfalls still is not that of an abstract condition or a
\nfalling off or of some unseizable element of the consciousness, it is an experience of an extended
\nsubtle substance in which there can be and are waves, currents, vibrations not material but still
\nas definite, perceptible, controllable by an inner sense as any movement of material energy or
\nsubstance by the physical senses. The stillness of
\nthe mind means first the falling to rest of the habitual thought movements,
\nthought formations,
\nthought currents which agitate the mind-substance,
\nand that for many is a sufficient mental silence.
\nBut even in this repose of all thought movements
\nor movements of feelings, when one looks more closely at it, one sees that this
\nmind-substance is
\nin a constant state of very subtle vibration, not at
\nfirst easily observable, but afterwards quite evident \u2014and that state of
\nconstant vibration may be as
\nharmful to the exact reflection or reception of the
\ndescending Truth as any more formed thought
\nmovement\u2014for it is the source of a mentalisation
\nwhich can diminish or distort the authenticity of
\nthe higher Truth or break it up into mental refractions.  When I speak of a still mind, I mean one
\nin which these disturbances are no longer there.
\nAs they fall quiet one can feel the increasing stillness and a resultant
\nclearness as palpable as one can <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-97<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nperceive the stillness and clearness of a physical
\natmosphere. What I describe as the brightness–
\nthere is another element\u2014is resolved into a phenomenon of Light common in mystic
\nexperience.
\nThat Light is not a metaphor\u2014as when Goethe
\ncalled for more light in his last moments\u2014it presents
\nitself as a very positive illumination actually seen
\nand felt by the inner sense. The brightness of the
\nstill and clear mind is also a positive reflection of
\nthis Light before the Light itself manifests\u2014and this reflection of the Light is
\na very necessary condition for a growing capacity of penetrability by the
\nTruth one has to receive and harbour. I have
\nemphasised this part of the subject at a little length
\nbecause it helps to bring out the difference between the abstract mental and the
\nconcrete mystic perception of supraphysical things which is the source
\nof much misunderstanding between the spiritual
\nseeker and the intellectual thinker. Even when they
\nspeak the same language it is a different order of
\nperceptions to which the language refers the products of two different grades of consciousness and
\neven in their agreement there is often a certain gulf
\nof difference. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-98 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThat brings us straight to the question raised by
\nProfessor Sorley, what is the relation of mystic or
\nspiritual experience and is it true, as it is contended,
\nthat the mystic must, whether as to the validity of
\nhis experience itself or the validity of his expression
\nof it, accept the intellect as the judge. It is very
\nplain that in the experience itself the intellect
\ncannot claim to put its limits or its law on an endeavour whose very aim, principle and matter is to go
\nbeyond the domain of the ordinary earth-ruled
\nand sense-ruled mental intelligence. It is as if I
\nwere asked to climb a mountain with a rope around
\nmy feet attaching me to the terrestrial level or to
\nfly only on condition that I keep my feet on the
\nearth while I do it. It may be the safest thing to
\nwalk on earth and be on firm ground always and
\nto ascend on wings or otherwise may be to risk a
\ncollapse and all sorts of accidents of error, illusion,
\nextravagance, hallucination or what not\u2014the usual
\ncharges of the positive earth-walking intellect
\nagainst mystic experience; but I have to take the
\nrisk if I want to do it at all. The reasoning intellect
\nbases itself on man’s normal experience and on the
\nworkings of a surface external perception and
\nconception of things which is at its ease only when <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-99 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nworking on a mental basis formed by terrestrial 
\nexperience and its accumulated data. The mystic goes beyond into a region where
\nthis mental basis
\nfalls away, where these data are exceeded, where
\nthere is another law and canon of perception and  knowledge. His entire business is to break through
\nthese borders into another consciousness which
\nlooks at things in a different way and though this new consciousness may include
\nthe data of the
\nordinary external intelligence it cannot be limited by them or bind itself to
\nsee from the intellectual standpoint or in accordance with its way of conceiving, reasoning, established interpretation
\nof experience. A mystic entering the domain of the occult or of the spirit with
\nthe intellect as his only
\nor his supreme light or guide would risk seeing
\nnothing or else arriving only at a mental realisation
\nalready laid down for him by the speculations of
\nthe intellectual thinker. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is, no doubt, a strain of spiritual thought
\nin India which compromises with the modern intellectual demand and admits Reason
\nas a
\nsupreme judge, but they speak of a Reason which in
\nits turn is prepared to compromise and accept the
\ndata of spiritual experience as valid per se.<\/i> That, in a sense, is just
\nwhat the Indian philosophers have
\nalways done; for they have tried to establish<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-100<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ngeneralisations drawn from spiritual experience by
\nthe light of metaphysical reasoning, but on the
\nbasis of that experience and with the evidence of
\nthe spiritual seekers as a supreme proof ranking
\nhigher than intellectual speculation or experience.
\nIn that way the freedom of spiritual and mystic
\nexperience is preserved, the reasoning intellect
\ncomes in only on the second line as a judge of the generalised statements drawn from the experience.
\nThis is, I presume, something akin to Prof. Sorley’s
\nposition\u2014he concedes that the experience itself
\nis of the domain of the Ineffable, but as soon as I
\nbegin to interpret it, to state it, I fall back into the
\ndomain of the thinking mind, I use its terms and
\nways of thought and expression and must accept
\nthe intellect as judge. If I do not, I knock away
\nthe ladder by which I have climbed\u2014through
\nmind to Beyond-Mind\u2014and I am left in the air. It
\nis not quite clear whether the truth of my experience
\nitself is supposed to be invalidated by this unsustained position in the air,
\nbut it remains at any rate something aloof and incommunicable without support or
\nany consequences for thought or life. There are three
\npropositions, I suppose, which I can take as laid down
\nor admitted here and joined together. First, the
\nspiritual experience is itself of the Beyond-Mind,
\nineffable and, I presume, unthinkable. Next, in the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-101 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nexpression, the interpretation of the experience,
\nyou
\nare obliged to fall back into the domain of the consciousness <\/i>you have left and must abide by its judgments,
\naccept the terms and the canons of its law,
\nsubmit to its verdict; you have abandoned the freedom of the Ineffable and are no longer your master.
\nLast, spiritual truth may be true in itself, to its own
\nself-experience, but any statement of it is liable to
\nerror and here the intellect is the sole judge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI do not think I am prepared to accept any of these
\naffirmations completely as they are. It is true that
\nspiritual and mystic experience carries one first
\ninto domains of Other-Mind (and also Other-Life)
\nand then into the Beyond-Mind; it is true also that
\nthe ultimate Truth is described as unthinkable, ineffable, unknowable\u2014speech
\ncannot reach there nor mind arrive to it; I may observe that it is so to human
\nmind, but not to itself\u2014for to itself it is described as self-conscient, in some direct
\nsupramental
\nway knowable, known, eternally self-aware. And
\nhere the question is not of the ultimate realisation of
\nthe ultimate Ineffable which, according to many, can
\nonly be reached in a supreme trance, samādhi,<\/i> withdrawn from all outer
\nmental or other awareness, but of an experience in a luminous silence of the
\nmind
\nwhich looks up into the boundlessness of the last
\nillimitable silence into which it is to pass and disappear,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-102<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbut before that unspeakable experience of the
\nUltimate or disappearance into it, there is possible a descent of at least some Power or Presence of the
\nReality into the substance of mind along with a modification of mind-substance, an illumination of
\nit,
\nand of this experience an expression of some kind,
\na rendering into thought ought to be possible. Or
\nlet us suppose the Ineffable and Unknowable may
\nhave aspects, presentations of it that are not utterly  unthinkable and ineffable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf it were not so, all account of spiritual truth and
\nexperience would be impossible. At most one could
\nspeculate about it, but that would be an activity
\nvery much in the air, even in a void, without support
\nor data, a mere manipulation of all the possible
\nideas of what might be the Supreme and Ultimate.
\nApart from that there could be only a certain
\nunaccountable transition by one way or another
\nfrom consciousness to an incommunicable Supra-
\nconscience. That is indeed what much mystical
\nseeking actually reached both in Europe and India.
\nThe Christian mystics spoke of a total darkness, a
\ndarkness complete and untouched by any mental
\nlights, through which one must pass into that luminous Ineffable. The Indian Sannyasis sought to shed
\nmind altogether and pass into a thought-free trance
\nfrom which if one returns, no communication or <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-103 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nexpression could be brought back of what was there
\nexcept a remembrance of inexpressible existence and bliss. But still there were
\nprevious experiences of the
\nsupreme mystery, formulations of the Highest or the occult universal Existence
\nwhich were held to be spiritual truth and on the basis of which the seers
\nand mystics did not hesitate to formulate their
\nexperience and the thinkers to build on it numberless
\nphilosophies and books of exegesis. The only question that remains is what creates the possibility
\nof
\nthis communication and expression, this transmission of the facts of a different
\norder of consciousness to the mind and what determines the validity of the
\nexpression or, even, of the original experience. If no
\nvalid account were possible there could be no question of the judgment of the intellect\u2014only
\nthe grotesque contradiction of sitting down to speak of
\nthe Ineffable, think of the Unthinkable, comprehend
\nthe Incommunicable and Unknowable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-104 <\/font>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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