{"id":3880,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3880"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","slug":"37-21-september-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/07-questions-and-answers-volume-07\/37-21-september-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-37_21 September 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n21
\nSeptember 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mother reads The Great Secret: The Writer.
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, here it is written: \u201cThe word is sufficiently immaterial
\nto be in contact with subtle things, forces and vibrations, principles and
\nideas.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My children, I have to tell you to begin
\nwith that this is \u201cliterature\u201d. So you should not ask me for explanations. It
\nis a literary way of speaking, you must understand it in a literary way; it is
\na literary description of the word; it is very precise, but it is literary. So
\nI cannot produce literature on this literature. One must have the taste for
\nforms, for a beautiful way of saying things, a little exceptional, not too
\nbanal; but it is just one way, it’s a way of saying things which is charming.
\nLiterature exists completely in the way of saying things. You catch what you
\ncan of what’s behind. If you are indeed open to the literary meaning, it evokes
\nthings for you; but it cannot be explained. It is a means of evocation which
\ncorresponds also with music. Naturally, one can analyse literature and see how
\nthe sentence is constructed, but this is like your changing a human being into
\na skeleton. It is not pretty, a skeleton. It’s the same thing. If in music you
\nstudy counterpoint, and if this note must necessarily bring in this other, and
\nthis group of notes has necessarily to bring in that one, you spoil the music
\ntoo, you make a skeleton of the music; it is not interesting. These things have
\nto be felt with the corresponding senses, the charm of the phrase with the
\nliterary sense \u2013 catching the harmony of words and what it evokes. <\/span><\/p>\n

In each one of these persons it is the
\nsame thing: you are given a description of people who have reached the highest
\nhuman possibility. It is obvious that this Writer is a very great one, the best
\nthat can be conceived. Well, he has come to this.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 308<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

And then at last he has realised that it
\nwas hollow, that he lacked the essential thing. And for all it will be the same
\nexperience.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Last time we said that it was an
\nexceptional Statesman. Well, we can say this time that it is an exceptional
\nWriter who has reached the psychological point where he can awaken to another
\nconsciousness, a higher consciousness. And yet the description he gives is
\ntruly that of the highest human possibilities. He did not see things as they
\nare, lifeless, he saw the spirit which was behind, he communicated with it, he
\ntried to express it and he made… he went as far as a human consciousness can
\ngo. And then he found himself before a precipice. How to cross over to the
\nother side? Everything is like that, you see. We shall have to repeat the same
\nthing each time.  <\/span><\/p>\n

There, then.  <\/span><\/p>\n

No questions? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, how can literature help us to progress? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It can help you to become more
\nintelligent, to understand things better, to have a sense of literary forms, to
\ncultivate your taste, to know how to choose between a good and a bad way of
\nsaying things, to enrich your spirit. It can help you in a hundred different
\nways.  <\/span><\/p>\n

There are many different kinds of progress.
\nAnd if one wants to progress integrally, one must progress in all these
\ndifferent directions. Well, this one is an intellectual and artistic progress
\nat the same time, in which both combine. One plays with ideas, is capable of
\nunderstanding them, classifying them, organising them, and at the same time one
\nplays with the form of these ideas, the way of expressing them, the way of
\nsaying, the way of presenting them and making them intelligible. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, all that we read in literature \u2013 stories, novels, etc. \u2013
\nvery often contains stuff which lowers <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 309<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

our consciousness. It is not altogether possible to leave out the matter
\nand read only from the point of view of the literary value. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, there is no excuse for reading
\nany odd novels except when they are remarkably written and you want to learn
\nthe language \u2013 if they are written either in your own language or in another
\none and you want to study this language, then you may read anything at all
\nprovided that it is well written. It’s not what is said that’s interesting,
\nit’s the way of saying it. And so the way to read it is exactly to be concerned
\nonly with the way it has been said, and not with what is said, which is
\nuninteresting. Only, for instance, in a book, there are always descriptions;
\nwell, you see how these descriptions are made and how the author has chosen the
\nwords to express things. And for ideas it is the same thing: how he has made
\nhis characters speak; you take no interest in what they say but in how they say
\nit. If you take certain books like study books, to learn just how to write
\nsentences well and express things as you should, because these books are very
\nwell written, what the story is has not much importance. But if you start
\nreading books for what they narrate, then in that case you must be much
\nstricter and not take things which darken your consciousness, because that’s a
\nwaste of time; it’s worse than a waste of time. So, things like vulgar stories
\nwhich are written in a vulgar way, about these, you see, there’s no longer any
\nquestion. These things you should never touch. And yet this is the currency
\nwhich circulates everywhere, above all in our times, it seems, because men have
\ninvented methods for cheap printing, for making cheap illustrations. So they
\nflood the country and all other countries with worthless literature, which is
\nbadly written, ill-conceived, and which expresses vulgar things and coarsens
\nyou with vulgar ideas and completely spoils your taste through vulgar pictures.
\nAll this happens because from the point of view of production they succeed in
\nmaking things very cheap, what are called popular <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 310<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

editions \u201caccessible to all\u201d. But as the
\naim of these people is not at all either to educate or to help men to progress,
\nfar from that \u2013 they hope on the contrary that people don’t progress, because
\nif they did they would no longer buy their wares \u2013 so their intention is to
\nmake money at the expense of those who read their literature, and so the more
\nit sells, the better it is. It may be frightful, but it’s very good if it sells
\nwell. It’s the same thing with art, the same thing with music, the same thing
\nwith drama.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The latest scientific discoveries, applied
\nto life, have put within the reach of everyone all kinds of things which
\nformerly were reserved only for the intellectual and artistic \u00e9lite; and to
\njustify their effort and profit by their work, they have made things which can
\nsell most, that is, the lowest, most ordinary, most vulgar things, the easiest
\nto understand because they require no effort and no education. And the whole
\nworld is drowned under these things, to such an extent that when there’s
\nsomeone who has written a good book or a fine play, there is no longer any
\nplace for him anywhere, because the whole place has been taken up by these
\nthings.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally there are sensible people who
\ntry to react; but it is very difficult. First of all the commercial mentality
\nshould be driven out from the world. This will take some time. There are a few
\nsigns that it is perhaps less respected than before. There was a time when, you
\nsee, one was considered a criminal if he didn’t know how to do business, and he
\nwho had the audacity to spend his capital, even for very good things, was fit
\nto be sent to a madhouse. It is a little better now, but still we are quite far
\nfrom the real situation; there is yet the golden calf, there, reigning over the
\nworld; before it is pulled down some time will yet go by, I am afraid. This has
\nso perverted men’s mind, that it is for them the criterion. You see, in America
\nwhen someone is spoken about, it is said: \u201cHe, oh, he is worth a million
\ndollars!\u201d This indeed is the greatest compliment one can pay. And it is this:
\nsomeone asks, \u201cDo you know this per- <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 311<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

son? What is he worth?\u201d \u2013 \u201cHe is worth a
\nhundred thousand dollars\u201d, \u201cHe is worth five hundred dollars.\u201d So this means
\nthat he has a position which brings him this. \u201cIs he intelligent, is he stupid?
\nIs he\u2026 this is not at all important. Is he a good man or a bad one? That makes
\nno difference at all! Is he a rich man or a poor one? \u201cIf he is rich, ah, ah! I
\nwould like to know him very much! If he is poor, I have nothing to do with
\nhim.\u201d There! Naturally America is a young country, so its ways are those of a child,
\nbut of a fairly ill-bred child. But the older countries have become too old and
\ncan no longer react, they shake their heads and wonder if after all this youth
\nis not right. Everything is like that. The world is very ill.  <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, how should one choose one’s books? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It would be better to ask someone who
\nknows. If you ask someone who, at least, has taste and some knowledge of
\nliterature, he won’t make you read badly written books. Now, if you want to
\nread something which helps you from the spiritual point of view, that’s another
\nmatter, you must ask someone who has a spiritual realisation to help you.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, there are two very different
\nlines; they can converge because everything can be made to converge; but as I
\nsaid, there are two lines really very different. One is a perpetual choice, not
\nonly of what one reads but of what one does, of what one thinks, of all one’s
\nactivities, of strictly doing only what can help you on the spiritual path; it
\ndoes not necessarily have to be very narrow and limited, but it must be on a
\nlittle higher plane than the ordinary life, and with a concentration of will
\nand aspiration which does not allow any wandering on the path, going here and
\nthere uselessly. This is austere; it is difficult to take up this when one is
\nvery young, because one feels that the instrument that he is has not been
\nsufficiently formed or is not rich enough to be allowed to remain what it <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 312<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

is, without growing and progressing. So,
\ngenerally speaking, except for a very small number, it comes later, after a
\ncertain development and some experience of life. The other path is that of as
\ncomplete, as integral a development as possible of all human faculties, of all
\nthat one carries in himself, all one’s possibilities, then, spreading out as
\nwidely as possible in all directions, in order to fill one’s consciousness with
\nall human possibilities, to know the world and life and men and their work as
\nit now is, to create a vast and rich base for the future ascent.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Usually this is what we expect of
\nchildren; except as I said, in absolutely rare, exceptional cases of children
\nwho have in them a psychic being which has already had all the experiences
\nbefore incarnating this time, and no longer needs any more experiences, which only
\nwants to realise the Divine and live Him. But these, you see, are
\none-in-a-million cases. Otherwise, till a certain age, so long as one is very
\nyoung, it is good to develop oneself, to spread out as much as possible in all
\ndirections, to draw out all the potentialities one holds, and turn them into
\nexpressed, conscious, active things, so as to have a fairly solid foundation
\nfor the ascent. Otherwise it is a bit poor.  <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why you must learn, love to learn,
\nalways learn, not waste your time in… well, in filling yourself with useless
\nthings or doing useless things. You must do everything with this aim, to enrich
\nyour possibilities, develop those you have, acquire new ones, and become as
\ncomplete, as perfect a human being as you can. That is, even on this line you
\nmust take things seriously, not simply pass your time because you are here, and
\nwaste it as much as possible because you have to pass it somehow. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is the attitude of men in general:
\nthey come into life, they don’t know why; they know that they will live a
\ncertain number of years, they don’t know why; they think that they will have to
\npass away because everybody passes away, and they again don’t know why; and
\nthen, most of the time they are bored because they have nothing in themselves, they
\nare empty beings and there is nothing more boring than emptiness; and so <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 313<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

they try to fill this by distraction, they
\nbecome absolutely useless, and when they reach the end they have wasted their
\nwhole existence, all their possibilities \u2013 and everything is lost. This you
\nwill see: take a thousand men, out of them at least nine hundred and ninety are
\nin this condition. It happens that they are born in certain circumstances or
\ncertain others, and they try, you see, to pass their time as well as they can,
\nto be bored as little as possible, to suffer as little as possible, to have as
\ngood a time as possible; and everything is dull, lifeless, useless, stupid, and
\nabsolutely without any result. There, then. This is the majority of human
\nbeings, and they don’t even think… they don’t even ask themselves, \u201cBut
\nindeed, why am I here? Why is there an earth? Why are there men? Why do I
\nlive?\u201d No, all these things are absolutely uninteresting. The only interesting
\nthing is to try to eat well, to have good fun, be nicely distracted, well
\nmarried, have children, earn money and have all the advantages one can get from
\nthe point of view of desires, and above all, above all not think, not reflect,
\nnot ask any questions, and avoid all trouble. Yes, and then get out of it like
\nthat, without too many catastrophes. This is the general condition; this is
\nwhat men call being reasonable. And in this way the world can turn round
\nindefinitely for eternity, it will never progress. And this is why all these
\nare like ants; they come, crawl, die, go away, come back, crawl again, die
\nagain, and so on. And it can last for eternities like this. Fortunately there
\nare some who do the work of all the others, but it’s only these who will make
\neverything change one day.  <\/span><\/p>\n

So the first problem is to know on which
\nside one wants to be: on the side of those who are doing something or the side
\nof those who do nothing; on the side of those who, perhaps, will be able to
\nunderstand what life is and do what is necessary for this life to culminate in
\nsomething, or else of those who hardly care to understand anything at all and
\ntry to pass their time in having as few botherations as possible. Above all, no
\nbotherations! <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 314<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

There we are. This is the first choice. After
\nthis there are many others. <\/span><\/p>\n

So there, my children. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, if you wish to have a meditation, say
\nso. Yes or no? Yes? Good! Try to eliminate from your consciousness all that is
\ndarkly attached to living uselessly.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 315<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 September 1955 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother reads The Great Secret: The Writer.   Sweet Mother, here it is written: \u201cThe word is sufficiently immaterial to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","wpcat-112-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}