{"id":4263,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:40","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4263"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:40","slug":"03-6-february-1957-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/09-questions-and-answers-volume-09\/03-6-february-1957-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-03_6 February 1957.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n6 February 1957<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

\u201cDeath
\nis the question Nature puts continually to Life and her reminder to it that it
\nhas not yet found itself. If there\u00a0 <\/span>were
\nno siege of death, the creature would be bound forever in the form of an imperfect
\nliving. Pursued by death he awakes to the idea of perfect life and seeks out
\nits means and its possibility.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Thoughts and Glimpses, Cent. Vol. 16, p.
\n386 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

There seems to be matter enough here for us not to need to go any
\nfurther. This is a question which every person whose consciousness is awakened
\na little has asked himself at least once in his life. There is in the depths of
\nthe being such a need to perpetuate, to prolong, to develop life, that the
\nmoment one has a first contact with death, which, although it may be quite an
\naccidental contact, is yet inevitable, there is a sort of recoil in the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

In persons who are sensitive, it produces horror; in others,
\nindignation. There is a tendency to ask oneself: \u201cWhat is this monstrous farce
\nin which one takes part without wanting to, without understanding it? Why are
\nwe born, if it is only to die? Why all this effort for development, progress,
\nthe flowering of the faculties, if it is to come to a diminution ending in
\ndecline and disintegration?…\u201d Some feel a revolt in them, others less strong
\nfeel despair and always this question arises: \u201cIf there is a conscious Will
\nbehind all that, this Will seems to be monstrous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But here Sri Aurobindo
\ntells us that this was an indispensable means of awakening in the consciousness
\nof matter the need for perfection, the necessity of progress, that without this
\ncatastrophe, all beings would have been satisfied with the condition they were
\nin \u2013 perhaps.\u2026This is not certain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But then, we have to
\ntake things as they are and tell our<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 33<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

selves that we must find the way out of it all. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The fact is that everything is in a state of perpetual progressive
\ndevelopment, that is, the whole creation, the whole universe is advancing
\ntowards a perfection which seems to recede as one goes forward towards it, for
\nwhat seemed a perfection at a certain moment is no longer perfect after a time.
\nThe most subtle states of being in the consciousness follow this progression
\neven as it is going on, and the higher up the scale one goes, the more closely
\ndoes the rhythm of the advance resemble the rhythm of the universal
\ndevelopment, and approach the rhythm of the divine development; but the
\nmaterial world is rigid by nature, transformation is slow, very slow, there,
\nalmost imperceptible for the measurement of time as human consciousness
\nperceives it\u2026and so there is a constant disequilibrium between the inner and
\nouter movement, and this lack of balance, this incapacity of the outer forms to
\nfollow the movement of the inner progress brings about the necessity of
\ndecomposition and the change of forms. But if, into this matter, one could
\ninfuse enough consciousness to obtain the same rhythm, if matter could become
\nplastic enough to follow the inner progression, this rupture of balance would
\nnot occur, and death would no longer be necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>So, according to what
\nSri Aurobindo tells us, Nature has found this rather radical means to awaken in
\nthe material consciousness the necessary aspiration and plasticity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It is obvious that the most dominant
\ncharacteristic of matter is inertia, and that, if there were not this violence,
\nperhaps the individual consciousness would be so inert that rather than change
\nit would accept to live in a perpetual imperfection.\u2026That is possible. Anyway,
\nthis is how things are made, and for us who know a little more, there is only
\none thing that remains to be done it is to change all this, as far as we have
\nthe means, by calling the Force, the Consciousness, the new Power which is capable
\nof infusing\u00a0 <\/span>into material substance the
\nvibration which can transform it, make it plastic, supple, progressive<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously the greatest obstacle is the attachment to things. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 34<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

as they are; but even Nature as a whole finds that those who have
\nthe deeper knowledge want to go too fast: she likes her meanderings, she likes
\nher successive attempts, her failures, her fresh beginnings, her new
\ninventions; she likes the fantasy of the path, the unexpectedness of the
\nexperience; one could almost say that for her the longer it takes, the more
\nenjoyable it is. <\/span><\/p>\n

But even of the best games one tires. There comes a time when one
\nneeds to change them and one could dream of a game in which it would no longer
\nbe necessary to destroy in order to progress, where the zeal for progress would
\nbe enough to find new means, new expressions, where the \u00e9lan<\/i> would be ardent enough to overcome inertia, lassitude, lack of
\nunderstanding, fatigue, indifference. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Why does this body, as
\nsoon as some progress has been made, feel the need to sit down? It is tired. It
\nsays, \u201cOh! you must wait. I must be given time to rest.\u201d This is what leads it
\nto death. If it felt within itself that ardour to do always better, become more
\ntransparent, more beautiful, more luminous, eternally young, one could escape
\nfrom this macabre joke of Nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>For her this is of no
\nimportance. She sees the whole, she sees the totality; she sees that nothing is
\nlost, that it is only recombining quantities, numberless minute elements,
\nwithout any importance, which are put back into a pot and mixed well \u2013 and
\nsomething new comes out of it. But that game is not amusing for everybody. And
\nif in one\u2019s consciousness one could be as vast as she, more powerful than she,
\nwhy shouldn\u2019t one do the same thing in a better way? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This is the problem
\nwhich confronts us now. With the addition, the new help of this Force which has
\ndescended, which is manifesting, working, why shouldn\u2019t one take in hand this
\ntremendous game and make it more beautiful, more harmonious, more true?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It only needs brains
\npowerful enough to receive this Force and formulate the possible course of
\naction. There must be conscious beings powerful enough to convince Nature that
\nthere are <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 35<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>other methods than
\nhers.\u2026This looks like madness, but all new things have always seemed like
\nmadness before they became realities.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The hour has come for
\nthis madness to be realised. And since we are all here for reasons that are
\nperhaps unknown to most of you, but are still very conscious reasons, we may
\nset ourselves to fulfil that madness \u2013 at least it will be worthwhile living
\nit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 36<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n7 February 1957<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

As an exception, Mother gave this talk on a Thursday evening,
\nbefore the collective meditation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Before the meditation this evening I am going to say a few words
\nto you, because several people have asked me the difference between a
\ncollective meditation and an individual meditation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Individual meditation \u2013 I have already explained to you many times
\nthe different kinds of meditation that are possible and I won\u2019t begin to speak
\nto you about that again. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But collective
\nmeditations have been practised in all ages for different reasons, in different
\nways and with different motives. What may be called a collective meditation is
\na group of people who gather together for a definite purpose; for example, in
\nall ages it has been a practice to gather for prayers. Naturally in the
\nChurches, it is a sort of collective meditation but even outside the Churches,
\nsome people have organised collective meditations for group prayer. These
\nprayers are of two different kinds. <\/span><\/p>\n

From the beginning of human history, it is known that certain
\ngroups of people would meet to express a certain common state of soul: some to
\nsing together the praise of God, hymns, thanksgiving, to express adoration,
\nthankfulness, gratitude, and to praise God; others \u2013 and there are historical
\nexamples of this \u2013 a certain number of people gathered together for a common
\ninvocation, for instance, to ask God for something, and this was done all
\ntogether, united, in the hope that this invocation, this prayer, this asking
\nwould carry more weight. There have been some very famous instances. A very old
\none occurred in 1000 A.D. when some prophets had announced that it was the end
\nof the world and everywhere people gathered together to offer common prayers
\nand ask that the world may not come to an end (!) or anyway, for it to be
\nprotected. Much more recently, in modern times, when King George of <\/span>England<\/span> was dying of pneumonia, people assembled in <\/span>England<\/span>, not only in <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 37<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the churches but even in the streets in front of the royal palace,
\nto offer prayers and ask God to cure him. It so happened that he recovered, and
\nthey believed that it was their prayers.\u2026That is, of course, the most external
\nform, I could say the most worldly, of group meditation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In all initiatory
\ngroups, in all the spiritual schools of ancient times, group meditation was always
\npractised and in that case the motive was quite different. They assembled for a
\ncollective progress, to open together to a force, a light, an influence,
\nand\u2026this is more or less what we want to try to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>However, there are two
\nmethods, and this is what I am going to explain to you. In both cases, one must
\npractise as one does in individual meditation, that is, sit in a position at
\nonce comfortable enough for one to be able to keep it and yet not too
\ncomfortable for one to fall asleep in it! And then you do what I had asked you
\nto do while I used to go for the distribution over there,\u00b9 that is prepare for
\nthe meditation, try to become calm and silent; not only to avoid chattering
\noutwardly, but to try to silence your mind and gather your consciousness which
\nis dispersed in all the thoughts you have and your preoccupations; to gather
\nit, bring it back within yourself as completely as possible and concentrate it
\nhere, in the region of the heart, near the solar plexus, so that all the active
\nenergies in the head and all that keeps the brain running, may be brought back
\nand concentrated here. This can be done in a few seconds, it can take a few
\nminutes: that depends on each one. Well, this is a preparatory attitude. And
\nthen, once this is done \u2013 or done as well as you can do it \u2013 you may take two
\nattitudes, that is, an active attitude or a passive attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>What I call an active
\nattitude is to concentrate on \u2013 I shall put it in general terms \u2013 on the person
\nwho is directing the meditation, with the will to open and receive from him
\nwhat he intends to give you or the force with which he wants to put you <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 Every evening, before meditation or the
\ntalks, Mother used to distribute groundnuts to the children of the \u201cGreen
\nGroup\u201d, in the adjoining playground.<\/font><\/span>\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 38<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

into contact. That is active, for here there is a will at work and
\nan active concentration to open yourself to someone, a concentration on
\nsomeone. <\/span><\/p>\n

The other one, the passive one is simply this: to be concentrated
\nas I have told you, then you open yourself as one opens a door; you see, you
\nhave a door here (gesture at the level of
\nthe heart<\/i>) and once you are concentrated, you open the door and stay like
\nthis (gesture of immobility).<\/i> Or
\nelse, you may take another image, as if it were a book, and you open your book
\nvery wide with its pages completely blank, that is, quite silent, and you stay
\nlike that waiting for what is going to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>These are the two
\nattitudes. You may take one or the other, according to the day, the occasion,
\nor you may adopt one of them, out of preference, if it helps you more. Both are
\neffective and can have equally good results. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And so, now, for our
\nspecial case, I shall tell you what I am trying to do.\u2026It will soon be a year
\nsince, one Wednesday, we had the manifestation of the supramental force. Since
\nthen, it has been working very actively, even while very few people are aware
\nof it! but still I thought the time had come for \u2013 how to put it? \u2013 for us to
\nhelp it a little in its work by making an effort of receptivity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Of course, it does not
\nwork only in the Ashram, it is working in the whole world and in all places
\nwhere there is some receptivity this Force is at work, and I must say the
\nAshram hasn\u2019t an exclusive receptivity in the world, the monopoly of
\nreceptivity. But since it so happens that all of us here more or less know what
\nhas taken place, well, I hope that individually each person is doing his best
\nto benefit by the occasion; but collectively we can do something, that is, try
\nto unify a ground, to produce a particularly fertile soil to obtain
\ncollectively the maximum receptivity and to have as little wastage as possible
\nof time and energies. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>So now, you have been
\ntold in a general way what we want to try to do and you have only to\u2026to do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 39<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\n13 February 1957<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPain and grief
\nare Nature\u2019s reminder to the soul that the pleasure it enjoys is only a feeble
\nhint of the real delight of existence. In each pain and torture of our being is
\nthe secret of a flame of rapture compared with which our greatest pleasures are
\nonly as dim flickerings. It is this secret which forms the attraction for the
\nsoul of the great ordeals, sufferings and fierce experiences of life which the
\nnervous mind in us shuns and abhors.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Thoughts and Glimpses, Cent. Vol. 16, p.
\n386<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Quite naturally we ask ourselves what this secret is, towards
\nwhich pain leads us. For a superficial and imperfect understanding, one could
\nbelieve that it is pain which the soul is seeking. Nothing of the kind. The
\nvery nature of the soul is divine Delight, constant, unvarying, unconditioned,
\necstatic; but it is true that if one can face suffering with courage,
\nendurance, an unshakable faith in the divine Grace, if one can, instead of
\nshunning suffering when it comes, enter into it with this will, this aspiration
\nto go through it and find the luminous truth, the unvarying delight which is at
\nthe core of all things, the door of pain is often more direct, more immediate
\nthan that of satisfaction or contentment. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am not speaking of pleasure because pleasure turns its back
\nconstantly and almost completely on this profound divine Delight. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Pleasure is a
\ndeceptive and perverse disguise which turns us away from our goal and we
\ncertainly should not seek it if we are eager to find the truth. Pleasure
\nvaporises us; it deceives us, leads us astray. Pain brings us back to a deeper
\ntruth by obliging us to concentrate in order to be able to bear it, be able to
\nface this thing that crushes us. It is in pain that one most easily finds
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 40<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the true strength again, when one is strong. It is in pain that
\none most easily finds the true faith again, the faith in something which is
\nabove and beyond all pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

When one enjoys oneself and forgets, when one takes things as they
\ncome, tries to avoid being serious and looking life in the face, in a word when
\none seeks to forget, to forget that there is a problem to solve, that there is
\nsomething to find, that we have a reason for existence and living, that we are
\nnot here just to pass our time and go away without having learnt or done
\nanything, then one really wastes one\u2019s time, one misses the opportunity that
\nhas been given to us, this \u2013 I cannot say unique, but marvellous opportunity
\nfor an existence which is the field of progress, which is the moment in
\neternity when you can discover the secret of life; for this physical, material
\nexistence is a wonderful opportunity, a possibility given to you to find the
\npurpose of life, to make you advance one step towards this deeper truth, to
\nmake you discover this secret which puts you into contact with the eternal
\nrapture of the divine life.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Silence)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have already told you many a time that to seek suffering and
\npain is a morbid attitude which must be avoided, but to run away from them
\nthrough forgetfulness, through a superficial, frivolous movement, through
\ndiversion, is cowardice. When pain comes, it comes to teach us something. The
\nquicker we learn it, the more the need for pain diminishes, and when we know
\nthe secret, it will no longer be possible to suffer, for that secret reveals to
\nus the reason, the cause, the origin of suffering, and the way to pass beyond
\nit. <\/span><\/p>\n

The secret is to emerge from the ego, get out of its prison, unite
\nourselves with the Divine, merge into Him, not to allow anything to separate us
\nfrom Him. Then, once one has discovered this secret and realises it in one\u2019s
\nbeing, pain loses its justification and suffering disappears. It is an
\nall-powerful remedy, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 41<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

not only in the deeper parts of the being, in the soul, in the
\nspiritual consciousness, but also in life and in the body. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is no illness, no disorder which can resist the discovery of
\nthis secret and the putting of it into practice, not only in the higher parts
\nof the being but in the cells of the body. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>If one knows how to teach
\nthe cells the splendour that lies within them, if one knows how to make them
\nunderstand the reality which makes them exist, gives them being, then they too
\nenter the total harmony, and the physical disorder which causes the illness
\nvanishes as do all other disorders of the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But for that one must
\nbe neither cowardly nor fearful. When the physical disorder comes, one must not
\nbe afraid; one must not run away from it, must face it with courage, calmness,
\nconfidence, with the certitude that illness is a falsehood] and that if one
\nturns entirely, in full confidence, with a complete quietude to the divine
\nGrace, It will settle in these cells as It is established in the depths of the
\nbeing, and the cells themselves will share in the eternal Truth and Delight. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 42<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\n20
\nFebruary 1957<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe
\nlimitations of the body are a mould; soul and mind have to pour themselves into
\nthem, break them and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>constantly
\nremould them in wider limits till the formula of agreement is found between
\nthis finite and their own infinity.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Thoughts and Glimpses, Cent. Vol. 16, p.
\n386 <\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Sweet Mother, how should we
\nunderstand: \u201cthe limitations of the body are a mould\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If you did not have a body with a precise form, if you were not a
\nformed individuality, fully conscious and having its own qualities, you would
\nall be fused into one another and be indistinguishable. Even if we go only a
\nlittle inwards, into the most material vital being, there is such a mixture
\nbetween the vibrations of different people that it is very difficult to
\ndistinguish any of you. And if you did not have a body, it would be a sort of
\ninextricable pulp. Therefore, it is the form, this precise and apparently rigid
\nform of the body, which distinguishes you one from another. So this form serves
\nas a mould. (Speaking to the child) Do you know what a mould is? \u2013 Yes! One
\npours something inside, in a liquid or semi-liquid form, and when it cools down
\none can break the mould and have the object in a precise form. Well, the form
\nof the body serves as a mould in which the vital and mental forces can take a
\nprecise form, so that you can become an individual being separate from others. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is only gradually, very slowly, through the movements of life
\nand a more or less careful and thorough education that you begin to have
\nsensations which are personal to you, feelings and ideas which are personal to
\nyou. An individualised mind is something extremely rare, which comes only after
\na long education;
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 43<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

otherwise it is a kind of thought-current passing through your
\nbrain and then through another\u2019s and then through a multitude of other brains,
\nand all this is in perpetual movement and has no individuality. One thinks what
\nothers are thinking, others think what still others are thinking, and everybody
\nthinks like that in a great mixture, because these are currents, vibrations of
\nthought passing from one to another. If you look at yourself attentively, you
\nwill very quickly become aware that very few thoughts in you are personal.
\nWhere do you draw them from?\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 From what
\nyou have heard, from what you have read, what you have been taught, and how
\nmany of these thoughts you have are the result of your own experience, your own
\nreflection, your purely personal observation? \u2013 Not many. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only those who have an intense intellectual life, who are in the
\nhabit of reflecting, observing, putting ideas together, gradually form a mental
\nindividuality for themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Most people \u2013 and not
\nonly those who are uneducated but even the well-read \u2013 can have the most
\ncontradictory, the most opposite ideas in their heads without even being aware
\nof the contradictions. I have seen numerous examples like that, of people who
\ncherished ideas and even had political, social, religious opinions on all the
\nso-called higher fields of human intelligence, who had absolutely contradictory
\nopinions on the same subject, and were not aware of it. And if you observe
\nyourself, you will see that you have many ideas which ought to be linked by a
\nsequence of intermediate ideas which are the result of a considerable widening
\nof the thought if they are not to coexist in an absurd way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Therefore, before an
\nindividuality becomes truly individual and has its own qualities, it must be
\ncontained in a vessel, otherwise it would spread out like water and would no
\nlonger have any form at all. Some people, at a rather lower level, know
\nthemselves only by the name they bear. They would not be able to distinguish
\nthemselves from their neighbours except by their name. They are asked, \u201cWho are
\nyou?\u201d \u2013 \u201cMy name is this.\u201d
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 44<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

A little later they tell you the name of their occupation or about
\ntheir main characteristic. If they are asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d \u2013 \u201cI am a
\npainter.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But at a certain level the only answer is the name. And what is a name?
\nIt is nothing but a word, isn\u2019t that so? And what is there behind? Nothing. It
\nis a whole collection of vague things which do not at all represent a person as
\ndifferent from his neighbour. He is differentiated only because he has another
\nname. If everybody bore the same name, it would be very difficult to
\ndistinguish one person from another! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I read to you the
\nother day from that book on aviation\u00b9 the story of the slave who, whenever he
\nwas asked a question, always answered by his name. But that was already a
\nprogress compared with all those who were given the name of slave \u2013 for all of
\nthem it was the same one \u2013 and they all accepted to have the same name, and
\ntherefore to be the same person. For they had no individuality at all, they
\nonly had an occupation; and that occupation being the same for a successive
\nnumber of slaves, they all had the same name. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>One lives by a kind of
\nhabit which is barely half-conscious \u2013 one lives, does not even objectify what
\none does, why one does it, how one does it. One does it by habit. All those who
\nare born in a certain environment, a certain country, automatically take the
\nhabits of that environment, not only material habits but habits of thought,
\nhabits of feeling and habits of acting. They do it without watching themselves
\ndoing it, quite naturally, and if someone points this out to them they are
\nastonished. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As a matter of fact,
\none has the habit of sleeping, speaking, eating, moving and one does all this
\nas something quite natural, without wondering why or how.\u2026And many other
\nthings. All the time one does things automatically, by force of habit, one does
\nnot watch oneself. And so, when one lives in a particular society, one
\nautomatically does what is normally done in that <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font><\/span>Saint-Exup\u00e9ry,
\nTerre des homes.<\/i><\/span><\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 45<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

society. And if somebody begins to watch himself acting, watch
\nhimself feeling and thinking, he looks like a kind of phenomenal monster
\ncompared with the environment he lives in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, individuality is not at all the rule, it is an
\nexception, and if you do not have that sort of bag, a particular form which is
\nyour outer body and your appearance, you could hardly be distinguished from one
\nanother. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Individuality is a
\nconquest. And, as Sri Aurobindo says here, this first conquest is only a first
\nstage, and once you have realised within you something like a personal
\nindependent and conscious being, then what you have to do is to break the form
\nand go farther. For example, if you want to progress mentally, you must break
\nall your mental forms, all your mental constructions to be able to make new
\nones. So, to begin with, a tremendous labour is required to individualise
\noneself, and afterwards one must demolish all that has been done in order to
\nprogress. But as you do not watch yourself doing things and as it is the custom
\n\u2013 not everywhere, of course; let us say here \u2013 the custom to work, to read, to
\ndevelop yourself, to try to do something, to form yourself a little, you do it
\nquite naturally and without even watching yourself, as I said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And only when these
\nexternal forms come into a mutual friction you begin to feel that you are
\ndifferent from others. Otherwise you are this person or that, according to the
\nname you bear. It is only when there is a friction, when something does not go
\nsmoothly, that you become aware of a difference, then you see that you are
\ndifferent, otherwise you are not aware of it and you are not different. In
\nfact, you are very, very little different from one another. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>How many things in
\nyour life are done at least essentially in the same way as others. For
\ninstance, sleeping, moving and eating, and all sorts of things like that. Never
\nhave you asked yourselves why you do a thing in one way and not another. You
\nwouldn\u2019t be able to say. If I asked you, \u201cwhy do you act in this way and not
\nthat?\u201d you wouldn\u2019t know what to say. But it is <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 46<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

quite simply because you were born in certain conditions and it is
\nthe habit to be like that in these conditions. Otherwise, if you had been born
\nin another age and other conditions, you would act altogether differently
\nwithout even realising the difference, it would appear absolutely natural to
\nyou.\u2026For instance \u2013 a very, very small instance \u2013 in most Western countries and
\neven in some Eastern ones, people sew like this, from right to left; in Japan
\nthey sew from left to right. Well, it seems quite natural to you to sew from
\nright to left, doesn\u2019t it? That is how you have been taught and you don\u2019t think
\nabout it, you sew in that way. If you go to Japan and they see you sewing, it
\nmakes them laugh, for they are in the habit of sewing differently. It is the
\nsame thing with writing. You write like this, from left to right, but there are
\npeople who write from top to bottom, and others who write from right to left,
\nand they do it most naturally. I am not speaking of those who have studied,
\nreflected, compared ways of writing, I am not speaking of more or less learned
\npeople, no, I am speaking of quite ordinary people, and above all of children
\nwho do what is done around them, quite spontaneously and without questioning.
\nBut then, when by chance or circumstance they are faced with a different way,
\nit is a tremendous revelation for them that things can be done in a different
\nway from theirs. <\/span><\/p>\n

And these are quite simple things, I mean the ones which strike
\nyou, but this is true down to the smallest detail. You do things in this way
\nbecause in the place and environment in which you live they are done in this
\nway. And you do not watch yourself doing them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, the source was
\nOne, you see, and creation had to be manifold. And it must have represented
\nquite a considerable labour to make this multiplicity conscious of being
\nmultiple. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And if one observes
\nvery attentively, if creation had kept the memory of its origin, it would
\nperhaps never have become a diverse multiplicity. There would have been at the
\ncentre of each being the sense of perfect unity, and the diversity would
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 47<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u2013 perhaps \u2013 never have been expressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Through the loss of
\nthe memory of this unity began the possibility of becoming conscious of
\ndifferences; and when one goes into the inconscient, at the other end, one
\nfalls back into a sort of unity that\u2019s unconscious of itself, in which the
\ndiversity is as unexpressed as it is in the origin. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>At both ends there is
\nthe same absence of diversity. In one case it is through a supreme
\nconsciousness of unity, in the other through a perfect unconsciousness of
\nunity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The fixity of form is
\nthe means by which individuality can be formed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s all, then. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 48<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\nHome<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 February 1957 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDeath is the question Nature puts continually to Life and her reminder to it that it has not yet found itself….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","wpcat-120-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263","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=4263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}