{"id":4266,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4266"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:41","slug":"17-4-december-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\/17-4-december-1957-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-17_4 December 1957.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section1\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><i><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<font size=\"3\">4<br \/>\n December 1957<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b><b><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\";color:#E2961A'><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cIn fact we<br \/>\nsee that the principles of creation are permanent and unchanging: each type of<br \/>\nbeing remains itself and does not try nor has any need to become other than<br \/>\nitself; granting that some types of existence disappear and others come into<br \/>\nbeing, it is because the Consciousness-Force in the universe withdraws its<br \/>\nlife-delight from those that perish and turns to create others for its<br \/>\npleasure. But each type of life, while it lasts, has its own pattern and<br \/>\nremains faithful with whatever minor variations to that pattern: it is bound to<br \/>\nits own consciousness and cannot get away from it into other-consciousness;<br \/>\nlimited by its own nature, it cannot transgress these boundaries and pass into<br \/>\nother-nature. If the Consciousness-Force of the Infinite has manifested Life<br \/>\nafter manifesting Matter and Mind after manifesting Life, it does not follow<br \/>\nthat it will proceed to manifest Supermind as the next terrestrial creation.<br \/>\nFor Mind and Supermind belong to quite different hemispheres, Mind to the lower<br \/>\nstatus of the Ignorance, Supermind to the higher status of the Divine<br \/>\nKnowledge. This world is a world of the Ignorance and intended to be that only;<br \/>\nthere need be no intention to bring down the powers of the higher hemisphere<br \/>\ninto the lower half of existence or to manifest their concealed presence there;<br \/>\nfor, if they are at all existent here, it is in an occult incommunicable<br \/>\nimmanence and only to maintain the creation, not to perfect it. Man is the<br \/>\nsummit of this ignorant creation; he has reached the utmost consciousness and<br \/>\nknowledge of which he is capable: if he tries to go farther, he will only<br \/>\nrevolve in larger cycles of his own mentality. For that is the curve of his<br \/>\nexistence here, a<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page<br \/>\n\u2013 230<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>finite<br \/>\ncircling which carries the Mind in its revolutions and returns always to the point<br \/>\nfrom which it started; Mind cannot go outside its own cycle, \u2013 all idea of a<br \/>\nstraight line of movement or of progress reaching infinitely upward or sidewise<br \/>\ninto the Infinite is a delusion. If the soul of man is to go beyond humanity,<br \/>\nto reach either a supramental or a still higher status, it must pass out of<br \/>\nthis cosmic existence, either to a plane or world of Bliss and Knowledge or<br \/>\ninto the unmanifest Eternal and Infinite.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style='margin:0;text-align:right;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span><font size=\"2\">\u00a0<\/font><\/span><font size=\"2\">The Life Divine, pp. 827-28<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>In fact, you should do a little preparatory work and note down the<br \/>\nnew idea in each new paragraph, adding it to the preceding ideas so that at the<br \/>\nend of the chapter you have the complete picture; for if you ask me a question<br \/>\nnow about what I have just read, this question may require an answer that is<br \/>\nsometimes almost contradictory to what we have seen in the previous paragraph.<br \/>\nThat comes from his way of going about the proof. It is as though Sri Aurobindo<br \/>\nwere putting himself at the centre of a kind of sphere, at the centre of a<br \/>\nwheel the spokes of which end in a circumference. And he always goes back to<br \/>\nhis starting-point and goes all the way out to the surface, and so on, which<br \/>\ngives the impression that he repeats the same thing several times, but it is<br \/>\nsimply the exposition of the thought so that one can follow it. One must have a<br \/>\nvery clear memory for ideas to really understand what he says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I am emphasising this because, unless you proceed systematically,<br \/>\nyou won\u2019t derive much benefit from this reading; it will appear to you like a<br \/>\nmaze where it is very difficult to find one\u2019s way.\u2026All the ideas are joined at<br \/>\nthe centre, and at the circumference they go in altogether different<br \/>\ndirections. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Have you any questions this time?\u2026No. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>It is difficult, isn\u2019t it? I read and I see quite well that it is difficult<br \/>\nto ask a question, for until one has come to the end of&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 231<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>the proof, one doesn\u2019t know what he is leading up to or what he<br \/>\nwants to teach; and at the same time, if one were to read the whole exposition,<br \/>\nit would be impossible \u2013 unless one has a specially faithful memory \u2013 to recall<br \/>\nall the points. Before reaching the end one would have forgotten what is<br \/>\nwritten at the beginning! It would be rather interesting to take notes, brief<br \/>\nnotes, to try to summarise each paragraph in one or two key-ideas so as to be<br \/>\nable to compare them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>(Silence)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sri Aurobindo says here that each species is satisfied with the<br \/>\nparticular characteristics of that species, the principles of its structure,<br \/>\nand does not try to transform or change itself into a new species. The dog<br \/>\nremains satisfied with being a dog, the horse with being a horse and never<br \/>\ntries, for instance, to become an elephant! Starting from this Sri Aurobindo<br \/>\nasks the question: Will man remain satisfied with being man or will he awaken<br \/>\nto the necessity of being something other than man, that is, a superman? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That is the summary of the paragraph. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But when one is used to such expositions, if one has a speculative<br \/>\nmind, and one reads this, something in the being is not satisfied. That is to say,<br \/>\nthis concerns only the most external form, that kind of crust of the being, but<br \/>\nwithin oneself one feels \u201csomething\u201d which has, on the contrary, a sort of<br \/>\nimperative tendency to go beyond that form. And this is what Sri Aurobindo<br \/>\nwants to bring home to us. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I have seen pet animals which truly had a sort of inner need to<br \/>\nbecome something other than what they were. I knew dogs which were like that,<br \/>\ncats, horses and even birds like that. The outer form was inevitably what it<br \/>\nwas, but there was something living and perceptible in the animal which was<br \/>\nmaking an obvious effort to achieve another expression, another form. And every<br \/>\nman who has gone beyond the stage of the animal man&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 232<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>and become the human man truly has what I might call an \u201cincorrigible\u201d<br \/>\nneed to be something other than this thoroughly unsatisfactory semi-animal \u2013<br \/>\nunsatisfactory in its expression, its means of expression and its means of<br \/>\nlife. So the problem is this: Will this imperious need be effective enough in<br \/>\nits aspiration for the form itself, the species, to develop and transform<br \/>\nitself, or will it be only this thing, this imperishable consciousness in the<br \/>\nbeing, which will leave this form when it perishes to enter into a higher form<br \/>\nwhich, besides, as far as we can see now, does not yet exist? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And the problem before us is: How will this higher form be<br \/>\ncreated? If we consider the problem, it becomes very interesting. Is it by some<br \/>\nprocess which we have to imagine, that this form will gradually transform<br \/>\nitself in order to create a new one, or is it by some other means, a means<br \/>\nstill unknown to us, that this new form will appear in the world? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That is, will there be a continuity or will there be a sudden<br \/>\nappearance of something new? Will there be a progressive transition between<br \/>\nwhat we now are and what our inner spirit aspires to become, or will there be a<br \/>\nbreak, that is, shall we be obliged to drop this present human form and wait for<br \/>\nthe appearance of a new form \u2013 an appearance the process of which we do not<br \/>\nforesee and which will have no relation with what we are now? Can we hope that<br \/>\nthis body which is our present means of earthly manifestation, will have the<br \/>\npossibility of transforming itself progressively into something which will be<br \/>\nable to express a higher life, or will it be necessary to give up this form<br \/>\nentirely to enter into another which does not yet exist on Earth? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That is the problem. It is a very interesting problem. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>If you will reflect on it, it will lead you to a little more<br \/>\nlight. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We can reflect on it just now.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>(Meditation<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>)&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 233<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>When this talk was first published, Mother added the following<br \/>\nremarks:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Why not both? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Both will be there at the same time; the one does not exclude the<br \/>\nother. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Yes, but<br \/>\nwill one be transformed into the other? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>One will be transformed and will be like a rough outline of the<br \/>\nother. And the other, the perfect one, will appear when this one comes into<br \/>\nbeing. For both have their beauty and their purpose, therefore they will both<br \/>\nbe there. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The mind always tries to choose \u2013 but it\u2019s not like that. Even all<br \/>\nthat we can imagine is much less than what will be. Truly speaking, everyone<br \/>\nwho has an intense aspiration and an inner certitude will be called upon to<br \/>\nrealise it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Everywhere, in all the fields, always, eternally, everything will<br \/>\nbe possible. And everything that is possible, everything will exist at a given<br \/>\nmoment \u2013 a given moment that will be more or less delayed, but everything will<br \/>\nexist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Just as all sorts of possibilities have been found between the<br \/>\nanimals and man, possibilities which have not remained, so there will be all<br \/>\nsorts of possibilities: each individual will try in his own way. And all this<br \/>\ntogether will help to prepare the future realisation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The question might be asked: Will the human species be like some<br \/>\nspecies which have disappeared from the earth?\u2026Certain species have disappeared<br \/>\nfrom the earth \u2013 but not species which have lasted as long as the human<br \/>\nspecies. I don\u2019t think so; and certainly not the species which had in them the<br \/>\nseed of progress, this possibility of progress. Rather one has the impression<br \/>\nthat evolution will follow a curve which will draw closer and closer to a<br \/>\nhigher species and, maybe, everything that is still&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 234<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>too close to the lower<br \/>\nspecies will fall away, just as those species have. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We always forget that not only is everything possible \u2013<br \/>\neverything, even the most contradictory things \u2013 but all the possibilities have<br \/>\nat least one moment of existence.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 235<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><i><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<a name=\"01_11 December 1957\"><font size=\"3\">11<br \/>\n December 1957<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><b><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\";color:#E2961A'><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cEven if it be<br \/>\ndiscovered hereafter that under certain chemical or other conditions Life makes<br \/>\nits appearance, all that will be established by this coincidence is that in<br \/>\ncertain physical circumstances Life manifests, not that certain chemical<br \/>\nconditions are constituents of Life, are its elements or are the evolutionary<br \/>\ncause of a transformation of inanimate into animate Matter. Here as elsewhere<br \/>\neach grade of being exists in itself and by itself, is manifested according to<br \/>\nits own character by its own proper energy, and the gradations above or below<br \/>\nit are not origins and resultant sequences but only degrees in the continuous<br \/>\nscale of earth-nature.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style='margin:0;text-align:right;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">The<br \/>\nLife Divine, p. 829 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><br \/>\n<span style='font-family:Times New Roman' lang=\"EN-GB\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sweet<br \/>\nMother, how did the first man appear? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sri Aurobindo says here,\u00b9 precisely, that if we take the<br \/>\nscientific point of view, we see that theories follow one another with great<br \/>\ninstability, and seem more like a kind of series of imaginations than things<br \/>\nwhich can be proved \u2013 if one takes the purely materialist point of view. People<br \/>\nbelieve that because it is a materialist point of view, it is the easiest to<br \/>\nprove, but quite obviously it is the most difficult. If we take the occult<br \/>\nstandpoint, there have been traditions, based perhaps on certain memories, but<br \/>\nas they are altogether beyond any material proof, this knowledge is considered<br \/>\nto be even more problematic than scientific imaginations<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">\u00a0<\/font><\/span><font size=\"2\">\u00b9 \u201c&#8230;if<br \/>\nthe facts with which Science deals are reliable, the generalisations it hazards<br \/>\nare short-lived; it holds them for some decades or some centuries, then passes<br \/>\nto another generalisation, another theory of things. This happens even in<br \/>\nphysical Science where the facts are solidly ascertainable and verifiable by<br \/>\nexperiment&#8230;.\u201d<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style='margin:0;text-align:right;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span><font size=\"2\">\u00a0<\/font><\/span><font size=\"2\"><i>The Life Divine, p. 828 <\/i><br \/>\n<\/font><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 236<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>and deductions. For any inner logic, it is easier to understand<br \/>\nand admit, but one has no more proof than one has material proof that there was<br \/>\n<i>one <\/i>first man or that there were<br \/>\nseveral first men or that there was something which was not yet a man but<br \/>\nalmost a man. These are speculations. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Traditions \u2013 which of course are only oral traditions and from the<br \/>\nscientific point of view quite questionable, but which are based on individual<br \/>\nmemories \u2013 say that the first man or the first human pair or the first human<br \/>\nindividuals were materialised in accordance with an occult method, something<br \/>\nlike the one Sri Aurobindo foretells for the future supramental process; that<br \/>\nis, that beings belonging to higher worlds have, by a process of concentration<br \/>\nand materialisation, built or formed for themselves bodies of physical matter.<br \/>\nIt probably wasn\u2019t the lower species which progressively produced a body which<br \/>\nbecame the first human body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>According to spiritual and occult<br \/>\nknowledge, consciousness precedes form; consciousness by self-concentration<br \/>\nproduces its form; whereas, according to the materialist idea, it is form which<br \/>\nprecedes consciousness and makes it possible for consciousness to manifest. For<br \/>\nthose who have some knowledge of the invisible worlds and a direct perception<br \/>\nof the play of forces, there is no possible doubt: it is necessarily<br \/>\nconsciousness which produces a form in order to manifest. Now, the way things<br \/>\nare arranged on earth, it is quite certainly a consciousness of a higher order<br \/>\nwhich penetrates a form and helps to transform it, so that this form may become<br \/>\n\u2013 either immediately or through successive generations \u2013 capable of manifesting<br \/>\nthat consciousness. For those who have the inner vision and knowledge, this is<br \/>\nabsolutely beyond doubt. It is impossible for it to be otherwise. But those who<br \/>\nstart from the other end, from below, will not admit it \u2013 but all the same it<br \/>\nis not for ignorance to dictate knowledge to wisdom! And yet, this is what it<br \/>\ndoes at present. As it is easier to doubt than to know, the human mind is<br \/>\naccustomed to doubt everything; that is its first movement, and of<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 237<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin-left:7.5pt;text-align:center;text-indent:-7.5pt'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>course that is why it knows nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Conception precedes manifestation and expression, that is quite<br \/>\ncertain. And all those who have had a direct contact with the past have the memory<br \/>\nof a kind of human prototype, far superior to mankind at present, who came on<br \/>\nearth as an example and a promise of what humanity will be when it reaches its<br \/>\nacme. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>(Silence)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>There is in life a certain tendency to imitate, a sort of effort<br \/>\nto copy \u201csomething\u201d. One can find very striking examples of this in animal life<br \/>\n\u2013 it even begins already in plant life, but in animal life it is very striking.<br \/>\nOne could give numerous examples. And so, in that sense, one might very well<br \/>\nconceive of a sort of effort of animal life to attempt to copy, to imitate, to<br \/>\ncreate some resemblance to this ideal type which would be manifested on earth<br \/>\nby occult means, and it was probably through successive attempts, by a more and<br \/>\nmore successful effort that the first human types were produced.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 238<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<b><br \/>\n<i><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<a name=\"02_18 December 1957\"><font size=\"3\">18<br \/>\n December 1957<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><b><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\";color:#E2961A'><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">Mother reads a paragraph from The Life Divine, page 829.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The only really important thing modern science has discovered is<br \/>\nthat from the purely outer and physical point of view things are not what they<br \/>\nseem to be. When you look at a body, a human being, an object, a landscape, you<br \/>\nperceive these things with the help of your eyes, your touch, hearing and, for<br \/>\nthe details, smell and taste; well, science tells you: \u201cAll that is illusory,<br \/>\nyou don\u2019t see things at all as they are, you don\u2019t touch them as they really<br \/>\nare, you don\u2019t smell them as they really are, you don\u2019t taste them as they<br \/>\nreally are. It is the structure of your organs which puts you in contact with<br \/>\nthese things in a particular way which is entirely superficial, external,<br \/>\nillusory and unreal.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>From the point of view of science, you are a mass of \u2013 not even of<br \/>\natoms \u2013 of something infinitely more imperceptible than an atom, which is in<br \/>\nperpetual movement. There is absolutely nothing which is like a face, a nose,<br \/>\neyes, a mouth; it is only just an appearance. And scientists come to this<br \/>\nconclusion \u2013 like the uncompromising spiritualists of the past \u2013 that the world<br \/>\nis an illusion. That is a great discovery, very great.\u2026One step more and they<br \/>\nwill enter into the Truth. So, when somebody comes and says, \u201cBut I see this, I<br \/>\ntouch it, I feel it, I am sure of it\u201d, from the scientific point of view it\u2019s<br \/>\nnonsense. This could be said only by someone who has never made a scientific<br \/>\nstudy of things as they are. So, by diametrically opposite roads they have come<br \/>\nto the same result: the world as you see it is an illusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Now what is the truth behind this? People who have sought<br \/>\nspiritual knowledge tell you, \u201cWe have experienced it\u201d, but of course it is a<br \/>\npurely subjective experience; there are as yet no<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 239<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>grounds on which one can say absolutely that the experience is<br \/>\nbeyond question for everybody. Everyone\u2019s experience is beyond question for<br \/>\nhim. And if one takes it a little further\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>In fact, the value of an experience or a discovery could perhaps<br \/>\nbe proved by the power it gives, the power to change these appearances and<br \/>\ntransform things, circumstances and the world as it appears to us, in<br \/>\naccordance with the will that manifests through that experience. It seems to me<br \/>\nthat the most universal proof of the validity of an individual or collective<br \/>\nexperience would be its power to make things \u2013 these appearances that we call<br \/>\nthe world \u2013 different from what they are. From the subjective point of view,<br \/>\nthe effect of the experience on an individual consciousness is an undeniable<br \/>\nproof; for one who attains bliss, sovereign peace, unchanging delight, the<br \/>\nprofound knowledge of things, it is more than proved. The effects on the outer<br \/>\nform depend on many other things besides the experience itself \u2013 depend perhaps<br \/>\non the first cause of these experiences \u2013 but out of all this, one thing seems<br \/>\nto be a proof which is accessible to other people as well as to the one who has<br \/>\nthe experience; it is the power over other people and things \u2013 which for the<br \/>\nordinary consciousness is \u201cobjective\u201d. For instance, if a person who has<br \/>\nattained the state of consciousness I am speaking about, had the power of<br \/>\ncommunicating it to others, it would be partially \u2013 only partially \u2013 a proof of<br \/>\nthe reality of his experiences; but further, if the state of consciousness in<br \/>\nwhich he is \u2013 for instance, a state of perfect harmony \u2013 could create this<br \/>\nharmony in the outer world, in what apparently is not harmony, it would be, I<br \/>\nthink, the proof most readily accepted, even by the materialist scientific<br \/>\nmind. If these illusory appearances could be changed into something more<br \/>\nbeautiful, more harmonious, happier than the world we live in now, this would<br \/>\nperhaps be an undeniable proof. And if we take it a little farther, if, as Sri<br \/>\nAurobindo promises us, the supramental force, consciousness and light transform<br \/>\nthis world and create a new race, then, just as the apes and animals \u2013 if they<br \/>\ncould speak \u2013&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 240<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>could not deny the existence of man, so too man would not be able<br \/>\nto deny the existence of these new beings \u2013 provided that they are different<br \/>\nenough from the human race for this difference to be perceptible even to the<br \/>\ndeceptive organs of man. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>From these deductions it would seem that the most conclusive and<br \/>\nobvious aspect and the one which will probably be the first to manifest \u2013<br \/>\nprobably \u2013 will be the aspect of Power, rather than the aspect of Joy or of<br \/>\nTruth. For a new race to be founded on earth, it would necessarily have to be<br \/>\nprotected from other earthly elements in order to be able to survive; and power<br \/>\nis protection \u2013 not an artificial power, external and false, but the true<br \/>\nstrength, the triumphant Will. It is therefore not impossible to think that the<br \/>\nsupramental action, even before being an action of harmonisation, illumination,<br \/>\njoy and beauty, might be an action of power, to serve as a protection.<br \/>\nNaturally, for this action of power to be truly effective, it would have to be<br \/>\nfounded on Knowledge and Truth and Love and Harmony; but these things could<br \/>\nmanifest, visibly, little by little, when the ground, so to say, has been<br \/>\nprepared by the action of a sovereign Will and Power. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But for the least of these things to be possible, there must first<br \/>\nbe a basis of perfect] balance, the balance given by a total absence of egoism,<br \/>\na perfect surrender to the Supreme, the true purity: identification with the<br \/>\nSupreme. Without this basis of perfect balance, the supramental power is<br \/>\ndangerous, and one must <i>on no account<\/i><br \/>\nseek it or want to pull it down, for even in an infinitesimal quantity it is so<br \/>\npowerful and so formidable that it can unbalance the entire system. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Since I am speaking to you about it, I would like to recommend<br \/>\nsomething to you. In your desire for progress and your aspiration for<br \/>\nrealisation, take great care not to attempt to pull the forces towards you.<br \/>\nGive yourself, open yourself with as much disinterestedness as you can attain<br \/>\nthrough a constant self-forgetfulness, increase your receptivity to the utmost,<br \/>\nbut <i>never<\/i> try to <i>pull<\/i> the Force towards you, for wanting to pull is already&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page \u2013 241<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>a dangerous egoism. You may aspire, you may open yourself, you may<br \/>\ngive yourself, but never seek to take. When things go wrong, people blame the<br \/>\nForce, but it is not the Force that is responsible: it is ambition, egoism,<br \/>\nignorance and the weakness of the vessel. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Give yourself generously and with a perfect disinterestedness and<br \/>\nfrom the deeper point of view nothing bad will ever happen to you. Try to take<br \/>\nand you will be on the brink of the abyss. <span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page \u2013 242<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin: 0\"> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;color: #0000FF;font-weight: 700\"><br \/>\n  <font size=\"2\"><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/09-questions-and-answers-volume-09\/00-Contents-Vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09\" style=\"text-decoration: none\">Home<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 December 1957 &nbsp; \u201cIn fact we see that the principles of creation are permanent and unchanging: each type of being remains itself and does&#8230;<\/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-4266","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\/4266","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=4266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}