{"id":4343,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:20","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4343"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:20","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:20","slug":"14-to-the-women-of-japan-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02\/14-to-the-women-of-japan-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-14_To the Women of Japan.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nTo the
\nWomen of <\/font> <\/span><\/b>
\nJapan<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n                    T<\/font><\/span><\/b>o speak of children to the women of <\/span>Japan<\/span> is, I think, to speak to them of their
\ndearest, their most sacred subject. Indeed, in no other country in the world have
\nthe children taken such an important, such a primordial place. They are, here,
\nthe centre of care and attention. On them are concentrated \u2013 and rightly \u2013 the
\nhopes for the future. They are the living promise of growing prosperity for the
\ncountry. Therefore, the most important work assigned to women in <\/span>Japan<\/span> is child-making. Maternity is considered
\nas the principal role of woman. But this is true only so long as we understand
\nwhat is meant by the word maternity. For to bring children into the world as rabbits
\ndo their young \u2013 instinctively, ignorantly, machine-like, that certainly cannot
\nbe called maternity! True maternity begins with the conscious creation of a
\nbeing, with the willed shaping of a soul coming to develop and utilise a new
\nbody. The true domain of women is the spiritual. We forget it but too often. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To
\nbear a child and construct his body almost subconsciously is not enough. The
\nwork really commences when, by the power of thought and will, we conceive and
\ncreate a character capable of manifesting an ideal. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\ndo not say that we have no power for realising such a thing. Innumerable
\ninstances of this very effective power could be brought out as proofs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>First of all, the effect of physical
\nenvironment was recognised and studied long ago. It is by surrounding women
\nwith forms of art and beauty that, little by little, the ancient Greeks created
\nthe exceptionally harmonious race that they were. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Individual instances of the same fact are
\nnumerous. It is not rare to see a woman who, while pregnant, had looked at
\nconstantly and admired a beautiful picture or statue, giving birth to a child
\nafter the perfect likeness of this picture or statue. I met several of these
\ninstances myself. Among them, I remember <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 153<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

very clearly two little girls; they were twins and perfectly
\nbeautiful. But the most astonishing was how little like their parents they
\nwere. They reminded me of a very famous picture painted by the English artist
\nReynolds. One day I made this remark to the mother, who immediately exclaimed:
\n\u201cIndeed, is it not so? You will be interested to know that while I was
\nexpecting these children, I had, hanging above my bed, a very good reproduction
\nof Reynolds’ picture. Before going to sleep and as soon as I woke, my last and
\nfirst glance was for that picture; and in my heart I hoped: may my children be
\nlike the faces in this picture. You see that I succeeded quite well!\u201d In truth,
\nshe could be proud of her success, and her example is of great utility for
\nother women. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nif we can obtain such results on the physical plane where the materials are the
\nleast plastic, how much more so on the psychological plane where the influence
\nof thought and will is so powerful. Why accept the obscure bonds of heredity
\nand atavism \u2013 which are nothing else than subconscious preferences for our own
\ntrend of character \u2013 when we can, by concentration and will, call into being a
\ntype constructed according to the highest ideal we are able to conceive? With
\nthis effort, maternity becomes truly precious and sacred; indeed with this, we
\nenter the glorious work of the Spirit, and womanhood rises above animality and
\nits ordinary instincts, towards real humanity and its powers. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\nthis effort, in this attempt, then, lies our true duty. And if this duty was
\nalways of the greatest importance, it certainly has taken a capital one in the
\npresent turn of the earth’s evolution. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\nwe are living in an exceptional time at an exceptional turning point of the
\nworld’s history. Never before, perhaps, did mankind pass through such a dark
\nperiod of hatred, bloodshed and confusion. And, at the same time, never had
\nsuch a strong, such an ardent hope awakened in the hearts of the people.
\nIndeed, if we listen to our heart’s voice, we immediately perceive <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 154<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that we are, more or less consciously, waiting for a new reign of
\njustice, of beauty, of harmonious good-will and fraternity. And this seems in
\ncomplete contradiction with the actual state of the world. But we all know that
\nnever is the night so dark as before the dawn. May not this darkness, then, be
\nthe sign of an approaching dawn? And as never was night so complete, so
\nterrifying, maybe never will dawn have been so bright, so pure, so illuminating
\nas the coming one…After the bad dreams of the night the world will awaken to
\na new consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\ncivilisation which is ending now in such a dramatic way was based on the power
\nof mind, mind dealing with matter and life. What it has been to the world, we
\nhave not to discuss here. But a new reign is coming, that of the Spirit: after
\nthe human, the divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Yet, if we have been fortunate enough to live
\non earth at such a stupendous, a unique time as this one, is it sufficient to
\nstand and watch the unfolding events? All those who feel that their heart
\nextends further than the limits of their own person and family, that their
\nthought embraces more than small personal interests and local conventions, all
\nthose, in short, who realise that they belong not to themselves, or to their
\nfamily, or even to their country, but to God who manifests Himself in all
\ncountries, through mankind, these, indeed, know that they must rise and set to
\nwork for the sake of humanity, for the advent of the Dawn. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\nin this momentous, endless, many-sided work, what can be the part of womanhood?
\nIt is true that, as soon as great events and works are in question, the custom
\nis to relegate women to a corner with a smile of patronising contempt which
\nmeans: this is not your business, poor, feeble, futile creatures… And women,
\nsubmissive, childlike, lazy perhaps, have accepted, at least in many countries,
\nthis deplorable state of things. I dare to say that they are wrong. In the life
\nof the future, there shall be no more room for such division, such
\ndisequilibrium between the masculine and the feminine. The true relation of the
\ntwo sexes is an equal footing of mutual help and close collaboration. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 155<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

And from now, we must reassume our veritable position, take again
\nour due place and assert our real importance \u2013 that of spiritual former and educator.
\nIndeed, some men, perhaps a little vainglorious of their so-called advantages,
\nmay despise the apparent weakness of women (although even this exterior
\nweakness is not quite certain) but: \u201cDo what he may, the superman will have to
\nbe born of woman all the same\u201d, someone said very rightly. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\nsuperman shall be born of woman, this is a big unquestionable truth; but it is
\nnot enough to be proud of this truth, we must clearly understand what it means,
\nbecome aware of the responsibility it creates, and learn to face earnestly the
\ntask which is put before us. This task is precisely our most important share in
\nthe present world-wide work. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\nthat, we must first understand \u2013 at least in their broad lines \u2013 what are the
\nmeans by which the present chaos and obscurity can be transformed into light
\nand harmony. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Many means have been suggested: political,
\nsocial, ethical, even religious…Indeed, none of these seem sufficient to face
\nwith any reliable success the magnitude of the task to be done. Only a new
\nspiritual influx, creating in man a new consciousness, can overcome the
\nenormous mass of difficulties barring the way of the workers. A new spiritual
\nlight, a manifestation upon earth of some divine force unknown until now, a
\nThought of God, new for us, descending into this world and taking a new form
\nhere. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\nhere we come back to our starting point, to our duty of true maternity. For
\nthis form meant to manifest the spiritual force capable of transforming the
\nearth’s present conditions, this new form, who is to construct it if not the
\nwomen? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Thus we see that at this critical period of
\nthe world’s life it is no longer sufficient to give birth to a being in whom
\nour highest personal ideal is manifested; we must strive to find out what is
\nthe future type, whose advent Nature is planning. It is no longer sufficient to
\nform a man similar to the greatest men we <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 156<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have heard of or known, or even greater, more accomplished and
\ngifted than they; we must strive to come in touch mentally, by the constant
\naspiration of our thought and will, with the supreme possibility which,
\nexceeding all human measures and features, will give birth to the superman. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Once again Nature feels one of her great
\nimpulses towards the creation of something utterly new, something unexpected.
\nAnd it is to this impulse that we must answer and obey. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Let
\nus try first to discover where this impulse of Nature will lead us. And the
\nbest way for that is to look back on the lessons given to us by the Past. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We
\nsee that each progress of Nature, each manifestation of a new capacity and
\nprinciple upon earth is marked by the appearance of a new species. In the same
\nway, the progressive forms of the life of races, of peoples, of individuals,
\nfollow each other through the human cycles, ceaselessly inspired, fecundated,
\nrenewed by the efforts of the guides of humanity. And all these forms aim at
\nthe same goal, the mysterious, the glorious goal of Nature.\u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is to this call of Nature that we must
\nanswer, to this mag-<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>It seems that the following paragraphs
\nfrom an earlier draft were intended for insertion here: Which is this goal?
\nToward what unexpected realisation of the future does Nature aim? What does she
\nseek since her dark origins?<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nEach
\nform that she creates is a fresh affirmation of that which through her will be
\nborn, of that which it is her mission to manifest.<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nEach
\nspecies preparing the others, making them possible, bears witness to her
\nuntiring perseverance, is a proof of her solemn vow; in each one is a little
\nmore matter transfigured, announcing future dawns of intelligence. Through
\ninnumerable cycles how many paths has she had to follow in order to reach at
\nlast the cave of the anthropoid, the primitive man?<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIt is
\nbefore him that will open the royal avenue leading to the palace of spirit. But
\nhow many races, how many generations will pass on the earth without discovering
\nit, how many wrong paths will Nature follow in the footsteps of man. For,
\nbelieving himself the masterpiece of the universe, he knows not that he has a further
\nstage to pass through.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nCould
\nthe idea of man be conceived, before he existed, in the obscure brain of even
\nthe nearest of his ancestors? Can the idea of the superman, before he exists,
\npenetrate into the brain of man?<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nAnd
\nyet, in every child of man which comes into the world, in every<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 157<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

nificent, to this grandiose work that we must devote ourselves.
\nLet us try to make as clear as we can the steps of our advance on this
\ndifficult and as yet unexplored path.<\/span><\/p>\n

First of all we must be careful, in our
\nattempt to conceive the future man or superman, not to adopt an actual type of
\nman, perfecting or aggrandising him. To avoid as much as possible this mistake
\nwe should study the teachings of life’s evolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We
\nhave already seen that the appearance of a new species always announces the
\nmanifestation on earth of a new principle, <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

—————— <\/span><\/p>\n

growing intelligence, in every effort of
\nthe emerging generations, in every attempt of human genius, Nature seeks the way
\nwhich, once again, will lead her further.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nFifteen
\nhundred million men since perhaps fifteen hundred centuries wander without
\nfinding this way.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nAmong
\nthe multitude of the ways over which all the efforts of their progress are
\nscattered, in this domain as in all the others, only one is good: it is the way
\nof synthetic perfections. Where to discover it?<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nAnd
\nwho among men dares to venture elsewhere than on the easy and well-beaten
\ntracks? Who, knowing that there is another path which goes further, accepts to
\nlose all in order to find it perhaps, to lose all in walking alone, in thinking
\nalone, always apart among the others, not even certain of attaining what he
\nseeks.<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nTry
\nnot to discover this one among the men who excel and shine, for these excel and
\nshine only in being, somewhat more perfectly, similar to their own kind.<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nPrecious
\nstones also excel and shine among all the other stones, but the most beautiful
\ngem is outside the series of chemical combinations from whence comes forth
\nlife. In the same way, ascending the series of forms, the most beautiful tree
\nof the forest is outside the lines of evolution which lead the biological
\nprocess up to the animal, up to man.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nAnd
\nonce again, among men, the most admired, the most famous, the most artistic,
\nthe most learned, the most religious, may well find himself far off the way
\nleading from man to superman.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nEach
\nrace, each civilisation, each human society, each religion, represents a new
\nattempt of Nature, one more effort adding to the long series of those she
\nmultiplied during countless time.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nNow,
\nas among all the animal forms there was one from which man was to come forth,
\nso also, among the social and religious species, must one be born from which
\nsome day will come forth the superman. For it is this which Nature seeks in all
\nher successive attempts, from the first germination of life until man, until
\nthe God who shall be born of him.<\/font>\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIn
\nthe multitude of men she seeks the possibility of the superman; and in each one
\nof them, she aims towards the realisation of the divine.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 158<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

a new plane of consciousness, a new force or power. But, at the
\nsame time, while the new species acquires this formerly unmanifested power or
\nconsciousness, it may lose one or many of the perfections which were the characteristics
\nof the immediately preceding species. For instance, to speak only of the last
\nstep of Nature’s development, what are the greatest differences between man and
\nhis immediate predecessor, the ape? In the monkey we see vitality and physical
\nability reaching the utmost perfection, a perfection that the new species had
\nto abandon. For man, there has been no more of that marvellous climbing up
\ntrees, somersaults over abysses, jumps from summit to summit, but in exchange
\nhe acquired intelligence, the power of reasoning, combining, constructing.
\nIndeed with man it is the life of mind, of intellect which appeared on earth.
\nMan is essentially a mental being; and if his possibilities do not stop there,
\nif he feels in himself other worlds, other faculties, other planes of
\nconsciousness beyond his mental life, they are only as promises for the future,
\nin the same way as the mental possibilities are latent in the monkey. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It
\nis true that some men, very few, have lived in that world beyond, which we may
\ncall the spiritual; some have been, indeed, the living incarnations of that
\nworld on earth, but they are the exceptions, the forerunners showing the way to
\nthe race, leading it towards its future realisation, not the average man. But
\nthat which was the privilege of a few beings scattered through time and space,
\nshall become the central characteristic of the new type which is to appear. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>At
\npresent, man governs his life through reason; all the activities of the mind
\nare of common use for him; his means of knowledge are observation and
\ndeduction; it is by and through reasoning that he takes his decision and
\nchooses his way \u2013 or believes he does \u2013 in life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\nnew race shall be governed by intuition, that is to say, direct perception of
\nthe divine law within. Some human beings actually know and experience intuition
\n\u2013 as, undoubtedly, cer-<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 159<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

tain big gorillas of the forests have glimpses of reasoning. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\nmankind, the very few who have cultivated their inner self, who have concentrated
\ntheir energies on the discovery of the true law of their being, possess more or
\nless the faculty of intuition. When the mind is perfectly silent, pure like a
\nwell-polished mirror, immobile as a pond on a breezeless day, then, from above,
\nas the light of the stars drops in the motionless waters, so the light of the
\nsupermind, of the Truth within, shines in the quieted mind and gives birth to
\nintuition. Those who are accustomed to listen to this voice out of the Silence,
\ntake it more and more as the instigating motive of their actions; and where
\nothers, the average men, wander along the intricate paths of reasoning, they go
\nstraight their way, guided through the windings of life by intuition, this
\nsuperior instinct, as by a strong and unfailing hand. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This faculty which is exceptional, almost
\nabnormal now, will certainly be quite common and natural for the new race, the
\nman of tomorrow. But probably the constant exercise of it will be detrimental
\nto the reasoning faculties. As man possesses no more the extreme physical
\nability of the monkey, so also will the superman lose the extreme mental
\nability of man,\u00b9 this ability to deceive himself and others. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Thus, man’s road to supermanhood will be open
\nwhen he declares boldly that all he has yet developed, including the intellect
\nof which he is so rightly and yet so vainly proud, is now no longer sufficient
\nfor him, and that to uncase, discover, set free this greater power within,
\nshall be henceforward his great preoccupation. Then will his philosophy, art,
\nscience, ethics, social existence, vital pursuits be no longer an exercise of
\nmind and life for themselves, in a circle, but a means for the discovery of a
\ngreater Truth behind mind and life and the bringing of its power into our human
\nexistence. And this discovery is that of <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Alternative ending\u00a0 <\/span>from earlier draft: perhaps all of the power
\nof reasoning; and, even, the organ itself may become useless, disappear little
\nby little as the monkey’s tail, which was of no use for man, disappeared from
\nhis physical body.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 160<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

our real, because our highest self and nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>However, that self which we are not yet, but
\nhave to become, is not the strong vital Will hymned by Nietzsche, but a
\nspiritual self and spiritual nature. For as soon as we speak of supermanhood we
\nmust be careful to avoid all confusion with the strong but so superficial and
\nincomplete conception of Nietzsche’s superman. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Indeed, since Nietzsche invented the word
\nsuperman, when someone uses it to speak of the coming race, willingly or not,
\nit evokes at the same time Nietzsche’s conception. Certainly, his idea that to
\ndevelop the superman out of our present very unsatisfactory manhood is our real
\nbusiness, is in itself an absolutely sound idea; certainly, his formula of our
\naim, \u201cto become ourselves\u201d, implying, as it does, that man has not yet found
\nall his true self, his true nature by which he can successfully and
\nspontaneously live, could not be bettered; nevertheless, Nietzsche made the
\nmistake we said we ought to avoid: his superman is but a man aggrandised,
\nmagnified, in whom Force has become super-dominant, crushing under its weight
\nall the other attributes of man. Such cannot be our ideal. We see too well at
\npresent whither leads the exclusive worshipping of Force \u2013 to the crimes of the
\nstrong and the ruin of continents. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>No,
\nthe way to supermanhood lies in the unfolding of the ever-perfect Spirit. All
\nwould change, all would become easy if man could once consent to be
\nspiritualised. The higher perfection of the spiritual life will come by a
\nspontaneous obedience of spiritualised man to the truth of his own realised
\nbeing, when he has become himself, found his own real nature; but this
\nspontaneity will not be instinctive and subconscient as in the animal, but
\nintuitive and fully, integrally conscient. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Therefore, the individuals who will most help
\nthe future of humanity in the new age, will be those who will recognise a
\nspiritual evolution as the destiny and therefore the great need of the human
\nbeing, an evolution or conversion of the present type of humanity into a
\nspiritualised humanity, even as the ani-<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 161<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

mal man has been largely converted into a highly mentalised
\nhumanity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>They will be comparatively indifferent to
\nparticular belief and form of religion, and leave men to resort to the beliefs
\nand forms to which they are naturally drawn. They will only hold as essential
\nthe faith in the spiritual conversion. They will especially not make the
\nmistake of thinking that this change can be effected by machinery and outward
\ninstitutions; they will know and never forget that it has to be lived out by
\neach man inwardly or it can never be made a reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\namong these individuals, woman must be the first to realise this great change,
\nas it is her special task to give birth in this world to the first specimens of
\nthe new race. And to be able to do this she must, more or less, conceive what
\nwill be the practical results of this spiritual conversion. For if it cannot be
\neffected simply by exterior transformations, it can neither be realised without
\nbringing forth such transformations. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>These will certainly not be less in the moral
\nand social domains than in the intellectual. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>As
\nreligious beliefs and cults will become secondary, so also the ethical
\nrestrictions or prescriptions, rules of conduct or conventions will lose their
\nimportance.\u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>This paragraph and the two which precede
\nit replace the following passage of an earlier draft:\u00a0 <\/span>But among these individuals woman, as we have
\nalready said, will have one special task to accomplish, that of giving birth in
\nthis world to the first specimens of the new race. And to be able to do this we
\nmust, more or less, conceive first in our thought the ideal of what the
\nsuperman can be.<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nOf
\ncourse, nothing is more difficult than to draw a picture of what will be the
\nnew race; it is an almost unrealisable attempt, and we shall certainly not try
\nto enter into details; for we cannot ask of our mind to grasp with any
\ncertainty or accuracy this creation of the supermind, of the spirit.<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nBut
\nas we have already seen that the replacing of mental reason by intuitive
\nknowledge will be one of the characteristic features of the future being, in
\nthe same way, morally and socially what can be the standard of the new race’s
\nlife?<\/font>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nFrom
\nthe ethical point of view, for the individual of the new race there will
\ncertainly be no more restrictions or prescriptions, rules of conduct or
\nconventions.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 162<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>Actually, in human life, the whole moral
\nproblem is concentrated in the conflict between the vital will with its
\nimpulses and the mental power with its decrees. When the vital will is
\nsubmitted to the mental power, then the life of the individual or of the
\nsociety becomes moral. But it is only when both, vital will and mental power,
\nare equally submissive to something higher, to the supermind, that human life
\nis exceeded, that true spiritual life begins, the life of the superman; for his
\nlaw will come from within, it will be the divine law shining in the centre of
\neach being and governing life from therein, the divine law multiple in its
\nmanifestation but one in its origin. And because of its unity this law is the
\nlaw of supreme order and harmony. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Thus the individual, no more guided by
\negoistical motives, laws or customs, shall abandon all selfish aims. His rule
\nwill be perfect disinterestedness. To act in view of a personal profit, either
\nin this world or in another beyond, will become an unthinkable impossibility.
\nFor each act will be done in complete, simple, joyful obedience to the divine
\nlaw which inspires it, without any seeking for reward or results, as the
\nsupreme reward will be in the very delight of acting under such inspiration, of
\nbeing identified in conscience and will with the divine principle within
\noneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\nin this identification the superman will find also his social standard. For in
\ndiscovering the divine law in himself he will recognise the same divine law in
\nevery being, and by being identified with it in himself he will be identified
\nwith it in all, thus becoming aware of the unity of all, not only in essence
\nand substance but also in the most exterior planes of life and form. He will
\nnot be a mind, a life or a body, but the informing and sustaining Soul or Self,
\nsilent, peaceful, eternal, that possesses them; and this Soul or Self he will
\nfind everywhere sustaining and informing and possessing all lives and minds and
\nbodies. He will be conscious of this Self as the divine creator and doer of all
\nworks, one in all existences; for the many souls of the universal manifestation
\nare only faces of the one Divine. He will <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 163<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

perceive each being to be the universal Divinity presenting to him
\nmany faces; he will merge himself in That and perceive his own mind, life and
\nbody as only one presentation of the Self, and all whom we, at present,
\nconceive of as others will be to his consciousness his own self in other minds,
\nlives and bodies. He will be able to feel his body one with all bodies, as he
\nwill be aware constantly of the unity of all matter; he will unite himself in
\nmind and heart with all existences; in short, he will see and feel his own
\nperson in all others and all others in himself, realising thus true solidarity
\nin the perfection of unity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nwe must limit to these indispensable hints our description of the superman, and
\npush no further our attempt to picture him, as we are convinced that any
\nendeavour to be more precise would prove not only vain but useless. For it is
\nnot a number of imaginings, more or less exact, which can help us in the
\nformation of the future type. It is by holding firm in our heart and mind the
\ndynamism, the irresistible impetus given by a sincere and ardent aspiration, by
\nmaintaining in ourselves a certain state of enlightened receptivity towards the
\nsupreme Idea of the new race which wills to be manifested on earth, that we can
\ntake a decisive step in the formation of the sons of the future, and make
\nourselves fit to serve as intermediaries for the creation of those who shall
\nsave Humanity. \u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Alternate ending (from an earlier draft):<\/font><\/span><\/i> of
\nthe saviours of the world. <\/font> <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The earlier draft closes with the
\nfollowing additional paragraph: <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\nFor,
\nin truth, saviours they will be, as each being of this new type will not live
\neither for himself or for State or society, for the individual ego or the
\ncollective ego, but for something much greater, for God in himself and for God
\nin the world. <\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 164<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\nRemembrances <\/font> <\/a>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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

\nW<\/font><\/span>e are so fond of remembrances because they already belong to the
\nUniversal; they bear in themselves something of the sap of Infinitude. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That which in the daily events has been
\nperceived by the exterior sensitiveness, egoistical and limited,–the
\nsensitiveness which suffers and rejoices, \u2013 vanishes rapidly as a cloud of
\nillusions. But behind that ignorant perception, \u2013 often veiled by it, \u2013 lies
\nthe other, the perception of the real Soul which communes, through all things,
\nwith the Universal Soul and enjoys in all Its perfect bliss. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>These perceptions are kept in the depths of
\nour being as remembrances, and when one of them emerges to the memory, it comes
\nback dressed with the golden garb of Divine Felicity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>What we at first called, in our ignorant
\nperception, suffering and pain, reappears embellished, transformed, glorified,
\nadorned with the same dress of magnificence as that which we had called
\npleasure and happiness. Indeed, sometimes the splendour of the former memories
\nis even more intense and vast than that of the latter, the joy they give us
\nmuch more profound and pure. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So,
\nlittle by little, we learn to distinguish between the Reality of things and the
\nfalse interpretation of our blind senses. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That is why remembrances are such precious
\nteachers; that is why we are so fond of remembrances: by them we come in touch
\nwith Eternity.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 165<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\nMyself and
\nMy Creed <\/font> <\/a> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI<\/font><\/span> belong to
\nno nation, no civilisation, no society, no race, but to the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I
\nobey no master, no ruler, no law, no social convention, but the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To
\nHim I have surrendered all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all
\nmy blood, drop by drop, if such is His Will, with complete joy; and nothing in
\nHis service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Japan, February 1920\u00a0<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 166<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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