{"id":4402,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4402"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","slug":"11-20-january-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/04-questions-and-answers-volume-04\/11-20-january-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-11_20 January 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\n20
\n January 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo
\ncomplete this movement of inner discovery, it is good not to neglect the mental
\ndevelopment. For the mental instrument can be equally a great help or a great
\nhindrance. In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision,
\nnarrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions, and a certain effort is
\nneeded to enlarge it, make it supple and deep.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe
\nScience of Living\u201d, On Education <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, most people, the more they think, the more they
\nbelieve themselves superior. The mind is satisfied with itself and does not
\naspire much for progress \u2013 thinks it knows everything. And many people believe
\nthat their way of thinking is the best; they cannot understand that there are
\nalways several ways of thinking about the same subject. And the more their
\nthought is strong and precise, the more are they convinced that there is only
\none way of thinking. That is why I have said here that certain exercises can
\nenlarge your thought and give you the habit of seeing things from several
\npoints of view at the same time: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very necessary
\nthat one should consider everything from as many points of view as possible.
\nThere is an exercise in this connection which gives great suppleness and
\nelevation to thought; it is as follows. A clearly formulated thesis is set;
\nagainst it is opposed the antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then
\nby careful reflection, the problem must be widened or transcended until a
\nsynthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more
\ncomprehensive idea.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ibid.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 43<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Give me a thesis. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

X:
\nThesis: Each one carries his cross in the world. Antithesis: There are men who are
\nabove all human affliction. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And the synthesis? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Y: There is one part of the being in everyone which is above all
\naffliction. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Z: There are different types of people in the world. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

W: The cross is necessary to leap beyond suffering. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That is not a synthesis. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

X: In my thesis I spoke of ordinary men. In the antithesis I speak
\nof extraordinary men. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, but you believe that extraordinary men do not have their
\ncross! Even higher beings have their cross to bear. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It is a
\nquestion of a difference of consciousness. In some it is the external states of
\nconsciousness which are most developed; others, on the contrary, have taken
\ncare to develop the higher states of consciousness. So, to say \u201ceach one bears
\nhis cross\u201d is true of the external consciousness (of material happenings,
\nhappenings which touch the vital being, the emotional being and the mental
\nbeing); for such people there will always be a considerable number of
\ncatastrophes, all the more because catastrophes seem to be proportionate to the
\ncapacity of the individual, they seem to be dealt out according to his capacity
\nto bear things. It may just be that those who have greater capacities have an
\nover-plus of suffering and misfortune.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nthere are people who are above all misfortune and yet <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 44<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

misfortunes exist for them. Why? Because the inner consciousness
\nin them is stronger, more developed than the other consciousness (I do not
\nspeak here of \u201ctransformed\u201d beings, for in them one can visualise a state of
\nthings in which even the physical being is above suffering; we are speaking of
\nmen as they are at present). If your consciousness is seated in a place where
\nthese external things do not exist, then it may be said that you do not bear
\nyour cross because you are above it. Yet there are exceptions, there are human
\nbeings who are above afflictions, yet carry their cross. How can we reconcile
\nthese two apparently contradictory things? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Misfortunes are of different kinds. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, human miseries and misfortunes are always of the same nature;
\nthere are sufferings that come from yourself, from circumstances or from the
\ngeneral state of things, that is, you are subject to these sufferings from your
\nbirth and none can escape them. They do not always have the same intensity but
\nthey are always there. Hence it seems there is a contradiction and yet this is
\nnot correct: because for some people it is as if the thing did not exist, even
\nwhen it exists! As if it was not, even while it was! Neither the one nor the
\nother is wholly true, neither the one nor the other is wholly false. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>There is a state of human consciousness (it is
\nnot yet superhuman, it is truly human) in which the two things may coexist. One
\nmay have sufferings and not feel them, be as if they did not exist. That is, a
\nmisfortune, a \u201ccross\u201d touches only the outer consciousness, the physical, the
\nmental, the vital, but the psychic \u2013 in truth, the psychic is above all
\nsuffering. Let us take a very simple example: an illness. A physical disorder
\nbrings suffering, at times much suffering, but there are people who are in such
\na state of consciousness that their physical sufferings do not exist, they are
\nnot real for them. It is the same thing with separation; if you love someone
\nand are separated from that
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 45<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

person, you suffer \u2013 this is one of the most common of sufferings,
\nit is the ties which are broken \u2013 well, in a certain state of consciousness the
\nreal link between two beings cannot be broken, for it does not belong to the
\ndomain where things break. Therefore one is above what may happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nbefore one reaches a higher state of consciousness, there is a stage where one
\ncan develop in oneself the faculty of reason a clear, precise, logical reason,
\nsufficiently objective in its vision of things. And when one has developed this
\nreason \u2013 well, all impulses, feelings, desires, all disturbances can be put in
\nthe presence of this reason and that makes you reasonable. Most people, when
\nsomething troubles them, become very unreasonable. When, for example, they are
\nill, they pass their time saying, \u201cOh, how ill I am, how frightful it is; is it
\ngoing to last like that all the time?\u201d And naturally it gets worse and worse.
\nOr when some misfortune befalls them, they cry out: \u201cIt is only to me that
\nthese things happen and I was thinking that everything was fine before\u201d, and
\nthey burst into a fit of tears, a fit of nerves. Well, not to speak of
\nsuperman, in man himself there is a higher capacity called reason, which is
\nable to look at things calmly, coolly, reasonably. And this reason tells you, \u201cDon’t
\nworry, that will improve nothing, you must not grumble, you must accept the
\nthing since it has come.\u201d Then you immediately become calm. It is a very good
\nmental training, it develops judgment, vision, objectivity and at the same time
\nit has a very healthy action upon your character. It helps you to avoid the
\nridiculousness of giving way to your nerves and lets you behave like a
\nreasonable person. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is one thing very difficult for the
\nmind to do but very important, according to me: you must never allow your mind
\nto judge things and men. To say, \u201cThis is good, that is bad, this is right,
\nthat is wrong, this one has this defect, that one has that bad thing, etc.\u201d \u2013
\nthis is depreciatory judgment. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\npeople who exercise their intelligence, the more intelligent they are, the more
\ndo they grow aware that they know
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 46<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

nothing at all and that with the mind one can know nothing. One
\nmay think in a particular way, judge and see in a particular way, but one is
\nnever sure of anything \u2013 and never will be sure of anything. One can always
\nsay, \u201cPerhaps it is like that\u201d or \u201cPerhaps it is like this\u201d and so on,
\nindefinitely, because the mind is not an instrument of knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Above the thoughts, there are pure ideas;
\nthoughts serve to express pure ideas. And Knowledge is well above the domain of
\npure ideas, as these are well above thought. One must hence know how to climb
\nfrom thought to pure idea, and pure idea is itself nothing but a translation of
\nKnowledge. And Knowledge can be obtained only by a total identification. So,
\nwhen you put yourself in your small human mentality, the mentality of the
\nphysical consciousness which is at work all the time, which looks at
\neverything, judges everything from the height of its derisive superiority,
\nwhich says, \u201cThat is bad, it should not be like that\u201d, you are sure to be
\nalways mistaken, without exception. The best is to keep silent and look well at
\nthings, and little by little you make notes within yourself and keep the record
\nwithout pronouncing any judgment. When you are able to keep all that within
\nyou, quietly, without agitation and present it very calmly before the highest
\npart of your consciousness, with an attempt to maintain an attentive silence,
\nand wait, then perhaps, slowly, as if coming from a far distance and from a
\ngreat height, something like a light will manifest and you will know a little
\nmore of truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nas long as you excite your thoughts and cut them up into little bits, you will
\nnever know anything. I shall repeat this to you a hundred times if necessary,
\nbut I can assure you that so long as you are not convinced of this you will
\nnever come out of your ignorance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Is
\nthere an exact number of pure ideas? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To
\nknow that, you must go and see the Supreme and ask Him! <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 47<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I am not interested in statistics!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Here is a
\nlittle story. One of my friends had made a trip to India and was requested to
\ngive an account of his travels. An old, very credulous lady was there and she asked
\nhim, \u201cIn India, do they count the souls?\u201d He answered, \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cHow many are
\nthere?\u201d asked the old lady. He answered, \u201cOne only.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 48<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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