{"id":4403,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4403"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:45","slug":"05-30-december-1950-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\/05-30-december-1950-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-05_30 December 1950.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\n30
\n December 1950<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe
\nare not aiming at success \u2013 our aim is perfection. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe
\nare not seeking fame or reputation; we want to prepare ourselves for a Divine manifestation.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\u201c<\/font><\/span>Tournaments\u201d, On Education<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/font>  <\/span><\/p>\n

What is perfection? <\/span><\/p>\n

Some people put perfection at the apex. It
\nis generally thought that perfection is the maximum one can do. But I say that
\nperfection is not the apex, it is not an extreme. There is no extreme \u2013 whatever
\nyou may do, there is always the possibility of something better, and it is
\nexactly this possibility of something better which is the very meaning of
\nprogress. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Since there is no extreme, how can we attain
\nperfection? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If we
\nmake some progress, could it be said that we are going towards perfection? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

You are mixing up perfection and progress. You do not necessarily
\nprogress towards perfection. In progress there is perhaps a certain perfection,
\nbut it can’t be said that progress is perfection. Progress is rather an ascent.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Perfection is a harmony, an equilibrium. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>But what is equilibrium? Who here has studied
\na little physics here? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In a
\nbalance, when the two scales are equally loaded, it is said that an equilibrium
\nis established. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That’s it. And so what do I mean when I say that perfection is an
\nequilibrium? <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 14<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

When,
\nin a given circumstance, what is against the realisation, that is to say the opposition,
\nis conquered by a conscious force, the result is the manifestation of the
\nrealisation. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, it is more or less like that, but I should put it otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nidea of perfection is something which comes to us from the Divine, it descends
\nfrom plane to plane; and we climb back from plane to plane. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This is still an evolutionary idea. It is always said that when a
\ncreation reaches its maximum possibility, this is perfection; but it is not
\nthat! and it is exactly against this idea that I protest. All this is only a
\nrung in the progress. That is, Nature goes to the extreme limit of what she
\nhas, and when she sees that she can go no further, can no longer stir, she
\ndestroys everything and begins again. This can’t be called a perfection, for
\nperfection cannot be demolished. Perfection will come only when Nature can no
\nlonger undo what she has begun. For the moment there is no instance where she
\nhas not successively undone what she had begun, believing that it was not
\nenough or it was not that which she wanted to do. Hence it cannot be said that
\nshe has attained perfection in her creation. It would be the maximum only if
\nshe had no need to undo what she has done. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You
\nsay that we do not seek success, but is not success a sort of perfection? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For the ordinary human mentality success is perhaps a perfection,
\nbut not for us. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Perfection is not
\na static state, it is an equilibrium. But a progressive, dynamic equilibrium.
\nOne may go from perfection to perfection. There can come a state from which it
\nwould not be necessary to descend to a lower rung in order to go farther; <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 15<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nat the moment the march of
\nNature is like that, but in this new state, instead of being obliged to go back
\nto be able to start again, one can walk always forward, without ever stopping.
\nAs things are, one comes to a certain point and, as human beings as they are at
\npresent cannot progress indefinitely, one must pass to a higher species or
\nleave the present species and create another. The human being as he is at the
\nmoment cannot attain perfection unless he gets out of himself \u2013 man is a
\ntransitional being. In ordinary language it may be said: \u201cOh, this man is
\nperfect\u201d, but that is a literary figure. The maximum a human being can attain
\njust now is an equilibrium which is not progressive. He may attain perhaps a
\nstatic equilibrium but all that is static can be broken for lack of progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is
\nnot perfection the fulfilment of the Divine in all the parts of the being? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No, what you are thinking of is again a rung in progress and not
\nperfection. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Now
\nwe are going to try to find a definition which can fit all instances, that is,
\nthe individual, the collectivity, the earth and the universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We
\nmay say that perfection will be attained in the individual, the collectivity,
\non the earth and in the universe, when, at every
\nmoment<\/i>, the receptivity will be equal in quality and quantity to the Force
\nwhich wants to manifest. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That is the supreme equilibrium. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Hence, there must be a perfect equilibrium
\nbetween what comes from above and what answers from below, and when the two
\nmeet, that is perfect equilibrium, which is the Realisation \u2013 a realisation in
\nconstant progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt is better to be than to seem. We do not
\nneed to appear to be good if our sincerity is perfect. And by perfect sincerity
\nwe mean that all our thoughts, feel- <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 16<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ings,
\nsensations and actions should express nothing but the central Truth of our
\nbeing.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/span>\u201cTournaments\u201d, On Education <\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When you are absolutely sincere, you make a constant effort to
\nlive in harmony with the highest ideal of your being, the truth of your being.
\nAt every moment, in all that you think, all that you feel and all that you do,
\nyou try as perfectly as possible, as completely as possible, to put yourself in
\nharmony with the highest ideal or, if you are conscious of it, with the truth
\nof your being \u2013 then you have reached true sincerity. And if you are like that,
\nif truly you do not act from egoistic motives or for personal reasons, if you
\nact guided by your inner truth, that is, if you are perfectly sincere, it is
\nabsolutely the same to you whether the whole world judges you in one way or
\nanother. In this state of perfect sincerity you do not need to appear good or
\nto be approved by others, for the first thing you experience when you are in
\nharmony with your true consciousness is that you do not care what you look
\nlike. Whether you look like this or like that, whether you seem indifferent,
\ncold, distant, proud, all this is of no importance; provided, I repeat this,
\nyou are absolutely sincere, that is, you never forget that you live in order to
\nrealise your inner, central truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does
\nnot perfection consist in pleasing the Divine and no one else? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, if you like, but when one is not absolutely sincere, one
\ndeceives oneself very easily, and if one feels comfortable, one says: \u201cOh, I am
\nsure that I please the Divine.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 17<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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