{"id":4434,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4434"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:58","slug":"01-27-january-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/06-questions-and-answers-volume-06\/01-27-january-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-01_27 January.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n27 January 1954<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based upon Mother’s essay
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical Education\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, does a person’s
\nbody-formation express his character? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No. Even the character itself is not a simple affair, that is, the
\ncharacter of a person is not the expression of his true being but the result of
\nmany things. For example, atavism may be expressed, that is, what comes from
\nthe father, the mother, from both together which may have a different result;
\nfrom what has gone before them \u2013 the past history, grandfathers,
\ngreat-grandfathers, etc., and then from the environment in which people have
\nlived when they were very young and had no independence at all. That has a
\nconsiderable effect on the character. And this character affects the physical
\nformation. So, just by seeing some body one cannot quite say what his true
\nnature is. One may describe his tendencies, know his difficulties, his
\npossibilities, but it is only with the growth of the consciousness and as the
\ndevelopment becomes voluntary and organised that the body can begins to express
\nthe true character of the person. <\/span><\/p>\n

 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

And when the body has
\nbeen deformed by illness? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That may be an accident, you know.
\nAccidents are due to many things; in fact they are the result of a conflict of
\nthe forces in Nature, a conflict between the forces of growth and progress and
\nthe forces of destruction. When there is an accident, an accident that has
\nlasting results, it is always the result of a more or less partial victory of
\nthe adverse forces, that is, of the forces of disintegration, disorganization.
\nThat is to be seen. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are teachings, like that of theosophy for instance,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 1<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

which take Karma in an altogether superficial and human see and
\ntell you: \u201cOh! You have met with this accident because in a former life you did
\nsomething bad, so that comes back upon you in the form of an accident.\u201d This is
\nnot true, not at all true. This is but human justice, it is neither the justice
\nof Nature nor the justice of the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally the
\nformations of the body is very important in this see that if, for instance, one
\nis constantly under the influence of a depression, of pessimism,
\ndiscouragement, a lack of faith and of trust in life, all this enters, so to
\nsay, into one\u2019s substance, and then some people, when there is the possibility
\nof an accident, never miss it. Every time there is a chance of something
\nhappening to them, they catch it, be it an illness or an accident.\u00a0 <\/span>You have a whole field of observation here it
\nis always the same people who meet with accidents. Others do the same things,
\nhave as many chances of having an accident, but they are not touched. If you
\nobserve their character you will see that the former have a tendency to
\npessimism and more or less expect some thing unpleasant to happen to them \u2013 and
\nit happen. Or else they are afraid. We know that fear always brings what one
\nfears.\u00a0 <\/span>If you fear an accident, this
\nacts like a magnet drawing the accident towards you. In this see, it may be
\nsaid that it is the result of character. And the same thing holds for illness.
\nThere are people who can move about among the sick and in places where there
\nare epidemics and never catch a disease. There are others it is enough for them
\nto spend an hour with a sick person, they catch the illness. That too depends
\non what they are within themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And
\nfor children, is it also the same thing?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One cannot say. It is a moral
\nquestion. The problem should not be judged from a moral point of view, one
\nshould not say that those who always enjoy good health and to whom nothing
\nhappens are \u201cgood children\u201d and those who meet with accidents and
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 2<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

suffer catastrophes are \u201cbad\u201d. That
\nis not correct. For, as I was saying, the logic of Nature is not human logic
\nand its see of justice (if it has any) is not a human see. For it there is very
\nlittle of what we call good and bad. It could rather be said that there is what
\nis constructive and what is destructive, what is progressive and what is
\nretrogressive. That indeed is very import ant. And then there are those who are
\nluminous, sunny, happy, smiling and those who are gloomy, dull, misanthropic,
\ndissatisfied, who live in grey shadows. It is the latter who catch all the
\nunpleasant things. Those who are radiant (they may be radiant without it being
\na spiritual radiance, it may be just a radiation of good see, balance, an inner
\nconfidence, the joy of living), those who carry in themselves the joy of
\nliving, these are in harmony with Nature and, being in harmony with Nature,
\ngenerally avoid accidents, they are immune from diseases and their life
\ndevelops pleasantly as far as it is possible in the world as it is.\u00a0 <\/span>And now? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

           \u201cThere
\nis a prevalent belief that brilliant minds are found in weak bodies.\u201d I haven\u2019t
\nunderstood this. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

These were old ideas of the last century. They are no longer in
\nfashion now, but at the end of the last century it was always thought that the
\nmore weak and sickly people were, the more brilliant was their mind, the more
\nintelligent they were! Some even explained that the development of their
\nintelligence was due to the fact that they could not draw any joy from their
\nbody \u2013 for they were quite incapable of living fully, so all their attention
\nwas turned to their mind and it was thus that their intelligence had developed.
\nThere was even a time when it was the fashion to look a little sickly. Poets,
\nfor instance, put on these airs…\u00a0 <\/span>An
\nartist, he had to be a little sickly to give the impression that his mind was
\nall afire! But that is now over. It was finished even before you were born, I
\nbelieve. It was the romantic age, the end of the last century. Men like Musset<\/span>, for <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 3<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

instance \u2013 I don\u2019t know if you have ever seen a portrait of Musset<\/span>, but indeed he had a sentimental and sickly look,
\nand he added to it as much as he could by his dress. It was thought that it
\ngave him an artistic and poetic appearance. But now this is altogether out of
\nfashion. People favour a good physical balance, good health, a strong body and
\nall that is given by the physical training of children. <\/span><\/p>\n

I read a story by a very well-known
\nFrench novelist (it was a novel), which was set in prehistoric times, in the
\nStone Age, when man lived in caves, dressed in animal-ski and hunted in order
\nto eat and in self-defence. Now, it happened that by some sort of accident a
\nchild was born lame or at least deformed or humpbacked or something like that.
\nAnd generally, in those days (so it is narrated, I don\u2019t know), malformed
\nchildren were destroyed for they were an encumbrance. But for some reason or
\nother its mother had hidden it and it had lived. And then this boy who had no
\nmeans of hunting, for instance, or of doing all the work his companions were
\ndoing, had begun to develop his mind and had become the first poet, because he
\nexpressed in his words what the others did by their movements. Well, it is just
\nideas like these which are at the root of this feeling that in order to have a
\nmind one must not have a body, and that the more ill one is, the more
\nintelligent he is! Isn\u2019t that quite silly? <\/span><\/p>\n

It is true that there is a certain
\nindependence. I think I spoke to you last time about a French poet called Sully
\nPrudhomme<\/span> who was dying of a very serious disease \u2013 a
\nvery painful and grave disease, and it was at this time that he wrote his most beautiful
\npoems and said the most beautiful things to his friends. His mind was quite
\nindependent of his body. But still, this is not an absolute rule. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            In children the psychic is always in the front,
\nisn\u2019t it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Not always. The psychic is more \u201cin front\u201d than later when they
\ngrow up and the mind develops, but it can\u2019t be said that in all
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 4<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

children the psychic may be felt. And one cannot judge from what
\nwe have here, for the condition of admission I make when children are brought
\nto me is this: if I see the psychic on the surface I take them, but if they are
\nalready veiled by all sorts of deformed activities, I don\u2019t take them. So,
\nthose whom we have here are an exception. It is the cream. It is a choice. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            But why are there greedy children? <\/span><\/i>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, good heave! Greedy, that\u2019s not a crime! There are greedy
\nchildren. Perhaps they have a bad digestion and so always want to eat. They
\ndon\u2019t gain by what they eat. The whole outer being is full of difficulties of
\nall kinds, in everybody \u2013 in children also.\u00a0
\n<\/span>You could ask me with much more justification: \u201cWhy are there such cruel
\nchildren?\u201d That indeed is one of the most dreadful things…\u00a0 <\/span>But it is due to unconsciousness. It is
\nbecause they are not even aware that they are making others suffer. And
\nusually, if care is taken to make them understand \u2013 for in stance, through
\nexperience \u2013 then they understand. Children who ill-treat animals (there are
\nmany of these) \u2013 well, that is because they don\u2019t even know that animals feel
\nas they do.\u00a0 <\/span>When they are made to
\nunderstand that when they pinch animals or pull their hair or beat them it
\ngives them pain, and if necessary when they are shown on their own bodies how
\nit hurts, they don\u2019t do it any more! <\/span><\/p>\n

There are some who are particularly
\nwicked. These are under a perfidious influence. And at times this shows itself
\nfrom their very infancy and they are like that all through their life, unless
\nthey are converted, which is not easy. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a sort of association
\nbetween the physical and the psychic and between the mental and the vital
\nbeing. A mental being is very often a very vital being. A psychic being is very
\noften a physical being. Children \u2013 just because this psychic consciousness is
\nin front in them \u2013 live also altogether in their body. But as soon as one
\nbegins to develop the mind, the taste <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n– 5<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

for association also develops, with all the deformations
\nthat go with it. People who make very strict distinction between man and woman
\n(I don\u2019t know why, for one is as good as the other), say that man is mental and
\nvital and woman physical and psychic. There is some truth in it. But naturally
\nit involves all possible exception and complication. These are arbitrary
\nsimplification. In fact the physical being has a simplicity and even a goodwill
\n(which is not always very enlightened, far from it), but still a simplicity and
\ngoodwill which put it in a closer relation with the psychic than the passion of
\nthe vital or the preteen of the mind. And it is probably because of that also
\nthat in children the psychic can feel more at ease, being less constantly
\njostled by mental and vital contradiction. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How
\ncan one know whether the psychic being is in front or not? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Who? Oneself?…\u00a0 <\/span>It is not
\nfelt, no? You don\u2019t feel it? I am not speaking of a small child, for it has no
\nmeans of control and observation, it lacks the capacity of observation. But
\nthen, when one is no longer a baby, doesn\u2019t one feel it? It doesn\u2019t make a
\ndifference?… (The child nods in assent) Ah!… There is not one of you who
\nwill dare to tell me that it makes no difference when the psychic is there,
\nwhen one feels better within oneself, when one is full of light, hope,
\ngoodwill, generosity, compassion for the world, and sees life as a field of
\naction, progress, realisation. Doesn\u2019t it make a difference from the days when
\none is bored, grumbling, when everything seems ugly, unpleasant, wicked, when
\none loves nobody, wants to break everything, gets angry, feels ill at ease,
\nwithout strength, without energy, with out any joy? That makes a difference,
\ndoesn\u2019t it? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nmay make a difference, but one doesn\u2019t understand that the psychic is something
\nelse. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n– 6<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n
\n <\/font><\/span>Naturally, if nobody has ever
\ntaught you what the psychic or the vital is, you cannot have any notion of the
\nthing. You may say, \u201cToday I feel good, yesterday I did not.\u201d Till I was
\ntwenty-four I knew nothing about all these things, and yet I could distinguish
\nvery well these movements. I did not use these words because no one had taught
\nthem to me and I had never read anything, but I felt very clearly the
\ndifference at different moments and in what state of consciousness I was.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you who are here, after all
\nthat you have heard and all that you have read and all that I have taught you,
\nyou should be conversant with all the movements within you and be able to fix a
\nlittle label: this is this, that is this other. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you know the days you are in
\ngood health and the days when you are ill? Physically. Do you know it? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Physically,
\nyes. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Physically, quite sure? When you get up in the morning, can you
\nsay whether today the balance is good or not? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nchanges from day to day. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s true, it changes all the time. Even during the same
\nday.\u00a0 <\/span>But when you have just got up, when
\njust waking up and beginning your day, do you begins your day always in the
\nsame way? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! There are days when everything seems to you harmonious, and
\ndays when you are as with grinding wheels. Things grate within you, they don\u2019t
\nturn round. Well, it is something like that. If you observe it physically, for
\nyour body, afterwards you can observe it for your sensations, your feelings (a
\nkind of inner impression), and then you observe your brain, if the head is clear
\nor smoky. Yes? <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 7<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

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

So it is the same thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nwhat part of the being does the power of observation develop? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I think the power of observation develops in all the parts of the
\nbeing. You may have a mental power of observation, a vital power of
\nobservation, a physical power of observation. When you observe ideas, for
\ninstance, the train of ideas, the logic of the ideas, it is not altogether the
\nsame power of observation as when you look at a friend doing athletics and see
\nwhether he is making his movements correctly or not. That is, the capacity of
\nattention is there in both cases, but it works in a different field. It can\u2019t
\nbe said that it is one part of the being observing the others; it is the
\nfaculty of observation developing in each part of the being \u2013 that is, the
\nfaculty of concentration and attention. For the capacity of observation must
\nnot be confused with the capacity of discernment. Discernment is an intellectual
\ncapacity.\u00a0 <\/span>Something like a judgment
\nalready enters into it, what we call \u201cdiscrimination\u201d: you can distinguish
\nbetween the origin of one thing and of another, and the reciprocal value of
\nthese things.\u00a0 <\/span>But that ought to be
\nfounded on a correct observation. The power of observation comes first,
\ndiscernment follows. <\/span><\/p>\n

           Is there a power of observation in the psychic?
\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

More than that! There is the capacity for a direct vision of
\nthings. It is like a mirror in which all things are reflected, what ever they
\nmay be. But that is just what most children, when not deformed, have very
\nclearly, a great sensibility \u2013 for example, to the atmosphere of those who
\napproach them. There are children who, without any apparent reason, rush
\ntowards one person and run away in horror from another. For you both of them
\nare <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 8<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

equally good or not good, you make no difference. But in one
\ninstance the child is immediately attracted by the person, and in the other,
\ntry as hard as you may, it will weep, it will cry or it will run away, but it
\nwill have nothing to do with that per son; and all this is a translation, in a
\nconsciousness of ignorance, of a psychic phenomenon: the vision of the psychic
\nquality of that person. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Some people can
\nconcentrate very quickly while others can’t. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps they are born like that, for some reason or other, or
\nperhaps they have practiced it even without knowing that they were doing so.
\nYes, there are children who, even when very young, are very attentive, and
\nothers who are always distracted.\u00a0 <\/span>But
\nthat is how the inner constitution of different beings is. There are not two
\nwho are the same. Some are born with a great power of attention and there are
\nothers who don\u2019t have it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Can it be increased? <\/span><\/i>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One can develop it, one can, and there are no limits to the
\ndevelopment. And it is even altogether indispensable to develop it.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 9<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 January 1954   This talk is based upon Mother’s essay \u201cPhysical Education\u201d.   Mother, does a person’s body-formation express his character?   No. Even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","wpcat-125-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434","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=4434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}