{"id":802,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=802"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:31","slug":"72-argument-to-the-life-divine-ch-xix-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/27-supplement-volume-27\/72-argument-to-the-life-divine-ch-xix-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","title":{"rendered":"-72_Argument to The Life Divine- Ch-XIX.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nCHAPTER 
\n<\/span>XIX<\/b><\/p>\n


\nLife<\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>ARGUMENT<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n <\/span>                                  
\n<\/span><\/span>M<\/span>IND<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span>as a final action of Supermind
\nis a <\/span>creative and not only a
\nperceptive power; in fact, material<\/span> force
\n<\/span>itself being only a Will in
\nthings working darkly as the<\/span> expression
\nof subconscious Mind, Mind is the immediate creator of the material universe.
\nBut the real creator is Supermind; for wherever there is Mind conscious or
\nsubconscious, there must be Supermind regulating from behind the veil its
\nactivities and educing from them their truth of inevitable result. Not a mental
\nIntelligence, but Supermind is the creator of the Universe. – Mind manifests
\nitself in the form of Force to which we give the name of Life, and Life in
\nMatter is an energy or power in dynamic movement which builds up forms,
\nenergises, maintains, disintegrates and recreates; death itself is only a
\nprocess of life. It is one – all-pervading Life or constant movement of dynamic
\nenergy which creates all these forms of the material universe and is not
\ndestroyed in the destruction of its forms. – The distinction between animal and
\nplant life is unreal and that between the animate and the inanimate unessential.
\nPlant-life has been found to be identical in organisation with animal-life and,
\nalthough the organisation may differ, life is also present in the metal, the
\nearth, the atom. This Life-force pervades the universe and is present in every
\nform of it and there is a constant interchange of its energies which creates the
\nsymptoms and characteristics of vitality recognised by us; but even where these
\nare suspended, Life is present and only withdraws by a process of dispersion
\nwhich replaces the process of continual reconstitution of the form. The presence
\nof these symptoms and characteristics is not the essential nor is their absence
\na sign of the absence of Life force. Even where we do not detect Life, it
\nexists.<\/span> –<\/span> Conscious
\n<\/span>nervous sensation accompanies
\nlife in the animal, but much<\/span> of<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-382<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\n

the
\n<\/span>action of nervous or life-energy
\nis subconscious; in the plant, as <\/span>many actions
\nof man, the nervous sensation is present but the <\/span>mentality of
\nthe sensation is subconscious. In the very atom there is a s<\/span>ubconscious
\nwill and desire which must also be present in all atomic aggregates because they
\nare present in the Force which constitutes the atom. That force is Chit-shakti,
\nforce of conscious being, variously represented in various forms of life.- Life is an energising of conscious being in substance of Matter,
\n
\nwhi<\/span>ch on one side is constantly supplying the material of physical
\nformation and on the other labouring to release mind and sense from<\/span>
\ntheir subconscious sleep in Matter. It is therefore the dynamic link between
\nMind and Matter. To create form and evolve consciousness out of its imprisonment
\nin form is the sense of the imprisonment Life in the universe.<\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-383<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n


\nCHAPTER 
\n<\/span>XX
\n<\/b>
\n
\n<\/span>Death,
\nDesire<\/span> <\/span>and<\/span>
\n<\/span>Incapacity<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>ARGUMENT
\n<\/b>
\n
\n
\n <\/span>       
\n<\/span><\/span>   <\/span>
\n<\/span>L<\/span>IFE<\/span>
\nis the same whatever its workings and
\nits terms need not be limited to those proper to physical existence. Life is a
\nfinal operation of divine conscious-force for individualising existence; it is
\nthe energy-aspect of Mind when that creates and relates itself to form of
\nsubstance: it has the universal conscious-force of existence behind it and is
\nnot a separate entity or movement. Life in us must become conscious of this
\ndivine Force <\/span>behind it in order
\nto become divine.<\/span> –<\/span> Life,
\nat first darkened, ignorant, divided and helplessly subject, seeks as it
\ndevelops to become master and enjoyer, to grow in Power; but until it escapes
\nfrom the bonds of individuality it must be subject to its <\/span>three
\nbadges of limitation, Death, Desire and Incapacity.<\/span> –<\/span>
\nThe <\/span>nature
\nof physical life imposes death because all life exists by a <\/span>mutual
\ndevouring and struggle and Life itself feeds on the<\/span> forms
\nit creates; but the fundamental justification of Death is the necessity of a
\nconstant variation of experience in succession of Time, the soul seeking thus to
\nenlarge itself and move towards the realisation of its own infinity. – The
\nprocess of Death results inevitably from the division of substance; life’s
\nattempt to aggrandise its being thus divided and limited translates itself into
\nthe hunger that devours. This hunger is the crude form of Desire, and Desire is
\nthe necessary lever for self-affirmation; but eventually Desire has to grow out
\nof the law of Hunger into the law of Love. – Desire is itself the result of the
\nlimitation of capacity which is the consequence of divided life working as the
\nenergy of ignorant mind, All-Force being only possible to all knowledge.
\nTherefore growth by struggle is the third law of Life. This strife again has to
\ndivinise itself and become the clasp of Love. Until then Death, Desire and
\nStrife are and must be the triple mask of the divine Life-principle in its
\ncosmic self-affirmation.<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\nPage384<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

CHAPTER 
\n<\/span>XXI<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\nThe 
\n<\/span>Ascent<\/font><\/span> 
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\nof 
\n<\/span>Life
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nARGUMENT <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

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

 
\n<\/span>                               
\n<\/span>T<\/span>HE
\n<\/span>development of Life starts from
\nan <\/span>original status of division, subconscious will and inert subjection to
\nmechanical forces. This is the type of material existence. \u2013
\nThe <\/span>terms of the second status which we recognise as vitality, are death,
\nhunger and conscious desire, sense of limited capacity and the struggle for
\nsurvival and mastery. This is the basis of the Darwinian conception of Life, the
\nstruggle for life and the survival of the fittest. But this struggle involves a
\nthird status whose preparation is marked by the emergence of the conscious
\nprinciple of love. –<\/span> The
\nthird status contradicts the others in appearance, but <\/span>really fulfils
\nthem. Life begins with division and aggregation based on the refusal of the
\natom, the first principle of ego and individuality to accept death and fusion by
\ndissolution. This gives a firm basis for the creation of aggregate forms to be
\noccupied by vital and mental individualities. In the next stage we have the
\ngeneral principle of death and dissolution by which the individual form fuses
\nitself its elements into other lives. This principle of
\nconstant fusion and interchange is the law of Life and <\/span>extends into vital
\nand mental existence as well as the physical. The<\/span>
\ntwo principles of individual persistence and mutual fusion have
\nto be<\/span> harmonised and this can
\nonly be done by the emergenc<\/span>e and full development of mind which alone is
\nsubtle enough persist in individual consciousness beyond all fusion and
\ndissolution of<\/span> forms.
\nHere the union and harmony of the persistent indi<\/span>vidual and the
\npersistent aggregate life become possible. –
\nLo<\/span>ve is the power by which this union and harmony are worked; for love
\nexists by the persistence of the individual and his conscious acceptance of the
\nnecessity of and desire of interchange<\/span>
\n<\/span>and<\/span> self-giving.
\nIts growth means the emergence of Min<\/span>d imposing its law on the material
\nexistence, for Mind does
\n \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-385<\/p>\n

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

<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nnot need to devour in order to possess
\nand grow; it increases
\nby giving and confirms itself by fusion with others.<\/span> –<\/span>
\nSubcon<\/span>scious will in the atom
\nbecomes hunger and conscious desire it the
\nvital being. Love is the transfiguration of desire, a desire<\/span> of
\n<\/span>possessing others but also of
\nself-giving; at first subject to<\/span> hunger, and the desire of possession it
\nreveals its own true law by an equal or greater joy in self-giving. – The inert
\nsubjection of the will in the atom to the not-self becomes in the vital being the
\nsense of limited capacity and the struggle for possession<\/span> and<\/span>
\n<\/span>mastery. In the third status the
\nnot-self is recognised as a<\/span> greater<\/span>
\n<\/span>self and subjection to its law and need freely accepted; at the, same
\ntime the individual by making the aggregate life and all it has
\nto give his own, fulfils his impulse of possession. This<\/span> is the<\/span>,
\n<\/span>Mind’s reconciliation of the two conflicting principles which we find at the root of all existence.<\/span>
\n–<\/span> But
\nthe true and<\/span> perfect<\/span>
\n<\/span>reconciliation can only come by passing beyond Mind and founding all the
\noperations of life on the essential freedom and unity
\nof the spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-386<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

CHAPTER   <\/span>XXII<\/p>\n

<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nProblem<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>of Life<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n
\nARGUMENT<\/p>\n

<\/b>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                               
\n<\/span>LIFE <\/b>being a divided movement of consciousness although really an
\nundivided force becomes a clash of opposing truths each striving to fulfil
\nitself. Mind has to solve the land and one problems resulting but in Life itself
\nnot merely in thought. The difficulty lies in its ignorance of itself and the
\nworld. Man knows only the surface of
\nhis own being and does <\/span>not know the
\nuniversality of the Force of which he is a part; theref<\/span>ore he can master
\nneither himself nor the world. He has to know and
\nsolve the problem or else give place to some higher evo<\/span>lutionary being. –<\/span>
\nThe poise of Life is determined by the
\nrelat<\/span>ion of the Force to the Consciousness which drives it. Accordingly
\nwe have, besides the Infinite Existence, first the life of material Nature
\nruled by the infallible Inconscient; secondly <\/span>the life of conscious being
\nin material Nature emerging out of the inconscient, fallible, bewildered, only
\nhalf-potent, which is our own; and thirdly the life of the real Man to which we
\nare moving where Consciousness and Force are fulfilled and in harmony the
\nOne at unison with the many. That life will be founded on the awareness of one
\nConsciousness in many minds, one Force <\/span>working<\/span>
\nin many lives, one Delight of being in
\nmany hearts and bod<\/span>ies.<\/span> –<\/span>
\nMan’s difficulties: first, he only
\nknows and governs <\/span>apart<\/span>
\nof himself, the greater part of himself is subconscient and this<\/span>
\ngreater cosmic part that really governs his surface being. This is what is meant
\nby his being governed by his Nature and by the Lord seated
\nwithin through the Maya or apparent denial of Sa<\/span>chchidananda by Himself.
\nIt is only by becoming one with the Lord that man can be master of himself, but
\nthis union must be in <\/i>the Divine Maya, in the superconscient and not only
\nor chiefly in<\/span> this lower Maya of
\nthe mental existence. –<\/span>
\nSecondly, he is separated<\/span> by
\nhis individuality from the universal and does not<\/p>\n

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

\nPage-387<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

know
\nhis fellow-beings. He must be not only in sympathy with them, but arrive at a
\nconscious unity with all and this conscious unity exists only in what is now
\nsupraconscient to us.<\/span> –<\/span> Thirdly
\n<\/span>Life is at war with body, Mind at war with the Life and the body, each
\nfrying to subject the others to its own law. Only the supramental
\ncan find the law of immortal harmony which shall<\/span> recon<\/span>cile
\nthis discord of our mortality. Each of these principles has besides
\na soul in it which seeks a self-fulfilment beyond<\/span> what the<\/span>
\n<\/span>present force of life, mind or
\nbody can give. There is a conflict<\/span> between opposing instincts of the
\nbody; opposing desires and impulses of the life, opposing ideals of the mind.
\nThe principle of unity is above in the supermind. – Man. as he develops becomes
\nacutely aware of all these discords and seeks a 
\n<\/span>reconciliation with himself and with his fellow-beings. This can only
\ncome by the perfection of his own existence through the principle in himself to
\nwhich he has not yet attained and by embracing
\nconsciously the life of<\/span> –<\/span>
\nothers in his own through <\/span>an
\nuniversal consciousness which must also be gained by the supraconscient
\nbecoming conscient in us through an<\/span> upward
\n<\/span>evolution. <\/p>\n

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


\nPage-388<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\n

\nCHAPTER  <\/span>XXIII<\/p>\n

<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n


\nTh<\/font><\/span>e
\nDouble Soul<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/span>in
\nMan
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nARGUMENT<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span>                                  
\n<\/span>T<\/b><\/font>HE ascent of Life is in its nature the ascent of the<\/span> divine
\nDelight in things from its dumb conception in matter to its luminous
\nconsummation in Spirit. Like the other original divine principles, this Delight
\nalso must be represented in us by a cosmic principle corresponding to it in the
\napparent existence. It is the soul or psychic being. –
\nAs there is a subliminal<\/span> luminous mind behind our surface mind, a
\nsubliminal life behind our mortal life,
\na subliminal wider corporeality behind<\/span>, gross body, so we have a double
\nsoul, the superficial desire and the true psychic entity. –<\/span>
\nThe superficial in us is the small and egoistic, the subliminal is in touch with
\nthe universal. So our subliminal or true psychic being is open to the universal
\ndelight of things, the superficial
\ndesire-soul is shut off from it. <\/span>It feels the outward touches of things,
\nnot their essence and therefore not
\ntheir rasa <\/i>or true touch; and because it cannot <\/span>reach the
\nuniversal world-soul, it cannot find its own true soul which is one with the
\nworld-soul. – The desire-soul returns the triple response of pleasure, pain and
\nindifference, but the psychic being behind it has the equal delight of all of
\nits experiences; it compels the desire-soul to more and more experience and to a
\nchange of its values. By bringing this soul to the surface we can overcome the
\nduality of pleasure and pain, as is actually done in certain directions of
\nexperience by the artist, Nature-lover, God lover, etc. each in his own fashion.
\nBut the difficulty is to do it the desire-soul at its centre where it comes into
\ncontact with
\npractical living; for here the human mind shrinks from applying the
\nprinciple of equality.<\/span> –<\/span> To
\nbring this subliminal soul to <\/span>the surface is not enough; for it is open
\npassively to the world- soul but cannot
\npossess the world. Those who thus arrive, be<\/span>come close to the universal
\ndelight, but not masters of life. For<\/p>\n

\nPage-389<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\n

\nthere are two principles of order and
\nmastery, one false,<\/span> the egosense,
\nthe other true, the Lord who is one in the many.<\/span> By merely suppressing
\nthe ego-sense in the impersonal delight we gain the centreless Impersonal and
\nare fulfilled in our static being but not in our active being.. We must
\ntherefore gain the other centre in the Supermind by which we shall consciously
\npossess and not, merely undergo the delight of the One in His universal
\nexistence.<\/p>\n


\nPage-390<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\n

\nCHAPTER 
\n<\/span>XXIV<\/p>\n

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

Matter<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/h1>\n

\nArgument<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n <\/b><\/span>
\n<\/h2>\n

\n <\/span>                                  
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span>L<\/span><\/font><\/b>IFE
\n<\/span>and Mind are in the fact of
\nevolution condition<\/span>ed<\/span> by
\nthe body and therefore by the principle
\nof Matter. The <\/span>body<\/span> is
\nthe chief<\/span> difficulty in the way
\nof a spiritual transformation<\/span> of life; it
\nhas therefore been regarded by spiritual aspiration<\/span>,<\/span>
\nas an<\/span> enemy<\/span>
\nand the escape from the material
\nexistence has<\/span>,<\/span> made an
\nindispensable condition of the final emancipation.- <\/span>The<\/span>
\nquarrel begins with the, struggle
\nbetween Life and Matter with<\/span> the<\/span>
\napparent defeat of life in death as its
\nconstant circums<\/span>tance;<\/span> it
\ncontinues with the struggle of the Mind against <\/span>the
\nlife and the body<\/span> and culminates
\nwith the struggle of the spirit agai<\/span>nst all its instruments; but the
\nright end and solution of these discords<\/span>
\nis not an escape and a severance but a
\ncomplete victory <\/span>le higher over the lower. – We have to examine the
\nproblem le reality of Matter. Our present experience of Matter does give<\/span>
\nus its truth; for Matter is only an
\nappearance of the Real<\/span>ity, a form of its force-action presented to the
\nprinciple of sense in the universal consciousness. As Mind is only a final
\ndividing action of Supermind and Life of Conscious-Force work- in the conditions
\nof the Ignorance, so Matter as we know it is only the final form taken by
\nconscious-being as the result of it<\/span>
\nsame<\/span> working.
\nMind precipitating itself into Life to create
\n<\/span>frill<\/span> gives<\/span>
\nto the universal principle of Being the
\nappearance of <\/span>material substance instead of pure substance, that is to
\nsay, of substance offering<\/span> itself
\nto the contact of mind as a stable thing <\/span>object.
\nThis<\/span> contact of mind with its
\nobject is Sense. \u2013 In <\/span>the divine Mind there is a movement which
\npresents to the divine Knower<\/span> the
\nforms<\/span> of Himself as objects to
\n.His knowledge and <\/span>is would create a division between the Knower and the
\nobject, If<\/span> knowledge
\nif there were not at the same time, inevitably, <\/span>another
\nmovement<\/span> by which He feels the
\nobject as Himself.<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-391<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n<\/font>  <\/p>\n

\n

\nThis movement, in the divided state of existence created by dividing
\nMind, is represented to us as the contact of sense<\/span> which becomes
\na basis for contact through the thought-mind<\/span> by
\nWhich<\/span> <\/span>we
\nreturn towards unity. <\/span>–<\/span>Since
\nthe action of Mind is to<\/span> divide
\ninfinitely the one infinite existence,
\nMatter, the result of<\/span> that, <\/span>action,
\nbecomes in its apparent nature an infinite atomic<\/span> division
\n<\/span>and atomic aggregation of infinite substance. But its reality is one and
\nIndivisible, even as is the reality of Life and of Mind. Matter is
\nSachchidananda represented to his own mental experience as a formal basis of
\nobjective knowledge, action and delight.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Page-392<\/p>\n

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

<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

CHAPTER  <\/span>XXV<\/p>\n

<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe
\nKnot of Matter
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\nArgument<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/span>                              
\n<\/span>S<\/font>PIRIT and Matter are two ends of a unity, Spirit the soul and reality of
\nMatter, Matter the form and body of Spirit. There is an ascending series of
\nsubstance and Spirit at the summit is itself pure substance of being. Brahman is
\nthe sole material as well as the sole cause of the universe and Matter also is
\nBrahman; it is, like Life, Mind and Supermind, a mode if the eternal
\nSachchidananda. – Still, practically, Matter seems to be cut off from Spirit and
\neven its opposite and the material existence incompatible therefore with the
\nspiritual. Matter is the culmination of the principle of Ignorance in which
\nConsciousness has lost and forgotten itself and the self-luminous Spirit is
\nrepresented by a brute inconscient Force in whose mere action there appears to
\nbe no self-knowledge, mind or heart. In this huge no-mind Mind emerges and has
\nto labour besieged and limited by the universal Ignorance and in this heartless Inconscience a heart has manifested which has to aspire opposed and corrupted by
\nthe brutality of material Force. This is the form- absorbed Consciousness
\nreturning progressively to itself, but obliged to
\nwork under the conditions of Matter, that is to say, a<\/span>lways<\/span>
\nbound and limited in its results. – For
\nMatter is the op<\/span>posite<\/span> of
\nthe Spirit’s freedom and mastery, the culmination of <\/span>bondage;<\/span>
\nit is a huge force of movement, but of
\ninertly driven <\/span>movement subject to a law of which it has no conscience
\nnor initiative but mechanically obeys. It opposes therefore to the attempt of
\nLife to impose itself and freely utilise and the attempt of Mind to impose
\nitself and know and freely guide the constant opposition of its inertia; it
\nyields reluctantly to a certain extent, but brings always in the end a definite
\ndenial, limit and obstruction. For this reason knowledge, power, love, etc., are
\nalways pursued, accompanied and hedged in by their opposites. \u2013 For<\/p>\n


\nPage-393<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Matter is the
\nculmination of the principle of division and struggle. It can only unify by an
\nassociation which carries with it the possibility of dissociation and an
\nassimilation which devours. Therefore Life and Mind in Matter working under this
\nlaw of division and struggle, that is to say, of death, desire and limitation,
\naggregation and subsequent dissociation, labour without any finality or
\ncertainty of assured progress.<\/span> –<\/span>
\nBut especially the divisions of Matter
\nbring in the law of pain. Ignorance and Inertia would not <\/span>be
\nnecessarily a cause of pain if the Mind and Life were not<\/span> aware
\n<\/span>of an infinite Consciousness,
\nLight and Power in which they live but are prevented from participating by the
\nIgnorance and Inertia of Matter or were not stirred to possess this wideness
\npartly or wholly. Man especially, because he is most self-conscious, develops
\nthis awareness to a high degree, nor can he be permanently satisfied with
\nincrease of power or knowledge within the limits of the material world, for that
\nis also limited and inconclusive and, being aware of and impelled by the
\ninfinite within and around him, he cannot escape the necessity of seeking to
\nknow an possess it. This progression of the conscious being out of the
\nInconscient to the infinite Consciousness might be a happy out flowering but for
\nthe principle of rigid division and imprisonment of each divided being in his
\nown ~go which imposes the law of struggle, the dualities of attraction and
\nrepulsion, pleasure and pain, effort and failure, action and reaction,
\nsatisfaction and dissatisfaction. All this is the denial of Ananda and implies,
\nif the negation be insuperable, the futility of existence; for if in this
\nexistence the satisfaction sought by the Infinite in the finite can- not be
\nfound, then ultimately it must be abandoned as an error <\/span>and
\na failure.<\/span> –<\/span> This
\nis the basis of the pessimist theory<\/span> of<\/span>
\nmaterial existence which supposes
\nMatter to be the form and Mind the cause of the universe and both of these to be
\neternally subject to limitation and ignorance. But if on the contrary it is
\nimmortal and infinite Spirit which has veiled itself in Matter and is emerging,
\nthe development of a liberated supramental being who shall impose on Mind, Life
\nand Matter a higher law than that of limitation and division, is the inevitable
\nconclusion from the nature of cosmic existence. There is no reason why such a
\nbeing should not liberate and make divine the physical existence as well as the
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-394<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

mind
\n<\/span>and life, unless our present view of Matter represents -the sole possible
\nrelation here between sense and its object, in which case, indeed, fulfilment
\nmust be sought only in worlds beyond. But there are other states even of Matter
\nand an ascending series of the<\/span> gradations
\nof substance, and their higher law is possible to th<\/span>e material being
\nbecause it is there in it already latent and potential.<\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-395<\/p>\n

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

<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n


\nCHAPTER  <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/b>XXVI
\n<\/b>
\n
\n<\/span>The Ascending
\nSeries of Substance<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font>
\n
\n<\/span>ARGUMENT
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span>                      
\n<\/span>T<\/b><\/font>HE materiality of Matter consists in a<\/span> con<\/span>centration
\nof the density of substance and its resistance to the conscious-force of which
\nthrough sense it becomes the object. An ascending scale of substance from Matter
\nto Spirit must mean; a diminution of resistance, division and bondage and an
\nincreasing subtlety, flexibility, power of assimilation, interchange,
\ntransmutation, unification. –<\/span> There
\nis such an ascending scale from <\/span>the dense to the subtle even in material
\nsubstance and beyond the subtlest material essence we have grades of other
\nsubstance corresponding to the series of Matter, Life, Mind, Supermind  <\/span>and
\nSpirit. Each, that is to say, is the basis of a world or<\/span> other kind of
\nexistence in which these higher principles successively dominate
\nthe others and fulfil themselves with their aid. In<\/span> each
\n<\/span>therefore there is an ever wider range of being, consciousness and force
\nascending from the inconscience of material substance 
\n<\/span>to the infinite self-consciousness of spiritual. But all these principles
\nare interconnected. Matter contains all of them and evolves them out of itself
\nin obedience to the constant pressure of the higher worlds, an evolution which
\nmust continue until they are able to
\nexpress themselves fully in the material principle.<\/span> –
\n<\/span>Man is the fit instrument for
\nthis fulfilment. He has other bodies besides the physical in which he can become
\nconscious and so enter into the supraphysical grades of substance and impose
\ntheir law upon his material existence. Therefore his complete perfection is
\nthrough the ascent to supermind and the conquest of the physical also by the
\nsupramental substance so that he will be able to command a diviner physical life
\nand conquer death in a divine body.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-396<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n 
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe
\nSevenfold<\/font><\/b><\/span> <\/font><\/b>
\nChord
\nof Being<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>   <\/span>            
\n<\/span>T<\/b><\/font>HERE
\nare, therefore, seven or else eight principles of being and the four which
\nconstitute human existence are a refraction of the four which constitute divine
\nexistence, but in inverted order. The Divine descends from pure existence to
\nSupermind to cast itself into cosmic existence; the creature ascends from Matter
\nto Mind towards the Divine and meets it where Mind and Supermind meet with a
\nveil between them. By the rending of the veil each of the four divine human
\nprinciples can find its transfigured self in its divine equivalent. This
\ntransfiguration is the only possible positive goal of the creative evolution. –
\nThe presence of the seven principles is essential to all cosmic being. For
\ncosmic being cannot exist except as the All-existence figuring itself in its
\nself-conception as Time and Space, nor can this figuration take place except by
\nan infinite Force which being of the nature of an all-determining and
\nall-apprehending Will must repose on the action of an all-comprehending infinite
\nConsciousness. Nor could the result be a cosmos but for a power of infinite
\nknowledge and will determining out of the infinity in each figure of things
\ntheir law, form and course through a self-limitation by Idea proceeding from a
\nboundless liberty within. That power of Knowledge-Will, that Idea is the fourth
\nname of the Divine: it is the Supermind or supreme Gnosis. – The lower trilogy
\nis also necessary in some form however different it may be from our experience
\nof Life, Mind and Matter. For there must be a subordinate power and action of
\nSupermind measuring, creating fixed standpoints of mutual view and interaction
\nin the universal self-diffusion as between an infinite number of centres of the
\none Consciousness; and such a power would be what we mean by Mind. So too, Mind
\nonce given, Life, which is the working of Will and energy<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-397<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

and
\nconscious dynarnis of being dependent on such fixed stand.- points of
\ninteraction, must accompany it and substance with differentiation of form must
\nalso be present. – It follows that in every cosmic arrangement the seven
\nprinciples must be existent, either manifested in simultaneous apparent action
\nor else all apparently involved in one of them which then becomes the initial
\nprinciple, but all secretly at work and bound to evolve into manifestation.
\nTherefore out of initial Matter latent Life and Mind have emerged as apparent
\nLife and Mind, and latent Super. mind and the hidden Spirit must emerge as
\napparent Supermind and the triune glory of Sachchidananda.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nPage-398<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

CHAPTER  <\/span>XXVIII
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n


\n<\/font>
\nThe<\/font><\/span>
\n Knowledge and the Ignorance<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nARGUMENT<\/p>\n

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

 <\/span>      
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>    <\/span>   <\/span>
\n<\/span>THE seven principles are, then, one in their reality, inseparable
\nin their sevenfold action. They create the harmony of the universe and there is
\nno essential reason why this should not be a complete harmony free from the
\nelement of discord, division and limitation. –<\/span>
\nThe Vedic seers believed in <\/span>such
\na creation and held its formation in man – called immortality – to be the object
\nof man’s Godward effort. But this is difficult for the human mind to accept,
\nexcept in a beyond, because here the
\nInconscient seems to be all and the conscient soul <\/span>an accident or an
\nalien unable fully to realise itself. Here Ignorance seems to be the law. –
\nIt is true that here we start from the <\/span>i<\/span>nconscient
\nand arc governed by the Ignorance; we must there- re examine this power of
\nConsciousness and determine its operation and origin, –<\/span>
\nnot accepting the refusal of some
\nphilosop<\/span>hies to consider the question because it is insoluble; and first
\nwe must fix what we mean by the Ignorance. –
\nIn the Veda the Igno<\/span>rance is the non-perceiving of the essential unity
\nwhich is beyond mind and of the essence and self-law of things in their original
\nunity and actual universality; it is a false knowledge based on division of the
\nundivided, insistence on the fragmentary and little and rejection of the vast
\nand complete view of things; it is the undivine Maya. – The Vedantic
\ndistinctions of Vidya and Avidya made the opposition more trenchant, Vidya being
\nthe knowledge<\/span> of
\nunity, Avidya the knowledge of multiplicity, but the <\/span>knowledge of both
\nwas held to be necessary for the Truth and the Immortality;
\nthe Ignorance was not a mere falsehood and seeing <\/span> <\/span>of
\nunreality. The One really becomes the Many. – Later, the <\/span>opposition was
\nsupposed to be rigid and irreconcilable, the world<\/p>\n

\n* <\/span>Centenary
\nEdition, Book Two, Part I, chapter VII. The original chapter was recast<\/span>
\nand enlarged in 1939-40.
\n
\n<\/span>Page-399<\/p>\n

 
\n<\/span><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n <\/font>
\nunreal, a super-imposition of name and form on featureless Unity by Mind, the
\nIgnorance an absolute nescience of the Truth.- This
\nwe reject, because such diametrical oppositions,<\/span> flawed at
\n<\/span>their source, represent no
\nactual reality of existence as a<\/span> whole;<\/span>
\nthere is no irreconcilable opposition of dual principles, Ignorance
\n<\/span>creative, Knowledge destructive of world-existence, but an essential
\nunity. As pain is an effect of the universal Delight produced in the recipient
\nby incapacity, as incapacity is a disposition of the universal Will-force, so
\nignorance is a particular action of the universal Knowledge. –<\/span>
\nConsciousness, which is Power, takes <\/span>three
\npoises: its plenitude of the divine knowledge invariable in unity and
\nmultiplicity and beyond; its dwelling upon apparent oppositions, the extreme
\nbeing the superficial appearance of complete nescience in the Inconscient; and a
\nmediary term or compromise between the two which is a superficial and partial
\nemergence of self-conscious knowledge, our own egoistic ignorance or
\nfalse-knowledge. The exact relations between these three have to be determined.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page-400<\/font>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

CHAPTER 
\n<\/span>XXIX*<\/span>
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

Memory, Self-Consciousness<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n

and
\nthe Ignorance<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

ARGUMENT
\n<\/h4>\n

 
\n <\/span><\/p>\n<\/h4>\n

 <\/span>                      
\n<\/span><\/span>M<\/span>EMORY
\n<\/span>is believed by some schools to
\nbe <\/span>th<\/span>e constituent of our
\ncontinuous personality; but memory is only a mechanism, a device, a substitute
\nfor direct consciousness. The mind is directly conscious of existence in the
\npresent, holds existence in the past by its substitute memory, infers its future
\nexistence from this direct present self-consciousness and the memory of its
\ncontinuity in the past. –<\/span> This
\nsense of self- <\/span>conscious existence it extends into the idea of eternity,
\nbut the only<\/span> eternity
\nthe mind really seizes is a continuous succession of mome<\/span>nts of being in
\neternal Time; of this eternity it possesses the present moment, a limited
\nportion of the past held fragmentarily<\/span>
\nand nothing at all of the future, while
\nit is unable to kno<\/span>w any timeless eternity of conscious being, any real
\neternal,<\/span> Therefore
\nthe nature of our Mind is an Ignorance seizing know<\/span>ledge by successive
\naction in the moments of Time. \u2013 If mind is all, then we must remain forever
\nin this Ignorance which is not absolute nescience, but an ineffectual and fragmentary<\/span>
\nseizing at knowledge. But there are
\nreally two powers
\n<\/span>our conscious being, Ignorance of the mind, Knowledge beyond mind,
\nsimultaneously existing, either separately in an eternal dualism
\nor, as is really the fact, as superior and inferior, sove<\/span>reign and
\ndependent states of the same consciousness, by which the Knower sees his
\ntimeless being and the action of Time in that self through the knowledge while
\nhe sees himself in Time and travelling in the succession of its moments by the
\nIgnorance. For this reason the Upanishad declares that Brahman can really be<\/span>
\nknown<\/span> only
\nby knowing him as both the Knowledge and the Ign<\/span>orance<\/span>
\nand so only can one arrive at the
\nstatus of Immortality.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/span>          
\n<\/span>* <\/span>Centenary
\nEdition, Book Two, Part I, Chapter VIII.<\/p>\n

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


\nPage-401<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

\n


\n<\/font><\/span>–<\/span>        
\n<\/span>Ignorance is therefore the consciousness of
\nbeing in the succession of Time, and it is so called because, actually
\nself-divided <\/span>by the moments of Time, the field of space and the forms of
\nthe <\/span>multiplicity,
\nit cannot know either eternal Being or the World, either the transcendent or the
\nuniversal reality. Its knowledge is partly true, partly false, because it
\nignores the essence and sees only fugitive parts of the phenomenon. – It is
\nthrough self-consciousness that the mind can arrive most readily at the<\/span>
\neternal
\n<\/span>Reality; the rest of its means of knowledge
\nare, like<\/span> memory<\/span>,
\n<\/span>devices and substitutes for direct consciousness. It is easy therefore to
\nregard the knowledge and the self within as real and the rest as not-self and
\nillusion. But the distinction is illusory and self-absorption in the stable self
\nwithin is only one state of consciousness like
\nself-dispersion in thought and memory<\/span> and<\/span>
\nwill<\/span>
\n<\/span>the real self is the Eternal who is capable simultaneously of the
\nmobility in Time and the immobility basing Time. All object of knowledge is that
\nreal and eternal self whether seen in essence and stability or in phenomenon and
\ninstability of Time. –<\/span> The
\n<\/span>Ignorance is a means by which it
\nis rendered into values<\/span> of know<\/span>ledge
\nand action, Time being a sort of bank on which we draw for valuation and action
\nin the present, with a realised store in the account of the past and an
\nunrealised infinite deposit to be taken from the future so as to be made
\nvaluable for Time-experience and valid for Time-activity. But, behind, all is
\nknown and ready for use according to the will of the Self in its dealings with
\nTime and Space and Causality.
\n \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-402
\n<\/span>
\n <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n


\nCHAPTER XXX<\/font>*<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nMemory,
\nand Self-Experience
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nARGUMENT<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/span>            
\n<\/span><\/span>
\nC<\/span>ONSCIOUSNESS<\/span>
\n<\/span>of Self has two different <\/span>aspects,
\nthe awareness of a stable, immutable
\nand timeless <\/span>beyond mentality and the awareness of a various
\nself-experience in the process of Time and the field of Space. There is a
\nconstant shifting of the point of Time,
\na constant though less<\/span> obvious
\nchanging of the habitation and the environment and in <\/span>a
\nconstant subjective modifying of the experience of the <\/span>of
\npersonality and the experience of the environment.<\/span> –
\nMem<\/span>ory here is an indispensable factor in the linking of past and present
\nexperience and is necessary to secure its continuity and coherence. Still Memory
\nis not all; it is only a mediator between mind-sense and the coordinating mind. –
\nIt is the mind sens<\/span>e which
\nshapes the object of experience as a wave of the con<\/span>scious being
\ninto a movement of emotion, vitality, sensation or t<\/span>hought-perception.
\nThere is also an act of mental observation a<\/span>
\nvaluation of this wave in the
\nsense-mind. There is also the <\/span>
\nsub<\/span>ject<\/span> or mental being
\nwho thus modifies his mental becoming and observes and values it by an act of
\nmind. It is when the mental being stands back from the mental becoming and even
\nfrom the, mental act that he begins to
\nperceive himself as something diffe<\/span>rent from the all becoming, mutable in
\nthat, but immutable beyond it. He is not two selves, one that is and one that
\nbecomes, one immutable who sees changing phenomena of his being, immutability
\nevident to a direct and pure self-consciousness, mutable evident indirectly
\nthrough a conditional and secondary mental consciousness. –
\nIt is the character of this indirect m<\/span>ental consciousness which can
\nexperience only by succession of<\/span>
\nTime<\/span> that brings in the device
\nof Memory. Memory is not the essence<\/span>
\nof mental experience of becoming, nor
\nof its continuity,
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    Centenary
    \n Edition, Book Two, Part I, Chapter IX.<\/span>\n <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n


    \nPage-403<\/p>\n

    <\/font>
    \n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

    \n

    nor of the recurrence of the
    \nsame experience or the same<\/span> cause,
    \n<\/span>and effect in Time. These are circumstances of the movement; of the stuff
    \nof conscious being and conscious force of being, a movement
    \nwhich is really undivided though only seen by mind in<\/span> artificial
    \ndivisions. Memory is a device by which the experiences of the mind-sense are
    \nlinked together and these artificial divisions in
    \nTime bridged over so that the<\/span> coordinating
    \nmind and<\/span> will may better and better use the material of experience and
    \nimpose order on its conscious knowledge of its self and its conscious action
    \nin its environment. It is an aid to our ignorance<\/span> of self developing,
    \nin the evolution of mind out of inconscient<\/span> force, knowledge of self by
    \nexperience. – The ego-sense is a mental device by which the mental being
    \ndevelops towards knowledge of that which experiences as well as that which is
    \nexperienced. Memory only tells us that
    \nthe successive experiences have<\/span> hap<\/span>pened
    \nin the same field of conscious being; it is the coordinating and distinguishing
    \nmind which tells us that it is the same mental being who experiences. –
    \nMind-substance suffers the changes of becoming; mind-sense experiences them;
    \nmemory assures the mind-sense of its continuity of experience; the coordinating mind
    \nof knowledge relates them together and relates them<\/span> also
    \n<\/span>to the ego or being who, it says, is the same in past and present whether
    \nhe forgets or remembers. In the animal this may be little 1
    \n<\/span>more than a coordination in the
    \nsense-mind by a discernment largely involved in the sensations and the memories,
    \nbut in man it becomes a coordinating reason superior to sense and memory. It is
    \nby this development that the ego-sense becomes distinct and disengaged from its
    \naids. – But it is itself only a device and basis for self-development of true
    \nself-knowledge; it is a stage in the evolution from nescience to partial
    \nknowledge and from partial knowledge to true self-consciousness. The evolving
    \nMind becomes by it aware of an "I" that becomes and then of a
    \nselfsuperior to the becoming. It may fix on either to the rejection of the
    \nother, but in doing so it acts on an imperfect self-know- ledge. It is yet
    \nignorant of all even of the individual becoming which is not superficial;
    \nignorant of the universal becoming except indirectly, as a not-self exterior to
    \nit. Its attempt to find the true relation of the self and its becomings is based
    \ntherefore
    \n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/span>
    \nPage-404<\/p>\n

    <\/font>
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    on
    \nan Ignorance; that can only be truly known by an attempt to live out the
    \nrelation in an integral development of self-knowledge<\/span>.<\/span>
    \nThat is the natural goal of our evolution which is the movement of the Ignorance
    \nto exceed itself and arrive at the conscious Truth
    \nof its being and conscious knowledge of all bein<\/span>g.<\/p>\n

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


    \nPage-405
    \n <\/font><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

    \n

    CHAPTER 
    \n<\/span>XXXI*<\/b><\/p>\n

    The Boundaries of the Ignorance<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

    <\/span>ARGUMENT
    \n<\/b>
    \n
    \n                                     
    \n<\/span><\/span>W<\/b><\/font>E 
    \nKNOW only a part even of our superficial life and conscious becoming, fastening
    \nonly on a little of our experience of self and things, memorising less, using
    \nstill less for <\/font><\/span>knowledge and
    \naction. What we reject, Nature stores and uses in
    \n<\/span> <\/span>our
    \ndevelopment, for the most part by her subconscious action. Our waking self is
    \nonly a superimposition, a visible summit; <\/span>the great body of our being is
    \nsubmerged or subliminal. <\/span>–<\/span>
    \n<\/span>The<\/span>
    \n<\/span> <\/span>subliminal
    \nself perceives, remembers, understands, uses all that we fail to perceive,
    \nremember or use. It provides all the material of our surface being which is only
    \na selection from its wider exis<\/span>tence and activity. It is only the
    \nphysical and vital part <\/span>of
    \nour <\/span>existence which is, properly
    \nspeaking, subconscient; the subliminal self is the true mental being and in
    \nrelation to our waking mind is rather secretly circumconscient; for it envelops
    \nas well as supports. Of all this larger part of our being we are ignorant. <\/span>–<\/span>
    \nWe are ignorant also of the superconscient, that which we <\/span>ordinarily call
    \nspirit or oversoul; yet this we find to
    \nbe our <\/span>highest and widest self, Sachchidananda creating and
    \n<\/span>governing <\/span>all
    \nthat we are and become by His divine Maya. We are ignorant <\/span>of the
    \nsubliminal sea of our being which casts up the wave
    \nof our superficial existence; we are ignorant also of the superconscient 
    \n<\/span>ether of our being which constitutes, contains, overroofs and 
    \n<\/span><\/span>governs both the subliminal sea and the superficial wave.
    \n<\/span>–<\/span>
    \n<\/span>We <\/span>are ignorant of
    \nourselves in Time, for we know only a part
    \nof the <\/span>present life we are living, yet that exists only by all our past
    \nof which we are ignorant and its trend is determined by all our future of which
    \nwe are still more ignorant. For our superconscient Self is eternal in its being
    \nand Time is only one of its
    \n<\/span><\/font>*<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Centenary Edition, Book Two, Part
    \nI, Chapter XI. The chapter was recast and enlarged in 1939-40.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/span>Page-406<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    modes,
    \nour subliminal is eternal in its becoming and Time is its infi<\/span>nite
    \nfield of experience.<\/span> <\/span>–<\/span>
    \nWe are equally ignorant of the world, holding it to be not-self, ignorant of
    \nourselves in Space; for the world is one Self developing the movement of its
    \nconscious force in its self-conceptive extension as Space. We confine our-selves
    \nin our consciousness to a single knot of the one indivisible Matter, a single
    \neddy of the one indivisible Life, a single station bf the one indivisible Mind,
    \na single soul-manifestation of the one indivisible Spirit. Yet it is only by
    \nknowing the One that this individual mind, life, body, soul can know itself or
    \nits action. <\/span>– <\/span>Thus
    \n<\/span>ignorance of self is the nature
    \nof our mind, but an ignorance full of the impulse towards self-possession and
    \nself-knowledge. A many-sided Ignorance striving to become an all-embracing
    \nKnowledge is the definition of man, the mental being.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

    Page-407<\/font><\/p>\n

    \n

    CHAPTER
    \nXXXII *<\/span><\/b>
    \n<\/b>
    \n
    \n<\/span>The Integral
    \nKnowledge<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

    <\/span>ARGUMENT
    \n<\/b>
    \n
    \n                          
    \n<\/span>        
    \n<\/span><\/span>T<\/span><\/b><\/font>HE ignorance in which we live is a <\/span>
    \nseven<\/span>fold
    \nself-ignorance; an ignorance of the Absolute and
    \n knowledge only of the
    \nrelations of being and becoming; an ignorance of our timeless and immutable
    \nself-existence and knowledge only of
    \n<\/span>the
    \ncosmic becoming; an ignorance of our cosmic self
    \n and
    \nknowledge only
    \nof our egoistic existence; an ignorance of our eternal becoming in Time and
    \nknowledge only of the one life present to our memory; an ignorance of our larger
    \nand complex being in the world and knowledge only of our surface waking
    \nexistence; <\/span>an ignorance of the higher
    \nprinciples of our existence
    \n<\/span>and<\/span>
    \n<\/span>know<\/span>ledge
    \nonly of the life, mind and body; an ignorance therefore of the right law and
    \nenjoyment of living and a knowledge only of the confused strife of the
    \ndualities. – Our conception of the Ignorance determines our conception of the
    \nknowledge and by that of the aim of our existence, which coincides with the
    \nideal of the earlier Vedic thought. — We confirm by it our rejection of the
    \nextreme views which hold the absolute Non-existence or absolute Existence to be
    \nalone true, and the relative world of being and becoming an ignorance to be
    \nrenounced. There is the un-manifest. Absolute and there is its manifestation; to
    \nfulfil the manifestation and live in the sense of it as the Absolute manifesting
    \nhimself is the Knowledge. <\/span>–<\/span>
    \nWe reject the view that regards the One, Infinite, Formless, Spirit,
    \nSuperconscient as the sole truth and the opposite terms as unreal or eventually
    \nfalse and vain values to be abandoned. We accept it and them also not as
    \nalternates, but as simultaneous values of the manifestation and their union in
    \nour consciousness and right use of their relations as the knowledge. <\/span>
    \n–<\/span>
    \nWe reject equally the views that<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/font>*Centenary
    \nEdition, Book Two, Part II, Chapter XV, "Reality and the Integral
    \nKnowledge." The chapter was considerably recast and enlarged in 1939.40.<\/font>
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    Page-408<\/font><\/p>\n

    \n

    affirm
    \na pluralistic Becoming without Being or see Mind, Life or <\/span>
    \nMatter<\/span>
    \n<\/span>as the original principle, and we reject
    \nthe limitation to our apparent
    \nNature which is their practical conclusion. Becoming as the working out of the
    \nenergies of Being, Mind, Life and Matter as inferior terms of the higher divine
    \nNature to be illumined, uplifted, transformed by the higher terms is our view of
    \nthe knowledge. – We reject also intermediate theories like that <\/span>
    \nwhich
    \nmakes<\/span> <\/span>God
    \nand cosmos one,
    \n<\/span>–<\/span>
    \n<\/span>perceiving as we do that
    \ncosmos<\/span>
    \n<\/span>exists in God who exceeds it and not God by
    \nthe cosmos, –
    \nor like that which seeks to abandon the earth and find fulfilm<\/span>ent<\/span>
    \nonly<\/span> <\/span>in
    \nheavens where the Many enjoy the presence of the
    \nOne,
    \n– perceiving, as we do, that there is a higher knowledge which
    \nleads <\/span>to
    \ncomplete identity and that divine life based upon
    \nit
    \nneed not be confined to heavens beyond, but may embrace the <\/span>earth
    \n also.
    \n<\/span>–<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Ignorance is an
    \ninitial state of knowledge the esse<\/span>nce of
    \nwhich is to create a sense of limitation and division; it is this which we have
    \nto overcome and transcend without creating
    \nan
    \nopposite self-limitation. The integral aim of our existence ca<\/span>n
    \nonly<\/span> be the
    \npossession and power and joy of our integral self-<\/span>kn<\/span>owledge.
    \n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

    \nPage-409
    \n 
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n


    \nCHAPTER
    \nXXXIII *<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/font>
    \nThe Progress
    \nto Knowledge<\/font><\/p>\n

    <\/font>
    \n<\/span><\/b>ARGUMENT<\/p>\n

     <\/span>                                  
    \n<\/span><\/span><\/font>T<\/b><\/font>o<\/font> RISE<\/font><\/span>
    \nout of the sevenfold Ignorance <\/span>into the
    \nintegral Knowledge is the progress of man’s being; it is to grow in all his
    \ncomplex existence and consciousness into the full possession and enjoyment of
    \nhis whole and his true being. – He starts with three categories, himself, Nature
    \nor cosmos and
    \nGod, and though he tries to deny any two of these in<\/span>
    \n order
    \n<\/span>to affirm the third only, he cannot really
    \nsucceed; for he is neither separate nor sufficient to himself, cosmos also is
    \nnot sufficient to itself; but points always to an infinite, one and absolute
    \nbehind it, and to affirm the Absolute to the exclusion of these two others
    \nleaves man unsatisfied and cosmos unexplained. – In affirming himself man has
    \nfirst to put himself, in front and act and feel as if God and the world existed
    \nfor him and were less important to him than himself; this is his egoistic phase
    \nnecessary to disengage his individuality out of Nature and as if against her and
    \nto bring it out into force and capacity. He has to affirm himself in the
    \nIgnorance before he can perfect himself in the Knowledge. Afterwards he has to
    \nseek for himself in Nature and God and others, but it is still himself that he
    \nseeks to know and possess and his own perfection or salvation which is his
    \nmotive. – In the progressive enlargement of his knowledge he gets rid of his
    \nsevenfold ignorance; of the temporal by growing into his eternal being with its
    \npre-existence and subsequent existence in Time; of the psychological by
    \nenlarging his self-knowing beyond the waking self into the subconscient and
    \nsuperconscient; of the constitutional by realising his spiritual being and its
    \ncategories; of
    \nthe cosmic by discovering his timeless Self; of the <\/span>ego<\/span>istic
    \nby realising the cosmic consciousness; of the original by
    \n<\/font>.<\/span> Centenary
    \nEdition, Book Two, Part II, Chapter XVII, "The Progress to Knowledge <\/span>–<\/span>
    \nGod, Man and Nature". The chapter was recast
    \nand enlarged in 1939-40.
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    \nPage-410<\/span>
    \n 
    \n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

    \n

    opening<\/span>
    \n<\/span>to the Absolute of <\/i>whom Self,
    \nindividual and Nature fare<\/span>
    \n<\/span>so many faces. – At the same time he
    \nrealises the unity of <\/i>himself
    \nand Nature in the first three steps of <\/i>knowledge, of himself<\/i> <\/span>and
    \nGod in the others; of <\/i>himself with all beings relatively
    \nin
    \nNature and absolutely in God ;of God and Nature because it is the Self who has
    \nbecome all these beings and the nature of <\/i>the Lord <\/span>which is apparent in cosmos. – The
    \nknowledge of <\/i>Nature leads<\/span>
    \n<\/span>him to the same
    \nresults as soon as he goes beyond Matter <\/span>
    \nand<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Life to Mind; for he discovers a
    \nsubconscient and superconscient,
    \na soul in Matter, and perceives a supernature in which he realises the Self, the
    \nSpirit, the Absolute. <\/span>– In the quest of <\/i>
    \nGod
    \nhe begins by seeing him through Nature and himself, crudely and obscurely at
    \nfirst, till he finds more luminously, the one Truth behind all religions; for
    \nall seize on the Divine in many aspects and their variety is necessary in order
    \nthat man should come <\/span>to know God entirely. – When he arrives at
    \nthe unity of <\/i>his
    \nknowledge of God, man and Nature, he has the complete knowledge, the sense and
    \ngoal of <\/i>humanity’s progress and labour and the sure foundation of <\/i>all
    \nperfections and all harmonies.
    \n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


    \nPage-411<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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