Perceiving the Universal Forces at Work Through Attenuation of the Hold of the Ego-Centric Viewpoint

With our normal human viewpoint based in the standpoint of the ego we react as if the entire world revolves around us. This ego-centric, anthropocentric viewpoint creates its own formidable limitations in terms of recognising, perceiving, knowing and addressing the larger forces at work. If we step out of the ego-standpoint for a moment we can see that there is an entire universal creation with galaxies, suns and planets, moving and producing energetic radiation, and we have no real idea why this all exists or what it is all about. We thus have no idea of the other conscious forces at work in the universe, or even in our own much smaller dot in the creation. We tend to assume that what we can observe is all there is, when in fact, with some small amount of consideration, technological measurements and reflection, it is easy for us to recognise that there are other and greater forces at work, whose purpose and intention we cannot possibly conceive of as long as we are tied to the ego-viewpoint.

We also tend to accept as a fact the consistency of our own viewpoint and decision process, yet it is clear that we undergo mood changes, emotion changes, changes in mental clarity and focus, based on numerous factors, such as the phase of the moon, the hormonal changes we undergo at various times of life, and the pressure of circumstances and events that impact us, among many other factors. Things as simple as walking through a forest, walking on a beach, or engaging in various forms of exercise can dramatically change our mood. What forces are at work in these circumstances to impact our response? The power of the sun, the energy of the wind, the influence of the moon or other bodies are simply the most outward, visible signs of powers that are far beyond us, which nevertheless continue to impact us.

We know that there is a spectrum of wavelengths we can perceive directly, and a further spectrum that fall outside our range. We know that some of these unseen wavelengths can have profound effect on us. There are clearly other planes of energetic forces which act under their own motion, for their own purposes and which may, and often do, interact with our human existence.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “… there,, [in the ordinary mind] there are only two categories of influences recognisable, the ideas and feelings and actions of oneself and others and the play of environment and physical forces. But once one begins to get the inner view of things, it is different. One begins to experience that all is an action of forces, forces of Prakriti psychological as well as physical, which play upon our nature — and these are conscious forces or are supported by a consciousness or consciousnesses behind. One is in the midst of a big universal working and it is impossible any longer to explain everything as the result of one’s own sole and independent personality. You yourself have at one time written that your crises of despair etc. came upon you as if thrown on you and worked themselves out without your being able to determine or put an end to them. That means an action of universal forces and not merely an independent action of your own personality, though it is something in your nature of which they make use. But you are not conscious, and others also, of this intervention and pressure at its source for the reason I state.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 1 Life Through the Eyes of the Yogin, pp. 4-5