When the seeker recognises the difficulties attendant upon gaining control and mastery of the subconscient, he looks for leverage to both become conscious of what is currently subconscious to his awareness, and to find ways to change the response and reactions that arise from the ... Views: 107
We understand that there is an electro-magnetic spectrum, ranging from very short wavelengths to extremely long wavelengths. We can visualize the color spectrum with a similar range. There is also a sound spectrum. In each instance of a vibrational spectrum, there is a range within which we can ... Views: 108
It is often said that ‘you can’t change human nature’. One of the major obstacles turns out to be the seeds of all past habits, actions, behaviors, reactions and instincts that reside in the subconscious levels of the being. An individual may spend his life culturing his mind, his emotions and ... Views: 124
We tend to imagine that somehow the mind, the vital energy and the physical body we identify through our ego-complex as ourselves, is separate from those of everyone else. In reality, however, the physical, vital and mental substance is universal in nature and the portion we try to wall off ... Views: 109
There is considerable confusion about the “subconscient” and the “subliminal” aspects of consciousness. Essentially, the subliminal references aspects of the independent levels of consciousness that embody the subtle physical, the subtle vital and the subtle mental. These levels are independent ... Views: 125
Western psychology has developed with the basis that the subconscious mind is extremely powerful and can determine actions and reactions of individuals that overcome the conscious intentions of those individuals. Events, circumstances, perceptions, and corresponding fears, hopes and excitement, ... Views: 108
Most of the impressions we receive on a day to day basis go unremarked by our conscious awareness, but are nevertheless received and stored away in our subconscious levels. These impressions may rise to the surface during dreams, or be triggered by certain sensations, events or circumstances, ... Views: 116
The mechanical mind encompasses some of the most basic, most rudimentary activities of the mind. It lies below the faculties of higher logical reasoning, and forms a foundation for the most simple and automatic mental processes. It is like the core computer language upon which all kinds of ... Views: 121
There is another aspect of mind that holds the habits, instincts and trained responses in place. This is what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother call the ‘mechanical mind’. There are uses and benefits to this mind, but it is one of the most rudimentary actions of mind, which arose to provide a ... Views: 120
The physical mind, which responds to the external objects of the senses and the impact of those external objects, has strict limits within which it can either perceive or understand what it is perceiving. The reality of our existence, however, reaches far beyond the boundaries of response that ... Views: 120
There is in Nature, a conservative force that resists change. There is a benefit inasmuch as it ensures that life does not devolve into chaos, and there is a further benefit that it forces the change-process to become much more solid and effective in order to eventually bring out the intended ... Views: 129
Individuals who are primarily rooted in the function of the physical mind have a difficulty in accepting the reality of anything that goes outside their ability to sense and perceive. These individuals will frequently deny the existence of the soul because it cannot be seen, measured or ... Views: 113
We may observe feelings, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, ideas, imaginations, memories, etc. all arising in our minds, and, for most of us, this is all just ‘mental activity’. And for most people this is clearly enough! For those taking up the spiritual life and practice, however, it becomes ... Views: 113
Everyone has had the experience, at some time or another, of imagining themselves doing something extraordinary, or at least fulfilling some dream about how their lives could develop or turn out. It may be a fantasy about winning a lottery, or gaining fame or recognition, or finding the right ... Views: 109
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks how the ‘liberated soul’ can be recognised. How does he walk? How does he talk? What distinguishing characteristics can we find that identify such a person? Sri Krishna responds that there are not external signs, but only the inner standpoint of the individual ... Views: 129
Nietzsche espoused the idea that the ‘superior man’ was, by definition, ‘beyond good and evil’ and was therefore not bound by the rules of society. This concept has led a number of people into serious trouble. Dostoevsky explored this idea in his novel Crime and Punishment, in which the ... Views: 116
The mental knowledge we acquire is mostly a form of ignorance reaching out to try to acquire knowledge. In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the various forms of knowledge. With one exception, they are set up in the paradigm of subject, object and the process of knowing, and treats the ... Views: 145
As we go through school and acquire knowledge, knowledge of facts, knowledge of ideas, knowledge of principles, knowledge of methodologies, knowledge of trained skills, we gain in our ability to act in the world and succeed in our external life. We learn how to employ the faculty of reasoning ... Views: 114
Every level of consciousness is limited by the frame within which it operates, as well as by the mechanism of its action within that frame. In its own field of action, with its own native operation, the mind can be a powerful tool and aid to the individual. Yet, when it tries to assert for ... Views: 137
The primary functionality of the mind is to organize and classify, breaking down and fragmenting the reality into component parts. We see this easily in the classification systems for flora and fauna, in our detailed review of the genetic structure of life, gene sequencing, and in our ability to ... Views: 127
How does Mind evolve out of Matter? Some scientists will tell you that through random chance, chemicals and electrical forces and heat led to the development of beings capable of reflecting, thinking and contemplating deep thoughts, exploring the nature of life and the universe, etc. They do not ... Views: 129
Western medical researchers have invested a considerable amount of time and attention on gaining an understanding of the way the brain functions, mapping the regions of the brain responsible for various types of activities, and monitoring the function of neurotransmitter chemicals and nervous ... Views: 145
When Life emerges in Matter, there must, obviously, be some mechanism for the two principles to interact with one another. Matter must develop ways to sense, respond to and react to the action of the Life-Force. Similarly, when the Life-Force evolves and manifests in Matter, it must also become ... Views: 131
A life focused solely on meditation, inner development, growth of knowledge, or on prayer and devotion, tends to avoid the implications of the ongoing evolution of consciousness and the need for transformation and positive change to create the circumstances for that evolution of consciousness to ... Views: 112
Virtually everybody, at some point in their lives, has the experience of entering a room or a gathering of some sort and feeling the movement of some vital force rising up within them. It could be a room filled with the energy of greed, or sexual tension or anger. They feel like they are being ... Views: 130
After all the attempts to bring the vital being under some kind of control, it may seem like it is an impossible task! The vital has its fixed habits of fulfillment and satisfaction and tends generally to want to continue its normal modes of action. It is, however, not a thankless task and there ... Views: 125
In order to carry out the spiritual practices and work for the transformation of human nature, the vital being needs to agree to changes its habitual sources of satisfaction and fulfillment to an entirely different basis. The pursuit of pleasure, and the accompanying experience of pain, is ... Views: 110
We generally do not question the movements of the vital nature in our ordinary daily life. They are so much a part of what we consider to be human nature and human experience that we simply accept them and treat them as inevitable. It is true that human society has developed a framework within ... Views: 115
Each individual is rooted primarily in one of the major component aspects of our human individuality. Some are clearly rooted in the physical and their thoughts, actions and needs are those called for by the physical being. The vast majority of people are moved by their vital being, and are ... Views: 129
One of the most confusing issues for the spiritual seeker is the ‘care and feeding’ of the vital nature. We shift from one extreme to the other in our view of how to bring it under control, for it is virtually uniformly recognised that for spiritual development, the vital nature must be ... Views: 125
We can observe that there are times when the vital nature is energetic, enthused, active, and makes efforts. There are other times when it is dull, withdrawn, sullen, lacking energy and clearly is not taking interest in doing anything. The difference between these two states generally lies in ... Views: 123
The vital has a natural tendency to seek for the fulfillment of its being in some form of enjoyment. In the external surface being, this enjoyment takes the form of a seeking after pleasure. With this seeking after pleasure, however, comes also the experience of pain. Pleasure and pain alternate ... Views: 117
The vital desire-soul animates the external being. When it enters the physical frame, we say that there is life in the body. When it departs, we say that the person has died. This is distinguishable from the true soul, the psychic being, which is not dependent on either the life or death of a ... Views: 135
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother make a distinction between the ‘desire soul’ of the vital nature and the ‘true soul’ which expresses the inmost being that is a direct spark of the Divine. They differ in their focus, orientation, and basis of action. The desire soul incorporates the drives of the ... Views: 131
When the vital nature is involved, which individual has the power to control its impulsions and demands and keep it focused on the higher aims of life? The vital nature is a powerful and essential component of life on earth. It animates material nature and functions through the force of desire. ... Views: 124
Through long habit, spiritual seekers tend to look at the question of how to attain spiritual liberation involving abandonment of the external life in the world. Not only spiritual seekers raise this question in some form or another. Anyone involved in aesthetic, mental, artistic, or emotional ... Views: 131
While the mind does not generally recognise the consciousness of the body, it remains true that the body has its own ability to respond to circumstances. For those who have a highly developed mental or vital being, these powers frequently override the natural responsiveness of the body. When we ... Views: 123
There is a conservative bias in earthly existence that seeks to preserve established ways of life as a means of providing an element of stability. This principle helps to avoid the chaotic implications of unrestricted change, thereby providing a basis and a certain amount of certainty. This ... Views: 135
The body has its own consciousness and much of its operation takes place without active mental intervention. However, there is also a serious interaction that takes place so that the mental power can influence, guide, train, direct and otherwise gain at least some control over certain aspects of ... Views: 128
If we reflect on how many actions or operations of the physical body take place without our mental intervention, it becomes clear that the body has its own highly developed, and essential, form of consciousness that operates independently of the mind. One common example is widely experienced. An ... Views: 142
An accident avoided. An individual related the following incident. He was driving with a passenger through Yellowstone National Park in the USA some years ago during the summer season in a van late in the afternoon. He had a sense or feeling of an impending accident involving a bison, although ... Views: 164
For most people, acute illness is an event of the body, which is subject to attack by various malign types of germs, bacteria and viruses. We tend to envision the body as a battlefield and the attacking germs aggressively target the cells and organs and the body fights back with an immune ... Views: 226
There are many ideas about the causes of illness, as well as ways to prevent or cure illness. In the West, the prevalent idea is related to what may be called the “germ invasion” theory, namely, that illness is caused by specific physical ‘germs’ (bacteria or viruses) which invade and overpower ... Views: 167
For those people who only treat as ‘real’ things they can directly perceive with the physical sense organs, the aura is considered to be some kind of fantasy of imagination. The aura, a vital sheath or envelope that extends beyond the boundaries of the physical body, has therefore long been the ... Views: 155
When we observe the nerves and their role in our actions, we see that they carry vital sensations within a physical frame to connect our senses and responses to external pressures to the brain, and then, carry impulses back to the organs of action. Most people do not recognise the essential role ... Views: 134
When a particular power of consciousness is intended to participate in the evolution in the external world, it utilizes the physical body as the foundation or anchor of its action. This fixes its action in the world, while at the same time, imposes limits on the power due to the watering-down ... Views: 131
While each power of consciousness, physical, vital, mental (and others) operates in its native mode and strength in its own plane or sphere of action, it projects itself into the world we inhabit by tying itself to the foundation of the basic physical principle. This involves a ‘watering down’ ... Views: 135
We recognise the electro-magnetic spectrum, the color spectrum, the sound wave spectrum and others, each as representing a continuum of wave forms with varying characteristics. There are shorter, more intense waves and longer wave frequencies. Some conduct tremendous amounts of physical heat, ... Views: 128
We have a strong bias in favor of accepting things that we can perceive with our physical senses, and we tend to disbelieve or discount anything that is not directly, physically available to our experience. Yet if we reflect on the totality of our life experience, it becomes clear that there are ... Views: 133
We see pattens repeating from the macro-level to the micro-level. The study of fractals shows us that there are indeed certain patterns and relationships that repeat themselves in every smaller configurations as we drill down toward the micro-level. The macrocosm and the microcosm reflect the ... Views: 140