Physical
Consciousness—Subconscient—Sleep and Dreams—Illness
Page-2
The
subconscious is the evolutionary basis in us, it is not
the whole of our hidden nature, nor is it the whole origin
of what we are. But things can rise from the subconscient
and take shape in the conscious parts and much of our smaller
vital and physical instincts, movements, habits, character-forms
has this source.
There
are three occult sources of our action—the superconscient,
the subliminal, the subconscient, but of none of them are
we in control or even aware. What we are aware of is the
surface being which is only an instrumental arrangement.
The source of all is the general Nature,—universal
Nature individualising itself in each person; for this general
Nature deposits certain habits of movement, personality,
character, faculties, dispositions, tendencies in us, and
that, whether formed now or before our birth, is what we
usually call ourselves. A good deal of this is in habitual
movement and use in our known conscious parts on the surface,
a great deal more is concealed in the other unknown three
which are below or behind the surface.
But
what we are on the surface is being constantly set in motion,
changed, developed or repeated by the waves of the general
Nature coming in on us either directly or else indirectly
through others, through circumstances, through various agencies
or channels. Some of this flows straight into the conscious
parts and acts there, but our mind ignores its source, appropriates
it and regards all that as its own; a part comes secretly
into the subconscient or sinks into it and waits for an
opportunity of rising up into the conscious surface; a good
deal goes into the subliminal and may at any time come out—or
may not, may rather rest there as unused matter. Part passes
through and is rejected, thrown back or thrown out or spilt
into the universal sea. Our nature is a constant activity
of forces supplied to us out of which (or rather out of
a small amount of it) we make what we will or can. What
we make seems fixed and formed for good, but in reality
it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable;
the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition
and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That
is why our nature can be changed in spite of Vivekananda's
saying and Horace's adage and in spite of the conservative
resistance of the subconscient, but it is a difficult job
because the master mode of Nature is this obstinate repetition
and recurrence.
As
for the things in our nature that are thrown away from us
by rejection but come back, it depends on where you throw
them. Very often there is a sort of procedure about it.
The mind rejects its mentalities, the vital its vitalities,
the physical its physicalities—these usually go back
into the corresponding domain of general Nature. It all
stays at first, when that happens, in the environmental
consciousness which we carry about with us, by which we
communicate with the outside Nature, and often it persistently
rushes back from there—until it is so absolutely rejected,
or thrown far away as it were, that it cannot return upon
us any more. But when what the thinking and willing mind
rejects is strongly supported by the vital, it leaves the
mind indeed but sinks down into the vital, rages there and
tries to rush up again and re-occupy the mind and compel
or capture our mental acceptance. When the higher vital
too—the heart or the larger vital dynamis reject it,
it sinks from there and takes refuge in the lower vital
with its mass of small current movements that make up our
daily littleness. When the lower vital too rejects it, it
sinks into the physical consciousness and tries to stick
by inertia or mechanical repetition. Rejected even from
there it goes into subconscient and comes up in dreams,
in passivity, in extreme tamas. The Inaconscient
is the last resort of the Ignorance.
As
for the waves that recur from the general Nature, it is
the natural tendency of the inferior forces there to try
and perpetuate their action in the individual, to rebuild
what he has unbuilt of their deposits in him; so they return
on him, often with an increased force, even with a stupendous
violence, when they find their influence rejected. But they
cannot last long once the environmental consciousness is
cleared—unless the "Hostiles" take a hand.
Even then these can indeed attack, but if the sadhak has
established his position in the inner self, they can only
attack and retire.
It
is true that we bring most of ourselves,—or rather
most of our predispositions, tendencies of reaction to the
universal Nature, from past lives. Heredity only affects
strongly the external being; besides, all the effects of
heredity are not accepted even there, only those that are
in consonance with what we are to be or not preventive of
it at least.
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Sri Aurobindo
The
subconscient is a thing of habits and memories and repeats
persistently or whenever it can old suppressed reactions,
reflexes, mental, vital or physical responses. It must be
trained by a still more persistent insistence of the higher
parts of the being to give up its old responses and take
on the new and true ones.
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Sri Aurobindo
You
do not realise how much of the ordinary natural being lives
in the subconscient physical. It is there that habitual
movements, mental and vital, are stored and from there they
come up into the waking mind. Driven out of the upper consciousness,
it is in this cavern of the Pains that they take refuge.
No longer allowed to emerge freely in he waking state, they
come up in sleep as dreams. It is when they are cleared
out of the subconscient, their very seeds killed by the
enlightening of these hidden layers, that they cease for
good. As your consciousness deepens inwardly and the higher
light comes down into those inferior covered parts, the
things that now recur in this way will disappear.
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Sri Aurobindo
It
is certainly possible to draw forces from below. It may
be the hidden divine forces from below that rise at your
pull, and then this motion upward completes the motion and
effort of the divine force from above, helping especially
to bring it into the body. Or it may be the obscure forces
from below that respond to the summons and then this kind
of drawing brings either tamas or disturbance—sometimes
great masses of inertia or a formidable upheaval an disturbance.
The
lower vital is a very obscure plane and it can be fully
opened with advantage only when the other planes above it
have been thrown wide to light and knowledge. One who concentrates
on the lower vital without that higher preparation and without
knowledge is likely to fall into many confusions. This does
not mean that experiences of this plane may not come earlier
or even at the beginning; they do come of themselves, but
they must not be given too large a place.
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Sri Aurobindo
There
is a Yoga-Shakti lying coiled or asleep in the inner body,
not active. When one does Yoga, this force uncoils itself
and rises upward to meet the Divine Consciousness and Force
that are waiting above us. When this happens, when the awakened
Yoga-Shakti arises, it is often felt like a snake uncoiling
and standing up straight and lifting itself more and more
upwards. When it meets the Divine Consciousness above, then
the force of the Divine Consciousness can more easily descend
into the body and be felt working there to change the nature.
The
feeling of your body and eyes being drawn upwards is part
of he same movement. It is the inner consciousness in the
body and the inner subtle sight in the body that are looking
and moving upward and trying to meet the divine consciousness
and divine seeing above.
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Sri Aurobindo
If
you go down into your lower parts or ranges of nature, you
must be always careful to keep a vigilant connection with
the higher already regenerated levels of the consciousness
and to bring down the Light and Purity through them into
these nether still unregenerated regions. If there is not
this vigilance, one gets absorbed in the unregenerated movement
of the inferior layers and there is obscuration and trouble.
The
safest way is to remain in the higher part of the consciousness
and put a pressure from it on the lower to change. It can
be done in this way, only you must get the knack and the
habit of it. If you achieve the power to do that, it makes
the progress much easier, smoother and less painful.
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Sri Aurobindo
