The
Science of Living
To know oneself and to control oneself
An
aimless life is always a miserable life.
Every one of you should have an aim. But do not forget that
on the quality of your aim will depend the quality of your
life.
Your aim should be high and wide, generous and disinterested;
this will make your life precious to yourself and to others.
But whatever your ideal, it can not be perfectly realised
unless you have realised perfection in yourself.
To
work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious
of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their
respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these
different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly
aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the
many impulses, reactions and the conflicting wills that drive
you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much
perseverance and sincerity. For man's nature, especially his
mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable
explanation for everything he thinks, feels, says and does.
It is only by observing these movements with great care, by
bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest
ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgement, that
we can hope to form in ourselves a discernment that never
errs. For if we truly want to progress and acquire the capacity
of knowing the truth of our being, that is to say what we
are truly created for, what we can call our mission upon earth,
then we must, in a very regular and constant manner, reject
from us or eliminate in us whatever contradicts the truth
of our existence, whatever is opposed to it. In this way,
little by little, all the parts, all the elements of our being
can be organised into a homogeneous whole around our psychic
centre. This work of unification requires much time to be
brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order
to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and
endurance with a determination to prolong our life as long
as necessary for the success of our endeavour.
As
you pursue this labour of purification and unification, you
must at the same time take great care to perfect the external
and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth
manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich
enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself
a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This
thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must
find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words
reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in
which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your
feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all
the movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves
should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection.
All this can be realised by means of fourfold discipline,
the general outline of which is given here. The four aspects
of the discipline do not exclude each other, and can be followed
at the same time; indeed, this is preferable. The starting-point
is what can be called the psychic discipline. We give the
name "psychic" to the psychological centre of our
being, the seat within us of the highest truth of our existence,
that which can know this truth and set it in movement. It
is therefore of capital importance to become conscious of
its presence in us, to concentrate on this presence until
it become a living fact for us and we can identify ourselves
with it.
In
various times and places many methods have been prescribed
for attaining this perception and ultimately achieving this
identification. Some methods are psychological, some religious,
some even mechanical. In reality, everyone has to find the
one which suits him best, and if one has an ardent and steadfast
aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to
meet, in one way or the another - outwardly through reading
and study, inwardly through concentration, meditation, revelation
and experience - the help one needs to reach the goal. Only
one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover
and realise. This discovery and realisation should be the
primary preoccupation of our being, the pearl of great price
which we must acquire at any cost. Whatever you do, whatever
your occupations and activities, the will to find the truth
of your being and to unite with it must be always living and
present behind all that you do, all that you feel, all that
you think.
To
complement this movement of inner discovery, it would be good
not to neglect the development of the mind. For the mental
instrument can equally be a great help or a great hindrance.
In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its
vision, narrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions,
and a constant effort is therefore needed to widen it, to
make it more supple and profound. So it is very necessary
to consider everything from as many points of view as possible.
Towards this end, there is an exercise which gives great suppleness
and elevation to the thought. It is as follows; a clearly
formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed its antithesis,
formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection
the problem must be widened or transcended until a synthesis
is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher
and more comprehensive idea.
November
1950
-The Mother
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