Sri Aurobindo describes the relation between "three general forms of consciousness, the individual, the universal and the transcendent or supracosmic.” Ascetic philosophy privileges the transcendent consciousness; that timeless, spaceless reality existing beyond any individual awareness, even beyond the manifested universe as a whole. The ascetic view considers the cosmos and all individuals in it to be ultimately (and inexplicably) illusions.
Taking however an alternative “integral” view, all three forms are to be seen as equally important. There is a fundamental oneness at the root of the three statuses. As a practical matter the Transcendent makes use of the Individual for its action in the universe, and “the individual is the means by which the collective, the universal is also to become conscious of itself”. Hence the interaction of transcendent, cosmic, and individual consciousness is key to the purpose and process of this progressive manifestation of Consciousness of which we are a part.
The truth of the “Individual” poise of consciousness is not however what we experience as the ordinary, human subjective self-awareness or ego. The ego is only a first, "surface" attempt of cosmic nature to express conscious individuality. Herein lies the necessity of the spiritual illumination of human consciousness, whereby it exceeds the ego and can arrive at the deeper truth of individuality.
“This limitation of the universal 'I' in the divided ego-sense constitutes our imperfect individualised personality. But when the ego transcends the personal consciousness, it begins to include and be overpowered by that which is to us super-conscious; it becomes aware of the cosmic unity and enters into the Transcendent Self which here cosmos expresses by a multiple oneness.”
Hence although a common line of spiritual experience and philosophy in the East is based on a necessary dissolution (nirvana) of the ego, the subsequent move to negate the Universe (and any positive transcendent reality beyond it), is not for Sri Aurobindo a necessary step. In fact he asserts it misses the entire meaning and point of the universe and our place in it. A more affirmative account can be given, still grounded on the profound oneness of transcendent spiritual experience, but revealing a purpose, rationale, and ultimate destiny inherent in our selves and the world.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Reality Omnipresent
Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, like Indian philosophy in general, is rooted not in the everyday experiences of ordinary human consciousness, but rather in the exceptional spiritual experiences of the mystic. Sri Aurobindo described his first major spiritual realization (in 1908) as follows: "There was an entire silence of thought and feeling and all the ordinary movements of consciousness except the perception and recognition of things around without any accompanying concept or other reaction. The sense of ego disappeared and the movements of the ordinary life as well as speech and action were carried on by some habitual activity of Prakriti [Nature] alone which was not felt as belonging to oneself. But the perception which remained saw all things as utterly unreal; this sense of unreality was overwhelming and universal. Only some undefinable Reality was perceived as true which was beyond space and time and unconnected with any cosmic activity, but yet was met wherever one turned." (On Himself p85).
The following year a subsequent realization occurred when he spent a year as an under-trial prisoner in Calcutta (jailed by the British Raj for his activities in support of Indian independence): "I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover." (Uttarpara Speech 1909). In this experience of the omnipresent Divine Being is to be found a key characteristic of what Sri Aurobindo terms the "cosmic consciousness", and describes as "a meeting-place where Matter becomes real to Spirit, Spirit becomes real to Matter."
Continuing in this chapter on the theme of the "Refusal of the Ascetic", Sri Aurobindo suggests that the trenchant opposition between the material world and the absolute Spirit arises significantly from the limited nature of human thought and language - not from any contradiction inherent in reality. It is rather that "we are being misled by words, deceived by the trenchant oppositions of our limited mentality with its fond reliance on verbal distinctions as if they perfectly represented ultimate truths".
That aspect of the Omnipresent Reality (Brahman) which appears to transcend all name and form of our universe, is a glimpse of Brahman's freedom from all manifestation or self-formulation. All the world's "representations and becomings" are indeed the Divine, but the Divine also remains forever free from them. We can come to see that this absolute freedom of the Brahman need not negate or render unreal the world and our experiences in it. But we must learn to take the widest and most flexible approach to the mental understanding and formulation of these truths.
The following year a subsequent realization occurred when he spent a year as an under-trial prisoner in Calcutta (jailed by the British Raj for his activities in support of Indian independence): "I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover." (Uttarpara Speech 1909). In this experience of the omnipresent Divine Being is to be found a key characteristic of what Sri Aurobindo terms the "cosmic consciousness", and describes as "a meeting-place where Matter becomes real to Spirit, Spirit becomes real to Matter."
Continuing in this chapter on the theme of the "Refusal of the Ascetic", Sri Aurobindo suggests that the trenchant opposition between the material world and the absolute Spirit arises significantly from the limited nature of human thought and language - not from any contradiction inherent in reality. It is rather that "we are being misled by words, deceived by the trenchant oppositions of our limited mentality with its fond reliance on verbal distinctions as if they perfectly represented ultimate truths".
That aspect of the Omnipresent Reality (Brahman) which appears to transcend all name and form of our universe, is a glimpse of Brahman's freedom from all manifestation or self-formulation. All the world's "representations and becomings" are indeed the Divine, but the Divine also remains forever free from them. We can come to see that this absolute freedom of the Brahman need not negate or render unreal the world and our experiences in it. But we must learn to take the widest and most flexible approach to the mental understanding and formulation of these truths.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Refusal of the Ascetic
For Sri Aurobindo, the second of the “Two Negations”, the refusal of the ascetic, is based on a powerful spiritual experience: the awareness of the Transcendent Spirit that exceeds this entire universe of name and form, mind and matter, living beings, and everything else we encounter in normal human experience. Compared to that Transcendent Reality, our world appears as only a shadow or an illusion – what seemed so real before, no longer does so after this overwhelmingly concrete inner experience. As ordinary sense experience provides support for the materialist view, this overpowering spiritual experience provides the empirical basis for the ascetic's view. Each side sees the other as caught in a delusion.
Interestingly, both the materialist and the ascetic end up denying any real significance or value for human life. Either we are all some temporary “nervous spasm of matter”, or we are an inexplicable fiction and illusion. For Sri Aurobindo, the “great underlying fact” is Consciousness, and the extension and “inner enlargement” of Consciousness is what will lead to “a larger and completer affirmation”, harmonizing the polar perspectives of transcendent Spirit and corporeal Matter.
Sri Aurobindo feels that, especially since the advent of Buddhism, the ascetic emphasis on liberation from the bondage of this illusory world has dominated Indian thought and spirituality, producing a mixed legacy. He actually describes the ascetic refusal as “more perilous” than the materialistic, but also notes that its “pure spiritual impulse” has pointed toward the summits of human possibility, and its overall contribution to the development of human consciousness has been great.
Much of The Life Divine will involve argument against this illusionist spiritual philosophy, in favor of Sri Aurobindo's world-affirming approach. Although he will focus on concepts and terminology drawn from the Indian spiritual tradition, one can readily find similar world-shunning attitudes in other culture's religion and mysticism; positing always a spiritual salvation elsewhere, seeking to leave this broken and irreparable world behind.
Interestingly, both the materialist and the ascetic end up denying any real significance or value for human life. Either we are all some temporary “nervous spasm of matter”, or we are an inexplicable fiction and illusion. For Sri Aurobindo, the “great underlying fact” is Consciousness, and the extension and “inner enlargement” of Consciousness is what will lead to “a larger and completer affirmation”, harmonizing the polar perspectives of transcendent Spirit and corporeal Matter.
Sri Aurobindo feels that, especially since the advent of Buddhism, the ascetic emphasis on liberation from the bondage of this illusory world has dominated Indian thought and spirituality, producing a mixed legacy. He actually describes the ascetic refusal as “more perilous” than the materialistic, but also notes that its “pure spiritual impulse” has pointed toward the summits of human possibility, and its overall contribution to the development of human consciousness has been great.
Much of The Life Divine will involve argument against this illusionist spiritual philosophy, in favor of Sri Aurobindo's world-affirming approach. Although he will focus on concepts and terminology drawn from the Indian spiritual tradition, one can readily find similar world-shunning attitudes in other culture's religion and mysticism; positing always a spiritual salvation elsewhere, seeking to leave this broken and irreparable world behind.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Materialist Denial
A Divine life on earth requires a harmonizing of Spirit and Matter. It is important to note that Sri Aurobindo does not define Spirit as everything that is "not matter". He posits an ascending range of consciousness broadly distinguished as Life, Mind, and Supermind (with several gradations between Mind and Supermind). These levels stand between Matter and Spirit, and form a bridging continuum.
The human mind, working as it does, produces a strong tendency to resolve the apparent Spirit-Matter gulf by asserting only one pole to be real and denying the other. Sri Aurobindo terms these "The Two Negations", with the first being "The Materialist Denial", and the second "The Refusal of the Ascetic".
Materialism, with its conception of consciousness as only a peculiar property of the physical brain somehow developed via random processes of physical nature, would seem to be the antithesis of any spiritual philosophy. Sri Aurobindo however expresses appreciation for the intellectual methods of science that have accompanied the ascendancy of materialism. He notes that contained in its genuine spirit of inquiry and agnosticism is the seed of its own eventual self-exceeding, as it inevitably extends beyond the arbitrary limits of the physical senses into the direct investigation of consciousness and all its phenomena.
Sri Aurobindo also remarks on the service done by scientific materialism in helping sweep away the "perverting superstitions and irrationalising dogmas" that have accompanied the pursuit of supra-physical knowledge in the past. He feels it is important that "the intellect has been severely trained to a clear austerity" before safely entering into the pursuit of such knowledge, otherwise "it lends itself to the most perilous distortions and misleading imaginations".
On a historical note, one might comment that materialism has continued to be quite resilient in resisting its own self-exceeding during the 70 or so years since Sri Aurobindo last revised The Life Divine. If he were writing it today, would he perhaps have spent more time elaborating arguments against materialism?
The human mind, working as it does, produces a strong tendency to resolve the apparent Spirit-Matter gulf by asserting only one pole to be real and denying the other. Sri Aurobindo terms these "The Two Negations", with the first being "The Materialist Denial", and the second "The Refusal of the Ascetic".
Materialism, with its conception of consciousness as only a peculiar property of the physical brain somehow developed via random processes of physical nature, would seem to be the antithesis of any spiritual philosophy. Sri Aurobindo however expresses appreciation for the intellectual methods of science that have accompanied the ascendancy of materialism. He notes that contained in its genuine spirit of inquiry and agnosticism is the seed of its own eventual self-exceeding, as it inevitably extends beyond the arbitrary limits of the physical senses into the direct investigation of consciousness and all its phenomena.
Sri Aurobindo also remarks on the service done by scientific materialism in helping sweep away the "perverting superstitions and irrationalising dogmas" that have accompanied the pursuit of supra-physical knowledge in the past. He feels it is important that "the intellect has been severely trained to a clear austerity" before safely entering into the pursuit of such knowledge, otherwise "it lends itself to the most perilous distortions and misleading imaginations".
On a historical note, one might comment that materialism has continued to be quite resilient in resisting its own self-exceeding during the 70 or so years since Sri Aurobindo last revised The Life Divine. If he were writing it today, would he perhaps have spent more time elaborating arguments against materialism?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Human Aspiration
In this first chapter, Sri Aurobindo begins with the largest possible questions and ideals that are repeatedly posed by the “awakened thoughts” of humanity: God, Light, Freedom, Immortality. These deep and recurrent ideals are constantly met by their apparent opposites in the “normal experience” of everyday life. But they are also affirmed by certain higher experiences, rarely achieved by human beings, but still powerful enough to affect the entire backdrop of human psychology.
The tension between the persistent seeking for Bliss and Freedom, and the relentless daily experience of pain and incapacity, is readily taken as evidence for the invalidity of any such seeking. But Sri Aurobindo suggests that, seen in another way, this tension will be revealed as the expedient method used by Nature to arrive ultimately at a highest and widest harmony of all apparent discords.
He previews the key role a concept of evolution will play in his exposition. Coupled with the idea of a prior involution, the progressive evolution across time of an ever increasing Consciousness - in conditions that initially appear to be its very opposite (inert matter) – will be shown to provide a rich explanatory and synthesizing conceptual model when applied to the cosmos, life, and human beings.
Sri Aurobindo notes that the seeking for a fundamental solution to the problems posed by life survives all periods of skepticism. It gives birth to religions and mysticism, which often take form as superstitions and crude faiths. But denying the truth behind such seeking because of the obscure outer forms it has so far produced, "is itself a kind of obscurantism". Better to accept what Nature "will not allow us as a race to reject", and lift it "into the light of reason", while also not fearing to aspire to whatever higher light of cognition might exceed reason on the grand upward arc of evolution.
The tension between the persistent seeking for Bliss and Freedom, and the relentless daily experience of pain and incapacity, is readily taken as evidence for the invalidity of any such seeking. But Sri Aurobindo suggests that, seen in another way, this tension will be revealed as the expedient method used by Nature to arrive ultimately at a highest and widest harmony of all apparent discords.
He previews the key role a concept of evolution will play in his exposition. Coupled with the idea of a prior involution, the progressive evolution across time of an ever increasing Consciousness - in conditions that initially appear to be its very opposite (inert matter) – will be shown to provide a rich explanatory and synthesizing conceptual model when applied to the cosmos, life, and human beings.
Sri Aurobindo notes that the seeking for a fundamental solution to the problems posed by life survives all periods of skepticism. It gives birth to religions and mysticism, which often take form as superstitions and crude faiths. But denying the truth behind such seeking because of the obscure outer forms it has so far produced, "is itself a kind of obscurantism". Better to accept what Nature "will not allow us as a race to reject", and lift it "into the light of reason", while also not fearing to aspire to whatever higher light of cognition might exceed reason on the grand upward arc of evolution.
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