A Deeper Question Henri Bergson (1859-1941) There is still a deeper question. Why do variations occur? Whether they are small or great, gradual or abrupt, we cannot trace them to the influence of the environment. For types without variations seem to be just as well adapted as those with them. Darwin's view of chance variations is virtually a confession of his inability to explain the source of variations. Modifications and variations do not come singly but in complexes, involving many minor and consequential modifications and variations. Each single small variation is not independently selected. In other words, the organisms seem to 'vary' as a whole.

An Experiment in Evolution A distinctive feature of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of evolution is that it is not speculative; its premises and conclusions are tested on the anvil of experimentation. 'The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious cooperation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?' Indeed, Sri Aurobindo made an experiment upon his entire integral being, using it as an evolutionary laboratory, so as to evolve and manifest higher and higher grades of consciousness reachin

Acknowledgements Some of the illustrations, photographs and pictures which appear in this book were used as a part of an exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education & Culture, Government of India, and organized by Indian Council of Philosophical Research in November 1983. Dr. T. K. Sarkar, who was at that time Director of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, was in charge of organizing this exhibition. We are indebted to the Ministry of Education for their help and wish to put on record our gratitude to them. A number of designs and photographs which have been reproduced in this book have been selected fr

Our Evolutionary Task In the light of the foregoing, man can be conceived as a laboratory of evolution in which Nature is experimenting to bring about his mutation. But man is a conscious being with a conscious will and instrumentation of deliberate action. The evolutionary force of Nature and man's will can therefore act and react upon each other, and the entire human drama can be seen as an enactment of this action and reaction. If the consciousness of man can be widened, intensified and heightened, it can learn the laws and processes of evolution and master the art of engineering the evolutionary movement, and it can, by voluntary co-operation with the evolutionary wil

-06_What is the Secret of Nature^s Movement.htm What is the Secret of Nature's Movement? In the earliest stages of the movement of Nature, we are met by the dumb secrecy of her inconscience. There is no revelation of any significance or purpose in her works, no hint of anything other than her immediate preoccupation, which also seems to be for ever her only business. Matter alone appears to be the sole, dumb and stark cosmic reality. If we were present there, conscious but uninstructed, we would only have seen appearing out of a vast abyss of an apparent non-existence an Energy busy with the creation of Matter, a material world and material objects, organizing the infinity of the inconscient int

Marvel of the Mental Being If we were to go back to the stage when life had just emerged on the earth, it could not have seemed possible to us that in this little life, a mental being would emerge and create all manner of utensils, erect cities, houses, temples, theatres, laboratories, factories, chisel from it statues and carve cave-cathedrals, invent architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry and a hundred arts and crafts, discover the mathematics and physics of the universe, and live for the sake of knowledge, develop into the thinker, the philosopher and scientist and become even the hunter after the invisible, the mystic and the spiritual seeker. But i

Evolutionary Crisis of Mankind At a deeper level, we may find that the discontent of the contemporary man is a manifestation of the crisis that mankind is undergoing today. That the present situation of mankind is critical is admitted widely. In gross terms, the threat of thermonuclear weapons to the very survival of mankind and to the ecological condition of the earth is directing leaders of the world, not only in the political field, but in practically every important field, to themes relevant to deeper levels of consciousness, even ethical and spiritual. It is clearly recognized that science alone cannot save the world or give to it the happiness and fulfi

The Process of Evolution Charles Darwin (1809-82) The process of evolution was detected in ancient times. Both in India and in Greece, there were important ideas of evolution. In modern times, the theory of evolution is mainly the work of Linnaeus (1707-78), Buffon (1707-88), Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), Lamarck (1744-1829), Charles Darwin (1809-82) and his followers. On the Origin of Species written by Charles Darwin (1859) gave details and demonstrations of his scientific theory of evolution, according to which, life on the earth evolved by a gradual and yet continuous process from the earliest forms of living organs to the latest product, man. Natur

Man is a Transitional Being Many questions arise. It may be contended that the only statement of which we are certain is that there are events, but there is no warrant to admit that events have any internal or causal connections among themselves or any plan or design behind them. There is, in other words, no teleology. It is, therefore, argued that every event is a 'chance event', and that the quest of man to seek any meaning or purpose or any teleological or evolutionary goal may have some emotional significance but none in terms of objective truth. But if we examine this view, we find that it leaves us with some dissatisfying paradoxes. If everything were a

Discontent of the Contemporary Man The contemporary man, who has attempted to go beyond superficialities in order to think, live and act at deeper and higher levels, finds himself in a state of discontent. He has witnessed the triumphs of science and technology; he feels satiated but not satisfied. As for his internal world, he asks if it is his goal to suppress the limits to the expansion of his ego or to allow a free field to the unlimited desires of the force of his egocentric vital being; he seems to be wanting neither. A number of mental ideas and ideals are competing with each other for their full realization and fulfilment; for a time, he chooses one i