20 Towards a Greater Psychology Materialistic Basis of Modern Psychology Modern Science, obsessed with the greatness of its physical discoveries and the idea of the sole existence of Matter, has long attempted to base upon physical data even its study of Soul and Mind and of those workings of Nature in man and animal in which a knowledge of psychology is as important as any of the physical sciences. Its very psychology founded itself upon physiology and the scrutiny of the brain and the nervous system. Social and Political Thought, p. 1 To perceive and have a right view of our way to such a transformation [conversion of

Glossary of Names and Terms The Glossary includes Sanskrit terms, certain proper names and special terms found in Sri Aurobindo's writings. Explanations of philosophical and psychological terms have generally been given in Sri Aurobindo's own words. Some of the terms defined below have more than one meaning, and may have different connotations in different contexts. The meanings given below apply to the terms as used in this book. the Absolute — the supreme reality of that transcendent Being which we call God. Indian thought calls it Brahman, European thought the Absolute because it is a self-existent which is absolved of all bondage to r

12 The Superconscient Gradations of the Higher Consciousness We become aware, in a certain experience, of a range of being superconscient to all these three [the waking consciousness, the subconscient and the subliminal], aware too of something, a supreme highest Reality sustaining and exceeding them all, which humanity speaks of vaguely as Spirit, God, the Oversoul: from these superconscient ranges we have visitations and in our highest being we tend towards them and to that supreme Spirit. There is then in our total range of existence a superconscience as well as a subconscience and inconscience, overarching and perhaps enveloping our su

13 Liberation and Transformation Deep, intense, convincing, common to all who have overstepped a certain limit of the active mind-belt into horizonless inner space, this is the great experience of liberation, the consciousness of something within us that is behind and outside of the universe and all its forms, interests, aims, events and happenings, calm, untouched, unconcerned, illimitable, immobile, free, the uplook to something above us indescribable and unseizable into which by abolition of our personality we can enter, the presence of an omnipresent eternal witness Purusha, the sense of an Infinity or a Timelessness that looks down on

3 The Surface Being and the Inner Being The very first step in getting out of the ignorance is to accept the fact that this outer consciousness is not one's soul, not oneself, not the real person, but only a temporary formation on the surface for the purposes of the surface play. The soul, the person is within, not on the surface — the outer personality is the person only in the first sense of the Latin word persona which meant originally a mask. Letters on Yoga, pp. 304-05 Our surface existence is only a surface and it is there that there is the full reign of the Ignorance; to know we have to go within ourselves and see

4 Sri Aurobindo on the Witness Consciousness The witness consciousness is a state in which one stands back as an observer of one's thoughts and feelings. Such a state of consciousness is in contrast to the ordinary state in which one is more or less completely identified with one's mental and other inner movements. Speaking to students, the Mother observed: Do not believe that it [observing one's mind] is such an easy thing, for to observe your thoughts, you must first of all separate yourself from them. In the ordinary state, the ordinary man does not distinguish himself from his thoughts. He does not even know what he thinks. He

Note on the Mother The Mother was born Mirra Alfassa on February 21, 1878, in Paris. A student at the Academie Julian, she became an accomplished artist. Gifted from an early age with a capacity for spiritual and occult experience, she went to Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1906 and 1907 to study occultism with the adept Max Theon and his wife. Between 1911 and 1913 she gave a number of talks to various groups of seekers in Paris and began to record her deepening communion with the Divine in the diary later published as Prayers and Meditations. In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondicherry, South India, to meet the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. After a stay of eleven mon

Levels of Spiritual Mind Above the Ordinary Mind Sri Aurobindo speaks of various levels of mental existence above the ordinary mind. In an ascending order these are: Higher Mind: A first plane of spiritual consciousness white one becomes constantly aware of the Self. Whereas the ordinary mind is a thought-mind, the Higher Mind is a "luminous thought-mind, a mind of Spirit-born conceptual knowledge."47 47 Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, SABCL, Vol. 19. p. 939. Page-95 Illumined Mind: A mind no longer of higher thought but of spiritual light. Intuition: A mind that gets the Truth in flashes, which it turns into i

-022_Enlightenment—Slow or Sudden.htm Enlightenment—Slow or Sudden? Paradoxically, the change from the ordinary consciousness, in which one is identified with one's illusory self, to the true consciousness of identification with one's real Self—a "reversal of consciousness," as the Mother describes it—is both a slow process and a sudden happening. This paradox has been well explained by the Mother using the metaphor of the incubation of an egg. She says: This change of consciousness and its preparation have often been compared with the formation of the chicken in the egg: till the very last second the egg remains the same, there is no change, and it is only when the chicken is completely form

3 Questions and Answers at Esalen (Eckhart's responses to written questions from the author during a talk at the Esalen retreat, June 1 and 2, 2001. The responses have been paraphrased and abbreviated by the author.) DALAL: Can the state of surrender in which one is able to say "yes" to whatever is, be attained so long as the sense of a separate "!"or ego persists? ECKHART: Ego and surrender cannot, indeed, coexist. The ability to say "yes" to what is does nor come from the ego. One who is strongly entrenched in the ego would not even understand the meaning of saying "yes" co what is. The fact chat you are able to understand the mean