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Understanding the Role of Attitude and How It Impacts Our Lives · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In the Sanskrit language there is a term bhava, which defies
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  precise translation into English, but generally can be
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  understood as an orientation of the being, a feeling or attitude
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  of being, a vibrational field that expresses a specific mood
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  mode or energy. This word has a far broader and
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  deeper connotation than any similar single words we may find
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  in English. There can be a mode of devotion,
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  for instance, where the being takes on the energy of
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  aspiration, prayer, and consecration.
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  Dr. Dalal helps us appreciate the sense of this term through
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  his description of the psychological connotations of
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  the term attitude, which can encompass states of being,
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  knowing and expressing from the various parts of the being.
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  We can look back on our lives and note times when we managed
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  to change our attitude about something and thereby changed
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  the entire direction of the future in relation to that
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  person or living being generally, or our environment or
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  how we respond to situations. A common example is found in the
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  way people often relate to bees in the United States.
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  As young children, they are frequently indoctrinated to
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  believe that bees are dangerous and painful, and thus they tend
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  to treat bees as hostile beings that should either be avoided
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  out of fear or exterminated. This category has expanded in
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  many people's minds to include honey bees, native pollinating
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  bees of various types, bumble bees, as well as yellow jackets,
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  Hornets, and Wasps. Some of these beings are
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  innocuous, busy doing their job of bringing back pollen to their
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  hive and as a result, pollinating much of the food
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  that we eat. Thank you bees.
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  Some are more aggressive and may need different treatment under
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  various circumstances, such as yellow jackets, but even here
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  they have a role to play, and careful consideration of
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  location and circumstance can minimize hostile interactions.
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  Meanwhile, people, particularly in the United States, call in an
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  exterminator and they try to destroy the bees, including the
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  beneficial innocuous ones that make no trouble for anyone.
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  Similarly, there is widespread use of insecticides that kill
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  bees as part of their functionality, and people do not
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  give this a second thought. The result in the United States
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  is the decimation of bee colonies, colony collapse and a
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  crisis for future food supplies. This has gone to such an extent
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  that scientists are trying to invent tiny drone bees to
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  undertake pollination in the absence of bees.
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  So let us back up for a minute as many people have started to
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  become aware of the concern and have cultivated a new attitude
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  towards bees, to support bees, to understand bees and to find
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  ways to not only coexist but to actually help the bees survive
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  the onslaught in the general society.
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  This is a visible change in attitude which has a change in
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  action and results that can be observed.
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  Such changes take place all the time as we learn how to retreat
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  from surface reactions and we begin to look at the entirety of
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  the world around us and the interactions that take place.
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  As such RE evaluations take place, we may find us changing
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  over time our attitudes and thereby our interpretations and
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  responses to many types of situations.
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  Such changes are exemplified by individuals who have had a
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  traumatic experience of some kind, such as a near death
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  experience and come back transformed in their
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  understanding and way of seeing the purpose of their lives and
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  how they should participate positively in the world.
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  Dr. de Lal notes quote what is meant by attitude?
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  The phrase attitudes of mind used by James obviously implies
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  that attitudes have something to do with the mind.
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  Thus, dictionaries define attitude as a way of thinking or
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  as a mental view. A further understanding of the
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  term is provided by psychology, which defines attitude as an
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  internal affective orientation that would explain the actions
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  of a person. This psychological definition
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  indicates that an attitude is not merely a way of thinking,
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  but also a way of feeling an affective or emotional
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  disposition which determines a person's actions.
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  In psychological jargon, an attitude has cognitive thinking,
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  affective feeling, and conative willing components.
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  Therefore, a change in one's attitude towards a thing,
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  person, circumstance, or event implies change in the way one
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  thinks, feels, and is disposed to act in relation to the thing,
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  person, circumstance, or event. End Quote.
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  Reference. Sri Orovindo and the Mother
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  looking from within. Introduction by Doctor Delal,
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  pages 4 to 5. Roman.