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The Universal, the Individual and the Evolution of Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We see the world from the individual standpoint and place
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  ourselves at the centre of it. We believe we originate the
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  thoughts, feelings, emotions and responses we give.
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  This, however, is very much the illusion of the ego sense.
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  Consider that for the longest time, human beings believed that
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  the Sun rotated around the Earth.
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  Our language encompasses this belief even today when we talk
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  about sunrise and sunset. This geocentric viewpoint was
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  eventually replaced by what is called a heliocentric viewpoint,
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  namely that the Earth rotates and also transits around the
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  Sun, thus creating the illusion of sunrise and sunset.
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  The first people in the West who recognized and publicized these
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  facts were ostracized, excommunicated from the church,
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  and otherwise pressured to recant their views.
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  Eventually they were found to have been justified in their
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  beliefs, and even those who earlier opposed this recognized
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  that the geocentric view of life on Earth was inaccurate.
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  Similarly, we live and act with what we may call the egocentric
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  view of our lives, although in a similar way we are individual
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  instances of the universal manifestation and for the most
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  part carry out the ideas, impulses and direction of that
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  universal with minor adjustments due to the individual receiving
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  the impulse having his own unique set of experiences.
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  The Ishu Upanishad proclaims this in the very first verse.
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  Quote. All this is for habitation by
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  the Lord, whatever is individual universe of movement in the
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  universal motion. End Quote.
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  Each person is always being inundated with these universal
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  forces, mental forces, vital forces, physical forces,
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  energies that span the entire spectrum, both perceptible and
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  imperceptible, based on the stage of development and the
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  focus of the receiving individual.
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  Certain forces then tend to predominate in him, which
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  creates his individuality but not his separateness from the
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  universal creation. Change is thus not under the
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  full control of the individual. As certain forces work within
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  him and various chakras are activated, he turns his
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  attention and focus to one thing or another, and eventually, if
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  he turns to spiritual growth, he becomes aware of the limitations
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  of the habitual patterns operative as part of earlier
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  stages of the evolutionary process.
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  To be sure, the old embedded habits and instincts are
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  intended to ensure stability and continuity of the creation and
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  to make sure that each next step has a solid foundation and is
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  not simply a vast mistake which will lead to harm or
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  destruction. The conservative principle has
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  its role to play. At the same time, through a
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  process of opening to new forces and beginning to express them, a
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  slow change begins to manifest for the individual and in the
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  society as it responds to the new direction, similar to the
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  adoption of the heliocentric model and the consequent move
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  away from the geocentric model of Earth and its position.
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  Eventually, we may begin to recognize that even the
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  heliocentric model, correct in its own limited sphere, will
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  have to give way to a larger view that puts the solar system
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  into its right place in the Galaxy, the Galaxy into its
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  right place in the universe, et cetera, et cetera.
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  Human development mirrors in a certain way, as new forces and
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  new understandings come into play, both the necessity and the
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  manner of instituting changes to human nature.
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  More or less, the mutation that adapts, modifies, or overturns
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  previously fixed ways of response become real to us, Sri
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  Orbindo observes. Quote.
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  But what we are on the surface is being constantly set in
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  motion, changed, developed or repeated by the waves of the
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  general nature coming in on us, either directly or else
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  indirectly, through others, through circumstances, through
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  various agencies or channels. Some of this flows straight into
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  the conscious parts and acts there, but our mind ignores its
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  source, appropriates it, and regards all that as its own.
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  A part comes secretly into the subconscient, or sinks into it,
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  and waits for an opportunity of rising up into the conscious
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  surface. A good deal goes into the
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  subliminal and may at any time come out, or may not, may rather
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  rest there as unused matter. Part passes through and is
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  rejected, thrown back or thrown out or spilt into the universal
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  sea. Our nature is a constant
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  activity of forces supplied to us out of which, or rather out
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  of a small amount of it, we make what we will or can.
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  What we make seems fixed and formed for good, but in reality
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  it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable.
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  The appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and
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  recurrence of the same vibrations and formations.
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  That is why our nature can be changed in spite of
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  Vivekananda's saying and Horace's adage, and in spite of
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  the conservative resistance of the subconscious.
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  But it is a difficult job, because the master mode of
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  nature is this obstinate repetition and recurrence.
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  End Quote Reference Srioro Bindo Bases of Yoga Chapter 5 Physical
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  Consciousness, Subconscious Sleep and Dream Illness pages 88
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  to 89.