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The Ascent of the Consciousness Beyond the Preoccupation With Material Existence · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  It is difficult to both understand and appreciate the
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  apparent regression from spiritual heights to a world in
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  which the physical being and material focus reigns supreme
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  and predominates in the entire world to an overwhelming degree.
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  It is likely that the intellectual and then the
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  spiritual development reached a point where it was too rarefied
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  and the generality of mankind was unable to adopt it,
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  particularly as they struggled to survive and thrive in
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  difficult external circumstances.
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  We can thus accept that a period of focus on the external, the
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  physical, the material, was needed to provide a foundation
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  or basis upon which the next ascent of consciousness could
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  develop, hopefully in a way that ensured that the physical and
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  vital being of man would be able to both participate and
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  appreciate the next stage of development.
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  In the Titiria Upanishad, the seeker first establishes the
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  foundation of the physical level before eventually moving on to
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  appreciate the priority and primacy of the vital, the
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  mental, the supermental, and the bliss planes of existence that
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  make up the various levels of the creation.
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  In the modern day, we see scientists delving deep into
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  matter and discovering that it is really energy, and then
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  proceeding to discover that energy is a form of
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  consciousness. So we see a preparation for the
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  renewal of the upward ascent of the evolution of consciousness.
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  Now with an understanding of the roots of matter and the oneness
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  of the entire creation, Shrioro Bindo provides a note of
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  confidence that the material focus of the current age will
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  eventually recede as a new spiritual aspiration and urge
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  awakens and takes up the challenge of the ever evolving
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  conscious existence that is manifesting in the world in the
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  life Divine, he writes. Quote the earliest preoccupation
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  of man in his awakened thoughts, and, as it seems, his inevitable
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  and ultimate preoccupation, for it survives the longest periods
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  of scepticism and returns after every banishment, is also the
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  highest which his thought can envisage.
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  It manifests itself in the divination of Godhead, the
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  impulse towards perfection, the search after pure truth and
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  unmixed bliss, the sense of a secret immortality.
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  The ancient dawns of human knowledge have left us their
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  witness to this constant aspiration.
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  Today we see a humanity satiated but not satisfied by victorious
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  analysis of the externalities of nature, preparing to return to
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  its primeval longings. The earliest formula of wisdom
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  promised us to be its last God. Light, freedom, immortality.
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  End Quote. The Mother notes quote.
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  When I read these ancient texts, I really have the impression
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  that from the inner point of view, from the point of view of
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  the true life, we have fallen back terribly.
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  And that for the acquisition of a few ingenious mechanisms, a
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  few encouragements to physical laziness, the acquisition of
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  instruments and gadgets that lessen the effort of living, we
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  have renounced the reality of the inner life.
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  It is that sense which has been lost, and it needs an effort for
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  you to think of learning the meaning of life, the purpose of
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  existence, the goal towards which we must advance, towards
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  which all life advances, whether you want it or not.
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  One step towards the goal. Oh, it needs so much effort to
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  do that. And generally one thinks of it
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  only when the outer circumstances are not pleasant.
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  How far we are from the times when the shepherd who did not go
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  to school and kept watch over his flock at night under the
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  stars, could read in the stars what was going to happen.
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  Commune with something which expressed itself through nature
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  and had the sense of the profound beauty and that peace
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  which a simple life gives. It is very unfortunate that one
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  has to give up something in order to gain another.
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  When I speak of the inner life, I am far from opposing any
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  modern inventions. Far from it.
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  But how much these inventions have made us artificial and
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  stupid, how much we have lost the sense of true beauty, how
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  much we burden ourselves with useless needs?
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  Perhaps the time has come to continue the ascent in the curve
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  of the spiral. And now, with all that this
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  knowledge of matter has brought us, we shall be able to give to
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  our spiritual progress a more solid basis, strong with what we
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  have learnt of the secrets of material nature.
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  We shall be able to join the two extremes and rediscover the
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  Supreme Reality in the very heart of the atom.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, Looking from within, Chapter 1.
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  Looking at Life and Circumstances, pages 16 to 17.