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Psychic Being -- Soul: Its Nature, Mission & Evolution Introduction · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There is a considerable confusion about the nature of
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  the soul. A sizeable portion of humanity
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  denies the existence of the soul, while another segment of
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  humanity reduces its value below that of material possessions and
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  outward satisfactions. The ego personality, bound up in
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  the actions and reactions of the mind, life and body, has little
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  time to consider the implications of the soul, its
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  existence, its purpose, its action, and its significance for
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  our growth and development. Besides the confusion about the
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  soul, there is also a lot of confusion surrounding the term
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  psychic. Particularly in the West, the
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  term has been associated with occult phenomena and powers and
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  to a great degree tied up with ideas about seeing the future
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  and telling one's fortune. Sviorobindo utilizes the term
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  psychic and psychic being to describe the soul in its
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  manifestation and active role in evolution of consciousness.
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  It is essential to avoid the confusion engendered by the more
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  common, more sensationalistic way the term has developed in
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  the modern world. The soul represents the essence
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  of who we are, and it is the soul essence, the psychic being,
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  that actually guides the development of mind, life and
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  body from behind. Sages, seers, rishis have all
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  described their experience of the soul.
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  It is possible for us to develop the receptivity to hear the
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  voice of the soul, to follow its guidance, and to thereby uplift
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  and ennoble our lives and realize the deeper purpose, the
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  significance of our lives. The soul is not a matter of
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  philosophy, nor even religion. It is something that an
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  individual can awaken to and experience in his own life.
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  Once that happens, there is no doubt and no chance of confusion
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  any longer. People who have the experience
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  may not call it the soul as there are many words that people
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  have used to describe the experience and the motivation.
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  Some people return from a near death experience with a new
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  conviction about the divine presence and their own
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  consecration to the divine. Whether they call it a soul
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  experience or not, they have had a touch of that deeper reality
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  and deeper meaning in life, and it has changed them.
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  We are more than cogs in a machine.
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  We are more than workers, consumers, or enjoyers of the
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  external pleasures of life. When we awaken to the
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  opportunity for spiritual growth, we quickly begin to
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  recognize that there is something in us, something
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  deeper, something inside that calls us to take up that effort
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  to find the soul within us and thereby solidify the connection
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  between our individual being and the divine consciousness that
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  manifests the entire creation. The present book, The Psychic
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  Being Soul, Its Nature, Mission and Evolution is a wide-ranging
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  exploration of the action of the soul and its active part in our
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  lives. The Psychic Being, including a
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  review of the meaning and nature of the psychic being, the role,
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  function and action of the psychic being, the growth and
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  development of the psychic, the psychic being in spiritual
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  practice, and the psychic being in connection to the afterlife
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  and rebirth reference Sri aurobindo and the mother.
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  The psychic being soul, its nature, mission and evolution
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  Introduction.