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The Body Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to take for granted the innate consciousness and
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  capacities of the body. Much of what takes place in the
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  body is done by systems that are far more complex and far more
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  subtle than anything the mind can actively control.
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  In fact, we find that frequently when the mind intervenes or the
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  vital nature imposes itself, we tend to upset the natural
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  harmony, balance and operation of the body.
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  In its normal, healthy, energetic state, the body has a
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  quite incredible consciousness. It can heal wounds and
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  regenerate skin. It can identify and fight off
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  diseases. It creates a memory of illnesses
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  and uses that to Marshall its defenses quickly when it
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  identifies a similar illness trying to enter.
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  It manages complex biochemistry that maintains homeostasis in
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  the blood and adjusts numerous facts to maintain this balance.
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  This is all in addition to the very fact that it can grow from
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  a couple of cells, divide and differentiate the cells and
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  organize them into organ systems, limbs, nervous and
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  brain tissue, etcetera. It responds to various
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  environmental conditions automatically.
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  Scientists recognize that there are further capacities that are
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  latent within the body, such as the power to regenerate limbs or
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  regrow teeth. Biological researchers are
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  identifying the mechanisms in the body which turn on or turn
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  off these various capabilities and are experimenting with
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  adjusting certain bioelectric currents or gene activity to
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  provoke these advanced capacities which are known to
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  exist and can be observed in certain fish, salamanders,
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  etcetera. It is clear that through the
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  mind's development and the vital nature's extremes that the body
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  has been put to tremendous tests.
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  The impact of the mind and the vital on the body consciousness
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  is also a major factor in the body either acknowledging its
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  latent powers or simply failing to recognize them any longer and
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  thus fall into degeneration, illness and eventual demise of
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  the body. Some scientists now confidently
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  predict that virtual immortality is possible for the body when
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  regeneration capacities are fully developed, when imbalances
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  in the chemistry can be kept in check, and when the will to
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  health is fully active. The question then resolves
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  around what will human beings do with extended long life or
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  virtual immortality? Unless they remain young and
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  fresh in their minds and vital energies, this extended lifespan
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  can become a burden and a curse, the mother notes quote.
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  And then you will see when one is normal, that is to say,
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  unspoilt by bad teaching and bad example.
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  When one is born and lives in a healthy and relatively balanced
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  and normal environment, the body spontaneously, without any need
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  for one to intervene mentally or even vitally, has the certitude
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  that even if something goes wrong, it will be cured.
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  The body carries within itself the certitude of cure, the
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  certitude that the illness or disorder is sure to disappear.
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  It is only through the false education from the environment
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  that gradually the body is taught that there are incurable
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  diseases, irreparable accidents, and that it can grow old, and
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  all these stories which destroy its faith and trust.
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  But normally the body of a normal child, the body, I am not
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  Speaking of the thought the body itself feels when something goes
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  wrong, that it will certainly be all right again.
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  And if it is not like that, this means that it has already been
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  perverted. It seems normal for it to be in
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  good health. It seems quite abnormal to it.
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  If something goes wrong and it falls I'll and in its instinct,
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  its spontaneous instinct, it is sure that everything will be all
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  right. It is only the perversion of
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  thought which destroys this. As one grows up, the thought
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  becomes more and more distorted. There is the whole collective
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  suggestion, and so little by little the body loses its trust
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  in itself and naturally losing its self-confidence.
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  It also loses the spontaneous capacity of restoring its
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  equilibrium when this has been disturbed.
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  End Quote. Reference Shrioro Bindu and the
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  Mother Powers within, Chapter 16, Body, pages 126 to 127.