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The Shift to the Standpoint of the Observer of the External Nature · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The Purusha, the witness consciousness, resides in each
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  of us. Why then do we have to seek for
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  liberation? If we examine our psychological
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  standpoint, we can see that we tend to identify with, to become
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  the external ego personality that we have assumed.
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  It is as if we put on a suit of clothes, a costume, and in so
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  doing we become what that suit of clothes or costume
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  represents, and we forget, for the time being, the person
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  inside the costume. We become so involved in playing
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  the role represented by the personality we put on that our
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  consciousness fixates itself there and we do not reside in
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  the standpoint of the witness. Rather, we are the actor
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  participating in the action, forgetting that we have another
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  aspect of our existence that is independent of our role.
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  At a certain stage, perhaps under some pressure or stress,
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  we begin to wonder why we are doing what we are doing, why we
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  are experiencing what we are experiencing.
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  We try to find some meaning in the play that we take so
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  seriously. This may lead to a drawing back
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  of our involvement with the external life, and in so doing
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  we may become conscious of the silent observer, the witness,
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  the bird on the common tree who eats not of the fruit of that
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  tree as the Mundaku Punishad pictures it.
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  Once we become aware of the Purusha, the drive toward
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  liberation from and potential mastery of the external nature
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  can become a central motive for the existence.
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  This leads to spiritual practices intended to enhance
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  this separation and accomplish a shift in standpoint from the ego
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  personality to the divine standpoint, Shrioro Bindo writes
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  quote. By itself the Purusha is
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  impersonal, but by mixing itself with the movements of procrity
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  it makes for itself a surface of ego and personality.
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  When it appears in its own separate nature, then it is seen
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  to be detached and observing. End Quote.
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  Reference. Sri Rabindu and the Mother
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  Looking from within, Chapter 5. Attitudes on the Path, page 148.