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Developing a Strong Power of Knowledge and Will to Manage and Control the Vital Nature · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  While a reaction may seem to be taking place instantaneously, it
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  is always conditioned by prior acts or events, the chain of
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  cause and effect dependent or origination, or the law of
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  karma, however one wants to term it by adopting the standpoint of
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  the witness consciousness, observing the external nature of
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  the body, life, mind Complex 1 creates a space of distance that
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  allows one to not be so absorbed in the motion that one cannot
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  see the links and the antecedents.
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  Once we can observe the potential causes that lead to
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  these instant reactions, we can begin to defuse them before they
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  erupt, anticipate their eruption when we see the signs, and work
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  to prevent their manifestation at that time, or change the
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  situation entirely using processes such as visualization.
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  It should be noted that top athletes have in recent years
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  recognized that preparing themselves by mentally
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  visualizing the event and one's participation in it helps them
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  to prepare and thereby succeed. A similar process can be
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  utilized to visualize the path that these reactions tend to
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  follow and determine how one would change one's reaction from
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  a new standpoint. Thus, the reaction pattern can
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  be rewired when the actual situations arise that would
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  ordinarily trigger such a reaction.
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  The new rewired response would be waiting to replace the
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  otherwise expected habit of the past.
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  It is through such actions, as noted here, that the higher
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  force of consciousness is able to be brought to bear on the
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  habits of body, life and mind. What this does not cover is the
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  influence of beings or forces that occupy other planes of
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  existence, but pressure us to move in specific directions as
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  they tend to feed off of the energy and emotions thus
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  released by us. Resisting their influence
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  requires a strong and focused aspiration, a connection to the
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  higher force, and a will to carry out the divine intention
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  and not that of any other being or force.
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  A disciple asks mother, there are mistakes.
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  One knows there are mistakes, but still it is as though one
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  were pushed into making them. Then the mother observes quote.
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  Pushed by what? Ah, this is exactly what
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  happens. It is the lower nature, the
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  instincts of the subconscient, which govern you and make you do
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  things you should not do. And so it is a choice between
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  your will and accepting submission.
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  There's always a moment when one can decide.
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  It goes to the point where there is even a moment when one can
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  decide to be ill or not to be ill.
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  It even goes so far that a moment comes when one can decide
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  to die or not to die. But for that one must have an
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  extremely awakened consciousness, because this
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  speck is infinitesimal in time and like the 100th part of a
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  second, and because before it can do nothing and after it can
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  do nothing. But at the moment one can.
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  If one is absolutely awake, one can at that moment take the
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  decision. But for ordinary things, As for
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  example, giving way before an impulse or refusing it, it is
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  not a space, not even the space of a second.
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  One has plenty of time before him, one certainly has several
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  minutes. And it is a choice between weak
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  submission and a controlling will.
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  And if the will is clear, if it is based on truth, it, if truly
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  it obeys the truth and is clear, it always has the power to
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  refuse the wrong movement. It is an excuse you give
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  yourself when you say I could not.
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  It is not true. It is that truly you have not
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  wanted it in the right way. For there is always the choice
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  between saying yes and saying no.
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  But one chooses to be weak and later gives oneself this excuse,
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  saying it is not my fault it was stronger than I, It is your
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  fault if the thing was stronger than you, because you are not
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  these impulses. You are a conscious soul and an
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  intelligent will, and your duty is to see that this is what
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  governs you and not the impulses from below.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and
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  Difficulties, pages 80 to 81.