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Distinguishing Psychic Experience from Occult or Abnormal Experience · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  How does 1 distinguish between psychic experience as defined by
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  Sri Aurobindo as soul experiences from the vast array
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  of experiences that occur on the mental or vital planes that have
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  been called psychic phenomena? Once one has the clue about the
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  different parts of the being and their characteristic modes of
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  action, it is actually not too difficult to know what the
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  experience is, where it originates from and what energy
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  it carries. Most occult experiences actually
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  take place on the vital plane. Things like out of body
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  experiences, astral travel, prophetic, symbolic or vital
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  desire filled dreams and interaction with ghosts, psychic
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  readings, faith healing, vision quests, etcetera are generally
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  located there. Some experiences such as forms
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  of intuition, inspiration, clairvoyance, clairaudience,
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  remote viewing, exploration of the Akashic records may occur on
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  the mental plane, although there may also be some vital element
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  to it. There can also be an experience
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  of a mental witness which remains within the mental view,
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  while the spiritual experience of the witness consciousness
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  removes itself from attachment to the external ego personality
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  and is able to view people, events and circumstances from a
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  totally different abstracted standpoint.
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  Psychic experiences, those that involve the soul, will tend to
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  involve movements of aspiration, consecration, devotion,
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  spiritual dedication, as well as connection to a higher
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  consciousness that provides new insights and a wider vision.
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  Psychic experiences may also have an element of ananda, the
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  transcendent bliss experience, as opposed to sensational
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  experiences of pleasure, which tend to operate on the physical
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  or vital aspects of the being. Sri Aurobindo notes quote
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  Ordinarily all the more inward and all the abnormal
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  psychological experiences are called psychic.
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  I use the word psychic for the soul as distinguished from the
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  mind and vital. All movements and experiences of
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  the soul would in that sense be called psychic.
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  Those which rise from or directly touch the psychic
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  being, Where mind and vital predominate, the experience
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  would be called psychological surface or a cult.
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  End Quote Reference Shriya Robindo and the Mother The
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  psychic being soul, its nature, Mission and evolution Section 1.
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  Meaning and Nature of the Psychic Being, Page 7.