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A Shift of Consciousness Brings New Understanding of One's Life and Existence in the World · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We typically live rooted in the ego consciousness in the
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  external physical world. We judge things based on our
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  perceptions, our physical, vital and mental processes, and our
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  habitual way of understanding things from the standpoint of
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  the ego. This leads to a very limited and
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  biased viewpoint that does not provide a complete view of
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  things. We see a small slice of
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  existence and try to judge from that.
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  There's a famous story that illustrates this principle. 5
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  blind men are asked to describe an elephant by feeling it.
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  One feels the ear, one the leg, one the tail, one the trunk, and
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  one the body. They each provide a different
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  and obviously very inaccurate description of an elephant.
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  By shifting our standpoint of consciousness away from the ego,
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  we have a better opportunity to understand the forces at work in
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  the world and the nature of their action and the trajectory
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  they are following toward whatever may be their intended
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  resolution or result. Humanity as a whole has had
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  several experiences that arose out of a radical shift of
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  viewpoint. Human beings used to believe the
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  world was flat, and this severely limited the opportunity
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  for a comprehensive global understanding.
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  The shift of understanding to one of a spherical world from
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  that of a flat world was a major shift of standpoint.
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  Another shift occurred when humanity gained the
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  understanding that our Earth is not the center of existence, and
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  that in fact, the Earth revolves around the Sun, is part of a
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  solar system which exists as a small group of planets and moons
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  grouped around a star which was moving through a Galaxy along a
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  relatively minor arm of that Galaxy within a universe
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  consisting of a vast number of galaxies.
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  Yet another shift is actually occurring now as we grasp the
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  significance of viewing the Earth from space and we
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  recognize the fragility of our planet and its environment and
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  the unity and symbiotic nature of all life on the planet.
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  This shift is starting to help us focus on the need for
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  cooperation and a balanced approach to the beings who share
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  the planet with us and to the planetary environment itself.
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  We as yet generally fail to see the forces at work, the causes
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  that create the results we see in the world.
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  That understanding can only come as we shift our consciousness
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  away from the ego and begin to see things from another plane, a
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  causal plane. We're intentionality far
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  different and far beyond that of human intentions create the
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  significance, purpose and action that we experience and respond
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  to in our lives, the mother writes quote, if one goes out of
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  the determinism of the world as it is at present, this world
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  which is a mixture of the physical, vital, mental and of
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  something of a spiritual influence or infusion, quite
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  veiled, everything that happens is the combination of all this.
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  If we go out of all that we can do it.
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  If we rise above the physical, material world as it is and
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  enter another consciousness, we perceive things totally
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  differently. And then we see that behind
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  these appearances, which seemed to us absolutely logical and
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  extremely natural and almost necessary, there's an action
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  which, if perceived in one's ordinary consciousness, would
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  seem all the time miraculous. There is an intervention of
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  forces, consciousnesses, movements, influences, which is
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  invisible or imperceptible for our ordinary consciousness and
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  constantly changes the whole course of circumstances.
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  We need, don't need to go very far.
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  It is enough to take just a step outside the ordinary
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  consciousness in order to realize this.
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  I have already said several times that if one finds the
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  psychic consciousness within oneself and identifies oneself
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  with it, well, immediately one feels a complete reversal of
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  circumstances and sees things almost totally differently from
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  the way one ordinarily sees them.
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  For one perceives the force which is acting, instead of the
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  result of this action. At present you see only the
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  result of the action of the forces, and this seems to you
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  natural, logical, and it's only when something a little abnormal
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  occurs, or it's a little abnormal for you, that you begin
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  to feel surprised. But if you were in another state
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  of consciousness, what seems abnormal to you now would no
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  longer be so. You would see that it is the
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  effect of something else, of another action than the one you
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  perceive. End Quote.
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  Reference Srioro Bindu and the Mother.
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  The hidden forces of life, Chapter 7.
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  Spiritual Forces of Help and Succor, pages 171 to 172.