Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Solving the Existential Crisis of Humanity By Evolution of Consciousness
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to the selfgrowth.com show.
- 0:04My name is David Ricklin and I'm the founder of selfgrowth.com.
- 0:08They will be discussing solving humanity's existential crisis
- 0:13through the evolutionary development of consciousness.
- 0:17I know that's a very challenging concept.
- 0:19We're going to delve in deep is a lot of problems going on in
- 0:21the world right now. To help us understand these
- 0:24topics, I'm excited to interview Santosh Krinsky.
- 0:28Make sure you have something to write with.
- 0:29We're going to be sharing a lot of information today.
- 0:31Before we get started, I want to take a couple of minutes and
- 0:35share some information on Santosh.
- 0:37Santosh Krinsky's been studying 3 Arabindos The Life Divine
- 0:42since 1971 and we'll be getting to some detail about who he is
- 0:46and and why he's important. He's lived in the USA, Europe
- 0:49and India and is Ben and remains active in the natural products
- 0:53industry. Since 1974.
- 0:55He's the editor at Lotus Press, a publisher of books on
- 0:59spirituality and Wellness, with a special focus on Ayurveda,
- 1:02Reiki and herbalism and the writings of Sri Arbindo.
- 1:06He is himself the author of 13 books of readings focused on the
- 1:10works of Sri Arbindo, and he publishes a daily blog post as
- 1:14he expands his study. Santosh is president of a
- 1:17nonprofit institute for holistic education, which is dedicated to
- 1:21the work of integrating spirituality into daily life.
- 1:24He resides with his wife, Karuna.
- 1:27Hope I get the pronunciation right in Honolulu, HI.
- 1:30Santosh, welcome to today's show.
- 1:32Well, thank you. It's my pleasure to be here.
- 1:35All right, very excited. A lot of deep topics I want to
- 1:38cover today and we're going to delve in deeply.
- 1:41But the first thing I want to start with, it's something I
- 1:43mentioned in terms of the our broad topic, what is this, the
- 1:48existential crisis of humanity today?
- 1:50So let's take a broad look. What is that?
- 1:53Well, essentially we're looking at a lot of changes that have
- 2:00taken place since the Industrial revolution to the point where we
- 2:06are experiencing massive species die off on the planet, climate
- 2:13change, the development of weapons that can totally
- 2:17annihilate humanity. But even more close to home, we
- 2:25have a very small percentage of people on the planet who live
- 2:30like the greatest kings or maharajas in history, while
- 2:35billions of people are barely able to survive.
- 2:40We have a freshwater crisis that's been across the world.
- 2:46We have a food crisis. We have a lot of tensions
- 2:50because of these issues that's leading to mass migrations and
- 2:56warfare and a lot of Saber rattling going on around the
- 3:00world. Now, clearly humanity has dozens
- 3:06of ways to destroy ourselves and the planet right now that we
- 3:11didn't have two or 300 years ago.
- 3:14And people are anxious, fearful and confused about what to do
- 3:21about it because these are such massive problems of someone
- 3:26mentioned to me just this morning that even Warren Buffett
- 3:31with all his billions of dollars says that he cannot solve these
- 3:37type of problems. And it makes him confused,
- 3:41fearful and concerned. Thank you for mentioning that to
- 3:45me this morning. You're welcome.
- 3:48I it's interesting. There's no, there's been no time
- 3:51in our history like this where we have, as you mentioned, just
- 3:54so many means of self destruction, self annihilation
- 3:57like never before. It's amazing that we put
- 4:00ourselves in a position. But with that, hopefully, and
- 4:03we'll be discussing today some things that we can do that
- 4:06individuals can do and we can do as a society and mankind to to
- 4:10offset some of these challenges that we deal with.
- 4:12So I want, I want to take a minute because I know one of the
- 4:15things you've done is you, you focused on studying 3 hour
- 4:19Bendos life and his worked. Why is he important?
- 4:23Why is he important in general? And how does some of his
- 4:25teachings apply in what we're going to be talking about today?
- 4:29OK, well basically I should say I've studied a vast array of
- 4:34spiritual and religious teachings from around the world,
- 4:39Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism along the way, so I'm
- 4:46not essentially limited there. What I found in the work of Sri
- 4:52Aurobindo was he integrated a lot of disparate facts that we
- 4:58do not normally understand the common thread, and showed that
- 5:07there is an evolution of consciousness that has been
- 5:11taking place on our planet since its inception as a a ball of
- 5:17fiery matter up to the point that human beings came forward.
- 5:23And people have misunderstood the idea of evolution.
- 5:27They think it's some kind of situation where man descended
- 5:32from the apes or whatever. And whether or not that's
- 5:36physically true about the physical evolution.
- 5:41More importantly, he speaks about an evolution of
- 5:45consciousness, the consciousness in matter, then the
- 5:51consciousness in the vital force of plants and then animals, and
- 5:55eventually the development of the human being and the mental
- 5:59consciousness. And all of these things
- 6:03systematically came forward and developed the forms that were
- 6:09able to hold that level of consciousness.
- 6:13And at this point, we find that the evolutionary crisis is that
- 6:21we are applying to problems we created with our mental
- 6:27consciousness to manage the material world and the vital
- 6:33world around us. But with the limitations of the
- 6:36mental consciousness, we've created a hole for ourselves
- 6:40that we've dug ourselves into. And Triora Bindo points out that
- 6:46the evolution of consciousness is not finished, and that it is
- 6:51at times when nature creates a crisis of existential
- 6:58proportions, that the next level of consciousness must appear and
- 7:06must begin to act upon the world or we wind up destroying
- 7:13ourselves. And so I think that's the
- 7:15important aspect that trioral Bindo focused on.
- 7:20That really is something revolutionary Albert Einstein
- 7:26said. We cannot solve our problems
- 7:29with the same thinking we used when we created them.
- 7:33And that's why we're all confused and fearful nowadays,
- 7:38because we keep trying to apply mental ideas and solutions to
- 7:45that now are far beyond what any mental solution can provide.
- 7:51Which is why we have everyone shouting at each other and why
- 7:54we have gridlock in our society. Because we're all seeing 1
- 8:01little piece of the puzzle and saying this is the solution.
- 8:05And in fact, all of them have limitations and weaknesses based
- 8:11on the limits of the mental consciousness.
- 8:15All right. Let me delve in a little deeper
- 8:17into a few things that you've said so far.
- 8:19So one of the challenges you mentioned in terms of trying to
- 8:23find a solution to this existential crisis is we really
- 8:26haven't evolved. Our level of consciousness
- 8:29hasn't evolved yet. Is that the main reason that
- 8:32past solutions, past things that we've tried have failed?
- 8:36Or are there other there are other aspects to it?
- 8:39Well, some of it is just we have used the mental power primarily
- 8:46to try to aggrandize ourselves materially and vitally.
- 8:53We use it to fulfill our desires, fulfill our greed.
- 8:56We don't even apply the mental consciousness in a way that
- 9:02uplifts us. It basically we try to find ways
- 9:07to have more technology, have creation, have more enjoyment
- 9:12and how to game the system if you will, rather than
- 9:18understanding why it is we are alive and what it is we are
- 9:23meant to do with our lives on this planet.
- 9:27If we think that the entire purpose of the creation of the
- 9:31universe is to eat, drink and be merry, well, frankly, we
- 9:39probably have too limited a viewpoint about things.
- 9:43All right, so in essence, it sounds like you're saying that
- 9:47this massive brain power and development we've really been
- 9:50focusing on, you know, almost the our pleasure.
- 9:54It's the kind of the the the physical pleasures in in most
- 9:57cases, instead of understanding and taking account the kind of
- 10:00the spiritual world and our conscious level of being that
- 10:06all this energy, but we have this brain power, but it's just
- 10:08using in one very specific focus and instead of using it broadly
- 10:13kind of fix things for for now in the future.
- 10:16Is that is that an accurate view?
- 10:19That's one side of the picture and it's it's a good start, but
- 10:26we're not limited to the brain power of the mental
- 10:30consciousness. The evolution continues and new
- 10:37manifestations of consciousness will evolve beyond the mental
- 10:42level. And so there's two aspects to
- 10:45it. One is we're not using our minds
- 10:48to their optimum potential. Secondly, we're not opening
- 10:55ourselves and becoming receptive to the pressure of the next
- 11:01level of consciousness that's trying to manifest in the world,
- 11:06and we are capable of achieving that level through our
- 11:15development. Maybe we should go quickly into
- 11:21the evolution of consciousness for a moment, because without
- 11:24that we're sort of stuck. Here.
- 11:26OK, let's focus on that. OK, so if somebody were looking
- 11:31at the planet Earth billions of years ago, they would have seen
- 11:37a ball of matter, They would have not seen any forms of life
- 11:41whatsoever. You Fast forward several billion
- 11:46years and suddenly you see plant life evolving and coming forward
- 11:50out of matter. And if you keep fast forwarding,
- 11:53you see animal life coming and eventually you see human life
- 11:56coming. With each level you see a new
- 11:59power of consciousness for the material level, which is very
- 12:04much mechanical in nature. It's atoms and molecules and
- 12:11forces of gravity and electricity and that type of
- 12:15thing. At the plant an animal level,
- 12:19you begin to see a vital reactive force, a force that has
- 12:24attraction and repulsion and desires and various needs.
- 12:30At the mental level, you begin to see thought developing and
- 12:36human beings begin to think about, well, why am I here?
- 12:39What is the universe about? How do things work?
- 12:43The reality is it's like a seed of a tree.
- 12:47If you see the seed of a tree, it's a material thing.
- 12:51Nobody knows that encoded inside that seed is a big tree.
- 12:58Plant it and give it the right conditions, the tree comes out
- 13:02of it. The world is pretty much the
- 13:06seed of development of the consciousness of the universe,
- 13:12you could say. And so we see first with the
- 13:17tree, some roots appear, a couple of leaves appear, and
- 13:21then you get, then you get branches and you get eventually
- 13:26the flowers and the fruits and the process of reproduction.
- 13:31The same thing happens with the planet and that evolution of
- 13:35consciousness. So we've seen the vital level
- 13:40come out, we've seen the lower mental level come out, we've
- 13:43seen flashes of a higher level of mentality come out.
- 13:48And some people over time have had experiences, spiritual
- 13:53experiences, what they may call religious or vision quest
- 13:59experiences, that show them that there is another further reality
- 14:04beyond what we can do with mental conceptualization.
- 14:09And that is the first indication that another level of
- 14:14consciousness is out there waiting and striving to evolve
- 14:19and develop on the planet. And it is a level that totally
- 14:24transforms the way we experience, look at and respond
- 14:29to the issues of life. All right, that's interesting.
- 14:34I'm just kind of thinking through the steps and where we
- 14:37are right now. So at this point, a smaller,
- 14:41much smaller percentage of the population and, and I would
- 14:44argue that probably only last few 1000 years of mankind have
- 14:48developed to this next level or are just beginning to develop
- 14:52this next level of, of consciousness.
- 14:55And from what you're saying is the expectations are that
- 14:59they'll be even more levels of consciousness that man will
- 15:01create and strive to. So we're, we're still at a point
- 15:04where perhaps we don't even know what our limits in terms of
- 15:07developing this consciousness are.
- 15:09Is that would that be an accurate view?
- 15:11Absolutely. That is, what we're seeing here
- 15:16is that even in humanity we have people who manifest some of the
- 15:23higher powers of the mind and we have some who don't, who are
- 15:28living more or less a purely vital life.
- 15:31Right. Maybe for reasons of opportunity
- 15:34or educational background or the stresses of just trying to
- 15:39survive in a harsh world. Because we found that people all
- 15:45over the world, when given opportunities, have the capacity
- 15:49to develop their mental powers. So it's not a matter of one
- 15:56group or person is better than another, but a lot of it is
- 16:00where they are, what they have to deal with.
- 16:02And. How they're given evolutionary
- 16:06opportunities, but then we see at the same time, not just these
- 16:11levels within mentality, but we see some people following a
- 16:16spiritual path, following a deeper religious path as they
- 16:21are called to find out more, to understand why they're here,
- 16:27what their life is about, and how they can participate in that
- 16:32higher purpose. OK, So I get it.
- 16:35Would you, would you say that people that are striving for
- 16:39those types of things have a better understanding of why
- 16:42we're here of a, a kind of a bigger world view are geared
- 16:47more towards or moving more towards manifesting these higher
- 16:50levels of consciousness? Well, to some degree I I would
- 16:54say that all of us who try to live a spiritual or religious
- 17:01life or for higher things have different levels of where we are
- 17:07in that realization. And some have more
- 17:12understanding, some have less. Some, like me, have to spend 40
- 17:16years studying one book to try and figure out what my book is
- 17:20about. You know, it's really, it's
- 17:25really something that is never ending.
- 17:29We have stages of our growth and development.
- 17:33And I can say that I feel like I've learned a lot in 40 years
- 17:39to the point where I can say that I really don't know very
- 17:42much. So there's a lot more to go.
- 17:48Yeah, there's. An old saying that the more you
- 17:50know, the more you know that you don't know.
- 17:53Well, I would agree with that. The more you're more learning
- 17:56about the stuff you don't know. So one of the things we want to
- 17:59focus on today was this concept is an existential crisis.
- 18:03What can we do about it? You know, we haven't had the
- 18:06tools and haven't haven't been able to kind of fix things.
- 18:09The problems are still there and they're worsening.
- 18:12Can be argued that they're worsening.
- 18:14What can humanity what, what can humanity do to seek a solution
- 18:17for the kind of this this crisis of survival almost.
- 18:21And so 22 broad questions. What can humanity do?
- 18:24And then what could we or should we as individuals be doing?
- 18:30And it and we'll start with that.
- 18:32Let's start with that, OK? Well, first, I was always
- 18:37impressed by a particular statement of Shriora Bindos,
- 18:40which I'll share with you, and that is to hope for a true
- 18:44change of human life without a change of human nature is an
- 18:50irrational and unspiritual proposition.
- 18:54And if we think about that for a moment, OK, we want to put a
- 18:58Band-Aid over all these problems we have.
- 19:01We have plastic in the ocean. The solution as well?
- 19:04Let's just clean up the plastic, or maybe stop using straws or
- 19:08something that isn't solving the essential problem.
- 19:15We're still seeing the world as individual fragments interacting
- 19:22with and fighting over the resources and the opportunities
- 19:27of the planet, and we see ourselves as individual separate
- 19:31actors on a stage in a hostile world.
- 19:37Basically, that viewpoint is essentially A vital and mental
- 19:44viewpoint. A change of consciousness leads
- 19:50to a change of human nature, and the essential change of
- 19:54consciousness can be illustrated by back a few thousand years
- 20:00ago, virtually all of humanity said that the sun revolves
- 20:06around the Earth. The Earth was the center of the
- 20:10universe. And.
- 20:12Everything was there for the Earth's benefit, and then along
- 20:18came certain individuals in science and they studied it and
- 20:22they said, well, actually the Earth revolves around the sun
- 20:27and it turns, and that's what creates the phenomenon that we
- 20:32see differently. So if we apply that same logic
- 20:37to how we live in the world and the consciousness we use, we say
- 20:43that the individual human being, you and I, are not the center of
- 20:49the universe. It's all not here just for our
- 20:53vital and physical satisfaction. So when we see the image from
- 21:00the space station of planet Earth, and we see that it's one
- 21:06unified whole and not a bunch of different countries fighting
- 21:13with each other over resources, we begin to see the shift in
- 21:17consciousness that is both coming and necessary for us to
- 21:24change the way we relate to the problems we're facing.
- 21:28We begin to see that we are part of a unity that has a larger
- 21:32purpose in the universe. Our Earth is part of a solar
- 21:37system. The solar system is part of the
- 21:39Milky Way Galaxy. The Galaxy is one of many
- 21:42galaxies, and these many galaxies are part of the
- 21:45universe. And some scientists nowadays
- 21:49will tell you there are multiple universes.
- 21:52Is that all there so that we can enjoy our pina coladas on the
- 21:58beach in the evening? I don't think so.
- 22:01You see what I mean? Yes.
- 22:03So the essential change of consciousness is to shift from
- 22:08an understanding of fragmentation and division to a
- 22:15vision and an actual experience of unity of all humanity and all
- 22:22the beings on the planet. You know, we could not survive
- 22:28without the trees on this planet, even though we're
- 22:30cutting them down and burning as fast as we can because we are
- 22:35symbiotic to them. Think about that for a moment.
- 22:39We don't think about that. We think of trees as a resource
- 22:43to be used, to be cut down, to be utilized, destroyed to make
- 22:48room for something else. But they create the oxygen that
- 22:53we need by breathing in the carbon dioxide that we excrete.
- 23:00So we and the trees are one symbiotic being, you could say.
- 23:07And trees means all the plant life, basically.
- 23:11Essentially, we can't live without them.
- 23:14They can't live without us. So why don't we recognize that?
- 23:19Why can't we live in that understanding of unity when that
- 23:25starts to happen? Because I'm now going to answer
- 23:28your question. When that starts to happen, both
- 23:33on the global level and on the individual level, it changes our
- 23:39entire relationship to each other and to the way we look
- 23:45upon the planet. And suddenly we realized that
- 23:50the other people on the planet are not our enemies.
- 23:53The planet is there to be shared among all the people and all the
- 23:59beings and animals that are on the planet, and to be honored
- 24:03and nourished and nurtured as our home, as part of our being
- 24:08from which we come. And at that point, we're not
- 24:13fighting over how I can grab more, but we're understanding
- 24:20how we can better apply the resources and not be wasteful
- 24:25and not be harmful planet to other people.
- 24:29And our whole vision of how to create international relations,
- 24:33how to deal with our world, how to apply science and technology,
- 24:39all of that changes. So then we come to the question.
- 24:43The second part of your question was, well, what can I do as an
- 24:48individual? And there are several things.
- 24:53These type of changes of awareness don't happen
- 24:56overnight, generally or magically.
- 25:01You know. Back in the 60s people thought
- 25:04they could take a pill and achieve cosmic consciousness.
- 25:08Well, OK, they got an experience of something that said they were
- 25:12not stole, fragmented individuals, but eventually they
- 25:17come down and they have to now deal with the fact that they
- 25:21still have to relate to their lives.
- 25:24So part of it is to undertake the mental and vital development
- 25:31that we said was not fully developed earlier so that we
- 25:37become more understanding and appreciative.
- 25:41We begin to look for the unity and consciously relate to that
- 25:47unity wherever we can. Start to look at our opinions,
- 25:51look at our desires, look at our needs, and try to make some
- 25:56adjustments to that while recognizing that that is not
- 26:01enough. It is eventually necessary for
- 26:06us to allow the next level of consciousness through intuition
- 26:12or through whatever spiritual practices 1 undertakes to begin
- 26:19to manifest within us, and that is a long lifetime process.
- 26:24The the Sages, the Rishi's, the spiritual and religious leaders
- 26:29have all said that know thyself, be true to thyself, understand
- 26:36the oneness of humanity. Those are words until we begin
- 26:42to actually practice them and you start where you are.
- 26:47You know, they say that one little ripple can change the
- 26:50universe. The butterfly effect.
- 26:53Well, what if 1000 people start trying to see the world from
- 26:59this different viewpoint, become receptive to it, undertake their
- 27:04own spiritual practices and, and let me say this, it has nothing
- 27:09to do with a specific religion, specific philosophy or a
- 27:12specific practice. Whatever people are doing to
- 27:16evolve and develop themselves is a positive pursuit and they
- 27:23should follow it and carry it out.
- 27:27We're not in opposition with each other as to whether we are
- 27:33believers in Buddha or Christ or Muhammad or Krishna or whomever,
- 27:39or philosophers such as Plato or Descartes.
- 27:44It doesn't matter. What matters is that we actually
- 27:48try to live that and be receptive to new thoughts, new
- 27:56feelings and new inspirations as they come and what we see when
- 28:01that happens. The spiritual experiences
- 28:04described by the leaders of the world over centuries who have
- 28:12had these experiences, they tell you you begin to experience a
- 28:16force within you descending from above your mind into your body
- 28:23and changing the way you react to things.
- 28:28Because it's not that we separate fragmented individuals
- 28:33have to do this. We that's still the old mental
- 28:38viewpoint. We need to allow the evolution
- 28:42that manifested matter, life and mind to manifest the next level
- 28:50within the framework of who we are as human beings.
- 28:55And so we have to become receptive and we have to begin
- 29:01to trust the inspiration that comes from that perception of
- 29:06unity. So let me just mention a few
- 29:10things that I'm hearing and I just want to kind of reaffirm.
- 29:13So it seems to me that in order to take on some of these bigger
- 29:19existential challenges that we're talking about, that not
- 29:22only does humanity as a whole need to develop this kind of a,
- 29:25the next level of consciousness, but all individuals should focus
- 29:31in their own way, in their kind of their own, their own world
- 29:33and developing themselves spiritually and to work in
- 29:37developing their, their own personal level of consciousness
- 29:40or, or greater level of consciousness independently of
- 29:42where they are now. So whatever, whatever level
- 29:45we're on now, people should look to kind of expand their
- 29:50awareness. And by expanding their
- 29:52awareness, it, it sounds like a big part of this is
- 29:55understanding kind of the unity of the whole world of how
- 30:01everything fits together. And I, I think you're, you're
- 30:03right. And one of the things that you
- 30:04said is we, we tend to think in our own little space and our,
- 30:08you know, we're doing our own little piece and we can just get
- 30:10our piece of the world and let's take what we can.
- 30:13But based on the interactions you're you're talking about,
- 30:17there's just too many factors at play and we're all working
- 30:20together. It's kind of an interlocked
- 30:21system. So whether you might think that
- 30:25you're sitting there in an isolated position and you're
- 30:27just doing your own piece of the world, but in essence, we're all
- 30:30locked together. Is that is that an accurate
- 30:33assessment of of some of your views?
- 30:36To a great degree, I would only say that I don't expect that
- 30:41every individual on the planet will get to the same place at
- 30:48the same time. That's not that's not a
- 30:52necessary factor. You know, there's a concept in
- 30:56logging called the key log. When they're cutting down trees
- 31:02and come into a river to move them somewhere, they get
- 31:07blocked. And an expert in logging can go
- 31:12and find the one log that, when it's moved, allows the entire
- 31:18flow to take place. And so we have a key log that we
- 31:24need to understand in our lives that will allow this new
- 31:31consciousness to pour forth. And so most of that is related
- 31:37to simply our preconceived habits and notions about what
- 31:44our life is that we've been indoctrinated to believe that we
- 31:48get bombarded with every day in the media.
- 31:52And it's really hard for any individual to get bombarded with
- 31:58that and still keep some sense of a larger purpose.
- 32:05So, you know, people like, for instance, His Holiness the Dalai
- 32:11Lama will say whatever the teachings are, my teaching is
- 32:16love and compassion. And others will say, well, it's
- 32:22having gratitude. These are emotions and feelings
- 32:27that open the being and make us more human, give us more
- 32:33relationship to one another, more understanding, more
- 32:36appreciation. And really, at this stage,
- 32:41that's the key log we need to move people away from material
- 32:48gratification as their purpose to appreciating the wonder, the
- 32:55beauty and the harmony of the world through compassion, love,
- 33:03gratitude, and reaching out to others and building bridges
- 33:09rather than setting up walls and putting us behind the walls with
- 33:14a weaponry to fight off everybody else.
- 33:19What you just said, it was very powerful in that for me, it
- 33:22summed up a lot of what you're saying and a lot of what we need
- 33:25to do as a people. Where you started out by saying
- 33:29we need to move away from this occupation with materialism and
- 33:33consumerism and we need to make AI guess a conscious effort to
- 33:37moving away from that. And that's it.
- 33:40That's a big change 'cause I I think of how the world runs and
- 33:42it's driven and part of the challenge you're talking about
- 33:45commercials and advertising and the messages we're getting.
- 33:48It's driven by this materialism consumerism.
- 33:53So it's, it's almost looking at it and saying, all right, we got
- 33:56to stop, at least for us as individuals and we need to open
- 34:01ourselves up to these, these other ways of thinking.
- 34:05Yes, you know, Sri Aravinda at one point said that we are
- 34:08satiated but not satisfied with the material benefits that we in
- 34:17the world. People are not happy.
- 34:20They are alienated, cynical, frustrated and angry at the same
- 34:29time. They've got all these material
- 34:32things and all these recreations and all these enticements and
- 34:37excitements. The reality is we feel less our
- 34:43humanity and our common humanity and less goodwill the more we
- 34:49isolate ourselves into this satiation.
- 34:53Yes. So we really need to understand
- 34:57that our fulfillment and benefiting the world through a
- 35:03more human response to it go together.
- 35:08All right. On a practical level, and you've
- 35:10covered some of these, but maybe you can reinforce them, what can
- 35:14we do to kind of participate in this change?
- 35:16So on a on a practical level, so you mentioned learning and
- 35:20following a spiritual path, whether it be teachings of Dalai
- 35:23Lama or you mentioned different religious teaching or spiritual
- 35:26teaching. What else can we do to kind of
- 35:28participate as individuals and bring about this change both in
- 35:33ourselves and in humanity? Well, I think that just by
- 35:39starting the thought process and then trying to implement it in
- 35:46daily life, people will begin to notice a lot of different things
- 35:51of I'll give you an example. There are many people who are
- 35:56deathly afraid of bees, OK? And they see a bee and the first
- 36:01thing they want to do is kill it.
- 36:04And they're not thinking about the fact that bees are essential
- 36:09to providing the food that they eat.
- 36:12And they don't need to be fearful of bees.
- 36:15They need to understand the role the bees play.
- 36:19Take that very simple example and say you have a fearful
- 36:23individual and that individual begins to reflect upon the
- 36:30oneness of everything and says, well, OK, I'm I just had a
- 36:35fearful reaction to a bee. Why am I reacting that way?
- 36:39And, you know, how can I deal with that in a different way?
- 36:46Begin to reflect on all the positive things the bees do.
- 36:50And then they begin to observe them and see that they're really
- 36:53interested in the flowers. They're not interested in coming
- 36:56out and attacking people. And.
- 37:00Over time, that fear reaction begins to subside and they've
- 37:04created a new relationship to another being on the planet.
- 37:09Well, multiply that by every interaction we have, you see
- 37:14massive amounts of opportunity for change.
- 37:18That's why Sri Aurobindo calls what we're talking about here
- 37:22the adventure of consciousness. We've explored outer space,
- 37:28we've explored under the sea, we've explored the tops and
- 37:31mountains. And Sri Aurobindo says it's time
- 37:34to explore inner space and have the adventure of consciousness.
- 37:39And it is an adventure because you have to face up to every
- 37:43issue. Someone cuts you off on the road
- 37:46and you're angry with them. You're not understanding.
- 37:49They're trying to get a sick person to the hospital and
- 37:52they're doing what they need to do and you're expressing anger.
- 37:56Well examine that and find out why is it I'm reacting and how
- 38:02can I look at it differently. But I can have compassion
- 38:08towards that being and not let them live rent free in my head.
- 38:13As someone has said, yes. Heard that before.
- 38:16Exactly. I like.
- 38:18This concept, the adventure of consciousness.
- 38:22So there's a couple things you said.
- 38:23I like that a lot. I also like the fact that we're
- 38:27kind of fighting to be satiated, but most people aren't
- 38:31satisfied. That's an.
- 38:33Interesting. It's an interesting concept and
- 38:37one of the things I hear a lot about especially in the business
- 38:40world, but it's all over that people are are not engaged,
- 38:44they're kind of disengaged in their world and we need to
- 38:48reengage and these are some of the ways is talking about to
- 38:51kind of reengage yourself. So I want to take a minute over
- 38:54here. Obviously, you talked a lot
- 38:56about Sarah Benda. Can you just share website?
- 39:00What's the best way to find resources, more learning or more
- 39:04tools with where do people go? Sure.
- 39:08Well, we have a a page called orobindo.net on the net and that
- 39:15landing page will give some introductions.
- 39:17We'll introduce people to some of the books that he's written
- 39:21or some of the introductions about Triorrobindo and his work.
- 39:26I think that's a pretty good place to start.
- 39:29I should mention Shrioro Bindo was not interested in starting a
- 39:33new cult, religion, following, or anything else.
- 39:38His stated purpose was to support the evolution of
- 39:45consciousness on the planet, and each individual needs to find
- 39:50their way through there. His writings are meant to assist
- 39:54you in whatever your path is. He's not looking for someone
- 39:59flying the Orobindo flag and going to war with somebody else.
- 40:05On the contrary, you know, if you're a Christian or a Buddhist
- 40:09or a Hindu or a Jain or an atheist, whatever, you can
- 40:15participate in this evolution of consciousness.
- 40:18And his insights may be useful to that process.
- 40:22All right, and I'm going to. Spell that out for folks who
- 40:24didn't aren't looking at a link. It's arrobindo.net.
- 40:28It's a UROBINDO arrobindo.net. All right, I just want to take a
- 40:36couple of minutes right now to give you a chance to kind of sum
- 40:40up any final message for our listeners today.
- 40:44Things you haven't covered or any final message what what
- 40:47people should do at this point Well.
- 40:50I'll I'll give you another citation from Sri Aurobindo here
- 40:53that I think is salient. The most vital issue of the age
- 40:59is whether the future progress of humanity is to be governed by
- 41:04the modern economic and materialistic mind of the West,
- 41:09or by a nobler pragmatism guided, uplifted and enlightened
- 41:15by spiritual culture and knowledge.
- 41:19And I think that sums it up all right.
- 41:22Thank you very much for joining us today.
- 41:25I appreciate you shared a lot of wisdoms, your own wisdom and
- 41:29wisdom from Sri Arbundi. I really thank you for joining
- 41:34us. And I want to thank everybody
- 41:35for listening today. And I want to implore folks live
- 41:40a great, successful life. Thanks for being part of
- 41:42selfgrowth.com. Thanks for being part and
- 41:45joining us today. We'll talk to everybody soon.
- 41:48Thanks, Steven. You're welcome.