Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Increasing Lifespan and Wellness Is the Trajectory of Human Development

Transcript

Increasing Lifespan and Wellness Is the Trajectory of Human Development · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:01
  If we observe the trajectory of human development, we can see a
• 0:06
  very clear direction taking shape as we have become more
• 0:10
  conscious of the stages of life and the processes that accompany
• 0:15
  those stages, including the increasing weakness and
• 0:19
  deterioration of the body and the life energy and the eventual
• 0:23
  breakdown and thus the movement toward the death of the body.
• 0:28
  We also have taken steps to learn how to increase health,
• 0:32
  Wellness and longevity. Some of the means employed
• 0:37
  relate to developing an understanding of the factors
• 0:40
  that lead to the breakdown of the systems of the body, the
• 0:44
  increasing focus on hygiene and sanitation, the improvement in
• 0:48
  dietary understanding and the need for exercise, etcetera.
• 0:54
  We thus see a dramatic improvement over the last
• 0:57
  century in both average lifespan other than that caused through
• 1:01
  war, poverty, drought or famine or floods, et cetera, and with
• 1:06
  advances in medical science, definite improvements in the
• 1:10
  possibility of maintaining a general state of Wellness
• 1:13
  commensurate to the increased lifespan.
• 1:17
  Of course, factors such as poor dietary habits, alcoholism,
• 1:23
  stressful work environments, and other lifestyle and diet issues
• 1:27
  can, for individuals, work against the general trend of
• 1:32
  humanity's enhancements. Here, we are focusing on the
• 1:36
  general trend, not the specific fate of any specific individual.
• 1:43
  This trajectory also has moved into the fields of vital and
• 1:46
  mental factors and the need for techniques of stress reduction.
• 1:51
  Life satisfaction and mental stimulation and purpose become
• 1:56
  relevant as the lifespan continues.
• 2:01
  We are beginning to recognize that a vegetarian or vegan diet
• 2:05
  can actually provide benefits not only physically but also
• 2:09
  vitally and mentally, and we see an increasing trend in this
• 2:14
  direction as well. The real question that then
• 2:18
  begins to limit longevity and Wellness is whether the
• 2:22
  increased life represents a benefit to an individual or is
• 2:26
  seen as a burden. In this sense, the mother's
• 2:30
  statement that an aimless life is a meaningless life becomes
• 2:35
  centrally relevant. Increased life and health will
• 2:39
  be dependent on the attitude of the individual toward having a
• 2:44
  meaningful life. If we follow this trajectory
• 2:48
  further, we find that humanity is now beginning to explore more
• 2:53
  seriously what heretofore has been a random circumstance to
• 2:58
  explore, ways to actually develop more inward relation to
• 3:01
  the body and its processes and its ability to receive and
• 3:05
  utilize energy. And thus there is
• 3:09
  experimentation with breath control techniques, the use of
• 3:13
  sound vibrational therapy, and the use of deep meditation
• 3:18
  techniques to begin to positively impact what have
• 3:21
  generally been thought to be subconscious and automatic
• 3:25
  functionings of the various bodily systems.
• 3:30
  We also recognize that various animals have the ability to
• 3:34
  regenerate parts of their body that become injured.
• 3:38
  The genetic coding for this lies hidden deep within the human
• 3:41
  being, and cutting edge research is exploring the details of the
• 3:46
  human genome and experimenting with the idea of actually
• 3:50
  turning on or off various code sequences that govern issues
• 3:56
  that confront us in extending lifespan and Wellness.
• 4:01
  The fields of spiritual development in Western science
• 4:04
  are both converging toward an understanding that our past and
• 4:08
  even our current view of human life and Wellness is based
• 4:12
  almost entirely on physical anatomy and Physiology.
• 4:17
  But given the trends we see, we can begin to open our minds to a
• 4:22
  time when, through One Direction or another, or through a
• 4:26
  combined impact, we can begin to replace or regenerate worn out
• 4:31
  organs. We can learn to optimize the
• 4:34
  care and feeding of the human body's machinery and thereby
• 4:38
  find ways to extend considerably more human life while at the
• 4:44
  same time providing a higher quality of that extended life.
• 4:50
  Are there individuals who already have some of the
• 4:54
  capacity? The mother writes quote.
• 4:59
  But those who know instinctively or who have learnt to receive
• 5:04
  and accumulate the universal vital forces, these can last
• 5:09
  almost indefinitely. The wear and tear is very
• 5:13
  little, especially if they know how to do it and do it with
• 5:17
  knowledge and method. Then here it can reach a certain
• 5:22
  degree of perfection. When one knows, sometimes just
• 5:27
  two or three minutes are sufficient to recuperate the
• 5:30
  energies spent over a long period.
• 5:35
  Only one must know how to do it. End Quote Reference Sri
• 5:42
  Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter
• 5:45
  4, Cosmic and Universal Forces, page 94.