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The Process of Effecting Change in Character · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The character we exhibit today is a result of the past whether
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  we start from the underlying habitual patterns of human
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  nature or perhaps, even go back farther to the patterns of the
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  vital animal nature. Much of this is actually built
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  into the genetic framework of the being.
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  But layered on top of this is the learn behaviors through
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  socializing and through education and then comes life
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  experience and the pressures exerted upon the Life by the
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  conditions of the outer world and impacts and influences from
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  the environmental Consciousness. All of which together creates
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  the individual personality and character.
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  As we recognize it today. While this is created by the
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  souls specific need of experience of a certain type.
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  The development and functioning of the external being is very
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  much a product of these forces. This layered complexity is a
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  primary reason. Why people believe that human
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  nature or the basic character of the individual cannot be
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  realistically changed to any great degree.
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  We may add a veneer of culture or cultivation on the surface,
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  but the underlying character remains what it was.
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  SRI aurobindo in the mother. However, have shown a way that
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  this Bedrock of character can indeed be changed.
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  The process is painstaking, systematic and takes time taking
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  the standpoint of the witness Consciousness.
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  Observing the nature of the being, the purusa is able to
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  disassociate from the outer nature.
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  So that there is not an implicit acceptance of the framework that
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  is in place. Then there's the For size of the
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  steady, patient and persistent will to change.
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  Following up on this specific, key reactions are observed and
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  modified over time, there is an ancient legend about a Great
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  Sage. Supposedly a doc oi highwomen or
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  Thief at one point to escape detection.
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  He pretended to be a renunciate, sage living in the forest and
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  practicing meditation and other spiritual disciplines.
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  He did this for so long that he lost all his motivation and urge
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  to be a thief and transformed his nature into that of an
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  enlightened. Why?
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  So This may or may not be a historical fact but it does
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  speak to something that we can relate to namely that awareness
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  focused attention and consistent action can change one's life.
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  In today's world, we see cases where individuals who have been
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  extremely obese and out of shape decided to change their lives
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  and took up a program of diet, exercise and positive
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  affirmations, and succeeded in transforming, their body, their
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  vital energy, and their mental focus.
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  The mother observes quote. First of all, one must be
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  conscious then control and by continuing the Mastery, one
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  changes one's character. Changing the character as what
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  comes last, one must control, bad habits.
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  The old habits for a very long time, for them to drop off.
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  And the character to change, we may take the example of someone
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  who has frequent depressions. When things are not exactly as
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  he would like them to be, he becomes depressed.
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  So to begin with, he must become aware of his depression, not
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  only of the depression, but of the causes of depression, why he
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  gets depressed so easily, then once he has become conscious, he
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  must Master the depressions. Must stop being depressed.
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  Even when the cause of depression is there, he must
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  Master his depression, stop it from coming.
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  And finally, after this work has been done for a sufficiently
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  long time. The nature loses the habit of
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  having depressions and no longer reacts the same way, the Nature
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  has changed in quote, reference SRI, aurobindo and the mother
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  living within the yoga approached, a psychological
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  health and growth, disturbances of the sub-continent.
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  Subcontinent habits Pages, 110 to 111,