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Infinite Grace: Overcoming the Law of Inertia to Effectuate Change · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The law of inertia holds that it takes energy to move something
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  that is stationary, and the more massive the object is, the more
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  energy required to move it. A similar principle operates in
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  human actions. We have our fixed habits,
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  whether physical habits, instincts, trained responses,
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  preconceived notions, biases, determined routines, etcetera
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  that represent our status quo. This all operates essentially on
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  its own, as the same law holds that a body in motion tends to
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  stay in motion. So we have our fixed habits,
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  routines and orbits that we follow regularly, and it takes
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  energy to change any of these and establish a new way of
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  understanding, a new way of doing things, a new way of
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  responding. The embedded habits of nature
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  and nurture are very powerful in their own right.
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  They are there to provide a form of stability to the creation,
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  and any change needs to work out the details in such a way as to
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  not totally destabilize the systems.
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  Thus, our physical nature, our vital nature, and our mental
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  nature all have certain prerogatives and rights of
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  obstruction, delay and denial built into the developmental
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  systems. Only when a needed change
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  achieves the necessary quantum of energy and has overcome the
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  objections and obstructions can it take hold and propagate
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  widely. To the extent that we focus our
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  attention on the difficulties, the obstructions, and attempt to
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  address them directly, we will likely not have the necessary
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  force, energy and focus needed to overcome long established and
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  deeply rooted patterns. That is why it is necessary to
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  refocus the attention on the higher powers of the spiritual
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  evolutionary development and the spiritual force that is
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  attempting to manifest as that is the power, knowledge and
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  intentionality that is needed to accomplish change over time.
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  We may therefore look to the concept of aspiration, which is
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  a turning of the attention to the higher force, consecration,
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  which is a focusing and fixing of that connection once we
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  establish it, and receptivity, which is allowing that force to
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  enter and effectuate change as the method of overcoming the
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  inertia of the world as it currently functions.
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  We may call this response the action of the Divine Grace the
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  Mother notes quote. In the whole manifestation there
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  is an infinite Grace constantly at work to bring the world out
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  of the misery, the obscurity, and the stupidity in which it
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  lies. From all time this grace has
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  been at work, unremitting in its effort.
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  And how many thousands of years were necessary for this world to
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  awaken to the need for something greater, more true, more
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  beautiful? Everyone can gauge from the
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  resistance he meets in his own being, the tremendous resistance
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  which the world opposes to the work of the Grace.
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  And it is only when one understands that all external
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  things, all mental constructions, all material
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  efforts are vain, futile, if they are not entirely
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  consecrated to this light and force from above, to this truth
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  which is trying to express itself, that one is ready to
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  make decisive progress. So the only truly effective
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  attitude is a perfect, total, fervent, giving our being to
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  that which is above us and which alone has the power to change
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  everything. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of
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  Life, Chapter 7, Spiritual Forces of Help and Succor, page
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  174.