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Conservative Bias and Progressive Action · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There is a conservative bias in earthly existence that seeks to
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  preserve established ways of life as a means of providing an
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  element of stability. This principle helps to avoid
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  the chaotic implications of unrestricted change, thereby
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  providing a basis and a certain amount of certainty.
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  This conservative bias is enshrined in the functional
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  methodology of each being. As well as in the very formation
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  of physical matter and the relation of the elements of
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  matter to one another at the atomic level.
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  In living beings it is distilled out both as the functional
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  organization of the being, but also in higher level activities
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  governed by instinct and habit. It is enshrined in the laws of
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  motion, such that a body at rest.
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  Tends to stay at rest, and thus an input of energy is required
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  to set anything in motion. Similarly, a body in motion will
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  have a certain momentum and continue that motion until the
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  energy decays or the resistance increases.
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  In a vacuum, such as in outer space where there is virtually
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  no resistance, bodies in motion will tend to stay in motion.
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  Until impacted by an external body which can influence that
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  motion which leads us to the centripetal force drawing the
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  Earth towards the sun and offset by the centrifugal force of the
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  Earth's own motion offsetting that gravitational pull.
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  All of this is intended to set forth the basic conditions under
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  which matter and life operate in our world, and the need
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  therefore. For an extraordinary input of
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  new energy to effectuate real change in the existing order of
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  things, the more complete or radical the change required, up
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  to a complete transformation of the currently dominant mode of
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  existence, the more focused energy must be applied.
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  This is essentially an operation of a conservative principle
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  maintaining a balance of the status quo.
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  And a progressive force which attempts to bring about change,
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  progress, transformation. However it may be viewed or
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  described, we see with the evolution of consciousness that
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  each succeeding principle brings with it new powers that impact
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  the formerly evolved principles, and which operate under
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  different rules of action. This embeds in the manifestation
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  a mechanism. To bring about dramatic change
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  while still ensuring that chaos does not ensue from too fast or
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  too untethered new line of action.
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  At a certain point it becomes obvious that the status quo is
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  actually harmful and needs to be changed.
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  And at this type of inflection point, the powers of change are
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  concentrated and begin to move things in a new direction.
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  Guided by a new principle of understanding and action in the
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  current world situation, we see a status quo that is literally
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  destroying life on the planet Through what scientists are
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  calling the 6th planetary die off of species, we are beset by
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  overuse of resources, excess of waste and pollution, and
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  increasing levels of toxicity in the air, the land and the water.
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  And by an unprecedented human impact on climate change which
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  is having catastrophic effect on all life on the planet.
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  In this circumstance, the conservative principle is acting
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  as an obstruction to the needed change, while at the same time a
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  next principle of consciousness, termed by Sri Aurobindo, the
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  Super mental consciousness. It is bringing with it new
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  powers to move the change process along.
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  It is this power that represents the hope that we can overcome
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  the overwhelming impact of past decisions and actions, the
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  Mother notes quote There is a consciousness in the cells.
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  It is what we call the body consciousness, and it is wholly
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  bound up with the body. This consciousness has much
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  difficulty in changing because it is under the influence of the
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  collective suggestion which is absolutely opposed to the
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  transformation. So one has to struggle with this
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  collective suggestion, not only with the collective suggestion
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  of the present, but with the collective suggestion which
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  belongs to the earth consciousness as a whole, the
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  terrestrial human consciousness. Which goes back to the earliest
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  formation of man that has to be overcome before the cells can be
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  spontaneously aware of the truth of the eternity of matter.
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  Of course, until now those who have achieved this conscious
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  transformation, who are aware of the eternal and infinite life
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  within themselves in the depths of their being, must in order to
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  preserve this consciousness. Constantly refer back to their
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  inner experience, return to their inner contemplation, live
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  in a sort of more or less constant meditation.
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  And when they come out of meditation, their outer nature
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  is pretty much what it was before, and their way of
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  thinking and reacting is not very different unless they give
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  up action altogether, but in that case, the inner
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  realization. This transformation of the
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  consciousness is helpful only for the person who has achieved
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  it, but it does not change the condition of matter or earthly
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  life in the least. For this transformation to
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  succeed, all human beings, even all living beings as well as
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  their material environment, must be transformed.
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  Otherwise things will remain as they are.
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  An individual experience cannot change terrestrial life.
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  This is the essential difference between the old idea of
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  transformation, that is, the becoming conscious with the
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  psychic being and the inner life and transformation as we
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  conceive it and speak of it not only an individual or a group of
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  individuals, or even all individuals but life.
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  The overall consciousness of this more or less developed
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  material life have to be transformed.
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  Without such a transformation, we shall have the same misery,
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  the same calamities and the same atrocities in the world.
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  A few individuals will escape from it by their psychic
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  development, but the general mass will remain the same state
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  of misery. End Quote.
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  Reference Sriorobindo and the Mother Our Many Selves,
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  Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of
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  the Being, pages 22 to 23.