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Separating the Shadow from the Light in One’s Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When we look around and see the challenges facing us on the
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  planet, our first impulse is generally to try to find some
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  kind of fix to the situation. This generally takes the form of
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  suggesting that our current economic or political system or
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  model is defective deficient or broken.
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  And thus, we need to either update it or switch to a
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  different one. In some cases, those who have
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  adopted a particular religious conviction, believe that by
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  making everyone else believe, as they do will cure things.
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  Thus there, may enter a missionary element to convert
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  others. Some believe that there are
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  simply Bad actors out in the world and they need to be
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  controlled or eliminated. Thus, we have a retributive
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  penal system or the use of heavy-handed policing or on the
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  international level, the use of warfare to advance one's
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  prescription for change needed in the world.
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  Some believe that education or re-education will solve the
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  problem. At the end of the day, we
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  eventually see that none of these Solutions has actually
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  succeeded then we look at whether we can escape the planet
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  and begin interplanetary colonization with the idea that
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  we can solve our problems by simply leaving them behind What
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  is not recognized generally? Is that the problems we identify
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  outside? Ourselves are reflections of our
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  own basic human nature and that all the outer changes of form
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  whether of political institutions, economic models,
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  or religious preferences will accomplish nothing without an
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  interchange that recognizes and changes the basics of what we
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  call human nature, which is abundant I love habits
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  conventions and preconceived ideas that we believe are fixed
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  and immutable. When we turn our attention from
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  outer space, to Inner Space, we begin to recognize that we carry
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  all the problems of humanity within ourselves the capacity
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  for greed the feelings of Desire or lust the drive toward anger,
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  rage and hatred. These all remain latent within
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  each individual waiting only for an opportunity to break forth
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  and manifest. Despite the refrain that human
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  nature, cannot be changed. There is evidence to the
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  contrary. Techniques have been developed
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  to break addictions or habits. There are innumerable examples
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  of individuals who have made extraordinary changes in their
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  ways of seeing and acting and the actions, they undertake in
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  their lives. We describe the butterfly effect
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  that shows that even small changes can have repercussions
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  and effects far beyond the ostensibly initial action.
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  And we have documented, what is called the hundredth monkey
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  phenomenon that shows that a new capacity, skill or power becomes
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  available to a wider population. When a specific threshold of
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  knowing individuals has been reached If we begin to apply
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  this information synergistically, we find that
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  the exploration of Inner Space, the development of the
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  standpoint of the witness of One's Own nature, and then the
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  subsequent implementation of systematic changes, not only can
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  change our own nature, but has its natural consequences in the
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  world. And in the development of new
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  forms and powers of human nature, who is to say which
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  individual is two hundredth monkey in Humanities
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  transformation. The mother notes, quote, and
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  this is something an experience that one can have daily or
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  almost when one has those movements of great enthusiasm
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  great aspiration. When Once suddenly becomes
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  conscious of the Divine goal, the urge towards the Divine, the
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  desire to take part in the Divine work.
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  When one comes out of oneself in a great joy and great force, And
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  then, a few hours later, one is miserable for a tiny little
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  thing. One indulges in so petty, so
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  narrow, so commonplace a self-interested, Ennis has such
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  a dull desire and all the rest has evaporated, as if it did not
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  exist. One is quite accustomed to
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  contradictions. One doesn't pay attention to
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  this, and that is why all these things live comfortably
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  together? As neighbors, one must first,
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  discover them and prevent them from intermingling, in one's
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  Consciousness, decide between them separate the Shadow from
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  the light. Later one can get rid of the
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  Shadow and quote, reference SRI aurobindo, and the mother living
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  within the yoga approach to psychological health of growth
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  exercises for growth and Mastery becoming aware of the Shadow
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  Pages 139 to 143.