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Distinguishing Magic from Occultism · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There is considerable confusion between the concept of occultism
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  and the idea of the practice of magic.
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  Whether considered white magic or black magic, Occultism
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  essentially is the science of dealing with forces subliminal
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  to our outer senses, but nevertheless active and acting
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  upon our being on the material plane.
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  Electricity is essentially an occult force, working unseen but
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  having palpable results of its action.
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  Those who learn how to generate, channel, and put electricity to
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  work are essentially practicing occultism on the material plane.
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  Similarly, there are forces that act on the vital or mental
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  planes, or even on the spiritual planes that, while unobserved by
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  our external senses, nevertheless have their impact,
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  follow their own laws of development of action, and can
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  be studied, harnessed and utilized by those who take up
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  the study of occultism. Magic, on the other hand, is
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  essentially a cookbook of processes that are developed
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  using various words, gestures, symbols and prescribed actions
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  designed to invoke a particular energy or perhaps a vital being
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  to accomplish some fixed task set by the practitioner of
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  magic, the Mother writes. Quote.
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  You must not mix up magic with occultism.
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  Occultism is a science and it is the knowledge of invisible
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  forces and the capacity to handle them, as one has the
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  capacity of handling material forces if one has studied them
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  scientifically. Magic.
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  These are different kinds of processes which were fixed
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  probably by people who had a certain knowledge and still more
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  a certain power of vital formation.
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  These things can be learned without having any special
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  capacity. That is, someone who has no
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  inner power can learn this as he learns chemistry, for example,
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  or mathematics. It is one of the things which
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  are learned like that. It is not a thing one acquires,
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  so it doesn't itself carry any special virtues except the same
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  kind of qualities as those one learns through chemical
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  manipulations. You may reproduce these
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  manipulations, but if you are an intelligent and capable being,
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  you can, by the help of these manipulations, obtain an
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  interesting and useful result and in any case be sheltered
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  from all danger, whereas if you are an idiot, misfortunes may
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  come to you. It is something similar with the
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  help of magical formulas. One may produce a certain
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  result, but this result is necessarily limited and has no
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  particular interest for those who, through their inner
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  development, spontaneously receive powers of which they
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  have a higher knowledge, not a mechanical one.
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  It is not for someone who is truly a Yogi.
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  It has no interest except that of curiosity.
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  It is interesting only for people who are precisely not
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  yogis and who want to have certain powers which in fact
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  they have in a very limited way. It is always limited.
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  What is special about it is that it has a direct action upon
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  matter, while usually, apart from some rare exceptions, with
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  people who have spiritual powers, yogic powers, it acts
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  through the intermediary of the mental forces, usually either
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  spiritual or mental forces, sometimes of the vital forces,
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  more rarely, but not directly upon matter, except naturally
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  with those who have done yoga in matter.
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  But these are exceptional cases of which one doesn't speak.
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  These things put into motion certain small entities which are
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  usually the result of the decomposition of human beings,
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  and yet have a sufficient contact with the material world
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  to be able to act there. But anyhow, if the action is of
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  a lower order, the power is of a lower order, and it is something
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  almost repugnant for one who is truly in relation with the
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  higher forces. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter
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  5, Occult Forces, pages 103 to 105.