Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / The Superior Man: Beyond Good and Evil…

Transcript

The Superior Man: Beyond Good and Evil… · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:01
  Nietzsche espoused the idea that the superior man was, by
• 0:08
  definition beyond good and evil, and was therefore not bound by
• 0:14
  the rules of society. This concept has led to a number
• 0:19
  of people into serious trouble. Dostoevsky explored this idea in
• 0:24
  his novel Crime and Punishment, in which the protagonist took
• 0:28
  the position that he could disregard the rules that forbid
• 0:33
  theft and murder. Eventually Raskolnikov broke
• 0:38
  down under the pressure and essentially had to acknowledge
• 0:42
  that he was not the superior man he had imagined.
• 0:46
  What he did not recognize was that being beyond good and evil
• 0:52
  does not mean condoning, supporting, or carrying out
• 0:56
  mayhem on others. A similar interpretation led to
• 1:01
  Hitler and his cronies to believe that they have the right
• 1:05
  to exterminate millions of people, confiscate possessions,
• 1:09
  and wage a World War of domination on others.
• 1:14
  It is a common misconception that somehow one can acknowledge
• 1:18
  oneself as a superior man and thereby flaunt all the rules
• 1:23
  established by reason and disregard all questions of
• 1:28
  ethics or morality as established within human
• 1:31
  society. The arrogant spirit that
• 1:35
  underpins these manifestations is not limited to the Hitlers
• 1:40
  and other dictatorial spirits of the world, but also shows itself
• 1:46
  in every walk of life with within the hearts of many who,
• 1:50
  by virtue of their wealth, their social standing, their
• 1:54
  reputation, their educational or career accomplishments, or
• 1:59
  simply because of the color of their skin, or their gender or
• 2:04
  other superficial characteristics, feel themselves
• 2:07
  to be superior to others, and thereby in a position to
• 2:12
  dominate, control, and overpower others, while at the same time
• 2:18
  granting themselves a freedom that is in fact licensed to
• 2:22
  commit any number of heinous acts.
• 2:27
  The mother writes, Quote 1 can be free only by soaring to the
• 2:32
  heights high above human passions.
• 2:36
  Only when one has achieved a higher selfless freedom and done
• 2:40
  away with all desires and impulses does one have the right
• 2:45
  to be free. But neither should people who
• 2:49
  are very reasonable, very moral, according to ordinary social
• 2:53
  laws, think themselves wise, for their wisdom is an illusion and
• 2:59
  holds no profound truth. One who would break the law must
• 3:04
  be above the law. One who would ignore conventions
• 3:07
  must be above conventions. One who would despise all rules
• 3:11
  must be above all rules, And the motive of this liberation should
• 3:16
  never be a personal egoistic 1 the desire to satisfy an
• 3:21
  ambition, aggrandize one's personality through a feeling of
• 3:26
  superiority out of contempt for others, to set oneself above the
• 3:31
  herd and regard it with condescension.
• 3:35
  Be on your guard when you feel yourself superior and look down
• 3:39
  on others ironically, as if to say I'm no longer made of such
• 3:44
  stuff, that's when you go off the track and are in danger of
• 3:50
  falling into an abyss. End Quote Reference Sri
• 3:56
  Aurobindo and the Mother Our Many Selves.
• 3:59
  Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of
• 4:04
  the Being, pages 44 to 45.