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Is Every Man Capable of 'Sinful Behavior' Under Certain Circumstances? · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Cultured and educated people often believe that they could
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  not stoop to certain actions, or be guilty of certain motives in
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  their actions, or simply react to circumstances in a way other
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  than that of their predominant mental view of themselves.
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  They may look down on those who appear to them to be weak,
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  sinful, or who give in to impulses that are hateful,
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  greedy, lustful, or otherwise exhibit one of the sins that
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  humanity generally recognizes as unacceptable behaviour.
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  Yet there are times and circumstances when any
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  individual becomes capable of doing things that they would
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  consider at other times to be out of character.
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  There is the famous story of the educated man who happened to
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  attend a fascist rally in 1930s Europe.
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  He was not a believer in the ideology nor a supporter of the
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  cult of personality that had arisen at that time and in that
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  place. He went as an observer when the
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  crowd was whipped up and in a fever pitch of hatred, anger and
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  directed rage, he suddenly was screaming with the rest of them.
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  Afterwards, he reflected on how he could have given in to that
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  impulse. There was a famous experiment in
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  sociology where college students were split up into two groups,
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  jailer and prisoner. These educated and idealistic
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  young people were soon, however, caught up in the abuse and
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  humiliation of their prisoners by virtue of the role they took
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  on and the expectations that came with that role and the
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  exercise of their delegated power to control others.
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  Afterwards, they were both amazed and mystified at the
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  transformation that they had undergone by taking on those
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  roles. People of a peaceful and
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  understanding nature have been known to suddenly react with
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  extreme violence and anger under various pressures.
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  There are cases of monks or sadhus who undertook years of
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  secluded meditation and intense efforts to bring their vital
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  natures under control. Who, believing themselves to be
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  above such things, go out into the world and find that the
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  forces they thought had been quelled actually rose up with
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  more force and move them to actions they would have never
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  thought possible for them. Including acts of rape, child
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  sexual abuse, and using their position of influence or power
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  to gain control or obtain favors from others who depended and
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  relied on them. In his book, The Steppenwolf,
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  Hermann Hesse explores the potential for quiet and
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  thoughtful and introspective individuals to release forces
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  that show the potential and power of the lower vital nature.
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  It is an exploration of the depths which few individuals
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  ever undertake in a deliberate and serious manner.
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  For the spiritual seeker, such things are actually quite easily
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  understood. When the seeker recognizes the
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  oneness of all existence and the movement of universal forces
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  that enter into one and overpower the basic physical,
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  vital and mental nature, he can understand that no individual
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  can withstand such forces if he once opens himself to them.
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  The power of universal forces is like trying to withstand a
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  tsunami wave when it hits the shore.
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  There are actually experiences of consciousness where the
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  seeker can enter into a status where he can see the forces at
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  work, their power and influence, and see how they move
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  individuals to actions. This can be a basis for empathy
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  for those who are caught up in the clutches of those forces.
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  It can also be a way for the seeker to gain new powers and
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  insights and forms of protection to militate or prevent those
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  forces from gaining control over his being and his actions.
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  Pride or vanity about one's cultured attainments, 1's
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  virtue, one's purity are misplaced.
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  If one has not had to face down temptation, withstand forces
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  that drive the vital nature, or distort the mental view.
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  What happens to any human individual could, under the
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  right circumstances, happen to any other individual.
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  No one is exempt from the pressures, and no one is by
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  himself, in his individual ego personality, powerful enough to
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  withstand those pressures. It is therefore a cause for
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  compassion and sympathy, not pride or vanity.
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  In his thoughts and aphorism, Sri Robindo states to hate the
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  Sinner is the worst sin, for it is hating God, yet he who
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  commits it glories in his superior virtue.
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  A disciple asks. When we enter into a certain
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  state of consciousness, we see clearly that we are capable of
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  anything and that in fact there is not a single sin that is not
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  potentially our sin. Is this impression correct?
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  And yet we revolt against and feel an aversion for certain
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  things. There is always something
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  somewhere which we cannot accept.
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  Why? What is the true attitude, the
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  effective attitude in face of evil?
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  The Mother writes, There is not a single sin that is not our
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  sin. You have this experience when,
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  for some reason or other, depending on the case, you come
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  into contact with the universal state of consciousness, not in
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  its limitless essence, but on any level of matter.
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  There is an atomic consciousness, there is a purely
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  material consciousness, and there is even more, a general
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  psychological consciousness when by going within, by a kind of
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  withdrawal from the ego, you come into contact with this zone
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  of consciousness, let us say a terrestrial or collective human
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  psychological zone. There is a difference.
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  Collective human is restrictive, whereas terrestrial includes
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  many animal movements, even plant movements.
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  But as in the present case, the moral notion of guilt, sin, evil
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  belongs exclusively to the human consciousness, we will say
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  simply the collective human psychological consciousness.
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  When you come into contact with that through this
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  identification, naturally you feel or see or know that you are
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  capable of any human movement anywhere.
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  It is, to some extent a truth consciousness.
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  This egoistic sense of what belongs and does not belong to
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  you, of what you can do and cannot do, disappears at that
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  time. You become aware that the
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  fundamental structure of the human consciousness is such that
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  any human being is capable of doing anything at all.
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  And since you are in a truth consciousness at the same time,
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  you have the feeling that judgments or aversions or
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  rejection are absurd. Everything is potentially there
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  and of certain currents of force which you usually cannot trace.
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  You see them come and go, but as a rule their origin and
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  direction are unknown. If any one of these currents
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  enters into you, it can make you do anything.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, Looking from within, Chapter 2.
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  Looking at Oneself and Others, pages 49 to 50.