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The Development, Powers and Limits of the Mental Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The human being consists of multiple levels of consciousness
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  which interact with and impact one another, and which, from an
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  evolutionary standpoint, represent a consistent trend of
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  increasing power and subtlety of the consciousness.
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  The consciousness of the body, the physical consciousness, is
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  the first foundation the vital consciousness develops to
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  provide new powers of understanding and action layered
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  on top of the physical consciousness.
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  When the mental consciousness develops, it adds yet additional
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  powers of consciousness, again layered on top of the physical
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  and vital levels. While the mental consciousness,
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  as it develops, may take the lead role in guiding the
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  individual, the other levels have their role and their
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  influence in the decisions and actions.
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  In fact, the vital consciousness is skilled at gaining the
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  support of the mental consciousness for the
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  fulfillment of its desires and intentions.
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  Generally, as the mental consciousness works to gain
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  ascendancy, it may try to exercise dominant power over the
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  other levels. This may have short term
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  results, but long term may wind up backfiring as it can either
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  cause serious imbalances in the physical, including harming the
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  general health and well-being of the physical body, or various
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  reactions in the vital nature which may include obstinate
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  refusal, increased vital pressure to meet its demands, or
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  else, or various types of vital imbalances that may wind up
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  harming the nerves or creating mental imbalances.
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  The complexity of the three primary levels active here, and
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  their necessary integration and harmony with one another to be
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  truly effective, exceeds the capacity of the mental
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  consciousness, and thus perhaps the best that can be hoped for
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  is a type of truth or mutual cooperation and give and take
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  situation. It is only when a still higher
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  force becomes active that it can address all of this complexity
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  from a position of knowledge and power.
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  Srioro Bindo calls this next evolutionary stage the
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  development of the supra mental consciousness, essentially
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  essentially the level beyond the mind.
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  In order to reach a stable basis in this new consciousness, the
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  evolution needs to develop through several intermediate
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  levels, such as the illumined mind, the intuitive mind, the
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  over mind, et cetera, as Sri Aurobindo has described them
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  elsewhere. This development occurs in
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  conjunction with the coming forward of the true soul of the
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  individual, the psychic being. The psychic being operates as
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  the centre around which all this evolutionary development takes
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  place and it is able to provide clear and direct guidance for
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  the individual once it is fully active in the being.
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  Sri Aurobindo notes quote At a higher stage of the evolution of
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  personality, above that of the vital self, the being of life,
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  the being of mind may rule. There is then created the mental
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  man who lives predominantly in the mind.
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  As the others live in the vital or the physical nature.
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  The mental man tends to subordinate to his mental
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  self-expression, mental aims, mental interests, or to a mental
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  idea or ideal the rest of his being.
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  Because of the difficulty of this subordination and its
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  potent effect when achieved, it is at once more difficult for
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  him and easier to arrive at a harmony of his nature.
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  It is easier because the mental will, once in control, can
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  convince by the power of the reasoning intelligence and at
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  the same time dominate, compress or suppress the life and the
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  body and their demands, arrange and harmonize them, force them
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  to be its instruments, even reduce them to a minimum so that
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  they shall not disturb the mental life or pull it down from
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  its ideative or idealizing movement.
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  It is more difficult because life and body are the first
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  powers, and if they are in the least strong, can impose
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  themselves with an almost irresistible insistence on the
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  mental ruler. Man is a mental being, and the
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  mind is the leader of his life and body.
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  But this is a leader who is much led by his followers, and has
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  sometimes no other will than what they impose on him.
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  Mind, in spite of its power, is often impotent before the
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  inconscient and subconscient which obscure its clarity and
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  carry it away on the tide of instinct or impulse.
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  In spite of its clarity, it is fooled by the vital and
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  emotional suggestions into giving sanction to ignorance and
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  error, to wrong thought and to wrong action.
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  Or it is obliged to look on, while the nature follows what it
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  knows to be wrong, dangerous, or evil.
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  Even when it is strong and clear and dominant.
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  Mind, though it imposes a certain a considerable
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  mentalized harmony, cannot integrate the whole being and
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  nature. These harmonizations by an
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  inferior control are besides inconclusive, because it is one
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  part of the nature which dominates and fulfills itself,
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  while the others are coerced and denied their fullness.
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  They can be steps on the way, but not final.
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  Therefore, in most men there is no such sole dominance and
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  affected partial harmony, but only a predominance and for the
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  rest an unstable equilibrium of a personality half formed, half
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  in formation, sometimes a disequilibrium or unbalance due
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  to the lack of a central government or the disturbance of
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  a formerly achieved partial poise.
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  All must be transitional until a first, though not a final.
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  True harmonization is achieved by finding our real center.
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  End Quote reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
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  Powers Within, Chapter 18, Mind, pages 138 to 139.