FIVE ATTRIBUTES OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

The transition from Supermind to Mind takes place in five dimensions. As a result there are five attributes that distinguish the human consciousness from the Divine Consciousness. First of all, we think we are the separative ego rather than knowing ourselves as the Divine Being. We are not aware of our oneness with all beings and things. Secondly, we live on the surface, ignorant of the depths of our consciousness. We are not aware of our subconscious, subliminal or psychic. We live right on the surface of our being lost in whatever action we are doing at the moment. Thirdly, we live in time. We do not remember very well what happened in the past. The past lives only in memory. We live in the moment. We do not know the future, but only try to imagine its possibilities. If we want to think about tomorrow, we stop thinking about this moment. We cannot experience past, present and future simultaneously, whereas in Supermind all three coexist. Past, present and future all exist eternally like the perennial movement of water in a flowing river. Fourth, we are finite. We identify with the finite form of ourselves, oblivious of the Infinity behind which is our true Being. Consequently, we are limited in energy, power, joy, knowledge and everything else. Finally, we live in the mind that divides everything. This is Sri Aurobindo’s description of human consciousness.

Once we know the attributes that have transformed the Divine Consciousness into human consciousness, we also know how that human consciousness can transform itself back again. All that we need to do is to reverse the process that the Divine has gone through to create limited egos. The Divine has not been forced to undergo this process of self-limitation. There was no compulsion to create an ego or divided mind. It was done as a means to permit a full development and expression of the infinite potentials of the Infinite. That required giving freedom to each vibration or power of the Divine to fully express itself without limitation or reference to the rest. It required the creation of separate individual centers of consciousness that were unconscious of the whole of which they are each a part. Having reached the stage of mind in the evolution, we now have the option of exercising in reverse the same powers that have made us what we are.

Five Attributes Of Human Consciousness

How do we reverse what we are in practical terms? First, I can reverse my identification with ego by becoming unselfish and regarding all other persons as I regard myself. When I hear you got a promotion, I should feel happy for you instead of feeling jealous. Instead of giving supreme importance to my needs, my priorities, my preferences, my skills, my accomplishments, I can recognize that other people are as important as I am in the scheme of things. All of the normal movements of the ego that make me more and more separated and isolated can be reversed. I can become selfless, generous, a source of endless goodwill for others. Second, I live on the surface, I identify fully with its partial movements such as anger. What can I do about it? I know there is a psychic inside me, so I can consecrate my surface thoughts, emotions, desires, preferences, etc. to the psychic and try to recover more of myself. I do not have to be totally lost on the surface, feeling that this superficial existence is all of myself. Third, I can consciously go back and consecrate the past, and I can consciously go forward and create tomorrow by consecrating my future actions. In the measure I do that, I reverse the division of time and come out of my limitations.

The mind that we are talking about, the mind that is on the surface, is what Sri Aurobindo calls the physical mind. It only knows what is there in front of it at the moment. It does not know what is going to happen a day from now or a year from now. It is always willing to believe the worst. It sees one side of any situation, one aspect of the whole and takes that for truth, right, reality. By some unfortunate condition that happens to be the mind we are all living in. How can we overcome mind? We can compensate for the divisive character of mind by consciously moving away from its limited, self-centered viewpoint. He gives a simple technique: Take the other person’s point of view. The one thing mind can never do is think that there is another point of view. The very character of mind is, “I am right, why don’t you listen to me?” He says the first step in reversing the process is to think from the other person’s point of view. In that manner we come out of the limitation of the ego-centered mind and look at reality from a wider perspective. By doing this we are reversing the process by which mind created the sense of division and separation. This is something that we can practice at every moment.

We can utilize this same process of creation to become conscious creators of our lives. Try this experiment. Take thirty days, choose what you would consider very lucky, and put your full concentration on that idea. Commit yourself to do everything necessary from your side to exhaust your capacities to achieve it. Instead of relying on your limited, finite capacities on the surface, shift your faith to Mother. Shift your faith to the supramental Shakti who creates the universe and ask Her to come and realize your ideal.