012. Model of Nine Levels of Growth - Level 1

When the spirit embodied itself,  it assumed a body which later developed a vital and then a mind. It may be logical that the spirit should first assume a mind and acquire the body finally. It is not so in practice.

From the other end, it is logical that Mother Earth while creating would create the body first. Without going further deep into the spiritual truths of it, let us spread out our enquiry with a view to serving the theory of social development. Social development as a possible idea arose when mind knew that it could make the body work better under its hegemony. Therefore, instead of starting the study at level 9, I start at One.

Man's physical, vital, mental planes are further subdivided into mental, vital, physical in each plane, thus creating nine levels of functioning.

Number One is pure mind, the pure thinker, the seat of the philosopher. Though it evolved out of the 8 previous levels, in its own perfection it stands aloof, not related to any other centre effectively. Number 2 and Number 3 are in touch with number 5 and 7 and in that measure will be influenced by  them. One too is similarly in touch with 4 & 7 and is influenced as such. But One has an aloofness at the end of the cycle of evolution even as 9 has an aloofness at the beginning. Nine lives all by itself outside the reach of the rest of the centres that are yet to be developed. We cannot say the same thing about One since it issued out of the progress the other 8 levels made. Still its character of evolving out of the previous bases enables it to stand really aloof uninfluenced by any other previous levels.

Concepts are formed in One which is the seat of the philosopher. Thought at 3 is facts or is factual, i.e. related to a fact, not self-existent. At 2 they are coloured by the emotion and acquire the garb of a sentiment. Thought shedding its factual nature and weaning itself from the sentiment becomes pure thought. Pure thought seeks to be logical and rational. Thought acquires rationality when it is organised according to logic. Thus, thought acquires a structure of organised base. Its capacity to be organised leads to its growth. Systems of thought develop. Man endowed with that capacity is a thinker. Evolving from 9 he becomes a thinker traveling through the stages of work, vitality, and scholarship. Work generates energy and energy, ideas based on facts and events. One endowed with those details is the scholar. The scholar matures into  thinker or philosopher. An original thinker is one whose raw materials are not work or energy or event acts. Using thoughts as his own raw material, he builds systems of thought to become an original thinker. If his thinking creates something new to the world of ideas, he becomes a creative thinker. The mind that is capable of generating ideas not based on experience in the world but based on other original ideas is a creative mind.

One, apart from being a thinker, serves as a seat of ego where ego can strike its roots deep. Ego is called the coordinating intelligence. HE also calls it reason. Sri Aurobindo equates ego and reason. Reason organises ideas around a centre. That centre is usurped by ego. One is a centre of thought, not force. But through thought, ego tries to reach the depths of one's being to draw upon its power. Ego reaching that depth through the physical will be tenacious by virtue of its physicality, but will not have the power of penetration given by the organised idea. Nor does the vital yield powers of that dimension.

Sri Aurobindo says ideas arise from the body. It is known that there are ideas of the mind, ideas of the heart and ideas of the body. When the movements of the body are energised, they seek direction for their action. That direction is the knowledge of the body. Having originated there, it reaches the mind after certain refinements. The origin of ideas is body, rather, the movements of the body.

Social development is conceived of  by One and is executed by the remaining parts. The process of the social development and the process of the individual's development from 9 to 1 and further from 1 to 9 are the same. Hence One is capable of conceiving social development as an idea.

Being mind, One does not have energy or power but has only light. The only power of mind is the power of organising the ideas into a decision for action or a determination to execute. One has no power over the rest (2 to 9) except in the measure they are willing to obey.

Intrinsically One has the power to dominate all the rest as it is drawn from them, but that power accrues only when the clarity, organisation and strength of One reaches the very depth of 9. The Mind can dominate Matter if the Mind comes into its own. Presently it is Matter that dominates Mind as the Light in the Mind is not fully emerged.