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Introduction to Subtle is Powerful

That which is not gross, tangible, or durable is SUBTLE.

A flower, a fruit are things that can be seen, touched, smelled and tasted.

They respond to our tactile senses.

We say they are objects, true to our ideas of objectivity. They are gross.

Their existence is in the physical plane. We say it is in the gross physical plane.

A flower smells. A fruit tastes.

Smell and taste cannot be touched, they elude our tactile senses.

We can say while the flower and fruit are gross and physical, their smell and tastes are subtle.

One cannot see ideas. So, ideas are in the subtle plane.

In this subject of Social Development where the subject matter is not organized, much less as a science, we use words like subtle in the linguistic sense.

Social Development is a subject of study.

Words used here must be well defined and the users must recognise that definition and conform to that usage. That is necessary for any study.

In an incipient subject, such a requirement is more essential.

In law, the evidence acquires a legal precision, though the word itself is common.

Operation is a common word, but in medicine it is used to denote a surgical operation.

Accident is used ordinarily in the sense when a car hits something, but the word itself means an event that is unexpected. Though it fully applies here, to a common man, an accident is a tragedy not meeting a friend unexpectedly.

An armed crowd of a hundred people is formidable, dangerous.

A single policeman sighted cows down the crowd, as his uniform suggests a far more formidable power behind his presence.

Today an army's power is real; the power of a politician is unreal.

That is the law of the jungle valid in dictatorships.

When General MacArthur acted contrary to the intention of the White House, an order from there disarmed him.

The power of the army is real. It acts in the gross physical plane.

The power of the Administration is subtle but is far more powerful.

Ideas, feelings, sentiments, emotions, sensations, power are subtle concepts. A gun, a stick, an object like a chair or pen is a physical object, existing in the gross plane. We call it gross physical plane.

Brain is physical, mind is subtle.

Nerves are physical, sensations are subtle.

Body is physical, its sensations are subtle.

Values in the physical, vital, mental, spiritual planes are subtle.

Hitting a man is a physical act; an argument is subtle.

We know an argument is often far more effective that a physical attack.

A room and its furniture are gross physical objects. Its use, elegance are subtle concepts.



story | by Dr. Radut