Basic Overview of the Physical Consciousness

0:00 The body has an incredible number of functions it carries out without the conscious control or input of the mental consciousness. The operation and interaction of the organ systems, the working of the immune system, the entire mechanism of development, birth, growth, and repair of injuries, all take place through the action of what Tria Robindo describes as the physical consciousness. When the mind actually tries to intervene in any of these functions, such as, for instance, trying to override or micromanage the food intake, the breath, or other functions, it more often than not creates more issues than it solves.

0:48 Western psychology does not formally recognize this as a separate form of consciousness as it fixates on the operation of the mind, but it has begun to recognize that the state of health and Wellness of the body can affect emotions and mental responses and capacities. Additionally, Western psychology is also recognizing that the body is responsible for sending signals to the brain to activate certain voluntary actions to support the body's needs. For instance, hunger signals sent to the brain by the body activate a search for food.

1:28 The physical consciousness necessarily functions under some very strict fixed rules. For instance, blood chemistry needs to stay balanced within a very narrow pH range or the individual will go into some type of potential life and death struggle. The physical consciousness is therefore the least malleable, most rigid of the three primary states of consciousness that together make up the majority of what we recognize as the external being. There are also sub conscient and super conscient aspects that impact the external being, but they are treated elsewhere in our review. Those who are more closely wedded to the physical consciousness tend to adopt the basic characteristics associated with the physical and therefore tend to be more resistant to change and slow to adopt new things. Generally, this provides a certain amount of stability and equilibrium to our human existence and must be valued for helping us avoid fatal errors of over enthusiastic vital response or incomplete assessments by the mental being Doctor de Lal observes Quote.

2:46 The outer being is made-up of three parts, each with its own distinct type of consciousness, distinguishable by its characteristic traits or qualities which are reflected in the attitudes pertaining to it. A description of these parts of the being is given below using Sri Aurobindo's terminology. The physical Being Though people generally attribute consciousness and intelligence only to the mind and look upon the body of something mechanical, the psychology of yoga reveals that the body is endowed with its own characteristic consciousness and intelligence. It is the consciousness in the body which regulates the complex workings of the different bodily organs and physiological systems. Though the mind exhibits a higher form of consciousness and intelligence than that of the body, it cannot but marvel at the wisdom of the body expressed in the various processes which maintain the body in health and heal it in illness or accident. However, physical consciousness, as compared to mental consciousness, is seen to be relatively inert, obscure, narrow or limited, and automatic or mechanical in its functionings.

4:06 Thus, attitudes which are characterized by rigidity, narrowness, conservatism or slowness to change, indifference or boredom, and habitual or routine modes of action and reaction are related to the physical part of our being. End Quote. Reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother. Looking from within. Introduction by Doctor de la Pages, Romans, six to seven.