Becoming Aware of the Soul and Its Action on Our External Being

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We cannot see electricity, but
we can see its action through

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the effects it brings about.
Many things occur which we

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cannot identify with our senses
directly, but which we can

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interpret based on results.
In a similar way, while we

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cannot specifically identify the
soul per SE, we can identify its

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impact in our lives as it gains
a stronger presence within us.

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For the spiritual seeker, a
retrospective back across the

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life and how we reacted at
various stages of life can help

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us understand the pattern of the
soul's emergence and action.

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There may be modest indications,
or there may be more significant

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reactions.
In some cases, the seeker can

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see a change in the way he
responds to other beings.

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Many seekers describe an earlier
fear and destructive impulse

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relating to the presence of bees
in their surrounding.

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Much of this is a surface
trained response, although in

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some cases it is a result of
traumatic experience of painful

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bee stings earlier in life.
As they grow in their spiritual

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awareness, however, there is a
frequent growth of appreciation

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and understanding for bees and
other beings on the planet, and

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they gain both respect and a
caring attitude towards them.

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If the seeker looks back and
compares the earlier reactions

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of the external surface being
and the present response

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pattern, he can see that
something has intervened to

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change his mind, his vital
reactions, and even his physical

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comfort level.
Other indications also occur.

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Shifting sensibilities regarding
how other people are treated,

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what is important in one's life,
and a focus on surrounding

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oneself with people and
circumstances that build

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harmony, beauty, and goodwill in
one's life are subtle signs of a

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new influence.
Some people take up a vegetarian

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or vegan diet as their
sensibilities adjust to a new

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reality.
For others, the change can be

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more abrupt, less subtle.
Some people report a serious

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traumatic event, perhaps even a
near death experience, that

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triggers them to look at their
lives and activities and

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priorities in an entirely new
one.

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One of the more extreme
conversions was reported by

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Danny and Brinkley in his book
Saved by the Light.

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He was struck by lightning,
declared clinically dead, and

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then somehow return to life, but
with an entirely new mission in

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life.
He went from being a

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professional sniper to starting
a new organization, Compassion

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in Action CIA to support Hospice
patients.

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Many report a turn towards
spirituality.

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They undergo extreme changes in
their careers, focus and

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activities and take up yoga,
meditation, mindfulness

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practices, devotional
activities, or various forms of

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compassionate action such as
feeding the hungry or healing

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the sick in a total change from
their prior life priorities,

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Shrioravindo notes quote.
As the evolution proceeds,

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nature begins slowly and
tentatively to manifest our

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occult parts.
She leads us to look more and

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more within ourselves, or sets
out to initiate more clearly

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recognizable intimations and
formations of them on the

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surface.
The soul in us, the psychic

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principle, has already begun to
take secret form.

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It puts forward and develops a
soul personality, a distinct

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psychic being, to represent it.
This psychic being remains still

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behind the veil in our
subliminal part, like the true

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mental, the true vital, or the
true or subtle physical being

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within us.
But like them, it acts on the

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surface life by the influences
and intimations it throws up

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upon that surface.
These form part of the surface

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aggregate, which is the
conglomerate effect of the inner

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influences and upsurgings, the
visible formation and

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superstructure which we
ordinarily experience and think

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of as ourselves.
On this ignorant surface we

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become dimly aware of something
that can be called a soul, as

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distinct from mind, life, or
body.

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We find it not only as our
mental idea or vague instinct of

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ourselves, but as a sensible
influence in our life and

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character and action, a certain
sensitive feeling for all that

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is true and good and beautiful,
fine and pure and noble, A

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response to it, a demand for it,
a pressure on mind and life to

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accept and formulate it.
In our thought, feelings,

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conduct, character is the most
usually recognized, the most

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general and characteristic,
though not the sole sign of this

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influence of the psyche, of the
man who has not this element in

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him or does not respond at all
to this urge.

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We say that he has no soul.
For it is this influence that we

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can most easily recognize as a
finer or even a diviner part in

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US, and the most powerful for
the slow turning towards some

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aim at perfection in our nature.
End Quote Reference Sri

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Aurobindo and the Mother, The
psychic being soul, its nature,

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mission and evolution.
Section 2.

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Role, function and Action of the
Psychic.

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Pages 52 to 53.