Recognising the Emergence of the Soul in Our Being

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There are many things in the
world which we know exist, not

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because we can directly perceive
them, but because we can

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experience their effects.
Thus we cannot see gravity, but

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we know it exists.
We cannot see radiation, but

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again we know it exists.
As we continue to develop powers

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of the vital and mental planes,
we begin to recognize that there

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are many pressures of feelings,
of emotions, of thought, of

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willpower, which are not
perceptible directly, but which

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we understand by their impact
upon us.

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Each more advanced level of the
evolutionary development brings

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us to more and more subtle
levels of understanding, thus

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making it possible for us to
intuit and know these more

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subtle energies.
We come then to the experience

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of the soul.
Those who live entirely on the

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external level of their being,
primarily in the physical and

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vital consciousness, are unable
to appreciate the existence of

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the soul.
This is, however, not a

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conclusion that the soul does
not exist.

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Rather, it is a declaration of
the limitations of the ability

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of those individuals at that
stage in their development to

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relate to this soul experience.
Just as someone fully engaged at

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the physical level will rarely
have the ability to appreciate

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and understand complex forms of
reasoning, logic, mathematics,

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statistical analysis, scientific
thinking, et cetera, we find

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that certain capacities develop
only when the being is ready.

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We can see individuals mature
either through the normal

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process of growth or through an
inner readiness that reorients

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the being towards the mental or
spiritual realms of experience

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and thereby begin to understand,
appreciate, and recognize the

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influence of the soul and
actually be able to encourage

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its action and ability to direct
the external instruments of

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body, life, and mind.
Sri Aurobindo outlines the way

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the soul begins to assert its
influence over the outer being

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and how we can recognize that
influence before we have the

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direct contact and experience of
the soul in its own native form.

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Sri Aurobindo notes Quote As the
evolution proceeds, nature

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begins slowly and tentatively to
manifest our occult parts.

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She leads us to look more and
more within ourselves, or sets

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out to initiate more clearly
recognizable intimations and

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formations of them on the
surface.

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The soul in us, the psychic
principle, has already begun to

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take secret form.
It puts forward and develops a

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soul personality, a distinct
psychic being to represent it.

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This psychic being remains still
behind the veil in our

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subliminal part, like the true
mental, the true vital, or the

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true or subtle physical being
within us.

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But like them, it acts on the
surface life by the influences

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and intimations it throws up
upon that surface.

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These form part of the surface
aggregate, which is the

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conglomerate effect of the inner
influences and upsurging the

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visible formation and
superstructure which we

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ordinarily experience and think
of as ourselves.

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On this ignorant surface we
become dimly aware of something

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that can be called a soul, as
distinct from mind, life, or

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body.
We feel it not only as our

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mental idea or vague instinct of
ourselves, but as a sensible

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influence in our life and
character and action, a certain

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sensitive feeling for all that
is true and good and beautiful,

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fine and pure and noble, a
response to it, a demand for it,

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a pressure on mind and life to
accept and formulate it.

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In our thought, feelings,
conduct, character is the most

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usually recognized, the most
general and characteristic,

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though not the sole sign of this
influence of the psyche, of the

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man who has not this element in
him, or does not respond at all

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to this urge.
We say that he has no soul, for

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it is this influence that we can
most easily recognize as a finer

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or even a diviner part in US and
the most powerful for the slow

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turning towards some aid at
perfection in our nature.

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End Quote Preference, Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother, The

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Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 2
Hidden Forces within pages 46 to

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47.