The Continuum of Consciousness and the Interactions of the Various Wave-Forms

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We recognize the electromagnetic
spectrum, the color spectrum,

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the sound wave spectrum, and
others each as representing A

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continuum of waveforms with
varying characteristics.

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There are shorter, more intense
waves and longer wave

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frequencies.
Some conduct tremendous amounts

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of physical heat, such as
infrared frequencies.

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While others, such as
ultraviolet have longer

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waveforms, there is a range
within each spectrum that we can

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perceive with our senses, and
there are ranges both below and

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above the vibratory levels we
can pick up that represent

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extensions of those Spectra.
Some beings respond to ranges

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different from those that the
human being can respond to.

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Which includes dogs who can
perceive sounds in far higher

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ranges than we find audible.
Similarly, there is a continuum

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of consciousness.
The range of consciousness

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within which we respond and act
as human beings is not the

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entirety of the range.
There are levels below and above

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those we can experience
normally.

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In some cases we can become
aware of extended ranges below

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or above, but in many cases we
only become aware of the effects

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they produce without direct
perception of the waveforms of

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the consciousness themselves.
At a certain point we can

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recognize that even what appears
to be inanimate matter has an

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involved consciousness, as we
understand from the study of

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physics.
When varying waves interact with

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one another, they can either
accentuate the action or disrupt

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the action to a greater or
lesser degree.

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Thus, as different levels of
consciousness generate their

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characteristic waveforms, we
find that in some cases there is

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an enhanced power of
understanding and coordinated

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action, while in other cases
things can be confused or

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chaotic.
Shriorobindo notes quote As we

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progress and awaken to the soul
in us and things, we shall

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realize that there is a
consciousness also in the plant,

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in the metal, in the atom, in
electricity, in everything that

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belongs to physical nature.
We shall find even that it is

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not really in all respects a
lower or more limited mode than

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the mental.
On the contrary, it is in many

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inanimate forms more intense,
rapid, poignant, the less

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evolved towards the surface.
But this also this consciousness

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of vital and physical nature is,
compared with chit, a lower, and

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therefore a limited, form, mode
and movement.

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These lower modes of
consciousness are the conscious

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stuff of inferior planes in one
indivisible existence.

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In ourselves also there is in
our subconscious being an action

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which is precisely that of the
inanimate physical nature,

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whence has been constituted the
basis of our physical being,

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another which is that of plant
life, and another which is that

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of the lower animal creation
around us.

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All these are so much dominated
and conditioned by the thinking

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and reasoning conscious being in
us.

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That we have no real awareness
of these lower planes.

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We are unable to perceive in
their own terms what these parts

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of us are doing, and receive it
very imperfectly in the terms

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and values of the thinking and
reasoning mind.

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Still, we know well enough that
there is an animal in us, as

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well as that which is
characteristically human,

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something which is a creature of
conscious instinct and impulse.

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Not reflective or rational, as
well as that which turns back in

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thought and will on its
experience, meets it from above

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with the light and force of a
higher plane, and to some degree

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controls, uses and modifies it.
But the animal in man is only

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the head of our subhuman being.
Below it there is much that is

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also sub animal and merely
vital.

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Much that acts by an instinct or
an impulse of which the

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constituting consciousness is
withdrawn behind the surface,

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below the sub animal being there
is at a further depth the

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subvital.
When we advance in that ultra

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normal self knowledge and
experience which yoga brings

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with it, we become aware.
That the body too, has a

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consciousness of its own.
It has habits, impulses,

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instincts, and inert yet
effective will, which differs

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from that of the rest of our
being, and can resist it and

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condition its effectiveness.
Much of the struggle in our

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being is due to this composite
existence and the interaction of

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these varied and heterogeneous
planes on each other.

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For man here is the result of an
evolution, and contains in

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himself the whole of that
evolution, up from the merely

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physical and subvital conscious
being to the mental creature

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which at the top he is.
But this evolution is really a

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manifestation, and just as we
have in us these subnormal

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selves and subhuman planes, so
are there in us above our mental

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being.
Supernormal and Superhuman

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Plains.
End Quote Reference Sriorobindo

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and the Mother Are Many Selves.
Practical Yogic Psychology

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Chapter 2 Plains and Parts of
the Being, pages 13 to 14.