The Cycles of Social Development and the Swing Away from a One-Sided Focus on Materialism

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We do not usually recognize or
appreciate how much influence

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our environment, our
surroundings, the society we

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live in.
The customs and lifeways of that

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social system impact what we
think about, how we focus our

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attention, and what we do with
our lives.

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The mother puts this also into
the process of evolution that

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takes place not just within a
species but in entire

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civilizations, which go through
cycles of development, changes

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in focus and progress as various
different aspects of life and

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consciousness are taken up in
the evolutionary process.

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We can observe through the lens
of history how times change and

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with it the developments we see
in society and in individual

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growth.
In the West we have the examples

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set by the Greek and Roman ages,
the fall of the Roman Empire,

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the Dark Ages, the Renaissance,
the Age of Discovery and empire

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building, and then the
Industrial Revolution and the

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development of our modern
computer Internet age.

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The East also experienced
similarly a number of changes

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that represented various cycles
of development.

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Each of these had an impact on
the lives of people.

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To look at more recent periods,
the industrial revolution

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brought about a tremendous
enhancement of the capability of

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society to provide physical
comfort and well-being to

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people.
It however, also created a

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mechanical viewpoint and mindset
and a focus on the physical

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basis of life as the element
that should be focused on.

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This represented something of a
change from past ages.

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We are still living under the
impulsion of the focus of the

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Industrial Revolution, impacted
and extended by the development

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of the World Wide Web and the
technological forces that bring

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the entire world together and
disseminate this standpoint.

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We can see, however, that the
impulsion of the material and

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physical focus is changing as a
number of consequences become

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known and as people begin to
recognize the emptiness of this

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approach in terms of
understanding any deeper

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significance to their lives.
We see an upsurge in focus on

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spiritual growth, as well as an
increasing interest in the

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investigation of subtle psychic
powers.

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We see an increasing recognition
of the consequences, both

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intended and unintended, of this
unrestrained focus on a one side

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and narrow focus on material
development without taking into

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account the balance and harmony
of the larger world and the

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beings who all are seeking some
form of material basis and

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stability.
We see advances in science and

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technology which lead more
people to question whether this

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is the future we need and
whether we need to find a way to

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manage this process rather than
have it manage us.

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Sri Aurobindo describes in The
Human Cycle a number of changes

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that will accompany what he
calls the coming of the

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subjective age.
The Mother observes.

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Quote.
We have been told that evolution

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is progressive and that it
follows a spiral of ascending

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progression.
I do not doubt that what 1 calls

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comfort in modern cities is a
much higher degree of evolution

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than the comfort of the caveman.
But in ancient narratives, they

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always spoke of a power of
foresight, of the prophetic

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spirit, the announcement of
future events through visions,

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life's intimacy with something
more subtle that had, for the

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simple people of that age, a
more concrete reality.

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Now, in those beautiful cities
that are so comfortable, when

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one wants to condemn anything,
what does one say?

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It's a dream, it's imagination.
And precisely if a person lives

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in an inner perception, people
look at him slightly askance and

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wonder whether he is altogether
mentally sound, one who does not

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pass his time in striving for
wealth or in trying to increase

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his comforts and well-being to
secure a good position and

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become an important person.
A man who is not like that is

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mistrusted.
People wonder whether he is in

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his right mind.
And all that is so much the

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stuff of the atmosphere, the
content of the air you breathe,

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the orientation of the thoughts
received from others, that it

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seems absolutely natural.
You do not feel that it is a

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grotesque monstrosity.
To become a little more

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conscious of oneself, to enter
into relation with the life

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behind the appearances, does not
seem to you to be the greatest

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good.
When you sit in a comfortable

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chair in front of a lavish meal,
when you fill your stomach with

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delicious dishes, that certainly
appears to you much more

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concrete and much more
interesting.

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And if you look at the day that
has passed, if you take stock of

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your day, if you have had some
material advantage, some

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pleasure, a physical
satisfaction, you mark it as a

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good day.
But if you have received a good

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lesson from life, if it is given
you a knock on your nose to tell

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you that you are a stupid
fellow, you do not give thanks

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to the grace.
And you say, oh, life is not

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always fun.
End Quote.

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Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother, Looking from Within,

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Chapter 1, Looking at Life and
Circumstances, pages 15 to 17.