The Unseen Societal Conditions That Frame Our Response to Events in Our Lives

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Each society, each religion,
each culture in the world has

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its own characteristic ideas and
responses to the questions that

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arise during an individual's
life.

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Many of these are programmed
into the individual in

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childhood, starting with
prenatal conditioning based on

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the energies of the mother.
Once the child is born, he is

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trained to accept the societal
norms and modes of reaction to

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various circumstances until
these become an unspoken

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assumption that forms the basis
of the individual's life

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responses and judgments.
The human intellect actually

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expects to have certain
frameworks and predetermined

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filters for the input it
receives.

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This makes the process of
deciding things much faster than

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if all the data and all the
vibrational patterns had to be

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analyzed each time in order to
come to any conclusions.

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Thus the system has evolved in
such a way that it speeds the

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ability of the individual to
navigate his way through

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society.
It should be noted that due to

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cultural differences, some of
these life ways that are second

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nature to an individual in his
own culture are foreign to life

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and other cultures and simply do
not translate well across

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cultural barriers.
Language limitations also help

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create the framework within
which the mind functions.

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Under normal circumstances.
Between cultural and language

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frameworks, most individuals
live their lives truly

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circumscribed within a specific
set of boundaries, and these

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boundaries are unseen and
unrecognized for the most part.

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There are, of course, downsides
to this filtering and framing

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process.
While it may help to have

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certain laws or axioms as a
starting point in mathematics or

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physics, it becomes less
valuable in fields of human

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interactions where these can
turn into various forms of bias

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or prejudice, or preconceived
notions about people based on

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their external appearance,
dress, or the accent they use in

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their expression of language.
The famous story of My Fair Lady

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revolved around an English
professor who could judge the

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class of any individual based on
their accent, word usage, slang,

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et cetera.
He undertook to change the

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perception of a specific
individual through training her

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to speak in a totally different
mode.

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Obviously preconceived notions,
bias and prejudice can create

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tremendous dislocations and
disharmony in any society,

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breeding a fixed class structure
that also determines access to

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and allocation of resources.
From the point of view of yogic

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practice, one of the first
requirements is for the seeker

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to become aware of this type of
predetermined response built

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into the subconscious basis that
rules much of their responses to

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life.
Once aware of these things, the

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seeker can begin to take steps
to overcome these inherent,

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untested and unspoken
assumptions and thereby liberate

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himself from the bondage of the
fixed habits of mind and the

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past, which otherwise hinder his
growth and development.

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One tool to do this is to
consciously practice a method

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known as the empty box.
In whatever situation the

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individual finds himself,
instead of assuming he knows

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what to do and how to do it, he
can step back and look at it

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with a fresh viewpoint, as if
nothing at all were fixed.

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And the situation is an empty
box waiting for new creative

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insight for resolution of next
steps to be taken.

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The mother observes, quote, When
a being is born upon earth, he

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is inevitably born in a certain
country and a certain

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environment.
Due to his physical parents, he

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is born in a set of social,
cultural, national, sometimes

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religious circumstances, a set
of habits of thinking, of

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understanding, of feeling,
conceiving all sorts of

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constructions which are at first
mental, then become vital

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habits, and finally material
modes of being.

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To put things more clearly, you
are born in a certain society or

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religion in a particular
country, and this society has a

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collective conception of its
own, and this nation has a

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collective conception of its
own.

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This religion has a collective
construction of its own, which

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is usually very fixed.
You were born into it naturally

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when you are very young, you
were altogether unaware of it.

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But it acts on your formation,
that formation, that slow

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formation through hours and
hours, through days and days,

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experiences added to
experiences, which gradually

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builds up a consciousness.
You are underneath it, as

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beneath a bell glass.
It is a kind of construction

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which covers and in a way
protects you, but in other ways

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limits you considerably.
All this you absorb without even

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being aware of it, and this
forms the subconscious basis of

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your own construction.
This subconscious basis will act

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on you throughout your life if
you do not take care to free

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yourself from it, And to free
yourself from it, you must first

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of all become aware of it.
And the first step is the most

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difficult, For this formation
was so subtle, it was made when

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you were not yet a conscious
being, when you had just fallen

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altogether, dazed from another
world into this one laughing.

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And it all happened without your
participating in it, in the

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least in it.
Therefore it does not even occur

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to you that there could be
something to know there, and

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still less something you must
get rid of.

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And it is quite remarkable that
when for some reason or other

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you do become aware of the hold
of this collective suggestion,

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you realize at the same time
that a very assiduous and

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prolonged labour is necessary in
order to get rid of it.

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But the problem does not end
there.

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End Quote Reference Shriorobindo
and the Mother, The Hidden

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Forces of Life, chapter 3,
Hidden Forces around pages 58 to

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59.