The Vital Nature Can Go On Strike When It Does Not Get What It Wants

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Most people have had the
experience.

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An individual has a dispute with
a friend, a relative, a spouse.

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No resolution takes place.
An attempt to convince or

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control the other person is met
with resistance.

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There may be aggression or
threats of violence, or a period

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of silent avoidance may result.
This latter response is an

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example of what we might
consider to be an individual

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going on strike in relation to
another individual.

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This same process takes place
within ourselves.

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We experience a desire of some
type, possibly for a feeling of

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being wanted and supported,
possibly for something like

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recognition or fame, possibly
for wealth or power, sex or

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entertainment.
It could be a desire for a

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specific type of food or drink,
or a desire for an intoxicant.

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In order to experience the state
of consciousness that

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accompanies the drug, whatever
it might be, we are confronted

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each moment with a choice.
We can follow the impulse and

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fulfill the desire.
Afterwards, we may feel satiated

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for a time, and the vital nature
is willing to cooperate and

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participate in actions that the
mind and will or the psychic

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aspiration would like to see
accomplished.

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We may determine that carrying
out the impulse, however, is not

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something we would like to do.
So we rebuff the vital nature

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and ask it one way or the other
to desist from that desire and

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to carry out the mind's will or
other action that speaks to our

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deeper aspirations.
At this moment we find that the

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vital can either intensify its
insistence on its desire, or

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else if it is not successful, it
may simply withdraw energy and

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begin to sulk, to avoid
engagement and to feel

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depressed, discouraged or
dismissed.

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At that moment there is either a
struggle to face off against the

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desire of the vital, or else
there is a period of feeling

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lost, dispersed, distracted,
seeking for some form of

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diversion or psychological
oblivion, unable to accomplish

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anything.
Finding a way to tame the vital

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nature is one of the serious
challenges faced by spiritual

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aspirants throughout the world.
Avoidance of opportunity has

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shown to be a failed approach as
it does not solve the problem.

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Indulgence, the satisfying of
the desire, is also a failed

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approach as desire tends to burn
hotter the more fuel it is

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provided.
The question then arises whether

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there is another way, such as,
can the vital nature be

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educated, raised up and its
focus upgraded to support the

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higher aspiration of the being
and find its fulfillment there

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instead of in its heretofore
normal pursuits and

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satisfactions?
The mother writes quote.

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Therefore it depends on which
side it turns.

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And I tell you it has a very
strong habit of going on strike.

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That is its most powerful
weapon.

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Ah, you're not doing what I
want.

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Well, I'm not going to move.
I shall sham dead.

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And it does that for the least
reason.

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It has a very bad character.
It is very touchy and it is very

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spiteful.
Yes, it is very ill nature, for

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I believe it is very conscious
of its power, and it feels

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clearly that if it gives itself
wholly, there is nothing that

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will resist the momentum of its
force.

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And like all people who have a
weight in the balance, the vital

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also bargains.
I shall give you my energy, but

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you must do what I want.
If you do not give me what I ask

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for, well, I withdraw my energy,
and you will be flat as a

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pancake.
And it is true, it happens like

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that.
End Quote reference Sri

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Aurobindo and the Mother powers
within Chapter 17, The Vital,

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page 134.