THE TEACHING OF SRI AUROBINDO (Inst 11(1)/5th Sept, ‘13) CHAPTER FOUR – PSYCHOLOGY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT What is true of man is equally true of aggregates of men. For after all, the collectivity is formed out of association of the individuals and it is their natures, their movements, their aspirations and ideas that go to shape the life of the group. And yet, it is not merely a conglomeration of individuals. The collectivity acquires and builds up its own mores, its own individuality and direction, determined, no doubt largely by the characteristic temperament, the trend of life and thought movements of the men forming it, but also exercising its own subtle influence over the life and progress of its constituent individuals. Each society has its distinct career, its purpose and goal. This is because the collectivity is also an expression of the manifesting Godhead even as the individual is. The individual and the collective are two terms of the Revelation. The aim of both is the same; to serve That which transcends both, to manifest God. The one actualizes the possibility of the Divine’s self-revelation in each individual centre and form, while the other works to bring out the potentiality in the mass. The destiny of the individual is also the destiny of man in the society; to arrive at a supreme self-perfection in the full figure of the Truths of God, Freedom and Unity. The means too is the same; spiritual evolution. Only there is a variation in stress. The process in the development of the collectivity is necessarily less overtly conscious, more slow and meandering than in the case of the individual. There are many ups and downs, advances, reversions or lapses making the entire human activity seem a meaningless whirligig turning round and round. But that is only an appearance. The evolutionary movement of humanity does not proceed in a straight line. Its course is spiral. That is to say, the wheel moves round and round, yet it goes upward and forward also. The cyclic revolutions of humanity on the move ensure thoroughness, a meticulous care to pick up every possible gain made on the way, now advancing leaving some elements aside which are not ready, now returning to assimilate those that are mature. A close study of the growth, life and decay of human societies reveals, Sri Aurobindo points out, certain broad stages through which they pass in the course of their development pointing to a definite course and trend in which the whole mankind is moving. Each stage records the cultivation and blossoming of a particular faculty or faculties in the growing personality of Man. The early beginnings of the societies are marked by a highly imaginative and symbolic mentality. Man perceives and functions not by reasoning, but by an instinctive, an almost intuitive response to the promptings of Nature around. Everywhere he senses and feels a pulsating Life, a Presence with which all is Instinct, a Mystery with which all is enveloped. He comes to regard it as a Mighty Godhead from which all derives and to which all flows. He perceives a natural oneness between life within himself and the life without in the universe; both are sensed to be led and ruled by the veiled Deities. A religious awe and feeling predominate. Life organizes itself around these vibrant ideas rendered by a rich imagination into forms that are living symbols of this character of the physical universe as the projection of an unseen Above. Such were the societies of Vedic India, early Greece and Egypt. They were governed by a predominantly religious feeling and spiritual motif. This may be called the Symbolic Age in which physical life and activities are looked upon as figures of a greater Life and Activity above and behind. The Spiritual Idea dominates. All modes and institutions, social traditions and customs, ritual and ceremony, reflect this master Idea of a manifesting supraphysical Divinity. The Idea or Truth finds certain psychological concepts which serve as forms or several lines of its expression. And these formulate themselves in the course of time into fixed moulds or types. Thus, for instance, in the ancient Indian tradition, the Truth of the Virat Purusha in the Veda, the Cosmic Godhead expressing itself in a fourfold movement of the Divine as Knowledge, Divine as Power, Divine as Production and Mutuality, Divine as Service, tends to fix itself in the moulds of psychological temperament, psychic type with the corresponding ethical discipline – Dharma. The Truths basing each of these Types flower as so many Ideals, which begin to rule all by themselves. There is a shift in emphasis to this psychological and ethical framework originally formed in service of the Spiritual Idea. Dharma becomes paramount. The ethical type comes to the forefront. This is the Typal Age. The Truth that originally inspired these multiple radii of types and ideals recedes into the background though it is not yet lost to sight. Truth yields place to the Law of Truth – Dharma. This is the age of great social Ideals which are held up and honoured for their own sake. The lofty idealism of mind and spirit of the Brahmin, the heroism of the Kshatriya (the chivalry of the European Knight and the self-effacing fervour of the Samurai), the rectitude and philanthropy of the Vaishya, the fidelity and service of the Shudra, are some of the finest flowers of this growth. With pranams to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 04:38:58 +0000
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