"The Longest Story Ever Told"
Sri Aurobindo describes the Supermind as the Truth-Consciousness in which Truth is seen as one and all is a manifestation of the one Truth. All is seen as one unity. What that means, what it implies, is quite meaningless for us to try to explain logically, because logic after all is a function of a lower level of mind.
Q: Is nature going to change or not?
A: In the process of evolution, there is the driving force of that secret divinity within all matter, and within each one of us, we call it Nature. It is the force that organises the whole of creation that builds all forms. And this force is working towards that ultimate state of consciousness from which it came. Nature itself is growing constantly. It is this change of Nature which we call the process of evolution.
Q: ……?
A: In the process of evolution at each level of consciousness there are new laws, new properties, new conditions which are created in which that higher consciousness can operate. And normally it is a movement of liberalisation, of higher types of freedom. If you look at the freedom given to an animal, it is so much restricted. The vital man is more free, the mental man is still more free and as you grow higher, that freedom of consciousness becomes greater and greater. And there is simultaneously a movement towards the original state of unity. Thus we are moving from absolute division of inconscience towards complete unity of consciousness. So a stage comes in this process of evolution where the individual person begins to recognise that he is a part of one larger consciousness. That there is a divinity within me and there is a divinity within you, and they are essentially one, that we all have a common core of divinity and one origin. Then the barrier between me and you begins to break down gradually. And as you go higher in the levels of consciousness, that difference becomes less and less, until many mystics experience a state where they see themselves as one with the world, the world within themselves and they as part of the world. That is an experience of higher levels of consciousness. So it is only at the present stage of evolution that the larger mass of humanity is beginning to recognise the truth of its essential unity.
Q: ……?
A: Yes. There is the story of the hundredth monkey which we have all heard of in some form or another. One person, making an effort for the first time, has to go through great difficulty and cut his way through the forest; the second person who follows, has to do only a little bit of clearing; the third person is quite comfortable most of the way. It is only when a sufficient number of pioneers have cleared the way that the rest of humanity automatically follows like sheep. It is a very deep truth of Nature. The more the people who embody a certain level of consciousness, who understand the truth, who grasp an idea, who make an effort, the more there is a resonance that is created and more and more people are inspired by the resonance to rise to the higher state. And those who follow find it much easier and are almost automatically raised. The task of the pioneer is to be the first resonator and overcome the pull of the mass and rise above and build a sufficiently powerful resonance.
We have seen in the last 50 years an incredible development of global awareness as never before. What has happened in 50 years has not happened in thousands and thousands of years. All of a sudden the world is one in a way that we could never have imagined. Today you do something here and everyone knows about it around the world within minutes, or seconds. And that is only the most superficial and the most external sign. There is a tragedy taking place in Bosnia, you feel about it, you worry about what happens to those people. You ask if you can do something about it. There is an earthquake in Maharashtra, you want to donate something to help the people there. You feel as if we are all a part of a larger family. In the beginning this feeling is limited to nations. Soon it breaks the boundary of nations, you begin to think of people in other countries also.
Still more refined is the unity at the level of the mind. You resonate with the new ideas which are playing all around the world. There is what people call the New Age Consciousness, which is really the first touch of the supramental consciousness.
