Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms
6. Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born;
before that liberation, I had only knowledge.
7. What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false
appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides,
fixes details & contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a
single harmony.
(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)
(Continued from 22-09-2007 )
In Thoughts and Aphorisms Sri Aurobindo has used the term ‘knowledge’ in a limited sense — knowledge arrived at by use of reason and the senses. It is not used to mean direct knowledge
by identity, spontaneous knowledge by intuition. It is a movement from darkness and ignorance towards the Light and Truth and understanding, but it is indeed half-knowledge, a reasoned
acceptance of the appearances which are really false. Thus what we, the human beings, generally call knowledge is not really knowledge but some false appearances which Reason has
accepted as true and real, but is not truly so. We observe whatever is or happens around us or within us and then try to classify and interpret by using logic that is somewhat superficial and is not enlightened in a true sense. We may think that whatever we see, touch or feel, by using our senses, is true, but that is not so. Because we see, touch or feel them, they appear to us through
the media of senses, and that is the reason why they are only appearances, conditioned by the senses and interpreted by Reason through some strenuous way. The senses are the veils, and Reason sees and knows through the veils and interprets by groping.
The Mother says: “Wisdom looks behind the veil of false appearances and sees the reality behind it.”
The Mother says again: “And Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that when one defines something through the superficial, outer knowledge, it is always in opposition to something else; it is always by means of a contrast that one explains what one sees, feels or touches— and one does not understand.” If we superficially see, touch or feel something and do not understand it, we are not then led to a true Knowledge, we are then at this side of the veil.
But generally, ordinarily, we cannot reach what Sri Aurobindo calls Wisdom. Appearances will always be there before us, until we go beyond the senses and Reason, until we surpass the limits of the ordinary mind, until we cross over the nature-borne ignorance. Remaining bound by Reason and the observation through senses, we cannot have the Wisdom through Intuition and Identity. We need a New Experience — of surpassing the limits of the ordinary consciousness. Till that moment, "when we want to understand something you continue to look, to observe, to touch, to taste and feel, because you believe there are no means of observation."
[On Thoughts and Aphorisms by The Mother]
And through these means you can only know whatever is there in the outer world or whatever is concerned and connected with the outer world. You cannot be aware of the Higher Consciousness or of the higher planes of existence through these present means of observation.
You shall have to use at best the logical means of deduction and induction — and continue to grope in the darkness. We shall have to surpass the ordinary mind, the mind of rational
observation. We shall have to pass behind the veil of Ignorance and Darkness and sensory appearances. And for that we shall have to go WITHIN. That is the first step, The Mother says.
[Continued]
Barin Chaki
25-11-2007
Written on 20-09-2007.
6. Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born;
before that liberation, I had only knowledge.
7. What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false
appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides,
fixes details & contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a
single harmony.
(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)
(Continued from 22-09-2007 )
In Thoughts and Aphorisms Sri Aurobindo has used the term ‘knowledge’ in a limited sense — knowledge arrived at by use of reason and the senses. It is not used to mean direct knowledge
by identity, spontaneous knowledge by intuition. It is a movement from darkness and ignorance towards the Light and Truth and understanding, but it is indeed half-knowledge, a reasoned
acceptance of the appearances which are really false. Thus what we, the human beings, generally call knowledge is not really knowledge but some false appearances which Reason has
accepted as true and real, but is not truly so. We observe whatever is or happens around us or within us and then try to classify and interpret by using logic that is somewhat superficial and is not enlightened in a true sense. We may think that whatever we see, touch or feel, by using our senses, is true, but that is not so. Because we see, touch or feel them, they appear to us through
the media of senses, and that is the reason why they are only appearances, conditioned by the senses and interpreted by Reason through some strenuous way. The senses are the veils, and Reason sees and knows through the veils and interprets by groping.
The Mother says: “Wisdom looks behind the veil of false appearances and sees the reality behind it.”
The Mother says again: “And Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that when one defines something through the superficial, outer knowledge, it is always in opposition to something else; it is always by means of a contrast that one explains what one sees, feels or touches— and one does not understand.” If we superficially see, touch or feel something and do not understand it, we are not then led to a true Knowledge, we are then at this side of the veil.
But generally, ordinarily, we cannot reach what Sri Aurobindo calls Wisdom. Appearances will always be there before us, until we go beyond the senses and Reason, until we surpass the limits of the ordinary mind, until we cross over the nature-borne ignorance. Remaining bound by Reason and the observation through senses, we cannot have the Wisdom through Intuition and Identity. We need a New Experience — of surpassing the limits of the ordinary consciousness. Till that moment, "when we want to understand something you continue to look, to observe, to touch, to taste and feel, because you believe there are no means of observation."
[On Thoughts and Aphorisms by The Mother]
And through these means you can only know whatever is there in the outer world or whatever is concerned and connected with the outer world. You cannot be aware of the Higher Consciousness or of the higher planes of existence through these present means of observation.
You shall have to use at best the logical means of deduction and induction — and continue to grope in the darkness. We shall have to surpass the ordinary mind, the mind of rational
observation. We shall have to pass behind the veil of Ignorance and Darkness and sensory appearances. And for that we shall have to go WITHIN. That is the first step, The Mother says.
[Continued]
Barin Chaki
25-11-2007
Written on 20-09-2007.
