January 18, 1963
(Satprem suggests to Mother to publish in the next “Bulletin,” of February, her entire talk on “God’s laughter,” and in particular the whole passage in which she said: “It’s dreadful to take life seriously! Those who have given me the most difficulties have always been the people who take life seriously.”)
Oh, no!
It’s charming, though.
I don’t think it would be wise to put this in the Bulletin.
There are so many people, in fact, who don’t care a whit about anything, who don’t take life seriously, but in the wrong way: they don’t take seriously what they have to do, they don’t take their progress seriously, they take nothing seriously – they go to the movies when Sri Aurobindo is dying. That sort of thing. So I think this passage would open the door to too many misunderstandings. It’s true, but it is true up ABOVE. A bit too high up for people.
I think we should omit it. Especially when I say that those who have given me the most trouble are the people who take life seriously.
***
A little later
There’s a practical question I’d like to ask you regarding the subtle physical. I understand the mind centers, which correspond to a particular world, the vital centers, which receive all sorts of influences, but which center corresponds to the subtle physical, and what are the influences coming from the subtle physical? Is there a center that corresponds to the subtle physical?
Where do you situate the center for the vital?
For the vital it’s the navel. The region from the heart to the sex organs, isn’t it?
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Well, for the subtle physical it goes from the navel down to the last center, [[The muladhara, at the base of the spine. ]] that whole region.
And what are the influences that come from the subtle physical?
Generally they are of a far higher quality than material influences. I have noticed (I don’t know whether it’s a personal or a general thing) that the subtle physical I see is always of a somewhat higher quality than the physical proper. I mean somewhat more harmonious: things are smoother. All that comes from the vital is more often than not aggressive, quarrelsome and so on – and difficult. But this realm is generally calm – calm, orderly, where things are more harmonious – GENERALLY (I can’t say whether it’s the case with everybody, but in my own case it’s like that).
As I told you, Sri Aurobindo lives there permanently, as though in a house of his own: you can see him, you can stay with him, he is busy. It is very much like the physical, but a physical that would be less grating, you understand, where things are more harmonious and satisfying, less excited. There is less of that feeling of haste and uncertainty. In that house where Sri Aurobindo lives, life unfolds very, very harmoniously: people come and go, there are meals even…. But all that obeys more general laws, and a sense of security and certainty not to be found in physical life. And the symbolism is more exact (I don’t know how to express it …), the symbolic transcription of things is less distorted, more exact.
This is the subtle physical as I know it, I can’t say if it is the same for everyone. Sri Aurobindo said, “There is a true physical,” well, I have a feeling that this is what he calls the “true physical” – a subtler physical, the true physical which is behind.
But does it influence the whole earth?
Oh, yes! In general, these things are terrestrial. But probably it’s still quite subjective, in the sense that each one has an impression of it according to what he is and his stage of development.
But does it exert a DIRECT action on the earth, just as the vital has an action on the earth?
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I think that as the Supramental descends, the subtle physical will have a greater and greater action on earth, because it is the world where the new creation will be formed before it “descends,” before it becomes absolutely visible and concrete.
I often have a sense that it would take only a very tiny thing – which is hard to define – a very tiny movement of materialization to make this new creation concrete to us as we are. And it is probably – it will probably be formed completely in that subtle world before it materializes.
I think few people are able to make the distinction. They have rather an impression that it’s their “dream way” of seeing things; I mean they say, “Oh, it’s just a dream.” In most cases it’s like that. The subtle physical has the character of a realm where things are more fluid and harmonious than physical things, but with the same concrete quality; its nature is not like that of vital things, which have vibrations of power but again not that very concrete and objective quality characteristic of material things. In the subtle physical, things are very concrete. For instance, if someone stands in your way, you have to push him aside: he doesn’t just vanish, you can’t walk through him. If you see an object that’s not in its place, you have to move it. Voilà.
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