December 10, 1969
(Mother first writes at one go a message for the
start of the new school year.)
One must have lived
what one wants to teach.
To speak of the new consciousness,
let it penetrate you and reveal
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its secrets to you. For only then
will you be able to speak of it with competence.
*
To leap into the new consciousness,
the first condition
is a mental modesty
sufficient to be convinced that
all one thinks one knows is nothing
in comparison with what remains to be learned.
All that one has learned externally
must be only a foothold
enabling one to rise towards higher knowledge.
***
(silence)
The training of the physical consciousness is continuing at an accelerated pace, very accelerated. The body has some slight difficulty in keeping its equilibrium. It’s as if it were getting blows from every side! (Mother laughs)
Inwardly, it’s quite fine. Outwardly, for these last three days things have been very difficult, so it’s been a bit tired – formerly, it no longer knew fatigue, it no longer knew what it was. But that didn’t last: as soon as it had a moment when it could concentrate and get back into the true attitude, that went away And the progress (gesture like a leap), oh, it’s quite out of proportion with the effort. The effort is quite small and the progress is big. One can see that clearly.
And then, with other people (close ones, people in a close relationship), it’s the same thing too, the progress is by leaps and bounds-it shakes up the house a little, but it’s by leaps and bounds. With some, like Z for instance, it’s very conscious, she’s very conscious. Long ago, she had an accident to her leg, and that leg is slightly weaker than the other, there’s a possibility of trouble. She’s noticed that as long as she is in the right attitude, she no longer feels ANYTHING; there’s nothing anymore, it seems completely gone. As soon as she falls back into the ordinary consciousness, the pain comes back …. She’s had innumerable experiences. I found that very interesting. Others too.
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It’s really interesting. Really interesting because it’s clear in a perfectly limpid and obvious way that its NOTHING BUT A STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. When you are in the consciousness (that is, the consciousness which grows truer and truer: not something at a stop but a consciousness in ascent), when you are in that, all goes well; as soon as you go out of it and fall back into the old unprogressive consciousness, or progressive in a very slow and invisible manner, then the disorder comes back. And that’s like a lesson given in a perfectly clear and evident way.
It’s really interesting.
The body is learning – it learns very fast.
(silence)
(Laughing) It always says to itself, "We’re really poor devils!" That’s its actual impression I We who are so proud of being human and conscious and capable of being something else than a thinking animal … we’re still all the way down in comparison with … with what has to be conquered – not even the first step of the ascent.
We think we’re doing well, we give ourselves a little pat of encouragement! … That’s really the impression: we’re poor devils! (Mother laughs)
(silence)
Certainly, a great step will be taken when it becomes natural for man to seek to perfect himself instead of expecting perfection in others …. That reversal is at the basis of all true progress. The first human instinct is, "It’s the fault of circumstances, it’s people’s fault, it’s … See how this fellow is, how that fellow is, how …" And it goes on indefinitely. The FIRST STEP, the very first step is to say, "If I were as I should be, or if the body were as it should be, all would be perfectly all right for it." If, to make progress, you wait for others to do so, you can wait indefinitely.
That’s the first thing that should be spread everywhere.
Never lay the blame on others or on circumstances because whatever the circumstances may be, even apparently the worst, if you are in the true attitude and have the true consciousness, it doesn’t matter in the least for your inner progress, not in the least – and I’ll say, including death.
That really seems to be the first lesson to be learned.
(silence)
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Do you remember where Sri Aurobindo wrote (I am translating freely) that to facilitate progress, the notion of sin was introduced, but man immediately (laughing) saw sin in all others-he never saw it for himself! … Sri Aurobindo’s sentence is charming, but I don’t remember. [[Aphorism 68 - "The sense of sin was necessary in order that man might become disgusted with his own imperfections. It was God's corrective for egoism. But man's egoism meets God's device by being very dully alive to its owns sins and very keenly alive to the sins of others." ]]
(long silence)
Have you seen the message for the New Year? (Mother looks for a paper)
"The world is preparing for a big change.
Will you help?"
It’s amusing, N.S. [a minister in the Indian government] wants to make greetings cards (she has to send out a number of cards for the New Year), so she wants to make a card with, on this side, my message, and on that side, her New Year greetings! She wants to send that. Amusing!
I feel 1970 is going to be better than ’69, no?
I think so.
I feel there will be a real change in ’72. A considerable change.
Everywhere, all over the world, from the most unexpected places, we get letters from people who follow and understand, who expect … Canada is quite shaken. Even in Norway, in Sweden, lots of people in Italy, many in Germany; in France … it’s beginning – a little bit! (Mother laughs) In the U.S.A., it’s good, it’s working well, and in Canada it’s doing well. Even in Japan there are people ….
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