An integral perfection cannot come by one kind of realisation alone
A while back I posted a quote by Sri Aurobindo on the Wikipedia page on Integral thought. While I was impressed by the sentiment of the words of this quote, I didn't yet appreciate it in a deeper manner.
A few days ago (1st Dec), postwilberian philosopher Edward Berge posted the same quote on Open Integral, as a comment on my post An Integral Approach to Enlightenment and beyond.
Rereading this profound passage, it occured to me how perfectly it explains my own experiences in this regard (concerning the non-contradiction of the Light and revelations Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramana):
“But the Divine is in his essence infinite and his manifestation too is multitudinously infinite. If that is so, it is not likely that our true integral perfection in being and in nature can come by one kind of realisation alone; it must combine many different strands of divine experience. It cannot be reached by the exclusive pursuit of a single line of identity till that is raised to its absolute; it must harmonise many aspects of the Infinite. An integral consciousness with a multiform dynamic experience is essential for the complete transformation of our nature.”
— ''The Synthesis of Yoga'', p.114
A few days ago (1st Dec), postwilberian philosopher Edward Berge posted the same quote on Open Integral, as a comment on my post An Integral Approach to Enlightenment and beyond.
Rereading this profound passage, it occured to me how perfectly it explains my own experiences in this regard (concerning the non-contradiction of the Light and revelations Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramana):
“But the Divine is in his essence infinite and his manifestation too is multitudinously infinite. If that is so, it is not likely that our true integral perfection in being and in nature can come by one kind of realisation alone; it must combine many different strands of divine experience. It cannot be reached by the exclusive pursuit of a single line of identity till that is raised to its absolute; it must harmonise many aspects of the Infinite. An integral consciousness with a multiform dynamic experience is essential for the complete transformation of our nature.”
— ''The Synthesis of Yoga'', p.114
posted by m alan kazlev at 6:50 PM
2 Comments:
I can’t comment about spiritual realizations or experiences, but as far as an explanation of this creation and cosmos (i.e. metaphysics/ontology) is concerned, Sri Aurobindo, in his The Life Divine, has written the most coherent one. No one before or after him has surpassed that comprehensiveness.
At least in this respect he ranks at the top. If we concede this much to Sri Aurobindo, it would be a great gain. He earns this distinction on merit and let the whole world know this bare fact very clearly.
"as far as an explanation of this creation and cosmos (i.e. metaphysics/ontology) is concerned, Sri Aurobindo, in his The Life Divine, has written the most coherent one. No one before or after him has surpassed that comprehensiveness."
Tusar, I couldn't agree more!
Also his Synthesis of Yoga does the same thing as far as spiritual practice goes. So not only has Sri Aurobindo created the greatest philosophical and metaphysical synthesis the world has seen, he has also created the most all-encompassing framework for spiritual practices the world has seen.
And the fact that his yoga emphasises one direction (the greatest of all, the divinisation of the world) does not take away from the fact that the same framework presented in Synthesis of Yoga can also incorporate nondual spirituality (Advaita), Theism (Christianity, Vaishnavism, etc), Tantric approaches, and more besides.
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