Psychic being
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The Psychic Being is Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo's term for the Personal Evolving Soul, the principle of Divine spirit in every individual.
The Nature of the Psychic Being[edit]
The Psychic is the "Innermost Being" (Amal Kiran, quoted by Craig Hamilton) is the permanent being in us that stands behind and supports the physical, vital and mental principles. It takes the essence of experience in the Ignorance to form a nucleus of growth in the nature; it "puts forth and uses mind, life and body as its instruments, undergoes the envelopment of their conditions, but it is other and greater than its members." (The Life Divine p.891)
The term "Psychic" or Psychic Being in this context derives originally from the occult kabbalistic teachings of Max Théon, as conveyed by The Mother. Sri Aurobindo is careful to distinguish between the Psychic Being as defined in the Yoga and the ordinary meaning of "psychic" which refers more to the desire soul, or to psychological or paranormal phenomena which are connected with the inner mind, inner vital, or subtle physical subliminal nature rather than the true Soul (The Life Divine p.227 note).
The Psychic begins its evolution completely veiled and hidden, but as it grows through successive lifetimes it gradually exerts a greater influence, organising the elements of the being, and taking on the role of spiritual Guide (The Life Divine pp.891-4).
In Integral Yoga the goal is to move inward and discover the Psychic Being, which then can bring about a transformation of the outer nature. This transformation of the outer being or ego by the Psychic is called Psychicisation; it is one of the three necessary stages in the realisation of the Supramental consciousness. This Psychic transformation is the decisive movement that enables a never-ending progress in life through the power of connecting to one's inner spirit or Divine Essence.
For Sri Aurobindo both Psychicisation and Spiritualisation are equally necessary, and complementary prerequistes in the drawing down of the Supermind.
...the psychic entity in us persists and is fundamentally the same always: it contains all essential possibilities of our manifestation but is not constituted by them; it is not limited by what it manifests, not contained by the incomplete forms of the manifestation, not tarnished by the imperfections and impurities, the defects and depravations of the surface being. It is an ever-pure flame of the divinity in things and nothing that comes to it, nothing that enters into our experience can pollute its purity or extinguish the flame.
— Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 891
Everything is dangerous in the sadhana or can be, except the psychic change.
— Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, vol.3
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- Sri Aurobindo The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry, 1977 (10th edition)
- ------ The Synthesis of Yoga
- ------ Letters on Yoga
- Craig Hamilton, The Miraculous Power of the Soul - A meeting with Amal Kiran, Pondicherry [archive]
Links including original quotations[edit]
- psychic being [archive]
- The Psychic Being [archive]
- Growth of the Psychic Being [archive]
- Sri Aurobindo - Letters on Yoga - The Triple Transformation [archive]