The meanings and goals of Science

Re: Techno-Capitalism and Post-Human Destinies - II
by Debashish on Sat 09 Dec 2006 01:11 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

The 2 quotes you have provided are both very interesting and must be seen in context. The first one, from The Human Cycle, is from the chapter "The Spiritual Aim and Life" and is seeing Science and Philosophy as aspects of the seeking for truth by the intellect, which need to be granted independence to seek in their own manner; but the context of this seeking is a transformation of the aim of life to a spiritual aim. The meanings and goals of Science as of the intellect need then to be understood in the light of this transformed life-aim. A paragraph from the previous page is a most eloquent elucidation of this change of aim and its consequent operational transformations:

"The true and full spiritual aim in society will regard man not as a mind, a life and a body, but as a soul incarnated for a divine fulfillment upon earth, not only in heavens beyond, which after it need not have left if it had no divine business here in the world of physical, vital and mental nature. It will therefore regard the life, mind and body neither as ends in themselves, sufficient for their own satisfaction, nor as mortal members full of disease which have only to be dropped off for the rescued spirit to flee away into its own pure regions, but as first instruments of the soul, the yet imperfect instruments of an unseized diviner purpose. It will believe in their destiny and help them to believe in themselves, but for that very reason in their highest and not only in their lowest or lower possibilities. Their destiny will be in its view, to spiritualise themselves so as to grow into visible members of the spirit, lucid means of its manifestation, themselves spiritual, illumined, more and more conscious and perfect. For, accepting the truth of man's soul as a thing entirely divine in its essence, it will accept also the possibility of his whole being becoming divine in spite of Nature's first patent contradictions of this possibility, her darkened denials of this ultimate certitude, and even with these as a necessary earthly starting-point. ..." (The Human Cycle, 1977, pp. 212-13).

One can see here that neither Science nor its instrument, intellect are to remain what they are, but both become evolutionary instruments of spiritual knowledge. This takes us eventually to a different understanding of "intellect" as an instrument of Spirit rather than of Mind, related to the transformation of "sense" into its supramental origin as quoted by RYD in a recent comment. Where the supramental origin of "sense" is the samjnana, a similar transformed origin of "intellect" as a modality of knowledge by identity which objectivizes its operation for dualistic enjoyment is explained by Sri Aurobindo as the prajnana.

Re. the second quote (from The Life Divine), note that here also a progress from intellect or reason to pure action of Consciousness in determining human evolution is implied. It is as if from the very beginning this Consciousness-Force, chit-shakti, "which is the hidden reality we call Nature" individualizes itself through a subsidiary action in human reason and interferes more "consciously" in the evolutionary process. But to find the means for a true evolution, a change of consciousness, humanity needs to discover and identify in being and power with this Consciousness-Force, its subsidiary action as "mentality" is not sufficient for that. DB