The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution Introduction

There is considerable confusion about the nature of the soul. A sizable portion of humanity denies the existence of the soul, while another segment of humanity reduces its ‘value’ below that of material possessions and outward satisfactions. The ego-personality, bound up in the actions and reactions of the mind, life and body, has little time to consider the implications of the soul, its existence, its purpose, its action and its significance for our growth and development.

Besides the confusion about the soul, there is also a lot of confusion surrounding the term ‘psychic’. Particularly in the West, the term has been associated with occult phenomena and powers, and to a great degree tied up with ideas about seeing the futre and telling one’s fortune.

Sri Aurobindo utilizes the term ‘psychic’ and ‘psychic being’ to describe the soul in its manifestation and active role in evolution of consciousness. It is essential to avoid the confusion engendered by the more common, more sensationalistic way the term has developed in the modern world. The soul represents the essence of who we are, and it is the soul-essence, the psychic being, that actually guides the development of mind, life and body from behind.

Sages, seers, Rishis have all described their experience of the soul. It is possible for us to develop the receptivity to hear the voice of the soul, to follow its guidance and to thereby uplift and ennoble our lives and realize the deeper purpose, the significance of our lives. The soul is not a matter of philosophy, nor even religion. It is something that an individual can awaken to and experience in his own life. Once that happens there is no doubt and no chance of confusion any longer. People who have the experience may not call it the soul, as there are many words that people have used to describe the experience and the motivation. Some people return from a ‘near death experience’ with a new conviction about the Divine Presence and their own consecration to the Divine. Whether they call it a soul-experience or not, they have had a touch of that deeper reality and deeper meaning in life and it has changed them.

We are more than cogs in a machine. We are more than workers, consumers or enjoyers of the external pleasures of life. When we awaken to the opportunity for spiritual growth, we quickly begin to recognise that there is something in us, something deeper, something inside, that calls us to take up that effort, to find the soul within us, and thereby solidify the connection between our individual being and the Divine Consciousness that manifests the entire creation.

The present book, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, MIssion and Evolution is a wide-ranging exploration of the action of the soul and its active part in our lives, the psychic being, including a review of the meaning and nature of the psychic being, the role, function and action of the psychic being, the growth and development of the psychic, the psychic being in spiritual practice and the psychic being in connection to the afterlife and rebirth.

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, MIssion and Evolution, Introduction