Page 11 - NAMAH-Jul-2022

Namah Editorial

pain-impulses enter the spinal cord and are
transmitted to the brainstem and thalamus.
It also explains how the perception of pain
varies enormously among individuals, being
conditioned by past experiences, cultural
attitudes, gender stereotypes, genetic make-
ups and Hathayogic practices. It is no wonder
that the inadequate management of pain is
one of the leading causes of active euthanasia
– a phenomenon that is in direct conflict with
A
the Ananda aspect of Reality!
In Sri Aurobindo’s classification of the planes to bounce back at other times in life, leading
and ranges of consciousness, it is the “vital to relapses and exacerbation of old habits!
physical” (also known as the nervous being), Fortunately, this is not the end of the world.
which is enmeshed in “the reactions, desires, There are higher planes of consciousness that
needs, sensations of the body (3)”. The vital- manifest once the bodily life is stabilised.
physical is the hallmark of our bodily-life and These higher planes like the plane of mind
is that aspect of consciousness that mediates are capable of more flexibility and variation
our pain. and can break the fixity of bodily habits!

However, the body is accustomed to fixed Level 2
habits. Its unique characteristic is its resistance
to change. This is quite understandable. If Level 2 is the level of our emotional repertoire
we were made up of only subtle things (designated by Sri Aurobindo as vital) that
like emotions and ideas, we would be an manifests once bodily life is stabilised.
amorphous mass of confusion! Nature had Of course, the bodily life necessitated a
to make a formation that is durable, that permeation of Matter by the life-force of
can withstand disruptive forces, that does the vital. But the full efflorescence of the vital
not fluctuate with the rapidity and fluidity that we see in human beings (in contrast to
of emotions and ideas. Naturally, such a forms of animal life below the human being
formation as our physical body must have in evolution) is a unique manifestation. This
a certain fixedness that our emotions and is the plane of consciousness, which contains
ideas lack. Unfortunately, this fixedness all our dynamism, our passions, our desires,
and rigidity can lead to “a false impression lusts, longings, our will, our zeal to build,
of absoluteness (4).” This is how certain bodily construct as well as to destroy.
characteristics (notably pain) can become a
habit of our nature. This is the level from which our sensation of
pleasure arises. Naturally, there is a gradation
Things become more complicated when our of pleasures. There is the pleasure of our
chronic habits sink into the subconscious (the sensual satisfaction when the reactions of
Freudian Unconscious) to have the capacity our bodily senses (in Level 1) are invested

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