Page 54 - NAMAH-Apr-2024

Namah Vol. 32, Issue 1, 24th April 2024

considers the soul to have an affinity with the The Realm of Creativity
physical and children radiate the beauty of
soul-innocence, which as they grow up, gets Refinement of sensations and cultivation of
eclipsed by the turbidity of vital passions and beauty lead to the realm of creativity. The
the doubts of the reasoning mind. It is the true realm of creativity is situated, “…. at
reason why the Bible declares that children the summit of human consciousness, on the
have the inherent right to enter the kingdom borderline between what Sri Aurobindo calls
of God, implying that a spiritual sojourn the lower and higher hemispheres (4).” It is a
needs the beauty of a child-like simplicity. world of creation with several zones which
the Mother has described exhaustively.
One interesting fact is that material needs
decrease with spiritual growth and hence The first zone is the zone of forms that
there might be a loss of interest in aesthetics are expressed as paintings, sculptures
and the pursuit of beauty may seem to be an and architectures. The second zone is the
unnecessary exercise. The Mother pointed out musical zone with great waves of soundless
that a rejection of aesthetic needs is a regression music that exist per se, without striking any
to a primitive life, that is not necessarily surface and inspires great composers. The
right and does not help in the growth and third zone is the zone of thoughts, organised
efflorescence of a many-sided, variegated thoughts for plays and books, abstractions for
consciousness. The loss in material interests philosophies. The fourth zone is one of forces
is not a sign of spirituality. It happens not that appear as coloured lights without forms.
because one has an ascetic pull but because, These forces can be combined for terrestrial
“…. the focus of attention and concentration of action. It is a zone of action independent of
the being moves to a different domain… (2).” form, sound and thought and can be used
for particular events (5).
In fact, a refined and sensitive consciousness
at a certain degree of development could “Thus we have form, expressed in painting,
spontaneously and naturally select its own sculpture or architecture; sound, expressed
parameter of beauty that would enhance in musical themes; and thought, expressed in
the pursuit of a divine life. It is wrong to books, plays, novels, or even in philosophical
believe that aesthetics serve only our passions and other kinds of intellectual theories (that’s
and sensations. Beauty is an attribute of the where you can send out ideas that will affect
Supreme and aesthetics can be pursued as a the whole world, because they influence
gateway to the Divine. As Sri Aurobindo put receptive brains in any land, and are expressed
it, “Cultivation of the sense of beauty refines the by corresponding thoughts in the appropriate
temperament. A refined temperament is much language). And above this zone, free of form,
more easy to purify than an unrefined one…. sound and thought, is the play of forces
the development of the sense of beauty is as appearing as coloured lights. And when you
much a part of perfection as anything else. Not go there and have the power, you can combine
only that; if a man has not developed the sense those forces so that they eventually materialise
of beauty he would miss the path of approach as creations on earth (it takes some time, it’s
to the Supreme which is through beauty (3).” rarely immediate) (6).”

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