Total Dedication to Participate in the Birth of a New World

When people become totally immersed in something, they concentrate, naturally, all their energies and focus in that direction, without seeming effort, and experience the joy of the process. We can observe this in children at play. They become the act of play and don’t concern themselves with hunger, thirst, time of day, chores or homework, or anything other than what is occupying them at the moment. We see this when an artist creates a beautiful piece of music or a work of art, when a scientist or mathematician becomes so deeply engrossed in what they are doing that they totally forget themselves.

The simplest method is thus to focus the energy with enthusiasm and joy. This may not carry one constantly, as there are moments when the impulse recedes. It is at these moments that the effort, the discipline become valuable, so that one is carried through and beyond the ‘dry spells’ the doubts, the hesitations, the ‘dark night of the soul’ until the inspiration is reignited.

In reality there is a process that involves both of these aspects to reach the envisioned goal. Enthusiasm without any power of discipline can lead to depression and hopelessness when it withdraws. Discipline without enthusiasm can be a hard and rigid path that becomes brittle and breaks under intense pressure.

When we begin to realise that we stand at the brink of a precipice and that we have to choose, life or death, progress or failure, growth or dissolution, then we get the core motivation. To the extent we can follow the way of attraction for the beauty and harmony that is waiting to be birthed in us and in our world, then we can meet all resistance, all obstacles with a calm and cheerful demeanor. To the extent that we feel the pressure without the active inspiration, we have to remind ourselves of the choice and the opportunity before us.

The Mother writes: “People sleep, they forget, they take life easy — they forget, forget all the time…. But if we could remember… that we are at an exceptional hour, a unique time, that we have this immense good fortune, this invaluable privilege of being present at the birth of a new world, we could easily get rid of everything that impedes and hinders our progress.”

“So, the most important thing, it seems, is to remember this fact; even when one doesn’t have the tangible experience, to have the certainty of it and faith in it; to remember always, to recall it constantly, to go to sleep with this idea, to wake up with this perception; to do all that one does with this great truth as the background, as a constant support, this great truth that we are witnessing the birth of a new world.”

“We can participate in it, we can become this new world. And truly, when one has such a marvellous opportunity, one should be ready to give up everything for it’s sake.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch.6 Hidden Worlds and Evolutionary Forces, pg.156