The Cycles of Social Development and the Swing Away from a One-Sided Focus on Materialism

We do not usually recognise or appreciate how much influence our environment, our surroundings, the society we live in, the customs and life-ways of that social system impact what we think about, how we focus our attention and what we do with our lives. The Mother puts this also into the process of evolution that takes place, not just within a species, but in entire civilisations which go through cycles of development, changes in focus, and progress as various different aspects of life and consciousness are taken up in the evolutionary process.

We can observe through the lens of history how times change and with it, the developments we see in society and in individual growth. In the West, we have the examples set by the Greek and Roman ages, the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery and Empire Building and then the Industrial Revolution, and the development of our modern computer/internet age. The East also experienced, similarly, a number of changes that Each of these had an impact on the lives of people. To look at more recent periods, the industrial revolution brought about a tremendous enhancement of the capability of society to provide physical comfort and well-being to people. It however also created a mechanical viewpoint and mindset and a focus on the physical basis of life as the element that should be focused on. This represented something of a change from past ages.

We are still living under the impulsion of the focus of the industrial revolution, impacted and extended by the development of the world wide web, and the technological forces that bring the entire world together and disseminate this standpoint. We can see however that the impulsion of the material and physical focus is changing as a number of consequences become known, and as people begin to recognise the emptiness of this approach in terms of understanding any deeper significance to their lives. We see an upsurge in focus on spiritual growth as well as an increasing interest in the investigation of subtle, psychic powers. We see an increasing recognition of the consequences, both intended and unintended, of this unrestrained focus on a one-sided and narrow focus on material development without taking into account the balance and harmony of the larger world and the beings who all are seeking some form of material basis and stability. We see advances in science and technology which lead more people to question whether this is the future we need, and whether we need to find a way to manage this process rather than have it manage us. Sri Aurobindo describes in The Human Cycle a number of changes that will accompany what he calls the “coming of the subjective age”.

The Mother observes: “We have been told that evolution is progressive and that it follows a spiral of ascending progression. I do not doubt that what one calls comfort in modern cities is a much higher degree of evolution than the comfort of the cave-man. But in ancient narratives, they always spoke of a power of foresight, of the prophetic spirit, the announcement of future events through visions, life’s intimacy with something more subtle that had for the simple people of that age a more concrete reality.”

“Now, in those beautiful cities that are so comfortable, when one wants to condemn anything, what does one say? — ‘It’s a dream, it is imagination.’ “

“And precisely, if a person lives in an inner perception, people look at him slightly askance and wonder whether he is altogether mentally sound. One who does not pass his time in striving for wealth or in trying to increase his comforts and well-being, to secure a good position and become an important person, a man who is not like that is mistrusted, people wonder whether he is in his right mind.”

“And all that is so much the stuff of the atmosphere, the content of the air you breathe, the orientation of the thoughts received from others that it seems absolutely natural. You do not feel that it is a grotesque monstrosity.”

“To become a little more conscious of oneself, to enter into relation with the life behind the appearances, does not seem to you to be the greatest good. When you sit in a comfortable chair, in front of a lavish meal, when you fill your stomach with delicious dishes, that certainly appears to you much more concrete and much more interesting. And if you look at the day that has passed, if you take stock of your day, if you have had some material advantage, some pleasure, a physical satisfaction, you mark it as a good day; but if you have received a good lesson from life, if it has given you a knock on your nose to tell you that you are a stupid fellow, you do not give thanks to the Grace, you say, ‘Oh, life is not always fun!’ “

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 1, Looking at Life and Circumstances, pp. 15-17