What Is a ‘Natural” Response to Circumstances for the Human Individual?

When we see any individual stopping to reflect, choose his line of action and make a specific, conscious determination of how to respond, we consider this action to be unnatural, stilted, and we imply that it is somehow subject to some kind of ulterior motive, and thus, tend to distrust it. Based on this general conception, we have a bias in favor of vital spontaneity, which we believe more perfectly expresses the true feelings of the individual than some kind of planned response. This approach however does not take into account the nature of the human being as an evolutionary being, with individuals within the human race spanning a range from almost purely physical-vital beings to those who embody an extremely refined intellectual, mental power and who utilise that power as a natural expression of who they are!

Clearly the vast mass of humanity, at the present moment, is more rooted in the vital nature than in the refined mental stage that is possible, but not yet fully expressed. It is understandable why we tend to be suspicious of a deliberate decision-making process and power that reins in the spontaneous vital reaction and develops a more focused, step-by-step type response to any situation; yet, if we look at the situation objectively, we can see that just as it is the nature of the vital-physical being to respond with a vital reaction, it is just as much a natural reaction for someone who embodies the powers of the Reason, logic, calm decision-making processes to utilise those powers in effectuating their response to life-situations.

it is of course possible for any of these manifested powers to be diverted, distorted, or manipulated, and thus, at each level, the individual must be able to distinguish and manage the response effectively. The vital level, as well as the mental level, represents an incomplete evolutionary process that only sees and comprehends a portion of the wider truth. It is the advent of the next evolutionary stages beyond the mind that brings with it the wider viewpoint and understanding that can overcome these limitations.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Because the tiger acts according to his nature and knows not anything else, therefore he is divine and there is no evil in him. If he questioned himself, then he would be a criminal.”

A disciple asks: “What would be the truly natural state for man? Why does he question himself?”

The Mother observes: “On earth man is a transitional being. [This precise detail is not superfluous; I said ‘on earth’ meaning that man does not belong merely to earth: in essence man is a universal being, but he has a special manifestation on earth.] Therefore, in the course of his evolution, he has had several natures in succession, which have followed an ascending curve and will continue to follow it until he reaches the threshold of the supramental nature and is transformed into the superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development.”

“We tend to call ‘natural’ any spontaneous manifestation which is not the result of a choice or a preconceived decision, that is to say, without the intrusion of any mental activity. This is why when a man has a vital spontaneity which is very little mentalised, he seems more ‘natural’ in his simplicity. But this naturalness is very much like that of the animal and is at the very bottom of the human evolutionary scale. He will only regain this spontaneity free from mental intrusion when he attains to the supramental stage, that is to say, when he transcends mind and emerges into the higher Truth.”

“Until then all his behaviour is, naturally, natural! But with the mind evolution has become, one cannot say twisted, but distorted, because by its very nature the mind was open to perversion and almost from the beginning it became perverted, or, to be more precise, it was perverted by the Asuric forces. And this state of perversion gives us the impression that it is unnatural.”

“Why does he question himself? Simply because this is the nature of the mind!”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 6, Some Answers and Explanations, pp. 160-161