Emergence of the Psychic

Preface

This book aims at three main objectives. First, it is meant to help one in becoming more conscious of what most human beings are almost entirely unconscious, namely, the action and influence of the soul in one's life.

Secondly, the book seeks to describe and clarify various states of consciousness that pertain to experiences of the soul. These include the influence of the psychic, coming in contact or being in touch with the psychic, discovery of, identification with or awakening of the psychic, and the opening, coming forward or emergence of the psychic. Such a clarification provides a mental understanding that can be helpful not only in conceiving and distinguishing the various experiences of the psychic but also in becoming aware more readily of the moments when one is or is not under the influence of the psychic or in contact with it. By learning to recognise the presence or absence of the psychic consciousness, one is apt to grow more conscious of the factors which are helpful and those which are harmful in fostering the awareness of one's soul. This, in turn, enables one to adopt attitudes and make choices in one's life that are more conducive to the consciousness of the psychic.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the book aims at kindling an aspiration for a spiritual goal which goes beyond the discovery and freedom of the soul — one which envisages the governance of life and the transformation of one's outer being by the soul.

This book is in a way an expansion on a previous compilation, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and

Evolution, which dealt with the basic theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. The present compilation deals much more extensively with the practical aspects. In order that this book can be read independently, it does include a few passages that can be found also in the earlier book.

Some of the ideas contained in this book have been in-spiringly expressed in various passages of Sri Aurobindo's epic, Savitri. Such passages will be found in the Appendix at the end of the book.

I wish to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Karan Singh for his kind Foreword in which he has so effectively introduced Sri Aurobindo's paramount but relatively less familiar concept of the psychic being.

A. S.D.

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