The Inner Being Determines the Formations of the Outer Existence

We tend to work from the outer to the inner consciousness. We treat the exte
al world as more real and dominant to determine our physical body, our vital nature and our mental development. There is of course a certain amount of truth to this view, inasmuch as the outer and the inner are two sides of the same reality, inextricably intertwined and acting upon one another.

What we tend to get wrong, however, is a failure to see that the gross forms of the exte
al world are not the primary causal reality, but a result of subtler and more powerful levels of consciousness.

We are beginning to understand that the physical Matter we observe is actually Energy. We are beginning to appreciate that Energy is actually a formation of Consciousness. If we understand the implied sense of this view of reality, we can begin to understand that the exte
al forms we create, the outer actions we undertake are the result of an inner reality and express our inner attitude.

As the seeker becomes more conscious, the power of this realization becomes more obvious to him. The more closely he aligns with his inner reality, with the soul or psychic being around which his outer personality and being has been formed, the more precise the outer work, the outer expression, the outer formation will be. To the extent that the physical being, the vital being or the mental being intervenes and provides its own view and interpretation, the psychic being’s expression will be diluted or distorted.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Everything depends on the inner condition, and the outward action is only useful as a means and a help for expressing or confirming the inner condition and making it dynamic and effective. If you do or say a thing with the psychic uppermost or with the right inner touch, it will be effective; if you do or say the same thing out of the mind or the vital or with a wrong or mixed atmosphere, it may be quite ineffective. To do the right thing in the right way in each case and at each moment one must be in the right consciousness — it can’t be done by following a fixed mental rule….”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 3, Action and Work, pp. 57-58