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Reference: BOOK: The Life Divine

Book I, Chapter 1 – The Human Aspiration

This chapter looks at the human aspiration for the body-mind-spirit system to be immortal. The ultimate miracle would be an animal consciousness no longer seeking but possessed of Truth and Light. Matter is a form of veiled Life. Life is a form of veiled Consciousness. Consciousness may itself be only a form and a veil of higher states which are beyond Mind. The problem is that of reconciling the opposites, such as, spirit and matter. 

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Summary

(By Perplexity AI)
Book 1, Chapter 1 of “The Life Divine” by Sri Aurobindo is titled “The Human Aspiration” and serves as the foundational introduction to the whole work.

Core Summary
Sri Aurobindo begins by exploring humanity’s deepest yearnings: the universal aspiration toward God, Light, Freedom, and Immortality. Despite these spiritual longings, human life is fraught with contradictions—Matter versus Spirit, Imperfection versus Perfection—which seem to obstruct their fulfillment. However, Aurobindo contends that these apparent conflicts are not obstacles but necessary means for evolution and progress, as Nature uses contradiction to foster advancement.

Key Ideas

• The Human Aspiration: Humanity’s most fundamental drive is a pursuit of spiritual ideals: Truth, Light, Bliss, Immortality. This longing survives skepticism and periods of disbelief and continues to resurface across ages.
• Progress Through Contradiction: The conflicting aspects of existence—such as the gulf between Matter and Spirit—function as complements from a higher perspective, driving evolution and inner growth rather than holding it back.
• Nature’s Difficult Way: Life advances through struggle, division, and contradiction, but from the viewpoint of the Infinite, these are sanctioned as part of the divine process of manifestation.
• A Higher Harmony: The way forward is not to remain stuck in contradictions, but to rise above them and discover a deeper harmony, revealing the concealed divine essence behind life’s phenomena.
• Man as Laboratory of the Divine: Sri Aurobindo poetically presents man as the ‘laboratory’ in which Nature works to manifest the Supreme, with the ultimate goal being the full realization of God within and without.

Themes

1. Aspiration: Deep yearning for the divine: God, Light, Freedom, Immortality
2. Evolution Through Division: Contradictory forces foster advancement
3. Harmony and Complementarity: Contradictions are reconciled as complements at a higher level
4. Manifestation of the Divine: Man is destined to manifest divinity and actualize higher consciousness

Spiritual and Philosophical Context
Sri Aurobindo juxtaposes ancient Rishi wisdom with contemporary mental quests, suggesting that the earliest human preoccupations are also the highest aspirations of the mind. The chapter thus establishes a context for the rest of “The Life Divine”: the journey of consciousness from dividing ignorance toward unity and fulfillment in the Divine.

This opening sets the tone for the entire treatise, framing human existence as a meaningful passage from striving and contradiction toward divine realization and the harmonization of our deepest aspirations.

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