Editorial
Why is there so much stress all around? Normally one associates it with individual
psyche, or lifestyle, heredity, societal influences, etc. However, The Mother’s conversation
of 19 March 1958 (reproduced on the facing page) offers insights from the perspective
of evolution—the tension reaching a breaking point almost, across the world, making it
imperative to choose between the forces of destruction and the forces of construction.
As pointed out by Sri Aurobindo, the innate spiritual urge of the human being pushes
him to strive, to self-exceed (see p.20). Ironically, perhaps, it is this very urge, when
circumscribed by the ego, that creates stress in the human consciousness and leads to
anxiety, tension, a feeling of incapacity, depression, frustration, anger. The choice is
ours—where we put the stress of our consciousness.
This issue of The Awakening Ray offers insights into Stress and De-stress—just as it is
important to understand the deeper and larger forces behind Stress, so is it important to
understand its physiology and deal with it through simple exercises and shifts, so that
it does not overpower one’s being (see p.5). In the successive pages you will find simple
advice based on practice as well as deep truths of human mind, vital and spirit, pointing
the way to live a life completely free of stress, while engaged in the most dynamic action.
- Anuradha
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