The complexity and detailed organisation of the material world, the atomic structure, the forces of the electro-magnetic spectrum, gravity, and the mathematical precision of the world, the laws of Nature, the interrelationships of beings to create a unified world of existence, all speaks to a vast, powerful and dominant intelligence at work in the universe, even at levels where we do not see anything but what appears to be an inconscient, dense material existence. Sri Aurobindo puts this into the context of an involution of consciousness into Matter and its subsequent gradual evolution and self-revelation as the universe expresses Life in Matter, Mind in Life, and, eventually, Supermind in Mind. The Mind of Light occupies an intermediate phase between Mind and Supermind, having still the basic functioning of the mental consciousness to a great degree, but now seeing, responding to and acting upon the light and knowledge that the higher planes of consciousness provide. The importance of the mind of light cannot be ignored, as we face today the apparently impossible issues created by our exclusive reliance on our imperfect mentality in a world of desire and dense materiality. If humanity is going to solve these problems, we must achieve a new standpoint that sees the unity of existence, understands the complex inter-relationships, and acts from that standpoint to create harmony and balance in the world. The transition to the Mind of Light represents that first hope for our survival, as well as the continued growth of our conscious existence and expression of our spiritual purpose.
Sri Aurobindo writes: “Even in the material world which seems to us a world of ignorance, a world of the workings of a blind and inconscient Force starting from inconscience and proceeding through Ignorance and reaching with difficulty towards an imperfect Light and Knowledge, there is still a secret Truth in things which arranges all, guides towards the Self many contrary powers of being and rises towards its own heights where it can manifest its own highest truth and fulfill the secret purpose of the universe. Even this material world of existence is built upon a pattern of the truth in things which we call Law of Nature, a truth from which we climb to a greater truth until we emerge in the Light of the Supreme. This world is not really created by a blind force of Nature: even in the Inconscient the presence of the supreme Truth is at work; there is a seeing Power behind it which acts infallibly and the steps of the Ignorance itself are guided even when they seem to stumble; for, what we call the Ignorance is a cloaked Knowledge, a Knowledge at work in a body not its own but moving towards its own supreme self-discovery. This Knowledge is the covert Supermind which is the support of the creation and is leading all towards itself and guides behind this multitude of minds and creatures and objects which seem each to be following its own law of nature; in this vast and apparently confused mass of existence there is a law, a one truth of being, a guiding and fulfilling purpose of the world-existence. The Supermind is veiled here and does not work according to its characteristic law of being and self-knowledge, but without it nothing could reach its aim. A world governed by an ignorant mind would soon drift into a chaos; it could not in fact come into existence or remain in existence unless supported by the secret Omniscience of which it is the cover; a world governed by a blind inconscient force might repeat constantly the same mechanical workings but it would mean nothing and arrive nowhere. This could not be the cause of an evolution that creates life out of Matter, out of life mind, and a gradation of planes of Matter, Life and Mind culminating in the emergence of Supermind. The secret truth that emerges in Supermind has been there all the time, but now it manifests itself and the truth in things and the meaning of our existence.”
“It is in this series of the order of existence and as the last word of the lower hemisphere of being, the first word of the higher hemisphere that we have to look at the Mind of Light and see what is its nature and the powers which characterise it and which it uses for its self-manifestation and workings, its connection with Supermind and its consequences and possibilities for the life of a new humanity.”
Sri Aurobindo, The Mind of Light, Supermind and Mind of Light, pp. 96-97
Sri Aurobindo Studies 