The Intelligent Will and The Laws of Tendencies

Recently, I have been working with the nature of Intelligent Will. In the Bindu Lab conducted by Sushanta Banerjee, I came in touch with Draupadi’s anger that transformed into a determination for justice. Draupadi, like Savitri, is a daughter of fire.

Since then, in the past year and a half, I have been examining the nature of my will and its effectiveness to transform old and repetitive patterns of behaviour. In some sense, this is the continuation of my work with the Enneagram1 and its hypothesis of a mechanical personality.

When am I being an automaton and when am I acting out from a living intelligence?

The reflections on this work were crystallised with a peer group of process workers. In this group, I examined tendencies that created undesirable consequences that I wanted to stop (my tendency to deny anger) as well as new ones I wanted to cultivate (learn to trust my capacity for right action).

My most significant insight about transforming old, undesirable tendencies and establishing new ones is the distinction between failure and defeat that Sri Aurobindo makes. Failure is common, but defeat only occurs when the Will is given up. It has Graced my repeated failures without reducing my aspiration to succeed.

Sri Aurobindo discusses three laws that result in continuing tendencies and three laws that support the cultivation of new tendencies.2

The three laws that sustain old tendencies include the Law of Persistence, the Law of Resistance, and the Law of Recurrence. The Law of Persistence says that once a tendency is alive, depending on its duration and intensity, it will assert its survival and continue to operate until the energy fuelling it runs out.

In my work with the Enneagram, I realise that my denial of my anger is so pervasive that it is impossible to correct the old mechanical tendencies arising from it entirely or quickly. It requires me to take responsibility for my actions persistently, in detail and over time. Currently, I try not to deny my anger or identify entirely with it. Instead, I observe it, waiting for it to disclose its nature.

The Law of Resistance says that even when the tendency has been rooted out from the individual nature, forces dependent on this nature in their Aadhar (ground) are still alive and will try to resist its cessation.

This was most evident in observing my fears around violation/loss/death. For the most part, I find myself rarely afraid, either physically or emotionally. This was not true about my childhood. However, in some occasions, I still find myself becoming quite anxious and compliant. Usually this happens, when I think I have completely rooted it out in my ground and it catches me unguarded.

The law of Recurrence says that even when the tendency has been rooted out of the identity and the ground, the forces behind this tendency will try to reenter to occupy their lost power and position.

Even as I root out fear in me, I can see it in the field around me. When it is embodied by people close to me who are violent or experience violence, I sometimes get drawn into experiencing fear through contagion.

Sri Aurobindo also writes about three favourable laws that support the conscious development of new, right tendencies. He does not name these laws in particular. I have called them the Law of Realisation, the Law of Contraction/Constriction, and the Law of Immediacy. 

The Law of Realisation holds that a new tendency has the right to survive and thrive. It will take a life of its own to seek its fulfilment through a graduated series of processes/stages, which may be shortened based on the individual’s psychological resources. 

One of the new tendencies that I am trying to cultivate is trust in my capacity to take right action. A concrete and related habit I am trying to cultivate is responsible speaking, where I am alert to when I engage in gossip and politics. As this tendency [alertness] increases and becomes established in my daily behaviour, I find my mind becomes quieter, no longer dwelling on the faults of others.

The second Law of Contraction/Concentration occurs when the individual’s will surrenders to the Divine Will. Gradual processes are replaced by concentrated/contracted processes that pass through the various stages quickly/lightly.

This law has operated when I have experienced a Force greater than my capacity that has carried me in leaps and bounds. Others too have reported experiencing this phenomenon: “being in the Zone”, when they have performed extraordinary works without fatigue. I rely on aspiration, remembrance of the Divine, and performance of my duties to prepare me for this law to operate, so that I am a fit instrument.

In examining the operation of the Law of Contraction in my life, I am quite cautious. 

To begin with, this Law is activated entirely by Divine Grace. When it is operates, I am aware of my tendencies to attribute its operation to some merit of mine. This spiritual ego is more insidious than the intellectual one, requiring constant vigilance, like watching a wolf that can pounce from within. Then there is the real risk of confusing forces of the vital that also cause quick progress with the Divine Will. Further, this Law operates in the subliminal/subtle worlds of Consciousness, and its unfolding in material life requires painstakingly detailed work in real-time. 

The third Law of Immediacy occurs when the individual becomes the Divine, where Will translates into results immediately, where all the processes happen swiftly and easily, resulting in apparent miraculous change. These are qualities of an Avatar, far beyond my comprehension or experience.

- Gomathy Balasubramanian (India) 

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1 The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram, is a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types. (Wikipedia)

2 Sri Aurobindo, Record of Yoga – II (CWSA vol.11) ‘Yogic Sadhan – III’. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/11/yogic-sadhan