Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
and also the perceiver thereof were all there already in the current, only in a latent, that is, unmanifested state ; they only needed the turning away of attention from immediate action to come into the field of consciousness.
We must dwell a bit longer on the nature of the current of life's tendencies to be able to understand the psychology of what is called the lower mind. Obviously, these tendencies, being different in different individuals, cannot all be regarded as natural to the soul. This means that they are modifications of the natural impetus, impulse or feeling of pure spirit. But, since impulses cannot be modified by aught except force, and since force is inconceivable apart from some kind of matter, the tendencies of life must be the effect of the fusion of spirit and matter, for there is no other substance to combine with souls. This amounts to saying that desire, memory and reflection, the three most important characteristics of the finite mind, are the product of the union of spirit and matter.
So far as the faculty of reflection is concerned, it is only possible where the outgoing current is susceptible of being thrown back on itself; hence, where uncontrolled passions or sensualism are the dominating trait of existence, reason, the faculty of 'reflection, must be conspicuous by its absence. Accordingly, all lower forms of life, which are constantly engrossed in action and sensation in their wakeful moments, are unreasoning beings, though their souls are in no way inferior to the most perfect specimens of pure spirit in respect of its natural qualities. The current of tendencies in their case is so much loaded