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XI. ENVIRONMENTAL
INFLUENCES AND CHANGE OF HEART
I have seen the light generated by clectricity, but electricity itself I have never seen. In fact no one can see it. It is invisible. Even the scientist giving a definition of electricity has not seen it. I only perceive the current, the flow of electricity. The other day I pressed the button, but there was no light because there was no bulb. But cven when there was a bulb and the switch was put on, there was no light because the flow of electricity had ceased. For light to be, both arc indispensable the electric current and the bulb. Onc of thcsc by itself cannot give off light.
An exposition of individuality can also be given in terms of both consciousness and circumstances. A condition of living without consciousness, or consciousness without a particular background is rendered null and void; the simultaneous presence of the twoconsciousness and background – is an essential pre-requisite for individuality. Without an understanding of these two factors, individuality itself cannot be understood.
Consciousness is subtle and impalpable. I have not scen it, nor have you. Oid masters have given us an exposition of consciousness, and wc too explain it in different ways. But nobody has seen consciouness; it is invisible.
On thcother hand, the conditions of living, the human circumstances are something gross which can be perceived. I have perceived them and so have you. Consciousness is subtle; it cannot be grasped, but circumstances constitutea gross entity which can be apprehended. However, without the union of the two, individuality cannot be explained.
Environmentalists have arrived at three conclusions: 1) that the conditioning of a child begins right from the
moment of conception; 2) that, as the child grows up, his conditioning also deepens;
and 3) that twins, though born at the same moment of time,
display different traits in accordance with the different environments in which they grow up.
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