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THE NOTION OF GROWTH
rial means books or teachers, it is always preceded by sense-perception (reading, hearing).
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Yet insight from external sources (sruti) does not automatically arise when our senses perceive written or spoken words. We obtain access to this type of insight only when we make a conscious effort to understand what we have read or heard. It is essentially our desire, our longing, our 'drive' to open up unknown regions of our consciousness that makes us step beyond the limits of our present level of comprehension.
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The energy with which we transform this desire into action and the strength of our longing for knowledge determines how fast and to what extent our 'inner scope' will expand.
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We can accelerate this process significantly by opening ourselves to new ideas and concepts. But though this sounds easy, it is much harder than we think.
Opening ourselves for new concepts does not mean to kindly listen to new ideas, consider them sympathetically and then like a benevolent judge - decide whether we accept them or not. This is merely the (intellectual) evaluation of sense-perception (avaya - see sutra 15). Any insight we might gain this way remains on the level of sensory knowledge but does NOT advance onto the entirely different strata of our consciousness that this second channel of knowledge has the power to open.
Jain Education International
To open ourselves to new ideas and concepts means
- to overcome our very own psychic barriers with which we oppose new and uncomfortable ideas,
by 'reading' the scriptures. The word 'sruta' that denotes this channel of knowledge is derived from the Sanskrit root 'shri' (to hear).
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