Moral Return and the Problem of Good and Evil

"On the mixed egoism of human nature there can be no safe or positive reliance... " --Sri Aurobindo writing about good and evil

The problems of human life are myriad, but the of the most persistent and perplexing of difficulties lies with the perception and response to the nature of good and evil. It is to oversimplify the issue by dividing the world into two camps, the good and the evil. In maturity we see that bad things do happen to "good" people. But how, and why? What type of response may we mount in the face such a situation?

The idea of moral returns supposes that like begets like; that by positive intention, or positive self talk, one may garner positive rewards. This is thought by others to be an egocentric philosophy, not borne out by everyday experiences. And while there exists in the intellectual marketplace many such advocates of these types of ideas, there are the others such as Sri Aurobindo who examines the issue more closely, writing a part in the book, Lights on Life's Problems by Kishner Ghandi.

The rule of moral returns, or more commonly called the 'golden rule' is pervasive in human philosophical systems, especially those dealing with ethical systems, and ideas of faith and belief.

Aurobindo writes, "The rule is true to a certain  extent... but it is not true all the way and all the time. It is evident enough that hatred, violence, injustice are likely to create an answering hatred, violence and injustice... and I can only indulge those propensities with impunity if I am sufficiently powerful enough and prudent enough to provide against their natural reactions. It is true also that by doing good and kindness I create a certain good will in others... but this good and evil are both of them movements of the ego, and on the mixed egoism of human nature there can be no safe or positive reliance. An egoistic, selfish strength, if it knows what to do and where to stop... if it is strong and skillful, cunning, fraud, many kinds of evil, do actually pay in man's dealing with man hardly less than in the animal's with the animal, and on the other hand the doer of good... finds himself as often as not disappointed." paraphrased

Why? asks Aurobindo: "It is because the weakness of human nature worships the power that tramples on it...return[s] to every kind of strong imposition, belief" crouching and fawning admiration, flattery of self and others, even in moments of hatred and terror, possesses a singular and unreasoning loyalty to me, myself and I. "And its disloyalties too are as unreasoning, or light and fickle; it takes just reasoning and beneficence as its right, and forgets or cares not to pay." paraphrased

"Even', says Aurobindo, 'Christ on the cross or Socrates drinking his potion of hemlock are not very clear evidence for any optimistic notion of a law of moral return in the world of human nature. Actually in the cosmic dispensation [Aurobindo thinks] "evil comes out of good and good comes out of evil; there seems to be no correspondence between the moral and the vital measures." In summary Aurobindo concludes that good does tend to beget good, "the total power of good in the world and the greater this grows, the greater is likely the sum of human happiness" and that evil tends towards its inverse. Eventually surmises Aurobindo,  man or nations doing evil will have to pay in a theory of a harmonious cosmos, equal and balanced by its opposite. Though he notes, "it is not often in any intelligibly graded or apportioned measure, and not always clear in translating terms of vital good fortune and ill fortune."

Satprem, the Age of Adventures

While Sri Aurobindo may have been a highly educated and trained Greek scholar, Satprem was a Frenchman, a Catholic, born Bernard  Enginger, who participated with the French Maquis movement during World War II; as a young man he also was in the company of the infamous French Surrealists (and the overlapping movement, Existentialism) such as Gide and Malreaux. Mirra Alfassa, later known as the Mother to him, was more than a little acquainted with these ideas and these Frenchmen. She herself, from a small child had trusted her intuition in all matters and was highly perceptive as an adult. The Surrealist movement centered in Paris, her hometown, was something with which she also held acquaintance, an extension of her other natural inclinations. The poets and writers who made the core of this salon are extensive in 20th century French Literature.

Many believed that Alfassa could "read minds," that she was Clairvoyant. She, herself, was without doubt of the importance of her perceptive abilities. Her interests lay in auto-writing, the Dada and  those persons who were influenced by the new social study of psychology and the mind, especially the unconscious mind. Indeed when she first arrived in Pondicherry and found her way into the presence of Aurobindo, she impressed upon him with the activity of her mind and its sheer agility. Upon making the acquaintance of Enginger, later whom she dubbed, Satprem, meaning "true love," she shared parts of her life with him, especially after the passing of Aurobindo in December 1950. Satprem was about age 27 at this time.

Satprem, formerly a French colonial, posted to the French concession of Pondicherry, first came into contact with Auroville while there. He was enchanted; his previous Maquis idealism was re-ignited upon his discovery of the small Auroville community in 1953. Leaving the French Foreign Service, he engaged himself fully with the community, especially with the Mother, for whom he declared himself devoted and completely at her service. A skilled writer, Satprem came to write many of the Mother's suggestions, teaching and ideas into articles and books, published first in French.

However all was not well in Auroville; in 1973, a short time before the Mother's passing, another group of Aurovillians abruptly barred Satprem from seeing the Mother. Later they confiscated many of his manuscripts and assailed his intentions. It seems there was much political intrigue within the Auroville community.

As for his contributions to the general knowledge and fame of Sri Aurobindo, Satprem's participation is without doubt. Dedicating his book, The Adventure of Consciousness to the Mother, Satprem commences  by saying that its publication is intended to acquaint the western reader with the most practical side of the master, Sri Aurobindo... to lead the reader to find the perfect harmony, inner freedom and outer mastery... He writes that  "the age of adventure is over... children in front of death, living beings who do not know very well how they live or where they are going... as always... our best opportunities... leading us to greater light.... before the last adventure that remains for us to explore, ourselves." paraphrased
His book covers topics such as "An Accomplished Westerner," "The Silent Mind," "Consciousness," The Psychic Center," "Sleep and Death," "Oneness," "The Secret," and "The Transformation," all of which are elements of Sri Aurbindo teachings and the work of the Mother, who first relayed them to Satprem.