(Regarding a Playground Talk of April 9, 1951, in which
Mother spoke of the degeneration of taste, of the war
and what a new war would mean:)
"Now, to tell you the truth, we are on the upward curve again. I think we have really reached the bottom of incoherence, absurdity and ugliness - the taste for the ugly and the unsightly, the dirty, the offensive. We have, I think, reached rock bottom.... If it's taken in the right way (and I think there are people who have taken it in the right way), it can lead you straight to the Yoga, straight. That is, you feel a sort of very deep detachment from all the things of this world, a very intense need to find something else, an imperious need to find something truly beautiful, truly fresh, truly good ... so, quite naturally, it leads you to a spiritual aspiration. And those horrors seem to have divided people: a minority who were ready have risen very high; a majority who weren't ready have gone down very low. Those are now wallowing in mud, and that's why we can't get out of it for the moment; and if it goes on, we will be moving towards a new war, and this time it will really be the end of this civilization - I am not saying the end of the world, because nothing can be the end of the world, but the end of this civilization, which means we will have to build another. You may tell me that it will be very good, for this civilization is on the
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decline, it's rotting away; but still, there were in it some beautiful things that deserved to be preserved, and it would be a great pity if all that disappeared. But if there is a new war, I can tell you that it will all disappear. For men are very clever creatures, and they have found the way to destroy everything. And they will use it, because what's the use of spending billions to make certain bombs if they aren't to be used? What's the use of discovering that a city can be destroyed in a few minutes if not to destroy it! One wants to see the fruit of one's efforts! If there is a war, that's what will happen."
... Quite appropriate. We'll publish it in the next Bulletin.
***
(Then Mother goes on to "Savitri," the beginning of the new dialogue
between Savitri and Death:)
Once more arose the great destroying Voice:
Across the fruitless labour of the worlds
His huge denial's all-defeating might
Pursued the ignorant march of dolorous Time.
(X.IV.643)
The ignorant march of dolorous Time.... That's quite it, we're poor devils.
That's exactly the state of mind I have been in for two days, but more particularly this morning.... Oh, as an experience it's very interesting.
The spontaneous activity of Matter is defeatist ["the all-defeating might"]. It has to surrender, it has to annul itself so that a creative power - truly creative and victorious - can manifest. That's quite interesting.
Théon used to say that this defeatist state (the result of which is death), this destructive power, was born with the Vital's infusion into Matter. The rock, the stone, that is, the most exclusively material, isn't defeatist. The beginning of destruction came with the beginning of the entry of the vital force: with water - water, air, all that moves. All that begins to move brings along the power of destruction.
And in human matter, this destructive power is associated with movement.
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(silence)
In other words, on earth (let's limit ourselves to the earth), it's only with Life that Death came in.
(silence)
And certainly, the first manifestations of Life were water and air, the wind, weren't they?
Fire ... But fire, there's no fire without air - fire is the symbol of the supreme Power.
(long silence
Mother scribbles a few words)
Here's the answer:
Truth does not depend on any external form and shall manifest in spite of all bad will or opposition.
I've written this in answer to this gentleman [Death]. It came with a power: "Ah, you shall see."
But I'd like to know what Savitri says. What does Savitri say?...
There's no time left, we'll see that next time.
What does she say to him? I think she always says the same thing: the omnipotence of Love.
There you feel the Force. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth living - it really isn't worth it, it's no fun.
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