Changes

…there is...the whole weight of millennia of bad habits, which we could call pessimistic, that is,anticipating decay, anticipating catastrophe...that's the most difficult thing to purify, to clarify, to remove from the atmosphere. It's so INGRAINED that it's absolutely spontaneous. That is the great, great, great obstacle—that sort of sense of inevitable decay. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/08/june-24-1967#p37</ref>

…all the complications and miseries and misfortunes are...a bad habit, nothing more. And it's hard for us to change our habits. Yet THE TIME HAS COME to change habits. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/03/november-27-1962#p40</ref>

The whole automatic habit of millennia must be changed into a conscious action, directly guided by the supreme Consciousness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/07/january-22-1966#p15</ref>

The time has come for the old habit of ruling through fear to be replaced with the rule of love. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/11/november-5-1970#p1</ref>

All life is organized on the basis of this old habit of opposition between what's good and what's evil, what does good and what does harm… <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/11/may-23-1970#p96</ref>

In our way of working we must not be the slaves of Nature; all these habits of trying and changing, doing and undoing and redoing again and again, wasting energy, labour, material and money, are Nature's way of action, not the Divine's. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/nature-and-the-forces-of-nature#p20</ref>

There is no habit that cannot be changed. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/14-october-1963#p3</ref>

…even when you are well-intentioned there is something in the being which clings desperately to its habits. People imagine that if something has changed in their little outer habits, they have made a great progress…All that means nothing at all. It is the inner habits, the inner reactions, the inner way of seeing, the way of thinking, of directing one's action, it is this which refuses to change, which finds it so difficult to change. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/14-may-1951#p21</ref>

A weak bondage to the habits…the possession of riches creates. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/3-may-1951#p5</ref>

There are still many bad habits—that will pass. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/08/april-27-1967#p11</ref>

==Types of Habits==

..."why do you act in this way and not that?"… simply because you were born in certain conditions and it is the habit to be like that in these conditions. Otherwise, if you had been born in another age and other conditions, you would act altogether differently without even realising the difference, it would appear absolutely natural to you…when… faced with a different way, it is a tremendous revelation … that things can be done in a different way… <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/20-february-1957#p16</ref>

We are habituated to what occurs as it occurs; it is simply a matter of habit, for from the first breath we drew upon earth we have been accustomed to see things in this way, and so it seems quite ordinary to us, because it occurs in this way. But if we could manage to get out of this habit, if we could see things from another point of view, we would immediately be able to feel that kind of impression of the miraculous, because we would no longer see the logic of events with the habitual sense. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/23-november-1955#p21</ref>

One lives by a kind of habit which is barely half-conscious—one lives, does not even objectify what one does, why one does it, how one does it. One does it by habit. All those who are born in a certain environment, a certain country, automatically take the habits of that environment, not only material habits but habits of thought, habits of feeling and habits of acting. They do it without watching themselves doing it, quite naturally, and if someone points this out to them they are astonished. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/20-february-1957#p11</ref>

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/21-april-1951#p22</ref>

...the number of things, the countless number of things that we believe without any personal knowledge, simply because we have been taught that they are like that, or because we are accustomed to think they are like that, or because we are surrounded by people who believe that things are like that. If we look at all the things that we believe and not only believe but assert with an indisputable authority,...." In truth, however, we know nothing about it, it is simply because we are in the habit of thinking that they are like that. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-adept#p14</ref>

The individual identifies partially his life with the life of a certain number of other individuals with whom he is associated by birth, choice or circumstance. And since the existence of the group is necessary for his own existence and satisfaction, in time, if not from the first, its preservation, the fulfilment of its needs and the satisfaction of its collective notions, desires, habits of living, without which it would not hold together, must come to take a primary place. The satisfaction of personal idea and feeling, need and desire, propensity and habit has to be constantly subordinated, by the necessity of the situation and not from any moral or altruistic motive, to the satisfaction of the ideas and feelings, needs and desires, propensities and habits, not of this or that other individual or number of individuals, but of the society as a whole. This social need is the obscure matrix of morality and of man's ethical impulse.

...one has the habit of sleeping, speaking, eating, moving and one does all this as something quite natural, without wondering why or how.... And many other things. All the time one does things automatically, by force of habit, one does not watch oneself. And so, when one lives in a particular society, one automatically does what is normally done in that society. And if somebody begins to watch himself acting, watch himself feeling and thinking, he looks like a kind of phenomenal monster compared with the environment he lives in. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/20-february-1957#p12</ref>

... if you travel round the world, in every country people have different habits of sleeping, habits of eating, habits of dressing, habits for making their toilet. And quite naturally, they will tell you that the things they use are indispensable. But if you change countries you will realise that all these things are of no use for those people, because they make use of other things which are just as useful for them and seem to them indispensable. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/16-february-1955#p20</ref>

When you catch yourself in the act of doing something because someone else wanted it or because you are not very sure of what you want to do and are in the habit of doing what this one or that one or tradition or customs make you do—because, among the influences under which you live, there are collective suggestions, social traditions, many!

…the subconscient that quite submerged part of our being in which there is no wakingly conscious and coherent thought, will or feeling or organized reaction, but which yet receives obscurely the impressions of all things and stores them up in itself and from it too all sorts of stimuli, of persistent habitual movements, crudely repeated or disguised in strange forms can surge up into dream or into the waking nature. For if these impressions rise up most in dream in an incoherent and disorganized manner, they can also and do rise up into our waking consciousness as a mechanical repetition of old thoughts, old mental, vital and physical habits or an obscure stimulus to sensations, actions, emotions which do not originate in or from our conscious thought or will and are even often opposed to its perceptions, choice or dictates. In the subconscient there is an obscure mind full of obstinate Sanskaras [imprints or habits], impressions, associations, fixed notions, habitual reactions formed by our past, an obscure vital full of the seeds of habitual desires, sensations and nervous reactions, a most obscure material which governs much that has to do with the condition of the body. It is largely responsible for our illnesses; chronic or repeated illnesses are indeed mainly due to the subconscient and its obstinate memory and habit of repetition of whatever has impressed itself upon the body-consciousness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/09/june-15-1968#p6</ref>

…"subconscient" means half conscious: not conscious and not unconscious. It is just between the two; it is like that, half-way; so things slide down into it, one doesn't know that they are there, and from there they act; and it is because one doesn't know that they are there that they can remain there. There are many things which one doesn't wish to keep and drives out from the active consciousness, but they go down there, hide there, and because it is subconscious one doesn't notice them; but they haven't gone out completely, and when they have a chance to come up again, they come up. For example, there are bad habits of the body, in the sense that the body is in the habit of upsetting its balance—we call that falling ill, you know; but still, the functioning becomes defective through a bad habit. You manage by concentrating the Force and applying it on this defect, to make it disappear but it doesn't disappear completely, it enters the subconscient. And then, when you are off your guard, when you stop paying attention properly and preventing it from showing itself, it rises up and comes out. You thought for months perhaps or even for years, you thought you were completely rid of a certain kind of illness which you suffered from, and you no longer paid any attention, and suddenly one day it returns as though it had never gone; it springs up again from the subconscient and unless one enters into this subconscient and changes things there, that is, unless one changes the subconscient into the conscient, it always happens like this. And the method is to change the subconscient into the conscient—if each thing that rises to the surface becomes conscious, at that moment it must be changed. There is a more direct method still: it is to enter the subconscient in one's full consciousness and work there, but this is difficult. Yet so long as this is not done, all the progress one has made—I mean physically, in one's body—can always be undone. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/11-may-1955#p7</ref>

…subconscient must be clearly distinguished from the subliminal parts of our being such as the inner or subtle physical consciousness, the inner vital or inner mental; for these are not at all obscure or incoherent or ill-organised, but only veiled from our surface consciousness. Our surface constantly receives something, inner touches, communications or influences, from these sources but does not know for the most part whence they come. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-subconscient-and-the-inconscient#p1</ref>

The habit of strong recurrence of the same things in our physical consciousness, so that it is difficult to get rid of its habits, is largely due to a subconscient support. The subconscient is full of irrational habits. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-subconscient-and-the-inconscient#p15</ref>

...there are all the imprints deep-rooted in the subconscient, the dirty habits you have and against which you struggle… all sorts of stupidities—they are there in the subconscient, deeply rooted…if you enter this subconscient, if you let your consciousness infiltrate it, and look carefully, gradually you will discover all the sources, all the origins of all your difficulties; then you will begin to understand what your fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers were, and if at a certain moment you are unable to control yourself, you will understand, "I am like that because they were like that." <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/29-march-1951#p16</ref>

==Habits of the Different Parts of the Being==

===Habits of the Physical===

The human body has always been in the habit of answering to whatever forces chose to lay hands on it and illness is the price it pays for its inertia and ignorance. It has to learn to answer to the one Force alone, but that is not easy for it to learn. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/illness-and-health#p77</ref>

…it [the Substance] must be taught not to stir, to keep quiet, so that when the Vibration comes, the something that always rushes forward doesn't do so. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/july-10-1963#p46</ref>

There are many [defects of the physical consciousness]—but mainly obscurity, inertia, tamas, a passive acceptance of the play of wrong forces, inability to change, attachment to habits, lack of plasticity, forgetfulness, loss of experiences or realisations gained, unwillingness to accept the Light or to follow it, incapacity (through tamas or through attachment or through passive reaction to accustomed forces) to do what it admits to be the Right and the Best. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/levels-of-the-physical-being#p2</ref>

All working of mind or spirit has its vibration in the physical consciousness, records itself there in a kind of subordinate corporeal notation and communicates itself to the material world partly at least through the physical machine. But the body of man has natural limitations in this capacity which it imposes on the play of the higher parts of his being. And, secondly, it has a subconscient consciousness of its own in which it keeps with an obstinate fidelity the past habits and past nature of the mental and vital being and which automatically opposes and obstructs any very great upward change or at least prevents it from becoming a radical transformation of the whole nature. …The body is given us as one instrument necessary to the totality of our works and it is to be used, not neglected, hurt, suppressed or abolished. If it is imperfect, recalcitrant, obstinate, so are also the other members, the vital being, heart and mind and reason. It has like them to be changed and perfected and to undergo a transformation. As we must get ourselves a new life, new heart, new mind, so we have in a certain sense to build for ourselves a new body. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-divine-shakti#p9</ref>

… [the idea that things cannot change] also is the fault of the physical consciousness. It is obsessed by the idea that "what is" must be,—that the habit of things cannot be altered. This inevitability it extends not only to what is but to what it merely thinks of as a fact—it lays itself open inertly to every suggestion or possibility that seems to be justified by the habit of things. It is the main obstacle to the material change. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p72</ref>

...the physical consciousness and nature are closed up and rigid—they are shut up in their habits, they don't want to change them, they accept only one regular routine. There is nothing more routine-bound than the body. If you change its habits in the least, it is quite bewildered, it doesn't know any longer what to do… <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/28-april-1951#p11</ref>

…the physical and subconscient … is a thing of habits and constant repetitions of the old movements, obscure and stiff and not plastic, yielding only little by little. The physical mind can be more easily opened and converted than the rest, but the vital physical and material physical are obstinate. The old things are always recurring there without reason and by force of habit. Much of the vital physical and most of the material are in the subconscience or dependent on it. It needs a strong and sustained action to progress there. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p65</ref>

…the human race is still weighted by a certain gravitation towards the physical, it obeys still the pull of our yet unconquered earth-matter; it is dominated by the brain-mind, the physical intelligence: thus held back by many ties, it hesitates before the indication or falls back before the too tense demand of the spiritual effort. It has, too, still a great capacity for sceptical folly, an immense indolence, an enormous intellectual and spiritual timidity and conservatism when called out of the grooves of habit: even the constant evidence of life itself that where it chooses to conquer it can conquer,—witness the miracles of that quite inferior power, physical Science,—does not prevent it from doubting; it repels the new call and leaves the response to a few individuals. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/the-evolutionary-process-ascent-and-integration#p26</ref>

... it [the vital] has a very strong habit of going on strike. .. And it does that for the least reason. It has a very bad character; it is very touchy and it is very spiteful—yes, it is very ill-natured…very conscious of its power and it feels clearly that if it gives itself wholly, there is nothing that will resist the momentum of its force. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/9-september-1953#p27</ref>

The vital mind in the ordinary nature cannot get on without these imaginations [pleasurable imaginations] —so the habit remains for a long time. To be detached and indifferent is the best, then after a time it may get disgusted and drop the habit. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-vital-being-and-vital-consciousness#p23</ref>

...some people have the habit of getting into depression if the Mother does not comply with their desires—it does not follow that the Mother must comply with their desires in order to keep them jolly—they must learn to get rid of this habit of mind. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/appendix-to-questions-and-answers-1929#p74</ref>

…it is the habit of the vital to make a mask of the mind's arrangements about feelings and actions in order to conceal even from the self-observation of the doer the secret underlying motive or forces behind the speech, act or feelings. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/the-nature-of-the-vital#p14</ref>

People have the habit of dealing lightly with thoughts that come. And the atmosphere is full of thoughts of all kinds which do not in fact belong to anybody in particular, which move perpetually from one person to another, very freely, much too freely, because there are very few people who can keep their thoughts under control. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/evil#p14</ref>

The most material consciousness, the most material mind, is in the habit of having to be whipped into acting, into making effort and moving forward, otherwise it's tames. So then, if it imagines, it always imagines the difficulty—always the obstacle, always the opposition, always the difficulty... and that slows down the movement terribly. So it needs very concrete, very tangible and VERY REPEATED experiences to be convinced that behind all its difficulties, there is a Grace; behind all its failures, there is the Victory; behind all its pain and suffering and contradictions, there is Ananda. Of all the efforts, this is the one that has to be repeated most often: you are constantly forced to stop, put an end to, drive away, convert a pessimism, a doubt or a totally defeatist imagination. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/05/october-7-1964#p22</ref>

To forget the past and to lose habits of thinking is indeed a difficult thing and generally requires a strong "tapasya". But if you have faith in the Divine's Grace and you implore it full-heartedly, you will succeed more easily. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/the-past#p23</ref>

Repetition is the habit of the mental physical—it is not the true thinking mind that behaves like this, it is the mental physical or else the lowest part of the physical mind. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-mind#p58</ref>

…[the physical mind] has no reason except its whims, its habits or an inclination to be tamasic.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-mind#p54</ref>

The physical mind is in the habit of observing things with or without use. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-mind#p55</ref>

The habit of not understanding something unless it can be mentally explained is disastrous... This feeling we have that we don't understand something unless we can explain it-that's really disastrous… It's simply an old habit, what we call "understanding." <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/03/november-27-1962#p43</ref>

It is usually the habit of the mind and vital to associate happiness or interest only with activity, but the spiritual consciousness has no such limitations. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/emptiness-voidness-blankness-and-silence#p24</ref>