A million faces wears her knowledge here
And every face is turbaned with a doubt.
SRI AUROBINDO (Savitri, Book 2, Canto 10, p. 251)1
If there is something else as endless as desires, it is doubts. Like desires, doubts also have a tendency to multiply. Doubts are a product of fear and uncertainty. Fear and uncertainty are characteristics of the intellect. Paradoxically, when we are in doubt, we press the intellect into service to clarify the doubts. How can the intellect solve a problem which it has itself created? Therefore, further analysis of the doubt seldom removes it. The doubt may disappear for a while, but soon we realize that the analysis had overlooked something, and the doubt reappears with greater intensity. For example, suppose a person has been offered a new job. He is not sure whether to give up the present one, or to reject the new offer. There will always be several points for and against either decision. When a person tries to balance them repeatedly, the conclusion is not every time the same. The doubt can be resolved by going to a level higher than the mental. The level higher than the mental does not depend upon arguments. It just reflects the Truth and gives a clear verdict. Sometimes this higher level is called the intuitive level. It is a normal human tendency to mistrust intuitive knowledge. If a decision is based upon desires and passions rather than reason, it may be wrong. Desires and passions belong to a level of the mind below reason. But if the decision is based on a source of judgement which is higher than reason, it is generally correct. We can generally feel where the decision is coming from, and can train ourselves to improve this capacity to perceive the level of the decision. The level higher than the mental is full of the Light, Love, Power and Clarity of the Divine. At that level, there is direct perception of Truth without any arguments. Taking a decision on the basis of a level higher than the mental removes doubts, and gives lasting mental peace.
It may be asked whether it is wrong to ask questions based on reason. There is a difference between questions and doubts. Questions originate in inquisitiveness, which is a positive attribute of the intellect. The habit to question is a good habit. It is the basis of the discovery of scientific truths. Questions have also been the beginning of the discovery of spiritual truths. Doubts, on the other hand, originate in lack of faith. Doubts originate in suspicion and hatred. The origin of doubts is at a level which ignores the Divine. That is why doubts can be removed only by putting ourselves in touch with the Divine. We can access the Divine in us by going to a level higher than the mental. That is the only way to end all doubts.
1In the quote from Savitri, 'her' refers to ‘Reason’.
Next weekend blog: DUALITIES. Please feel free to suggest topics for the series.
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