Peace and Faith in the Divine Action Through a Shift in Standpoint from the Ego-Standpoint to the Divine Standpoint

The individual in the surface ego-personality, measures everything that happens from his own unique individual perspective. This includes judgments based on perceived benefit to the individual. He wants to achieve certain results, obtain positive responses, and minimize or eliminate pain, suffering, disappointment and other signs that the ego is not getting what it needs or expects.

The divine standpoint may be operating from an entirely different perspective. If, for instance, the longer-range goal of the manifestation is to bring forth a new level of consciousness and thereby change the way things operate in the world, over time, there may be a divine intention to confront the current status quo, face the difficulties that come up with that existing level of consciousness in action, and systematically work out the solutions. This could involve considerable ‘suffering’ for the individual along the way, particularly if the person is very attached to the external personality and its expectations, rather than to the divine viewpoint and the time frames involved in the divine action.

The gap between the ego-personality and the divine intention, then, needs to be appreciated, understood and taken into account. We cannot expect to succeed immediately in addressing movements of the being that are part of a millennia-long habitual pattern. We will inevitably face obstacles, setbacks, distractions, and with them, doubts, anxiety and in some cases, despair about the possibility of success.

Once we have understood that the ego is not a good judge of spiritual progress and timing, and have shifted our viewpoint to more or less align with the divine standpoint, we can experience peace, knowing that beyond our limited view, the larger change is taking place, that we are participating in that change, and that all the issues that arise are actually opportunities for us to assist in that change. This brings a measure of peace as well.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “We have to have the faith that in spite of our ignorance and errors and weaknesses and in spite of the attacks of hostile forces and in spite of any immediate appearance of failure the Divine Will is leading us, through every circumstance, towards the final Realisation. This faith will give us equanimity; it is a faith that accepts what happens, not definitively but as something that has to be gone through on the way.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pg. 130