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A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga594
I see; I smell; I taste; I desire; I do,” etc., etc. The very words indicate Mental
Consciousness recognizing mental states and giving them names, and also
recognizing something called “I” that experiences the sensations. This latter
fact has caused psychologists to speak of this stage as “Self-consciousness,”
but we reserve this idea of the “I” consciousness for a higher stage.
The animal experiences something that gives it the impressions or feeling
that we call “pain,” “hurt,” “pleasant,” “sweet,” “bitter,” etc., all being forms of
sensation, but it is unable to think of them in words. The pain seems to be
a part of itself, although possibly associated with some person or thing that
caused it. The study of the unfoldment of consciousness in a young baby
will give one a far better idea of the grades and distinctions than can be
obtained from reading mere words.
Mental Consciousness is a growth. As Halleck says, “Many persons never
have more than a misty idea of such a mental attitude. They always take
themselves for granted, and never turn the gaze inward.” It has been doubted
whether the savages have developed Self-consciousness, and even many
men of our own race seem to be but little above the animals in intellect and
consciousness. They do not seem able to “know themselves” even slightly.
To them the “I” seems to be a purely physical thing—a body having desires
and feeling but little more. They are able to feel an act, but scarcely more.
They are not able to set aside any physical “not—I,” being utterly unable to
think of themselves as anything else but a Body. The “I” and the Body are
one with them, and they seem incapable of distinguishing between them.
Then comes another stage in which mental-consciousness proper sets
in. The man begins to realize that he has “a mind.” He is able to “know
himself” as a mental being, and to turn the gaze inward a little. This period
of development may be noticed in young children. For a time they speak of
themselves as a third person, until finally they begin to say “I.” Then a little
later comes the ability to know their own mental states as such—they know
that they have a mind, and are able to distinguish between it and the body.
It is related that some children experience a feeling of terror when they