Preparing for the Miraculous

20 eleven talksmaterialist idea, it is form which precedes consciousnessand makes it possible for consciousness to manifest. Forthose who have some knowledge of the invisible worldsand a direct perception of the play of forces, there is no possibledoubt: it is necessarily consciousness which producesa form in order to manifest. The way things are arrangedon earth, it is quite certainly a consciousness of a higherorder which penetrates a form and helps to transform it, sothat this form may become – either immediately or throughsuccessive generations – capable of manifesting that consciousness.For those who have the inner vision and knowledge,this is absolutely beyond doubt. It is impossible forit to be otherwise. But those who start from the other end,from below, will not admit it. But, all the same, it is not forignorance to dictate knowledge to wisdom! ... Conceptionprecedes manifestation and expression.”“A theory of spiritual evolution,” writes Sri Aurobindo,“is not identical with a scientific theory of form-evolutionand physical life-evolution [e.g. the Darwinian theory]; itmust stand on its own inherent justification: it may acceptthe scientific account of physical evolution as a support orelement, but the support is not indispensable. The scientifictheory is concerned only with the outward and visible machineryand process, with the detail of Nature’s execution,with the physical development of things in Matter and thelaw of development of Life and Mind in Matter; its accountof the process may have to be considerably changed ormay be dropped altogether in the light of new discovery,but that will not affect the self-evident fact of a spiritual evolution,and evolution of Consciousness, a progression of the soul’smanifestation in material existence.” 12We can only now begin to appreciate how clear anddetailed Sri Aurobindo’s knowledge of the physical as12 Sri Aurobindo: The Life Divine, p. 868 (emphasis added).