Do we have a future?

At present, there is overwhelming scientific evidence that humanity is making Earth uninhabitable for many life forms, including our own. A recent scientific assessment concluded that 69% of earth’s wildlife population has been wiped out in the past 50 years, and in their latest report The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), considered the most authoritative body on climate change science, warned that the world’s average temperature is set to increase by 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels within the next two decades, and that only the most drastic cuts in carbon emissions from now would help prevent an environmental disaster.

However, while there are admirable efforts to reverse biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change, there is growing awareness in the scientific community that our efforts may be too small and too late to prevent a catastrophe. For the behaviour which causes us to despoil the world in the name of progress seems to too deeply embedded within us, and climatic change is so baked into the system that even if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow, temperatures would continue to rise for many years to come. Furthermore, the possibility of a nuclear Armageddon seems higher today than it has been for decades.

The realisation that humanity may face a bleak future is why some spiritual teachers today have abandoned talk of future utopias and say we should treasure each moment, each relationship, to the full. As one writer put it, it’s as if humanity is spending its final days in a hospice, where, in spite of the fear and the pain, we have a fleeting opportunity to grasp what is truly important.

But what does this mean for Auroville? After all, if within this century, or even a few decades, as some studies suggest, southern India may be- come uninhabitable, drawing up long term plans for the development of our city looks increas- ingly futile, rather like rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

And yet, in 1966 Mother had what she called a ‘revelation’.

“Even if you don’t believe in it, even if all circumstances appear to be quite unfavorable, I know that Auroville will be. It may be in a hundred years, it may be in a thousand years, I don’t know, but Auroville will be, because it has been decreed.”

In the context of the present existential threat, what could this mean? For Mother noted that the threat is real: “Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the Truth?”

Does it mean that Auroville, because it has been ‘decreed’, will continue to exist, in spite of the predicted chaos? Or that the ‘cure’ for all human difficulties– which Mother described as one of the purposes of Auroville – will be found here in time to avert a global catastrophe?

Or that the ‘idea’ of Auroville, which Mother described as “an action in the invisible... It’s not a material, outward action: it’s an action in the invisible”, will prove strong enough to reverse humanity’s current depredations?

Or could it indicate that while the present Auroville may cease to exist, at some future date it will manifest, but populated by beings more advanced than our own? In this context, In 1934 Sri Aurobindo wrote that the supramental transformation was ‘inevitable’.. But when Mother asked him how long the process of transformation would take after the descent of the Supermind, he replied, ‘perhaps 300 years’. However, later Mother added, “He said 300 years, but you know there is something like Grace—anything can take place, because there is truly something changed in the world.”

The change which she was referring to began with the first manifestation of the supramental consciousness in the overall earth consciousness in 1956, which caused her to remark that “a new light breaks upon the earth, a new world is born.” Thirteen years later, she announced that a new consciousness had manifested on earth, the consciousness of the ‘surhomme’ – the intermediary between man and the supramental being – which she described as “working energetically to prepare the earth for the new creation”.

At the same time, she was working intensively on making the cells of her body responsive to the new consciousness. After a series of life-threatening experiences, in March 1972 she saw herself in a completely new body. Finally, in November, 1972, Mother reports that for a few brief seconds she had the full supramental consciousness, “and the action is a material one”. Clearly all this represents a huge acceleration in the evolution of consciousness and not, as Mother pointed out, for her body alone. “I think something has been achieved from a general standpoint... it wasn't just the difficulty of one body or one person: I think something was achieved in terms of preparing Matter to receive in the right way, correctly.”

Mother said she was instructed to say that Auroville would play a key role in this evolution: “we will strive to make Auroville the cradle of the superman (surhomme)”. In fact, in April 1970 she confirmed that some ‘overmen’ already existed, although she didn’t specify where.

All these are signs that the action of the new forces, while continuing to be ‘engulfed’ in the old world, had, as she put it, “continued very regularly, very persistently, very steadily, and to a certain extent, very effectively”. And one day, she said, the new world will be strong enough “to assert itself visibly”.

Has that time come? And will it precipitate what Tolkien termed a ‘eucatastrophe’, a sudden and surprising turn for the better?

We do not know.

Yet even if we cannot know the course of the immediate future, it gives an enhanced meaning to our existence here. For if Auroville has an important role to play in the evolution of consciousness, as Mother said, and evolution, as Sri Aurobindo assured us, will continue, then everything that we do here assumes great significance. For if every action or thought can be seen to promote or retard the larger evolutionary progress, there is no issue, however trivial, that can be neglected. Even something like the shape of the Crown, which may seem of supreme irrelevance given the scale of the planetary threat, could, if approached in the right manner – in a way which promotes harmony and attempts to express the new consciousness – be the means of furthering such progress.

In fact, Mother was unequivocal about what needs to happen if we are to avoid a ‘catastrophe’. “It is only the Truth that can save us, truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed”.

Never has the choice been more evident. Whatever the eventual outcome, however, it is likely that the coming years will be very testing for everyone. Existential psychology research suggests that people react in different ways to perceived threats to their existence. Some choose denial. Others become more dogmatic, polarised, and prone to conspiracy thinking. Yet others become more creative and caring. And many in the Aurobindonian community, no doubt, will seek higher guidance.

All in all, it will be interesting to see how Aurovilians navigate the stormy waters ahead.