October 7, 2009 – The Argument of Weakness

Yet, O soul of man, seek not after pain,
for that is not His will, seek after His joy only;
as for suffering,
it will come to thee surely in His providence as often and as much as is needed for thee.
Then bear it that thou mayst find out at last its heart of rapture.

Sri Aurobindo

(Thoughts and Aphorisms 501)

The Argument of Weakness

Correcting an ignorance is like eliminating darkness: you light a lamp, the darkness disappears. But to make a mistake once again when you know it is a mistake, is as if someone lighted a lamp and you delib­erately put it out… That corresponds exactly to bringing the darkness back de­liberately. For the argument of weakness does not hold. The divine Grace is always there to help those who have decided to correct themselves, and they cannot say, “I am too weak to correct myself.” They can say that they still haven’t taken the resolution to correct themselves, that some­where in the being there is something that has not decided to do it, and that is what is serious.

The argument of weakness is an excuse. The Grace is there to give the supreme strength to whoever takes the resolu­tion. . . .

In the case of ignorance which is to be enlightened, it is enough, as I said, to light the lamp. In the case of conscious relapse, what is necessary is a cauterisation.

– The Mother
The Great Adventure, Page 83