The whole process of evolution is the soul's struggle to manifest itself. It is a constant struggle against nature, says Swami Vivekananda
The modern idea of nature includes only that part of the universe that is manifested on the physical plane. That which is generally understood to be mind is not considered to be nature.
Philosophers endeavouring to prove the freedom of the will have excluded the mind from nature; for, as nature is bound and governed by law, strict unbending law, mind, if considered to be in nature, would be bound by law also. Such a claim would destroy the doctrine of free will; for how can that be free which is bound by lawIJ
The philosophers of India have taken the reverse stand. They hold all physical life, manifest and unmanifest, to be bound by law. The mind as well as external nature, they claim, is bound by law, and by one and the same law. If mind is not bound by law, if the thoughts we think are not the necessary results of preceding thoughts, if one mental state is not followed by another which it produces, then mind is irrational; and who can claim free will and at the same time deny the operation of reasonIJ And on the other hand, who can admit that the mind is governed by the law of causation and claim that the will is freeIJ
law itself is the operation of cause and effect. Certain things happen according to certain other things which have gone before. Every precedent has its consequent. Thus it is in nature. If this operation of law obtains in the mind, the mind is bound and is therefore not free. No, the will is not free. How can it beIJ But we all know, we all feel, that one are free. life would have no meaning, it would not be worth living, if we were not free. The Eastern philosophers accepted this doctrine, or rather propounded it, that the mind and the will are within time, space, and causation, the same as so-called matter; and that they are therefore bound by the law of causation. We think in time; our thoughts are bound by time; all that exists, exists in time and space. All is bound by the law of causation.
Now that which we call matter and mind are one and the same substance. The only difference is in the degree of vibration. Mind at a very low rate of vibration is what is known as matter. Matter at a high rate of vibration is what is known as mind. Both are the same substance, and therefore, as matter is bound by time and space and causation, mind which is matter at a high rate of vibration is bound by the same law.
Nature is homogeneous. Differentiation is in manifestation. The Sanskrit word for nature is prakriti, and means literally differentiation. All is one substance, but it is manifested variously.
Mind becomes matter, and matter in its turn becomes mind, it is simply a question of vibration.
Man’s free agency is not of the mind, for that is bound. There is no freedom there. Man is not mind, he is soul. Man’s free agency is established in the soul. The soul is ever free, boundless, and eternal. Herein is man’s freedom, in the soul. The soul is always free, but the mind identifying itself with its own ephemeral waves, loses sight of the soul and becomes lost in the maze of time, space, and causation — maya.
This is the cause of our bondage. We are always identifying ourselves with the mind, and the mind’s phenomenal changes.
What relation then does man bear to natureIJ From the lowest form of life to man, the soul is manifesting itself through nature. The highest manifestation of the soul is involved in the lowest form of manifest life and is working itself outward through the process called evolution.
The whole process of evolution is the soul’s struggle to manifest itself. It is a constant struggle against nature. It is a struggle against nature, and not conformity to nature that makes man what he is. We hear a great deal about living in harmony with nature, of being in tune with nature. This is a mistake. This table, this pitcher, the minerals, a tree, are all in harmony with nature. Perfect harmony there, no discord. To be in harmony with nature means stagnation, death. How did man build this houseIJ By being in harmony with natureIJ No. By fighting against nature. It is the constant struggle against nature that constitutes human progress, not conformity with it.