The Individual And Humanity

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings, my dearest friends. God bless everyone of you. Blessed be your path. Blessed be your development. Blessed be your continuous growth as individuals. Most of my friends who have pursued this path for some time and who have truly desired to understand their most hidden problems experience phases of relief and of enlightenment when they encounter within themselves factors which finally explain their discontent, their unfulfillment, their tension, their frustration, and other hindrances to full living. This deep insight, which comes as a result of relentless self-confrontation, truly sets you free. It liberates you from confinement and from compulsion. As a result, it enables you to freely choose your inner course of life and your outer course of being. Change is possible only when it is a free choice. This is possible only when deep understanding has been attained. Many of you have experienced the joy and the freedom of being able to cope with aspects of life that previously you could not cope with.

At the beginning -- when deep and thorough understanding is still either lacking or only partial -- these periods are shortlived. They are alternated by periods of confusion and of depression. But the more these dark phases are mastered by the will to understand their inner significance and by not shirking the effort to overcome the resistance to do so, the less frequent, as well as of shorter duration, the negative periods will be, and the longer the phases of liberation, of peace, and of joyfulness will become. The more you realize that each negative phase contains a special lesson, that each disturbing happening harbors a knowledge that you desperately need in order to find yourself and to live the full and satisfying life that you are destined to live, the easier it will become to make disturbances and crises productive experiences of short duration. All this is not new. I have often discussed it, but it is forgotten by those who have not experienced the blessing of working themselves out of unpleasant moods, of irritations, and of depressions, as opposed to waiting for life to remove the outer provocation.

There are certain unalterable laws of growth and development which apply to all living organisms in the universe. They are identical in principle and in procedure for the physical organism, for the mental organism, and for the spiritual organism. They apply both to the macrocosm and the microcosm. They apply to the one-celled life organism, to the individual human entity, as well as to humanity as a whole. There are many life organisms that man cannot possibly first see and then evaluate -- and thereby understand. Therefore he cannot compare the growth processes of these organisms with his own. But a comparison can be made between the individual laws and the individual processes of growth and those of humanity as a whole. Sufficient historical data exists to confirm this extended view, if you apply your present knowledge with the help of this lecture. This will give you a wider vision of and therefore a greater understanding of the relationship between the individual and the totality of all individuals. This will enable you to visualize that humanity as a whole is an entity. In other words, it is governed by the same laws as the individual -- who is a part of this bigger body called mankind. There are cerain aspects within the individual that he does not fully understand, and therefore that he cannot control. These destroy the union, the peace, and the integration of the personality. The same applies to mankind.

The same relationship exists between this totality of one human being and his cells -- the particles of his being -- which undergo identical laws of living and of growing. It is possible to sense this concept to a considerable degree at this time because it is known that every atom is a replica of the universe. But the full understanding of this factor can come only when the individual extends the range of his consciousness to a wider dimension. For the moment it suffices to attempt an overall comparison between the individual human being and humanity as a whole.

Let us begin with infanthood. An infant lacks consciousness of its ego. There is no self-consciousness, no sense of self. All that a baby experiences are sense impressions -- pleasure and pain. Its reactions to both are strong. It obviously rejoices when pleasure is given and it obviously objects when pleasure is witheld, or when it experiences any degree of pain. The frustration of pleasure or the infliction of pain causes violent anger. The infant knows nothing beyond this. There is no reason, no sense of proportion, no idea that his pleasure may mean pain for another. There is no logic and no sense of responsibility. The infant is completely isolated in the pursuit of his sense pleasure and in the avoidance of his sense pain. Even pain and pleasure, this limited range of experience, do not exist on the emotional level, on the intellectual level, and on the spiritual level. The infant is not only entirely a physical creature, but also utterly self-centered.

In any form of immaturity the same condition exists. When an adult explores the recesses of his psyche and when he finds the undeveloped problematic areas, then he is bound to encounter this identical infant living within himself. It is subdued by other parts of his personality which have grown up, and which therefore know better. But as long as this selfish, self-centered, and limited infant dwells within, then his whole personality must always be conflicted by the infant within. The infant can grow up only if it is allowed to manifest in the person's consciousness. In other words, if it is no longer suppressed. Hence, it cannot be said that infantile traits cease to exist when a person becomes an adult. It is only a question of degree.

To the degree that this infantile attitude toward the world exists, to that degree the person is dependent. An infant is utterly dependent. Concomitantly, the so-called neurotic, conflicted, immature person is emotionally dependent. You all know -- and some of you have experienced it -- that your inner problems and your conflicts rob you of your freedom, of your selfhood, of your self-sufficiency, and of your independence. Many of you begin to experience the meaning of gaining independence through giving up your childish, limited self-centeredness. Hence, self-centeredness and dependency are interconnected. Therefore, you cannot have the one without also having the other. Many an inner conflict rages on just because of this interconnection. Man struggles against the same dependency that he simultaneously insists upon as a result of his infantile self-centeredness and subjectivity in outlook.

As a person matures, he develops a sense of self. Paradoxical as this may seem, the more aware man becomes of himself, the more concerned with others he must become. Just think of this great spiritual truth, my friends. The lack of selfhood means self-centeredness. Full selfhood means concern for others and fairness in evaluating the advantages and the disadvantages of others and of the self. It does not mean annihilation of the self for the sake of others in a distorted sense of martyrdom. This is always a remedy for inherent and hidden selfishness and self-centeredness. But it does imply a sense of fairness in which one is capable of foregoing an advantage if it creates either undue pain or an unfair disadvantage for another. So, on one side of the scale we have the infant who has no ego, no sense of selfhood, no awareness of himself beyond the pleasure-pain principle. On the other side we have the mature person who has a sense of selfhood and an awareness of the self beyond the pleasure/pain principle. This results in a social being. Such a person has a sense of responsibility for others, concern for others, an understanding of others, and a feeling with others. As a result, this person forms a harmonious whole with others around him in a mutuality of purpose and of interest. He is free and independent. But do not confuse this with omnipotence. He does not rule, nor is he ruled. Instead, there exists a healthy interdependence between himself and his fellow creatures.

In order for this growth process to take place, the infant must develop his mind, his intellect, his reason, as well as his emotional nature. When all of them mature in harmony, then growth takes place on all levels and the individuality is integrated. But, as you know only too well, this is rarely the case. Part of the development always lags behind. This is what is responsible for the crises in the life of the person.

The identical process is at work with humanity as a whole. Primitive man can be likened to the infant. I do not have to repeat the words, but you can safely apply all that has been said about the infant to primitive man. History will bear me out. Primitive man lived much more secluded. But even within the small circle of his immediate family his growing became a necessity, for otherwise he could not survive. Thus, he was forced to develop some mental processes. These immediately reduced his primitive selfish drives and made him more responsible for others -- and therefore less self-centered. Thus he began to form a society for the sake of which he functioned, often with much effort to overcome the infantile drive to destroy what stood in the way of his immediate gratification. To this day, there are always those who still act according to these infantile drives and whose sense of responsibility for others is lacking. But on the whole the present society and the present civilization derive from these first attempts of primitive man to find a mode of survival by taming his primitive and self-centered instincts.

If the child were self-sufficient and independent while still possessing his self-centered drives, then you can imagine what would happen. He would rule over all those who are weaker and he would destroy them. Therefore his weakness, and his resulting dependency, are a necessity and a protection. Concomitantly, for a long time man was governed by the law of strength and power. He who gained the power ruled over others for the pursuit of his own pleasure. The spiritual forces of balance set a halt to it. When he became too abusive, too irresponsible and too selfish, then he would be removed from power by those who were not different from himself. But little by little power could be gained only by offering the ruled ones something for themselves. Hence, responsibility and concern for others developed first as a necessity, for without it power and advantages could not be gained, and later -- only in very few individuals did it develop earlier -- as a true inner development and as an inner conviction.

A child will hit a smaller child because it wants the latter's possessions. To an infinitely greater degree the identical tendency that exists today existed in former times.

Primitive man was also much more helpless, and therefore more dependent, than man is today. He had fewer means of controlling the elements and certain forces of nature. He had fewer means at his disposal to defend himself against the injustice and the brute force of other people. There was no civil law to protect him. There was no code of ethics which ostracized an offender of decency. Therefore he fluctuated between ruling and being ruled.

His general, overall development was such that his life was a question of who ruled whom, who was stronger, and therefore better equipped to pursue his own selfish drives at the expense of others. This limitation and this ignorance -- just as the infant's -- made man dependent. The more he manifested his brute force in the absence of his mental and emotional development, the weaker he became. His God concept was one of being ruled, and so was his sense of government. Therefore, the individual lived accordingly. He ruled the weaker ones and he let himself be ruled by the stronger ones. He may have violently resented the stronger ones, but he could not help obeying, while simultaneously even needing the stronger ones to rule him.

When the child leaves infanthood behind and enters childhood proper, then it has to learn consideration of others, and therefore to curb its selfish instincts. The feelings may be lacking, but at least by gesture the child learns to get along with others. History, too, came to a point when mankind became more aware of the needs of others. Here, too, first it was a question of self-preservation rather than a matter of inner feelings. The transition from utter self-centeredness to concern for others is a crucial period in the development of an entity, whether this entity be an individual human being or mankind as a whole.

Each transition in growth -- both in small instances and in big instances -- is always fraught with crisis. Hence, mankind went through many crises -- the crises of growth. Let us look at the transitional periods of growth in the individual from the point of view of crisis. When the child is being born, then it is not only a crisis for the mother, but even more so for the little entity. I said in a different context (Lecture No 83) that birth is a traumatic shock for the baby. When the infant is weaned from the mother's breast, then it is a crisis. Each phase is a step toward further independence, going into the world, away from seclusion. When the child starts school, then it is another step into the world, a step toward selfhood, away from seclusion. Again, it represents a crisis. The child begins to learn responsibility the first time it is away from the complete shelter and the protection of the parents. Again, it is a crisis.

To the degree that such growing periods are resisted -- and therefore are fought against -- to that degree they will be painful and will present conflict and disharmony. Conversely, to the degree that they are embraced, to that extent the new way of life will become desirable. Therefore, it will offer new vistas, new experiences, and new challenges.

The physical system also undergoes crises in growth. A teething baby experiences pain. Puberty is psychologically a painful process. It is a step toward individuation.

This path is the best demonstration of this law of growth. In fact, my introductory words to this lecture demonstrate this on the level of man's psyche. The more you hold on to your destructive patterns -- and you even resist to understand their mechanism -- the more painful these old, obsolete patterns finally become. Conversely, the more willing you are to be in the growth process by your inner determination to understand yourself and to change, the more exciting, the richer, the more meaningful, and the more fulfilling your life becomes. In the latter alternative, the crisis is shortlived. It lasts only until you summon the strength to overcome your resistance. But if you blindly give in to the faulty reasoning of your resistance, then the crisis is dragged out, gradually becoming more acute until it can no longer be borne. This will force you to take hold of yourself and to discard your already obsolete and worn out incorrect concepts, as well to discard your childish seclusion, which can no longer work for the adult that you now are.

Mankind has now left behind infanthood and childhood. It is about to come through its adolescence. In other words, humanity is not yet a mature, adult entity. If you compare the individual period of adolescence with the human race's present development, then you will see that this is where mankind is today. This should prove helpful to you and it will widen your understanding.

Just as there are many individuals who grow adult but not mature, because their body has grown while their psyche limps behind, so it is with the world. The average individual who grows into adulthood may have a number of aspects which are mature, responsible, concerned, free, and independent. But he also harbors his problem areas in which the selfish, demanding child reigns. The world, your earth sphere, is the same. There are groups, countries, nationalities, religions, sects, sections -- both geographically and ideologically -- with different outlooks and different attitudes. They can be likened to the different aspects of an individual. The reason you lack inner peace -- as some of you have discovered on your Path -- is because of the presence in you of split aims, of mutually exclusive drives, and of contradictory concepts. The human personality lacks integration, wholeness, and union due to unconscious divisions. In the course of your self-exploration, you will find areas within you which completely contradict your conscious convictions. Emotional reactions either contradict your conscious views or are split within themselves. When these contradictions and splits are found, then it is easy to see why a person is disturbed, why he is at war with himself.

This is exactly what happens to humanity on this planet earth. It, too, is divided within itself. Its organism -- which in perfection could and one day will function harmoniously when it is in a state of union with itself -- must be at war with itself as long as it is divided within by unrealistic concepts, by wrong conclusions, by self-centered and therefore infantile pursuits, by limited outlooks, by the lack of concern for others, by subjectivity, and by their unfairness. All of these are due to their blind, isolating tendencies. If two nations have opposite aims, then it is just as unrealistic and just as senseless as the opposite aims that man finds within his unconscious. It is just as destructive and just as wasteful.

Mankind is about to leave the adolescent stage. This does not necessarily mean that its whole organism is unified, any more than the average adult is unified. But this nearing a mature state will nevertheless be felt on earth, in spite of the remnants of immature trends in the psyche of mankind. There are be many mature aspects in the entity mankind. Perhaps they can be comparad to the conscious concepts the individual has gained through good education, good influences, and intellectual truth he has absorbed. Certain factions within the human sphere -- and their aims -- will be representative of this maturity, while other factions -- and their aims -- will represent the entity's unconscious infantile, erroneous, short-lived destructive elements. But the more humanity grows, the less confused it will be about what is constructive and what is destructive. Its discrimination will improve. In the past, while in the child and young adolescent stage, it was often difficult for mankind to discriminate between truth and falsehood, between what is constructive and what is destructive. Crass injustice and cruelty could often parade as the righteous cause, while the truly meaningful and mature solutions for mankind's problems were often discarded as wrong. The child's mind lacks the power of independent thinking and the ability to discriminate. It does not even attempt to develop such abilities because of the labor involved in doing so.

Just as the individual grows capable of dissolving his destructive, childish trends through his reason -- his power to understand -- so will mankind. Hence, mankind is now on the threshold of greater maturity. Therefore, it is in a state of crisis. As everyone on the Path experiences periods of darkness before the dawn, so does humanity over and over again. Adolescence is a particularly painful and trying period because the individual leaves the accustomed and safe period of childhood behind without possessing as yet the necessary equipment to be an adult. Thus, approximately the last hundred years were especially marked by a similar adolescent crisis. Do you think that this world you live in would have wars, upheavals, crime, starvation, and all sorts of other difficulties if humanity's organism would not be similarly split and partly operating on unconscious false premises, just as you as an individual do? It could not be otherwise.

You still see life too much as a separate factor from yourself. This is why I draw this parallel, which is not symbolic or arbitrary. It is a fact that the human body, the human soul, and the human spirit are identical with the body, the soul, and the spirit of humanity as a whole. Contemplation of this factor will not only help you to better understand the world you live in, but it will deepen your self-understanding. The identical processes are involved in all organisms. One apparently single cell also consists of many aspects. It, too, becomes sick if it is split. The many aspects in one cell are a replica of the bigger organism it forms a part of, just as the individual forms a part of the larger body, mankind.

True individuation occurs when man has gained access to his inner brain, to his inner will, to his inner conscience. This occurs when the outer, conscious, semi-conscious, and superficial levels of the unconscious are first explored and then thoroughly understood. The moment a person has penetrated the layers of consciousness that cover his real self -- his real conscience -- by profound understanding and truthful evaluation, then in that particular respect he will reach the inner reality of the situation. This is an experience that is profoundly elevating, peaceful, and joyful. But it requires the labor of stringent honesty with oneself. A few of my friends have already experienced this phenomenon. After an honest self-confrontation and the thorough exploration of a problem in which they were involved, their inner will functions better; their inner brain -- located in the solar plexus -- gives them the most enlightening guidance, wisdom, understanding, and creative outlets; their inner conscience conveys the truth without the burden of destructive guilt feelings. It shows him the way to absolve himself from the wrongs -- the sins -- he has committed. The freer man is of his unresolved inner problems and of his misconceptions, the more accurately all these inner faculties will function. The more an individual is in touch with these inner faculties, the more reliable his inner guidance must be; the more constructively man will live his life; and the greater understanding he will gain about himself, about his disturbances, about his interrelationship with others, and about the world as a whole. In short, the deeper he goes into himself, the better capable he becomes of going out into the world and having fruitful contact with others and union with others. Conversely, the more he lives on the outer fringes of his consciousness -- on the superficial level of manifestation -- the more withdrawn from the world he must be. In other words, the less he feels a part of it.

Man is not capable of taking this inner direction as a child, and even as an adolescent. In his adolescence, he could, with proper guidance and education, begin to channel his forces in the right direction. But it is still a greater effort than it would be for an adult. Mankind, too, has to learn to direct the solution of its problems by looking inward, behind the effect, into the inner causes. So far, collective problems are usually not resolved in this manner. In politics, in economics, even in religion, man approaches life and its problems on the outer, superficial level of manifestation. Therefore, he cannot find the true solutions. But since mankind is approaching maturity, then it will learn to develop its inner conscience, its inner will, its inner thinking processes.

You who are working diligently on this path have experienced time and time again how fruitless it is to try to solve a problem, either within yourself or with others, by being concerned with the outer factors alone. Either the solution is a short-lived one, only to manifest more strongly than ever in a different guise later, or you become more negatively involved and confused than ever, running around in circles. But when you make the effort to look behind the appearance, behind the outer manifestation, when you truly face the issues that you encounter there, although it may at first seem difficult and unpleasant, then it soon shows that the situation is not hopeless at all. In other words, you will see that there is a wonderful, realistic way out in which none of the people involved are dependent on circumstances beyond their control. When the world spirit begins to operate that way, then all the existing problems will find a genuine solution. Permanent peace on the earth can exist only if the overall maturity of mankind has reached this avenue of resolving problems. Then the means of brute force will be dispensed with because man can rely on reason and on fairness, rather than on power. But in order to make this possible, each nation, each government, each group will have to probe itself for its own shortcomings, rather than blame the other, regardless of how much appearance may lend an easy hand for such rationalizations. By the same token, the growing selfhood of humanity will also enable it to assert its rights and to be aware of its values without guilt. It will not weaken when false accusations are being made. It is the identical process as with the growing selfhood of the individual.

The more each one of you pursues this path in the manner you are doing -- by being forever more determined to overcome the resistance to facing the truth in yourself -- the more do you contribute to the whole of mankind reaching this phase where problems can be resolved by adequate means, and not by temporary, shallow ones.

You may ponder over the question of what will happen to mankind when it has matured in all its aspects. This question is, of course, only a principle, for it will take millions and millions of years before this complete individuation of the world spirit is reached if after all the span of time of humanity's existence it is about to leave adolescence only now. So it is not an immediate consideration. But it nevertheless poses itself as a question in order to understand certain spiritual laws in connection with man's fate on this earth planet. You may also wonder why it must necessarily take all that time. The answer to this question is that there are too many individual souls involved. For the totality of mankind to reach maturity, then all the individual parts of it have to reach maturity, just as your personality remains conflicted until each aspect of your being is integrated with those aspects which have already reached maturity. This integration must be a willing, free choice, not a compulsive one. Often man tries to force himself by blind compulsion, while certain emotional reactions rebel. This does not mean individuation and wholeness. If the world spirit were truly mature, then forcing still immature aspects of itself into submission would contradict the freedom of spiritual reality. However, the more humanity reaches maturity, the faster those limping behind will progress. The general atmosphere and its influence will be conducive to faster development. Again, this can be likened to the individual who finds the pathwork of self-confrontation easier as more of his major problems have been faced and resolved. Therefore, the time element cannot be fixed. Rules cannot be made about the amount of time that each period will take. Hence, the period of infanthood may be relatively longer than the growth periods of adulthood. The time element cannot be compared to the fixed time that a physical organism takes to grow from one state into the next.

Now, as to the question of the fate of mankind as a whole after its full maturity has been reached. Again, let us compare it with the individual. An individual entity is bound to this earth sphere until it has reached maturity. In other words, it has to come back again and again. The more it develops its inner faculties, thereby relating more and better to others, the higher its consciousness is raised. A highly developed human being begins to perceive a new dimension which is already outside the human sphere. As this evolutionary process continues, the individual's emanations become finer and finer. His matter becomes more subtle, thus dissolving the harsh, coarse matter as you know it. As his evolution progresses, almost imperceptibly the individual creates a new kind of body matter -- he creates soul matter -- thus being drawn into a different world. Such individuals are no longer drawn into this sphere. Their subtle emanations and their subtle matter pull them into a corresponding environment. This is not, as is often said and generally believed, a change from one geographical abode to another. It is a change in one's spiritual and psychological outlook. In other words, it is a different state of being. As the world spirit reaches this state as a totality, then it, too, will undergo an identical change. The earth sphere will become finer, its matter more subtle, and its vibration faster due to its higher degree of consciousness.

At this time of the year, indicating a new phase, a new segment of time, this lecture will offer you a better overall view. It will give you much food for thought which can be useful not only for general speculation, but can prove helpful for your personal problems in your pathwork and in your life. In the discussion we are going to have on this lecture, it may be fruitful if you think of your personal problems and how they run parallel to world history, to the development of mankind as a whole. If we receive such examples from some of the participants, then this may prove of great value, my friends.

Are there any questions now?

QUESTION: You mentioned millions of years to come in order to complete the cycle. In what way can infancy and childhood be counted from our vantage point? Also in millions of years?

ANSWER: Of course. Just think of how long the earth and humanity is known to exist.

QUESTION: How do you account for the rise and fall of civilizations and races if you generalize now the stages of adolescence? They rose and they died?

ANSWER: Part of the answer is that some of the souls in these civilizations have already completed their development in this specific sphere. Others come again in different civilizations and in different races for the completion of their personal evolution. It is not necessary to come back into the same environment. Another part of the answer is a comparison with the individual. Let us assume that a young person adopts a new way of life -- a new attitude to life and a new attitude to others -- in which he wishes to cope with both his personal problems and with the world's difficulties. This attempt may combine a number of facets, both constructive ones and destructive ones, both realistic ones and unrealistic ones. For a while, he appears to get by with this solution, but as he grows older and as the circumstances change, then the solution no longer works. So he discards it in order to adopt a new way of life, perhaps still distorted, so that at a still later period it has to be discarded again. Hence, civilizations which have risen and fallen may be likened to the young person's outer or inner pseudo solutions, ways of life which combine conflicting elements in himself and in the world.

QUESTION: Could you explain the role of Egypt. I can see the theory of pseudo solutions where Greece and other cultures are concerned, but with Egypt something has been lost, where there seems to have been an inner knowledge.

ANSWER: Nothing real can ever be lost. It may appear to be lost because of not associating it with Egypt, but that does not mean that it is lost to the world. It is just as it is with the individual, who is bound to retain the constructive facets of a courageous attempt to resolve his problems, even if the whole nucleus of his inner problem or conflict does not work out. When he preserves the constructive element, he does not recall each time that at a particular period he combined a temporary way of life that had proved to be unsatisfactory with this specific constructive trend. Truth is not invented by one individual or by one civilization. It is. It exists. It is supposed to be used by all the created beings. Truth cannot be extinguished.

My dearest friends, specifically at this time of year receive special blessings for your continued development and for your self-realization. This time indicates one of those crises I have spoken about. The Spirit Jesus Christ acted out visibly one of those crucial periods of change. This marked the period of history between childhood and adolescence. It may seem disproportionate that so much more time from infanthood to adolescence, and again from childhood to adolescence has elapsed, while only two thousand years have gone by and mankind is now on the threshold of maturity. But I repeat that these phases of growth cannot be measured in fixed states, as with the physical organism. Besides, the individual, too, may be more or less adult and mature, while he still continues to harbor his immature and destructive elements. The fact that mankind is on the verge of entering maturity as a whole is bound to bring a great deal of betterment in this world. But this does not mean that it has already done away with all its destructive aspects.

There is significance in the fact that for this lecture I chose this particular topic. The advent of the Spirit of Jesus Christ indicated the upheaval of the human organism, the turmoil it goes through when a child reaches puberty. At such periods, he discovers a great deal of idealism. Young people are full of strength and full of ideals, while at the same time they have violent impulses, rebellious impulses, and cruel impulses. This is exactly the stage that mankind underwent at this period.

With this thought in mind, go your way in peace. Keep the inner light burning so that further growth -- further individuation within each one of you -- can proceed. This will enableg you to reach out and to contact others in their true inner state. You will become more independent, more free, more responsible, and less isolated. Our love and our blessings go to all of you. Be blessed. Be in God.

December 13, 1963