For the Sake of the Whole

For the Sake oe THE Whole ihrough the intensity of being together in the kind of inti- macy that was constantly being shared, the fact of the impersonal nature of the entire experience of human life became more and more obvious. The evolutionary signifi- cance of enlightenment for the race as a whole had to now be given preference over the belief that enlightenment was strictly a personal matter. As those around me began to acknowledge this shift in emphasis from the personal to the larger or more impersonal nature of enlightenment, an important question arose. What is the meaning of personal freedom within the context of an impersonal perspective? The desire for personal freedom divorced from the evolutionary implications of enlightenment revealed in the vast, impersonal view became meaningless. It became meaningless because in light of the perspective of the ulti- mately impersonal implications of enlightenment itself, the individual could no longer ignore the inherent responsibility that they held for the race as a whole. For ihc Sake of the Whole Indeed, ihc discovery ol the impersonal perspective made apparent ihai ihc desire to awaken itself could never only be a personal matter. That discovery revealed lo the indi- vidual that it was imperative to awaken not only for their own sake but for the sake of the whole; because in the direct realization of the nondifference between self and other, that responsibility could no longer be avoided. The discovery of the responsibility realized in the tran- scendent spiritual vision is usually what is immediately forgotten when the intensity of short-term immersion in the ocean of being diminishes. The individual who is fundamentally concerned with themselves tends to almost always avoid the overwhelming implications of the discovery that they are not separate from the whole. The burden that the weight of this realization casts on the personality is excruciating for any individual who is still in any way attached to and identified with even a trace of personal history. It is difficult, if not impossible, to preserve that which sees itself as being separate while allowing the attention to expand without limitation. The need to preserve any notion of individuality will always cast a long shadow, and that shadow will always distort the reflection of the world of time and space on the mirror of perception. I am continuously fascinated by the myriad ways in which the shadow of individuality creates a distorted reflection, thereby making it so difficiih for most individuals to see things as they actually are. The most An Vmomlitional Rckitumship lo Life fundamental manifestation of ignorance is the inability to see things as they are; and the reason why human beings have so consistently found it so difficult to come together in an extraordinary way is precisely because of the distortion in perception that is created when attention is distracted by the need to preserve false notions of self. Indeed, when two individuals come together, conflict becomes inevitable as long as both remain deeply distract- ed by the need to preserve false and wrong notions of self. In order for a final attainment of the way to become stable in any individual, remaining free from all false notions of self is vital. When coming together has been recognized as being essential for transcendent realization to become manifest beyond the personal, the need to remain free from all false notions of self becomes even more vital. For the Sake of ihc Whole