The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution by P. D. Ouspensky - 2

What is Psychology?… - Part 2
door Tsenne Kikke - zondag 19 januari 2025 10:15

Man is not a completed being

Our fundamental idea shall be that man as we know him is not a completed being; that nature develops him only up to a certain point and then leaves him, either to develop further by his own efforts and devices - or, to live and die such as he was born - or, to degenerate and lose capacity for development.

Evolution of man in this case will mean the development of certain inner qualities and features which usually remain undeveloped, and cannot develop by themselves.

Experience and observation show that this development is possible only in certain definite conditions, with efforts of a certain kind on the part of man himself, and with sufficient help from those who began similar work before and have already attained a certain degree of development, or at least a certain knowledge of methods.

We must start with the idea that without efforts evolution is impossible; without help, it is also impossible.

After this we must understand that in the way of development, man must become a different being, and we must learn and understand in what sense and in which direction man must become a different being; that is: what a different being means.

Then we must understand that all men cannot develop and become different beings. Evolution is the question of personal efforts; and in relation to the mass of humanity, evolution is the rare exception. It may sound strange, but we must realise that it is not only rare, but is becoming more and more rare.

Must become a different being

Many questions naturally arise from the preceding statements...:

- What does it mean that in the way of evolution man must become a different being?

- What does 'different being' mean?

- Which inner qualities or features can be developed in man and how can this be done?

- Why cannot all men develop and become different beings? Why such an injustice?

I shall try to answer these questions and I shall begin with the last one:

Why cannot all men develop and become different beings?

The answer is very simple. Because they do not want it. Because they do not know about it and will not understand without a long preparation what it means, even if they are told.

The chief idea is that in order to become a different being man must want it very much and for a very long time. A passing desire or a vague desire based on dissatisfaction with external conditions will not create a sufficient impulse.

The evolution of man depends on his understanding of what he may get and what he must give for it.

If man does not want it - or, if he does not want it strongly enough, and does not make necessary efforts, he will never develop. So there is no injustice in this. Why should man have what he does not want? If man were forced to become a different being when he is satisfied with what he is, then this would be injustice.

Now we must ask ourselves what a different being means. If we consider all the material we can find that refers to this question, we find an assertion that in becoming a different being man acquires many new qualities and powers which he does not possess now. This is a common assertion which we find in all kinds of systems admitting the idea of psychological or inner growth of man.

But this is not sufficient. Even the most detailed descriptions of these new powers will not help us in any way to understand how they appear and where they come from.

- To be continued in Eclecticus -

"Vind mensen, die in zichzelf zowel de motivatie als de aangeboren drijfveer hebben om aan hun Innerlijke Zelf te werken, en we zullen hen gidsen."

- DIMschool vzw, de énige gespecialiseerd in Zelfkennis, zijnde: het kennen van het Zelf -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

En, voel jij je geroepen om Spiritualia te sponsoren?
Klik dan op deze link. Alvast bedankt!

Overschrijven kan ook via: IBAN: BE22 7795 9845 2547 - BIC: GKCCBEBB

- Indien je zo'n (bak)steentje bijdraagt, ook eventueel via een aankoop of een Zoek&Vind abonnement, mogen we jouw naam hieronder publiceren? Laat het ons weten! -