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Mastery Of Self - Depth
Personality depth embraces 1. The organismal drives and attitudes 2. The varying levels of self-realization and 3. The general phenomenon of reaction to environment. It is what drives us, our innermost motivations. By analogy, this is the car going downhill. Think of this as the inner work that we must do in realizing our spiritual leadings. Depth is the dimension of progression in Psychic Circles attainment as a result of the progression from the ministry of the lower to higher spiritual influences. Psychic Circles attainment is not merely spiritual growth, but balanced progression in the realms of the material, mindal and spiritual.
Again, this movement is happening at the same time that we are traveling forward and sideways, in the dimension of length and breadth. Although progression may proceed predominantly in one dimension, there are always influences that affect the other two, sometimes minutely, sometime in a large way. Inward movement in the dimension of depth always facilitates movement forward in length.
1. Organismal Drives And Attitudes
As we evolve, our basic drives change as we are driven more and more by deeper leadings. In the early stages of growth, we are mainly driven by our biological bodily urges: the instinct for self-preservation, our need for material security such as food, clothing and shelter and other physical wants.
After our biologic needs are taken care off to a certain degree we start to become less self-centered so that our intellectual and/or ideological drives can focus on the group rather than just on the self. This is manifested in our willingness to implement societal mores, political, social, economic and religious work and other projects that we see as our
duty.
As our perception of universe reality evolves, we reach higher levels of self-realization which results in the outworking in our lives of transcendental values brought about by inspiration. More and more truth, beauty and goodness, cosmic consciousness and unconditional love become manifest daily as we begin to be led more by our spiritual drives.
However, this does not mean that the lower drives are erased and done away with. As long as we live in the material world with a material body, we must still keep the drives that keep the physical organism alive. The same is true with our intellectual and ideological drives. But as we reach higher consciousness and begin to manifest the higher spiritual drives, those drives and attitudes begin to take precedence. When a choice has to be made between acting on our bodily urges, our intellectual thoughts, or our spiritual leadings, we choose the spiritual over the intellectual and physical. For example, the urge to eat can be stifled if there is not enough food for all, and the spiritual leading of letting others eat over one's own wants, if strong enough, should be able to overpower the personal physiological drive for sustenance. The mental drive to do one's duty as understood intellectually can also be suppressed by spiritual drives. A good example is the military officer who is ordered to execute a prisoner without due process. The officer's spiritual drives stemming from love and cosmic consciousness may forestall the action that was based on a purely intellectual level.
The depth of organismal drives and attitudes are not manifested as steps that are left when completed. The progression is more like ever deepening circles of behavior with the deepest circle of spiritual drives taking precedence over the shallower circles of intellect and biology.
2. Levels Of Self-Realization
The levels of self-realization that we progress through could be described as animal, human, and divine. It's relatively easy to see the animal within ourselves. For some people that's all they see. In fact, to be like an animal is seen as something good in certain circles, namely for some members in the military as well as athletes, and in other activities where the "macho" mentality is desired. In many primitive societies, the warrior identified with wild animals for their strength and ferocity and even now we name our more dynamic sports teams after them: Lions, Falcons, Raptors, etc. The truth is that we are not very much removed from the animal and it doesn't take much to realize this. But it is okay to acknowledge our animal heritage. We need to know and realize that we are not very far from being animals and that we have to be mindful of this background so we can be always watchful in maintaining our humanity over our animal tendencies. And there may even be certain times in our lives when our animal traits can come in useful; possibly in times of dire physical difficulties when animals instincts under the watch care of the mind and spirit can be used to assure survival.
To realize that we are humans and not animals require knowledge and understanding of the difference. What differentiates you from an animal? What qualities do you have that puts you a step or two above a dog, cat or monkey? The ability to communicate complex thoughts,
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