Individual_Vs_Collective

The Individual vs. the Collective

Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 15:29:07 -0500

I love it when I see a paradox! In this case it's the case of the needs of the many vs. the needs of the few or one. Is there really a paradox, or can this pair of opposites be brought to rest also?

M.B. wrote: "the takeover of an intolerant ethics in society, to the point where people believe what computers tell them, just like they believe what the television tells them. They see no need to compromise or accept the beliefs of others. They actually see no need to compromise and permit others to live who disagree with them. But this is not just starting now. Looking at the laws we are passing and the increased government actions to carry out programs of religious oppression, cultural cleansing, genocide, and denial of anonymity to anyone who disagrees with the majority, this is actually happening in some countries already."

J. wrote: " also believe that something is cockeyed in the belief that freedom of the individual pursuit of health and happiness and greed has sanctity over the freedom of the many. This individual pursuit is then supported by laws of economic capitalism where the individual can screw his neighbors for profit either because of their stupidity or their trust.... If we had been socialized in the idea that what is good for the many, the planet, the world, we would know that it would be good for the individual because we could see ourselves as an integral part of the planet and that greater world. The oneness of all would have already been taught."

So on one side we have the excesses of an intolerant majority, and on the other we have the excesses of separatist individualism. But I think that they're both symptoms of the same thing. So until one can get beyond the separatist materialist thinking (like that shown in K15) both sides (collectivism and individualism) are wrong! And it is for this reason that both Capitalism and Communism are flawed as well. They both see man as a merely economic being.

Furthermore, I agree with the statement:

"If we had been socialized in the idea that what is good for the many, the planet, the world, we would know that it would be good for the individual because we could see ourselves as an integral part of the planet and that greater world. The oneness of all would have already been taught."

HOWEVER, there are (at least) two ways to convey this lesson.

The way people have attempted to teach this lesson in the past is to demand sacrifice to the collective based on duty and altruism. In altruism there is the idea that the self-sacrifice to the needs of others takes priority over one's own self interests. Immanuel Kant was the arch-advocate of duty to the collective. The problem with this approach is that is proceeds from a sense of separatism and thus sets up the necessity of experiencing the opposite polarity.

I feel the right way to approach the idea of service is to first "know thyself" and expand the realization of the Self to encompass others. Then you can act in service and in love, knowing that helping others IS helping yourself and all of humanity also.

Only a relatively small number of people, however, have been ready for this type of approach, and so the majority of people are stuck experiencing the swing of opposites between the excesses of individualism and statism.

If you're coerced or indoctrinated to sacrifice yourself to others out of duty (15) and not taught the concept of right Service(9) stemming out of Knowledge, Sharing, and Love (19) then you set yourself up for a reaction and the experience of its polar opposite.

I myself look to Tarot Key 7 to reconcile the appearances of the pairs of opposites. Looking at my body and personality as a vehicle for the ONE WILL. This realization is an ongoing process. I see K9 also in this since it is the Intelligence of Will.

=====================================================

Someone writes:

One can also look from the contrary perspective. Sometimes what is good for the one is good for the many. There have always existed individuals, scorned by theirs contemporaries, that in the long run have enlightened humanity as a whole. This should apply to the diligent students and Adepts of the Great Work, even if their work may seem egoistical. These great men and women are forced to emancipate themselves from the shackles of the greater humanity, from ignorance of theirs contemporaries. There isn't any room for collectivism in the Great Work. What the mystic and occultist must do is to embrace the whole of creation, i.e. the inner core of the existence, which means, quite paradoxally, that he and she at the same time must stand free from his and hers fellowmen and today's society, while at the same time participate in it and the welfare of his/hers neighbors, but not guided by theirs moral and dogma, but the inner guide in him/herself. And what that work consists of is decided by the mystic/occultist him/herself, not by the collective will of today's humanity.