Seeking Synthesis in a House Divided

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln

Unanimity, alongside Goodwill and Essential Divinity, are the key spiritual Principles

which inform and guide our work at Meditation Mount. They underpin and form the

solid ground and ethical bedrock intended to support a more enlightened future for

humanity that we are seeking to shape together.

The Principle of Unanimity affirms that all manifested aspects of Creation constitute the

countless interdependent and integral elements of a cohesive and variegated

expression of One Life. And yet, it would appear from pondering the state of the

world, we are in many respects a ‘house divided’. There are cultural, political, economic

and religious divisions alienating parts of humanity from each other. Each nation and

community harbor these divisions, making it extremely challenging to govern fairly,

live together free from fear and adequately take care of those in genuine need.

When a living system is fractured and fragmented, the circulation of needed resources

cannot flow to all its constituent parts. When supply channels become blocked and

walls are erected between peoples, the necessary provisions intended to nourish and

serve the general welfare do not reach their designated destination. If it is true that,

‘free flow and circulation of energy and resources is the hallmark of a healthy system’ then our present society is in danger of becoming impoverished, seriously diseased and slowly

starved of its spiritual lifeblood.

It is not only nations that are suffering. Many people live inside a ‘house divided’. Even

individual lives ‘housed’ inside families and communities, can be rife with examples

highlighting a disconnect between needs and resources, ideals and behaviors, promises

and actions and, where sadly, the Soul and personality are no longer on speaking

terms. Bridging the gap and establishing communication and cooperation between

these two vital components can be accomplished through the applied science and

practice of meditation, compassionate listening and the daily ritual of mindful living.

At Meditation Mount, we utilize Creative Meditation as a pragmatic way of fashioning a

resonant bridge between the Soul and personality to facilitate the ‘outward’ expression

of the promise and potential of that which lives ‘within’. Creative Meditation is a

practice of precipitating the aspirations and qualities of the Soul into useful and

tangible forms of daily living that serve the common good. It is one of the potent

instruments of Subtle Activism, whereby the inspirational and imaginative

characteristics of the Soul are harnessed and directed towards fashioning a more just

and joyful world out of the inner dreams and ‘magnetic thought-forms’ of a preferred

future. This dream functions as a blueprint and spiritual architecture upon which the

actual Temple of the New is to be built through daily group endeavor and striving.

The pathway that dismantles divisions and leads us unerringly towards a realization of

the Principle of Unanimity is that of Group Endeavor. It is the natural urge of the soul to

work together with others in service of all life. Group Endeavor is the needed antidote

to heal the sickness of a ‘house divided’ that currently plagues our world. Within the

annual rotating cycle of global meditation on the six Principles and Pathways, we are

presently focused on the Pathway of Group Endeavor in the two-month period from

April 21st to June 20th .

It is said that during each lifetime, our Soul is in constant meditation – beaming the

light and warmth of love and wisdom to us on Earth in our role as its incarnated and

appointed agent. The soul witnesses and watches over us and patiently waits until the

time finally arrives when we become aware of its presence and are able to build a

bridge of communication. This is the ‘rainbow bridge’ of consciousness that connects

the two realms of soul and personality and allows our daily lives to be wisely guided

with each and every step taken upon the spiral Path of evolution.

Likewise, the soul of each nation is in constant meditation – radiating the light, love

and wisdom of its Essential Nature to the population until that moment comes when

conscious contact is made and the power and beauty of the national soul is able to

inspire and guide its people and leaders. When ‘the soul controls the outer form’ a path

opens up which allows the unique gifts of an individual, a country and a culture to be

shared with the whole of the world.

Imagine for a moment that day when the Souls of all Nations will meet and merge on

the deepest levels to create a unified field in which the whole of humankind can live in

harmony with itself and all life on Earth. This was the powerful vision so clearly and

constantly held inside the heart and mind of Dr Roberto Assagioli – the inspiration

and guiding light behind Meditation Mount – of an eventual ‘Synthesis of Nations’.

The deep reason for any of us embarking upon a spiritual process of developing and

refining the earthly vehicle which we call the ‘personality’ is so that it can become an

accurate and articulate instrument of expression for the gifts of the Soul. On those

many occasions when we fall short of our intended goal of soul-inspired living, it is

possible that our behavior may well have been adversely conditioned by the pain and

distortion of past patterns which can easily interfere with us expressing the higher

aspects of Self that characterize our Divine Nature. This is the challenge of being

human – the perpetual struggle of closing the gap between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘realized’

that we are witnessing in society today among people and among the nations.

Reflecting on the words of Roberto Assagioli, written 60 years ago, we gain greater

insight into the work of bringing synthesis to the individual, the nation and to the

global family of nations.

“The psychosynthesis of each nation must precede that between the nations, just as the

psychosynthesis of the individual must precede its harmonious integration into the

various human groups; disharmonious individuals cannot form harmonic groups, and

the same is true of nations; this does not require demonstration.

Psychosynthesis between and among nations is an urgent need. As there is no isolated

individual, detached from his close and multiple relationships with other individuals

and human groups, so there are no isolated and self-sufficient nations. But

psychosynthesis between nations presents great difficulties, the same that hinder

cooperation between individuals. In addition to the general ones, there are those

deriving from the still backward psychological evolutionary stage of the ‘national

entities’.

One of the greatest difficulties for the harmonious synthesis between nations, indeed

one of the greatest dangers that threaten world peace, is the strong tendency towards

self-affirmation and the consequent aggressiveness. The most effective means to use

towards this is its transformation and sublimation from material and hostile self-

affirmation into psychological and spiritual self-affirmation.”

At this tense time of global unrest, divisiveness and unraveling, may our earnest desire

and prayer be that the world ‘fall into One Peace’ and not ‘fall into many pieces’. Ultimately,

we are at peace when ‘synthesis’ occurs and our inter-connected lives are immersed in

a deeper dimension of meaning and belonging as we move from self-centeredness

towards serving the Common Good. As constantly stated over the years, we at

Meditation Mount firmly believe this tipping point happens when the locus of one’s

life shifts from seeking to satisfy the separated self and enters a more generative phase

of serving the Common Good with all of our heart. This is true of an individual as

well as a nation. It is obvious that when the wild impulses of an unbridled personality

hold sway, the soul cannot easily enter this dissonant field and create the requisite state

of harmony.

Establishing right relations between people and nations begins with the needed task of

establishing a right resonant relationship between the soul and personality. This is our

personal responsibility and unique contribution to peace and wellbeing in the world.

Creating a ‘beloved community of nations’ and a ‘more perfect union’ of humanity is

the collective challenge facing us.

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All persons are caught

in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment

of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be,

and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

– Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr Assagioli’s ‘Synthesis of Nations’ and Dr King’s vision of ‘beloved community’

describe in compelling terms the necessary fertile field out of which a more integrated

and soul-aligned society will finally emerge. There is a growing awareness that a

unified field comprising an inter-weaving of all planetary lives forms the terrestrial

womb out of which the prototype of a Gaian consciousness will emerge. In a recent

essay, this particular transition from being human to becoming Gaian was explained as

follows:

“As humans, we tend to go about our lives looking at the world as an external reality

– something existing solely outside of ourselves that we naively assume lacks sentiency

and is devoid of consciousness.

However, as Gaians we now think, feel and act within a deeply sensed knowing that

the whole Earth is a sentient being alive inside of us and that we, in turn, live inside

a whole spectrum of lives that make up this planetary gestalt we call Earth. As a

Gaian we know ourselves to be a conscious fractal of the multidimensional ecosystem

that constitutes the Living Planet. As a Gaian we are a microcosm of Gaia – a

sacred space of synthesis where Life meets Life and knows Itself to be at One with

All.

The true differentiation between these two states of consciousness is that a human

being lives on the Earth while a Gaian lives AS the Earth.”

A Gaian society is one where everything and everyone serves and supports everything

and everyone else as part of one evolving Organism.  A Gaian society is a House

United. Thus, the clarion call and invitation of the Soul of Humanity at this critical

time is for us to create the right psychological soil conditions and to then sow and

tend the fiery seeds of Hope containing the promise of a preferred future in the fields

of time and space and substance.

We are called to be the Soul Gardeners of Gaia and Stewards of the Future working

together in the Present to lovingly and wisely cultivate Earth and help fulfill the

evolutionary destiny of a great sentient Being: namely, that Planetary Life, “in Whom we

live and move and have our being”.

Michael Lindfield

Meditation Mount

Board President