12 Keys of Discipleship
Key Eleven: Seeking the Good of the Whole
The disciple must work with the group in mind as his highest priority rather than the individual self.
Many there are who believe that it is a top priority to work for the good of the individual and the good of the group will follow. The reason for this belief is that the most prosperous nations on the earth allow the greatest individual freedom and the least prosperous and desirable, like North Korea and Cuba, stress the good of the group over the individual.
Do I therefore support the communist idea that the will of the individual must submit itself to the will of the State?
No. Of course not. Between the free enterprise system, which stresses the good of the individual and the communist which stresses the power of the state the capitalistic system is by far the most desirable.
If this is so then what is meant by the statement that “The disciple must work with the group in mind as his highest priority?” How is that different from communism?
The difference is freedom. Even though it is important that the disciple learn to focus on group work it is also true that it is a great evil to force people to do good. It is especially evil to force people toward an ideal that their consciousness is not prepared to accept. Since few have evolved to the state where group work takes priority over the individual, only chaos can result by forcing people to do that which they do not desire.
Another point is that the collective systems today are usually ruled by a tyrant and most do not consider service to a tyrant as service to the group. In addition the person is not allowed to do any free thinking for either the group or the individual.
The importance of true group work is illustrated by the body. It is composed of billions of individual cells. If each cell worked only for itself the body would die along with the cells. They therefore must work with the aim of keeping the whole body healthy so they can themselves survive and thrive. Is there a dictator cell that bosses others around and tells them how to work as a group?
No. Instead they are aligned with a greater will so their instinctive intelligence can pick up what needs done.
Even so, the disciples of the world must lead the way in working for the ultimate health of the human race. If the whole is healthy then the individuals will thrive as well as enjoy the maximum of individual rights.
The disciple is thus willing to sacrifice the individual satisfaction to accomplish the greater good, but with the realization that, in the end, maximum individual satisfaction is predicated on group health.
It is interesting that to accomplish this end that the fertile soil for group growth is not a socialist environment, but one of free enterprise where the pilgrim can descend into maximum selfishness. He must be allowed to make those millions and buy six cars, three homes and a yacht if he wants?
Why?
Because each of us must descend into the black hole of maximum selfishness. When most individuals reach that point they discover they are still not happy and satisfied. Then they ask that all important question:
Is that all there is?
Then they climb out of the pit of selfishness and they travel on a quest for meaning. They finally find that meaning when their consciousness expands to serving the good of something greater than themselves.
We can thus see why it is important to allow the maximum freedom of the individual for under an authoritarian government people cannot fully explore the necessary path of selfishness.
I’ll end this section with some quotes from DK on groupwork.
“You must not imagine that the particular line of work on which you may be engaged is the factor of main interest. It is not primarily the unfoldment of the intuition, or of the power to heal, or of telepathic efficiency which is of importance. That which counts with the Hierarchy as the Ashrams function is the establishing subjectively of such a potent group interplay and group relation that an emerging world unity can be seen in embryo. A joint power to be telepathic or a group capacity to intuit truth is of value and somewhat novel. It is the functioning of groups who have the ability to work as a unity, whose ideals are one, whose personalities are merged into one forward swing, whose rhythm is one and whose unity is so firmly established that naught can produce in the group the purely human characteristics of separation, of personal isolation and selfish seeking, that is new. Unselfish people are not rare. Unselfish groups are very rare. Pure detached devotion in a human being is not rare but to find it in a group is rare indeed. The submergence of personal interests in the good of the family or in that of another person is often to be found, for the beauty of the human heart has manifested itself down the ages. To find such an attitude in a group of people and to see such a point of view maintained with an unbroken rhythm and demonstrating spontaneously and naturally—this will be the glory of the New Age… There will (through this and analogous groups) be set in motion on earth a network of spiritual energies which will facilitate the regeneration of the world. The influence of these groups—when permanently established and potently working—will have a wider objective than just the elevation of humanity.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 22-23
“This will become possible when the individual members in the groups and the individual groups of disciples lose sight of their own identities in an effort to make this hierarchical work possible. In this type of group work, the feelings, reactions, wishes and successes of the individual most emphatically do not count. Only that is regarded as of importance which will further group effort and enrich the group consciousness.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 43
“This is of such a nature that there emerges eventually a group steadiness and a group freedom from “oscillation” which will permit of uninterrupted group work and interplay. It will come if each of the group members will simply mind his own business and permit his group brothers to mind theirs; it will come if you keep your personality affairs, your private concerns and troubles out of the group life; it will come if you refrain from discussion of each other and of each other’s affairs and attitudes. This is of supreme importance at this stage of the group work; it will mean—if you can achieve success in this—that you will be able to keep your minds clear of all lesser things which concern the personality life. This means that your minds will be free, therefore, for group work.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 60
“No group can be used in world service that is not working in perfect accord and this harmony must be attained as a group. It must be brought about, not through the process whereby people withdraw within themselves and thus inhibit that which upsets group equilibrium, but by the process of loving self-forgetfulness.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 194-5
July 3, 2009
Easy Access to All the Writings
For Free Book go HERE and other books HERE
JJ’s Amazon page HERE
Check out JJ’s Facebook Group HERE