Soul to Spirit: The New Spiritual Psychology

EGOIC LOTUS PETAL — Knowledge/Sacrifice

Turning now to the Egoic Lotus petal for Group Five, I believe this group is connected to the Knowledge/Sacrifice petal (number 3 in the chart to the left). Quoting from A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey, “[The unfoldment of this petal is] brought about through the driving force of circumstances, and not of free will. It is the offering up of the physical body upon the altar of desire—low desire to begin with, but aspiration towards the end, though still desire. As man in the early stages of his evolution is polarised on the physical, much of this is undergone unconsciously and without any realisation of what is being consummated, but the result in the causal body is seen in a twofold increase of heat or of activity” (p. 540).

To put it another way, knowledge of how to succeed on the physical plane has increasingly been mastered by Group Five allowing them to build more stable societies and even countries. This has freed them up to shift their desires on the Emotional Plane from “low desire” (for safety, security, or even love and belonging), into aspiring for things that are higher (such as art, culture, and more intricate philosophical and religious belief systems). Their minds, however, are still slow in development. Most of the knowledge they gain is not due to free will. Rather, their minds are conditioned by the cultural, religious, and societal predilections they have been exposed to. The capacity to examine their conditioned minds and think independently the way Krishnamurti would have them do, is too far off. Regretfully for Group Five still “the physical body is offered up on the alter of desire,” meaning their lives are still too frequently being sacrificed on the alter of living a life dedicated to satisfying their “desire—low desire to begin with, but aspiration towards the end, though still desire.”

As for why they do not have any “realisations of what is being consummated” this is because they still have no idea yet as to who they really are beyond the confines of their physical brains and bodies. They may hope after death they exist in some sort of Heaven somewhere. But, they do not realize, they do not know, their true Self (as Soul, or Egoic Lotus). Still, they are gaining knowledge that will eventually lead them to understand why it is important to sacrifice their lower desires so they can one day be more motivated to discover their true spiritual nature. For most of humanity, which resides at Group Five consciousness, they still have a long ways to go.

SUMMARY

As we have seen Group Five, more than Groups Three and Four, are able to create seemingly stable lives for themselves. That stability comes from the increasing ability to focus their minds as needed to developing a chosen profession (or craft), and to discipline themselves more to follow the norms and rules of the society, religious organizations, and groups they associate with or are born into. For this reason they are not only good at knowing and following the norms, rules, and moral codes around them, they also become good at enforcing them on others. As they do this, however, a certain level of cognitive and emotional dissonance results. To manage their anxiety about their potential hypocrisy they usually take the following routes: 1) Manage the dissonance through socially accepted forms of penance (going to confession in church, paying their fair share of taxes, sending themselves or their children off to serve in a war, and so forth); 2) Suppress this dissonance through psychological methods of denial, blame, and projection; 3) Self-destruct when the cognitive and emotional dissonance proves too much for them.

Overall by following the rules, norms and moral codes expected of them, Group Five members gain a greater sense of respect and self-esteem. The prestige they earn gives them greater freedom in that they are more likely to move up in society in the way of status and material goods. It also buys them something very precious — time — to pursue primarily their profession or other hobbies. All of this furthers their feeling of order making them feel safe as life becomes more predictable. However, this same delusion of order, security, and safety makes them feel very threatened when people or circumstances try to bring about change. For this reason they tend to polarize even more in a “us vs. them” mentality. Despite all their gains, members of Group Five lack the capacity to see how much they have been conditioned to view their lives in a certain way, making it difficult for them to see another person’s point of view. Sadly, they are also frequently unable to see how easily they are being manipulated to think and act a certain way, especially by those in Group Six above them, which we will soon learn is the group that creates the norms, moral codes, and rules Group Five people so willingly follow. Group Five members are also unable to see how when it comes to Group Six the precious rules and norms they and those in Groups Four and Three may even die for, are often simply arbitrary artifices designed to meet the even more intense desires of those in Group Six. As we will see this can bring about a major crisis for those in Group Five. Let’s move on to examine that crisis in the next chapter.