The Instinctual Compulsion

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The  Instinctual  Compulsion

Martin Cecil   December 14, 1969

In a recent service we were giving some consideration to environmental consciousness and instinctual consciousness. We are equipped with the capacity to experience both. It has seemingly been assumed by some of the subhuman fraternity that man has somehow been shortchanged in the matter of instinctual consciousness. Animals, birds, plants, are all equipped in this regard, but apparently man is not, the idea being, perhaps, that he has been given a conscious mind as a replacement. All this is false. The conscious mind is not a replacement for instinctual consciousness; neither is man lacking instinctual consciousness. Obviously we have environmental consciousness.

Why is it that there seems to be the absence of the instinctual compulsion in man, when it is so evident in other forms of life on earth? The instinctual compulsion, which in other terms may be defined as an aspect of the spirit of God, reaches man through his subconscious mind. This compulsion tends to be blocked in man—basically by the attitude of shame which is present in all people. This attitude of shame includes other elements, such as fear, resentment, jealousy—various reactionary attitudes which are commonly held by people because of their environmental consciousness. However, the reason for these states of emotion which block the instinctual compulsion from reaching into the subconscious mind of man is consequent upon the conscious mind.

If, as the popular theory is nowadays, man evolved out of some other creature, a creature which back along the way was not man, then the way these things have occurred cannot be understood, because man did not evolve out of anything. As we have noted, one species does not become another species through processes of evolution. There may be some apparent evolution of a species, but not a change from one species into another. This is pure fancy. So, relinquishing the concept that man became what he is, describable by the word “man,” through evolution from some other creature, we may begin to recognize more clearly what the nature of the fall of man is. If man evolved, of course, according to the usual concept, there is no need for the fall. It couldn't have occurred. Man is reaching greater heights all the time, on the basis of this theory. It isn't true!

The instinctual compulsion in man, which correlates with the environmental consciousness in man, relating to the subconscious mind, is the true design insofar as human experience is concerned. But the conscious mind of man, at the time when the instinctual compulsion was strongly known and experienced, decided that it could direct the course of events on earth better than the instinctual compulsion was doing. Now the instinctual compulsion, in animals for instance, is still in operation, carrying a certain control in the animal experience. That compulsion is very capable, obviously. The migration of birds is an evidence of this, for instance, in one area. Obviously there is a knowing of what is needful, and this knowing permits the doing.

The operation of the instinctual compulsion in man originally was capable of achieving in the design of a human being more than could be achieved in the design of an animal, or in the design of a bird, or in the design of a fish, or in the design of a plant. But man had a conscious mind which was capable of appreciating what the instinctual compulsion was doing, of sharing in an awareness of what was occurring, of participating in the process initiated by the instinctual compulsion. However, by the same token, the conscious mind was capable, having this awareness of what was going on, of deciding that it could handle affairs better than the job that was being done by the instinctual compulsion, and so it proceeded, step by step, to usurp the position of the instinctual compulsion, so that gradually the consciousness of that instinctual compulsion faded away. Not that it went away, but that it was obscured by the operation of the conscious mind, in which all attention was centered. In different terms, the instinctual compulsion in man could be defined as the spirit of God. The spirit of God moving freely through the subconscious mind of man produces what is called the Holy Ghost in man. When the Holy Ghost is present, the instinctual compulsion is present in the experience of the human being.

The conscious mind of man has been self-active for so long—all down through recorded history and of course beyond that, in the history of which we have little or no record—so the instinctual compulsion is virtually unknown, and the whole responsibility for directing movement in human existence on earth is undertaken by the conscious mind, the conscious mind which does not have the ability, the understanding, the scope of vision, to comprehend what the results of its own action are going to be. So we have a chaotic condition brought about by the conscious mind's usurping the position which was rightly centered, at least partially, in the instinctual compulsion. There is more to it than the instinctual compulsion relative to the subconscious mind. This might be defined as an aspect of the working of the spirit of God in man, not the whole working of the spirit of God in man. There is another aspect, which relates directly to the conscious mind but which is unknown to the conscious mind until the instinctual compulsion subconsciously is in operation.

We have noted this design as it relates to the operation of mind, in our previous meditations. There is a compulsion which comes down from above in relationship to the level of the conscious mind, and there is a compulsion which emerges from below, through the subconscious mind, to the level of the conscious mind. The unification of these two at the level of the conscious mind permits what has been called illumination. In other words it allows the conscious mind to share in an understanding, an awareness, of what it is that is in operation by reason of the working of the spirit of God in its dual aspects: the aspect which comes from above the conscious mind, and the aspect which comes from below the conscious mind through the subconscious mind.

The working of the instinctual compulsion in the subconscious mind correlates with what is present in the subconscious mind. What is present in the subconscious mind derives from hereditary and environmental sources. As we have noted before as an example, we understand the English language. There is material in the subconscious mind available for use consciously. We have the material of the English language, for instance, so that we can communicate to some extent. We do not have—most of us—the material for the Chinese language; therefore we cannot communicate at all with each other using Chinese. What is present in the subconscious mind derives from environmental sources during the lifetime of the individual, and from hereditary sources out of the past.

There is material available in the subconscious mind, generally speaking, in the deeper levels, which relates to the experience of forebears and others from the dim and distant past. Because this material is present people have at various times concocted some theories about reincarnation, for instance. Something triggers a memory from the dim and distant past which is present in the subconscious mind of the living individual, and lo and behold, the person decides that he had incarnated as so-and-so in some other place in some other age. It isn't true! We can see where such things come from, to the extent that there is understanding of the way in which the subconscious mind works and the nature of the material that is contained in it. On this basis we could identify ourselves with virtually anybody in the past, because there is a pattern of relationship which expands as you go back. So take your pick, if you want to believe in the theory of reincarnation. But what a waste of time, because we are here now with the equipment necessary to live in the present.

The question is sometimes asked, by those who have awakened to a consciousness of spiritual responsibility, which might be couched in the words, “Why me? Why should I have been apparently chosen out of billions of people to know and understand something of which the vast majority are totally unaware?” As we have noted, vision and understanding bring increased responsibility; therefore there may be a recognition of the need to assume responsibility, and most people don't want to do that. So they say, “Why me? It is unbelievable that it could possibly be me!” We remember that Moses long ago took this attitude, according to the record, when he became aware of the responsibility that devolved upon him. He said, in effect, “Why me? I didn't ask to be made responsible in this way. I don't want to be responsible in this way! Let it be by the hand of somebody else!” But by whom? If you are the one who is conscious of the responsibility and nobody else is, well how could it be by the hand of somebody else?

The fact of vision and understanding brings with it the fact of responsibility. Well again the question may be asked, “Why me? Why do I have this vision and understanding and therefore responsibility? Why couldn't it be someone else?” After all, looking around one can probably recognize that there are more intelligent people over there, there are better people over here, etc. Why not these? Well, of course, first of all the fact is, if it is the fact, that you have the vision and understanding and that more intelligent person over there doesn't. If he doesn't, he doesn't have the responsibility that you have, in spite of his intelligence. It is evidently not a matter of intelligence; neither, I suspect, as you consider the matter, would you say that it is a matter of goodness. It is not a matter that conforms with any of the socially acceptable norms. It's something else entirely. It relates to the nature of the material that is present in the subconscious mind of the individual.

What is it that the instinctual compulsion will be able to correlate with in the material contained in the subconscious mind of the individual? If there are factors present in the subconscious mind of the individual by reason of environmental experience and hereditary influences that do have a relatedness to the instinctual nature of being, then obviously something will begin to get together here; and as the attitude of shame is relinquished, as reaction to the environment lessens, what is present in this correlated pattern of the subconscious mind will be raised up so that a person may become conscious of it, so that the conscious mind can begin to share in what is happening.

We may see then that hereditary factors particularly do have meaning in this regard; not that they should control, but that they should provide fitting material to correlate with the nature of God, which is inherent in the spirit of God, an aspect of which is the instinctual compulsion. So there are those whose heredity predisposes them to what might be called spiritual experience. I am not talking about psychic experience. That is a subhuman experience, which has nothing to do with spirituality. Spiritual experience is sensible, practical, reasonable, comprehensible.

If there are predisposing factors, material derived from heredity that carries within it a good proportion of stuff which is capable of being correlated with the divine nature, then that person is in good position to experience true vision and understanding, and therefore to accept the corresponding responsibility. If on the other hand the hereditary factors that may be present in a person, combined with the environmental influences that have been experienced during life, are of such a nature that they do not readily correlate with the divine design, then nothing happens insofar as that person is concerned. Presumably, if we are amongst those who have experienced new vision and understanding and recognize new responsibility, there have been elements present in our subconscious minds which made it possible. Now, can the person take credit for that? I don't think so. If he can't take credit for it, neither should he rebel against it. The human attitude is usually to take credit for the things which seem to be creditable and to reject responsibility for the things that are not so creditable; but one can't have it both ways.

Insofar as the human aspect of our being is concerned, evidently there has been sufficient present at the subconscious levels to allow a certain correlation with instinctual compulsion, and we have been moved by that instinctual compulsion. That's why we're here. It worked. Obviously then, to this extent—which is certainly not adequate yet—it has been proven that there is an instinctual compulsion in man, as well as in animals and other creatures. It's there, and it works in spite of and not because of the self-active conscious mind. The self-active conscious mind generally speaking doesn't like the idea because it is going to lose its prerogative, and as most people are identified with their conscious minds the attitude is one of rebellion and rejection of the truth. Then the conscious mind devises these ridiculous theories in order to bolster its usurped position. We see that almost all the education, particularly the higher education, in the world is designed to maintain the supremacy of the human intellect, as though it were intelligent enough, far-seeing enough, wise enough, to direct the affairs of life on the surface of this planet. It most definitely is not! The evidence of this fact is everywhere to be seen. The absolute chaos in the world reveals the complete failure of the intellect to be God. Of course it can't be God, because it isn't God. There is a pretense here, a counterfeit. The conscious mind of man has a wonderful part to play in the operation of the true machinery of life but it is not a directing part; it is a part which permits conscious awareness of the creative process which is already being directed.

Life is working here on earth. The instinctual compulsion is in operation, obviously, in the forms of life other than man. The universe itself is an operating organism. Obviously it didn't require the intellect of man, to be put in motion. It is working. The spirit of God is achieving in every realm, in every sphere, in every part of the whole cosmos, what is true to its creative nature. This is so. The expression of this creative nature, amongst other things, established the conscious mind of man. The conscious mind of man did not establish the instinctual compulsion, did not establish the working of the spirit of God. It knows virtually nothing about it. How ridiculous, then, to suppose that it could figure things out as to how the world should be run, and for what purpose!

However when the true design is in operation and the spirit of God is working in man according to these dual aspects the conscious mind is then in a state of illumination, which simply means that it knows what's going on. It is aware of what is happening. It has the capacity to appreciate what is happening. It has the capacity to permit enjoyment of what is happening. It has the capacity, in other words, to be one with what is happening. Originally it was one with what is happening. In that state it was described as Lucifer, the lightbearer, the angel of God, conscious of what was transpiring, one with what was transpiring. But when the mind begins to imagine that it can determine what should happen it becomes too big for its boots, because it doesn't know. Particularly it doesn't know what the result will be of what it imagines will be better than is being provided by the instinctual compulsion. So the best intentions of the human mind bring devastating and disastrous results, as we may certainly observe all around us and in our own experience.

The hereditary factors and the environmental factors in our subconscious minds have correlated to some degree with the design and nature that is present in the spirit of God. Because of that, our conscious minds have become aware of something of which the vast majority of conscious minds are not aware. Again, we can't indulge in self-righteousness or conceit that it should be so, because it has happened simply by reason of the state of affairs that was present in our makeup, and we didn't establish that state of affairs personally. We can recognize that in relationship to some people national characteristics stand in the way of a correlation with the design that is present in the nature of the spirit of God. On the other hand there are those national characteristics which are valuable in this regard. It is interesting to note, observing one sphere in this regard, that there are a number of Englishmen who are related to this ministry; but in order to experience that relationship they had to come out of England. The national characteristics had some value in them, but that value was unusable as long as it was being held in the national pattern that remains to some extent—a constantly lessening extent—in what is called the old country.

Now this same sort of state of affairs pertains to the national background of all of you in various ways, if those backgrounds are other than English. There are qualities and characteristics in all national backgrounds that can correlate with the true nature of divine being, and if those elements in the national background which can so correlate are strong in the hereditary elements present in the individual subconscious mind, then there is an open door for the working of the spirit of God in relationship to that person when the attitude of shame begins to be relinquished. Now we have seen that this has been a very strong barrier to the experience of divine being; but this attitude of shame includes other emotional reactions which are triggered by the environment.

The attitude of shame fundamentally relates to the fact of the experience of being subhuman when one is really human. All people are fundamentally ashamed of this, maybe not consciously so, but subconsciously so. They are ashamed of the fact that they are not human beings. As that attitude of shame begins to be dissolved, then the instinctual compulsion begins to work with greater effect, making use of the available material in the subconscious mind to allow the evolution of character to transpire. The evolution of character, in the human sense, is the development of capacity for the revelation of divine character. Divine character is naturally expressed and revealed through a true human being. We have the opportunity of knowing this as we accept the responsibility which such vision and understanding as we now have places upon us. So may there be an easy movement in the unfolding creative cycles.

© Emissaries of Divine Light