Psyche
The need to know its structures and mechanisms
February 16th 2012
How many people speak of mystical love while their life is full of sensuality and chaotic passions! And others imagine they have been devoting themselves to a spiritual ideal, when in reality they are only serving their vanity, their need to control others, and so on. You will say, ‘But why? Isn't that hypocritical?’ No, they may well have real spiritual aspirations. Only it is not enough to ‘aspire’ when it comes to achieving something. Those who are not able to understand the structures and mechanisms of the human psyche in general, and of their own psyche in particular, can anticipate worse contradictions.
Just as, in the macrocosm, the universe is represented symbolically by the white head of God reflected in the water as a black head, so, in the microcosm of the human being, the lower nature is a reverse reflection of the higher nature. And just as the black head cannot exist without the white head, so the higher and lower natures in human beings cannot exist one without the other. It is the task of human beings to be clear-sighted and learn how to get their lower nature to serve the development of their higher nature.