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Collective Psychology

October 30, 1994

Q: What is the nature of collective psychology? In particular, is collective psychology to be thought of as an abstract averaging of individual psyches capacity to causally influence individual mind?

The collective psychology, whether it be called the collective unconscious, the collective mind, the global mind, or all of these terms, makes reference to the collective mind of a particular species.

Now, some may think that this collective mind is composed of the average thoughts, the psychic projections of individuals. So let us say there are 100 people in a group, and of those 100 people, 85 people think thinking that the world is round. So it would become part of the collective mind thinking that the world is round. It is the consensus opinion. Within the group of 100 people, 85 think the world is round so it becomes the consensus opinion, the other 20 will be greatly influenced and, more than likely, they will also begin to think the world is round. So that becomes a collective opinion of the group.

Some may think that this collective opinion, this consensus opinion of a group, is the function of group mind, of collective consciousness. But I say there is something far deeper than this which occurs within a particular species. It is more than the consensus opinion of the group. You see, in the introversial phase of evolution individual life is formed and takes upon itself a certain structure. It may begin with very simple structures such as an amoeba, or a protozoan.

Now, all of these many, many amoebas will have to evolve their consciousnesses. The protozoa also will evolve and as the time goes on and consciousness keeps growing more and more these amoebas and protozoa will go up the evolutionary chain. Except, you know how many human beings are in this world, maybe some billions? And how many amebas are there in this world? There are billions and billions and billions. There are so many more life forms at the lower levels than at the more advanced levels. Now, one may wonder what has happened to all of those consciousness expressions in the little amoebas? What happened? Only a small percentage became human beings. What happened to the rest?

You know, it is very interesting what has actually happened. Those consciousnesses, those very simple minds that have developed in the very fundamental forms they are amoebas, then they may become algae and then they may evolve even further to become slightly more complex. Maybe they will have two cells, three cells, four cells. But you know what happens? Collectively all of the amoebas are at the same level of consciousness and do you know what happens there develops a sympathetic vibration between these amoebas. One amoeba and then another, they are vibrating at the same frequency, they begin to become collectively similar. So even among these very basic life forms, a collective consciousness begins to form because there is a sympathetic vibration in the rudimentary mental structures that have been developed.

Now, due to the sympathetic wave in the collective mental structure, they are harmonized in frequency as they evolve to a higher structure. Do you know, these mental structures may combine? If this is the case, the mental structures will be combining during the evolutionary process. So there may be 100 amoebas, but there is only one frog. This is because in these mental structures the samskaras are very simple. You know, the range of the mind of an amoeba is not so great. Their mental structure is not so complicated. So when the frequency of two amoebas is the same, like two objects that are the same, they become one.

So a whole grouping of amoebas in the same pond may collectively combine in consciousness and evolve. All of the amoebas in that pond may collectively be united and that consciousness will then evolve and find a higher or more developed physical structure for its manifestation. And in that structure, mind will grow even more complex. Like this, it will move on and on. And so, from the very simple life forms to the more complex life forms, there is no loss of consciousness. It does not happen that 500 amoebas, even five million amoebas, may fall by the wayside and only a few amoebas evolve. It is not like that. There is a collective synchronicity of vibratory rate so that there is some gathering and pooling of consciousness and in this pooling of consciousness, the collective mind of the simple structures evolves into a more complex structure. In this way a grouping of simple entities may collectively combine to form a more complex structure.

Now, as the evolutionary process goes onward and the mental structures become more complex, there is more individual differentiation. So the evolution will not continue in this combination modality. After some time the individuality becomes so complex that this union between one developing unit entity and another becomes somewhat rare. There is sympathetic vibration, but not identical vibration. You see, in the very simple mind structures, the mental vibration of individual entities may be identical and so that is why there is combining. But in the more complex structures, the samskaras have become more differentiated, consciousness is more individuated. So there is very little combining after some time, when the mental development is more complex.

This process becomes less and less as the evolution goes forward, and individualization becomes more developed. But there remains, among the individuals who have evolved thus a particular collective vibration. There is, on each planet, in each collective sphere, a sympathetic code among the unit entities and this sympathetic code will be called the collective mind. As they are evolving they continue the evolutionary process in their unit development. But that unit development is not an isolated experience. It occurs within the context of the evolutionary process occurring in that particular place. So there is not only the individual evolving entity, but there is also time and place, and the combination of these three makes the expression of individuality possible. And within a particular place, there will be collective expression as well.

So there is a collective memory stored in the very essence of life. Do you know that within you is the memory of the entire evolution of this planet? From the tiniest amoeba up through the evolutionary chain to your human existence, the entire memory is stored within you if you but access it. It is in the very material from which your cells are composed. It is in your DNA. It is stored within your life force, it is in your essence, in your mind. This memory, held in your self, held in your mind, constitutes the collective mind.

Not only do the individuals evolve in a particular place, but there is the collective evolution of all of those life forces. That collective evolution goes on and on. At first it is very rudimentary, it consists of this collective evolutionary memory and of a kind of rudimentary awareness. But as individual evolution, in a collective sphere goes forward and as the higher sheaths of the mind of evolving entities within a collective group are developed, the collective consciousness grows in magnitude.

A time will come when the human race will be mentally linked, when individuality will be less and collective awareness more and that will grow and grow. Do you know, like the amoebas which combine due to sympathetic vibration, when the higher sheaths become dominant in a species, the sympathetic vibrations between the individual entities allows for greater and greater intermingling. The collective mind becomes more and more developed so that knowledge that belongs to one, belongs to all.

The linking of individuals in a collective mind may become the dominant evolutionary stance. The living beings may find in this collective union the development of a consciousness composed of millions of souls which has full mental capacity. And those individual consciousnesses, those individual unit entities, become like the cells of the body of this collective mind.

Now, at this stage of evolution, the collective mind is very rudimentary and individual mind is more developed. But a time will come when individual mind will become secondary to collective mind. And the evolution of this race will complete its cycle. Not only do individuals move independently to Parama Purus'a to attain complete awareness of that great Divinity, but collectively, the life of a particular place is also moving towards Parama Purus'a. And collectively, a time will come when the life forces become sympathetically more and more attuned to the Cosmic Mind. Collectively this will happen. This has happened in many places, many times, and those individual identities became united in a collective stance.

All the knowledge of each individual becomes the knowledge of every other individual. Emphasis upon the physical manifestation becomes less, and emphasis upon the psychic development becomes more. The higher sheaths are collectively more advanced than the physical structures. The individual life becomes a collective life. At this stage of evolution the developed consciousness that has evolved in a particular place, will gain a sympathetic vibration with the Cosmic Entity and all of the knowledge of the universe will become held within that collective mind. Then what is the difference between that collective mind and Cosmic mind? Like this, the development of collective mind evolves. So you see, this collective mind is far more than a consensus opinion.