Human Being

We can appreciate now that the human being is a treasure, incomparable and inconceivable. His objectivity has been likened to a precious diamond, and his personhood to a pearl beyond price. When his personhood becomes objective he is then the rare Diamond Pearl. (The Pearl Beyond Price, pg 482)

It is not possible to understand completely what a human being is without understanding the relationship between the Personal Essence and the formless dimensions. The human being cannot be completely comprehended without appreciating his place in the scheme of things. And this appreciation can come about only through seeing his relationship to realms beyond form and personhood. (The Pearl Beyond Price, pg 421)

As we understand it, the soul is not separate from what is normally understood as the self, and in fact includes the normal self and its conventional or superficial levels of experience as well as its pure and perfect spiritual ground. Having taken an inquiry-based phenomenological approach to the study of the soul, we have discovered the nature of the human being to be a dynamic, living organism of consciousness, an ever-changing, open, multidimensional field whose experience can come to know and actualize all dimensions of Being. (Inner Journey Home, pg 4)

The wisdom traditions have recognized that a human being is mature and complete -- that is, fully human -- when the soul has integrated her essential nature fully and harmonized it with her animal potential. In other words, the struggle between the angelic and animal is characteristic of half-grown human beings, of incomplete human beings. This happens to be the station of the vast majority of humanity, but the complete human being, or being who is fully human, is one who has fully realized and integrated the two sides of the soul’s potential. The fully human being retains animal instincts, for instance, but these instincts are integrated into a perspective of selflessness and compassion. Even though the wisdom traditions have understood this and developed ways and methods for accomplishing it, the paths are so steep and difficult that many involved in these traditions settle for an unbalanced development that usually involves suppressing and splitting off the animal side. The rest of humanity continues the struggle, balanced on the side of the animal, which is the path of least resistance (Inner Journey Home pg 145)

Human beings and connection with the Source

Human beings have two options: being in contact with the Source, or being in a state of disconnection from it. Being disconnected from the Source is not the loss of luxury, of something extra -- this loss lies at the very heart of human suffering because this Source constitutes your most real nature, the true centre of who you are. Without it, life is deadened in all its aspects and becomes meaningless. We don't simply lose a sense of peace or contentment, or the intimacy of feeling at home with ourselves, but we also lose the source of all of our real capacities that we need to deal with and live our lives fully and correctly. So this is not a small loss or simply a philosophical one -- it is a very practical and immediate one. (Facets of Unity, pg 202)