Definitions - The Four Ideas of the World (Headlines)
The Four Ideas of the World
The world has four basic ideas which it teaches man. These ideas are: Ideals, Self-Improvement, Signs and Demonstrations and Blaming.
The World Idea of the Ideal
The first idea states there are ideals of "what can and should be," as well as "what ought to have been." This idea was formed when man was born into the earth world. He arrived from the uterine world where he was virtually non-disturbed and determined that his purpose of living was to regain this non-disturbed state. Therefore, man's ideal of "what ought to be" is that he should live in a state of perpetual pleasure and comfort, never having to experience physical, emotional or mental anguish. Life would be ideal if he could effortlessly gain comfort and escape pain; gain attention and escape rejection; gain approval and escape disapproval; gain a sense of importance and escape inferiority. These are referred to as the four dual basic urges, each urge having an escape and a gain side.
Just because he exists, man believes he should have power and control over others. He has the idea that he should be happy simply because he "is." He feels he deserves peace and should not have to make any conscious effort to gain it; he believes happiness and peace can be earned merely by expecting them.
The World Idea of Self Improvement
The second idea of the world is that man can reach this ideal state of non-disturbance by self-improvement. The self-improvement effort begins when one is an infant and continues all through life.
The World Idea of Signs and Demonstrations
The third basic idea of the world is that here should be signs and demonstrations that indicate one is improving self. A-side "not I's" develops which is there will be a sign and a demonstration to show that self did the right thing to improve. When a person satisfies the four dual basic urges by following the six ways of self-improvement, he feels this is a sign which indicates he is improving self - that self is evolving. He feels signs and demonstrations are necessary and valuable and he continues to look for them in many ways as he goes through life.
If a person is struggling for his ideal and he gets a sign that he is improving, he begins to feel that he knows what is good for him. He says that he now knows how to improve self, and thus elevates his own self-worth. He believes he has sufficient wisdom, knowledge and ability to gain what he considers to be important. A person who sees himself in this way is said to have vanity and pride which is having a false picture of self and defending this picture.
The World Idea of Blaming
When a person does not receive a sign that he has improved, he begins to feel like a failure and then he blames something he believes to be the cause of his failure. Because he feels others are in his way and resisting him, competition develops and effort is made to eliminate the persons who are blamed. This resentment is called anti-love…the belief that others know what is right, but act wrongly just so they can interfere with me.
These basic four ideas of the world; ideals, self-improvement, signs and demonstrations, and blaming, are ideas which the "self" uses. Sooner or later one might learn his world consists of having ideal, struggling to improve self, seeking signs and demonstrations, and always finding anti-love, resentment and disapproval for that which interferes with oneself. This world is one of conflict, struggle and resistance. A world where there is no peace.