the metanoid delusion

[sweetwater]

A human being psychologically is the whole of mankind. He not only represents it but he is the whole of the human species. He is essentially the whole psyche of mankind. On this actuality various cultures have imposed the illusion that each human being is different. In this illusion mankind has been caught for centuries, and this illusion has become a reality. If one observes closely the whole psychological structure of oneself, one will find that as one suffers, so all mankind suffers in various degrees. If you are lonely, the whole humankind knows this loneliness. Agony, jealousy, envy, and fear are known to all. So psychologically, inwardly, one is like another human being. There may be differences physically, biologically. One is tall or short and so on, but basically one is the representative of all mankind. So psychologically you are the world; you are responsible for the whole of mankind, not for yourself as a separate human being, which is a psychological illusion… If one grasps the full significance of the fact that one is psychologically the world, then responsibility becomes overpowering love. - Krishnamurti, Letters to the Schools vol I, p 20