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collective_consciousness

Collective Consciousness

  • “Together as a nation, one of the essential principles for the harmonious functioning of our moral and social life, as well as for our existence and stability, is the spirit and foundation of ‘collective consciousness,’ which is considered to be closely related to our religious character and national disposition. In this regard, the passionate and emotionally charged actions of the disciplined and prudent individuals of collective consciousness, in contrast to the wrong and false behaviors often observed in mass movements, reach beyond their ordinary behaviors and attain extraordinary values.”1)
  • “Acting together is also very important. Each individual, by surrendering their personal feelings, personal thoughts, and emotions to the command of a lofty ideal, forms a collective consciousness that represents a rational, logical, emotional, and spiritual unity around it.”2)
  • “Being a community is achieved through reaching collective consciousness. Collective consciousness dissolves the individual within its structure and transforms them into a single entity, and there is no longer an absolute individual; there is a community. The individual has become part of the community, and the community has become almost like a single individual. In such an atmosphere, all prayers and acts of worship flow into the same pool. As a result, the spiritual essence of the community rapidly ascends to higher spiritual levels and reaches its peak. No individual worship can elevate a person to these heights in such a short time.”3)
  • “If a person can realize collective consciousness with reason and willpower, that is, if they can base their call on reason, logic, and willpower, then they have grounded it in knowledge and offer lasting promise.”4)
  • “It is very important that matters are brought under collective consciousness. So much so that even if a person has ingenious ideas and plans, they should never make decisions alone regarding matters related to the general assembly. Throughout human history, I don’t know of a single person who has acted alone and made decisions alone, and achieved lasting success.”5)
  • “In the past individual geniuses undertook and carried out these great tasks. Today, however, they can only be fulfilled by a community which takes upon itself the missions of such men of genius. As everything has become so detailed, particularized, specified, and enumerated, these tasks now assume such forms that even unique, outstanding individuals cannot accomplish them by themselves. That is why the place of genius has been now replaced by collective consciousness with consultative and collective decision-making and social conscience, which is the summary of the sixth attribute of the inheritors.”6)

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Footnotes

1)
M. Fethullah Gülen, Yeşeren Düşünceler (Çağ ve Nesil-6), İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, p. 109.
2)
Ibid, p. 109.
3)
M. Fethullah Gülen, Fasıldan Fasıla-1, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2008, p. 210.
4)
M. Fethullah Gülen, Kalb İbresi, (Kırık Testi-9), İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, pp. 150–113.
5)
M. Fethullah Gülen, Buhranlı Günler ve Ümit Atlasımız (Kırık Testi-14), İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2015, p. 150.
6)
M. Fethullah Gülen, The Statue of Our Souls, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2009, pp. 40–41.
collective_consciousness.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/27 08:49 by Editor