MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Similarly the idea that a man's confidence and lack of confidence in any department of life is a function of his whole personality must also be modified. From the community point of view, when a man becomes a member of a team, his confidence and lack of confidence becomes a function of the team relationship, because the relationship which he forms with the rest of the team (whether it be good, bad or indifferent) is a function of his whole personality. For if it were otherwise, if it were a function of part of his personality only, then its effect on his individual confidence and lack of confidence would be split. It would affect part, but leave part unaffected. When one proceeded to action therefore, one would be conscious that part of one's confidence was one's own individual confidence; part was team confidence. But the whole point about a team is that one experiences the thrill of the team working as one. There is no room for individual eccentricities in the harmony of the team. It is only insofar as the team is an imperfect one, that individual effort (as opposed to team effort) has its usefulness, and individual confidence sometimes comes into its own. It is possible then to modify the reinterpretation as follows. Perfect teamwork involves its members (whatever their relative importance as members of the team) in a relationship which is a function of the whole personality of every member of the team involved, and the confidence of each member depends on this relationship and is a function of it. Conversely, an imperfect team - such as the State, or a profession - involves its members in a relationship which involves part only of their personalities. Hence of course the common experience that conformity to the State, that is conformity to the rules of convention, and in particular to the conventional rules of right and wrong (popular morality), stultifies the growth of the personality as a whole, because only part of the personality is involved. This, however, when properly understood, is not an argument for throwing over allegiance to the State, and…