The Five Being-Obligonian Strivings (Part I)
Every great spiritual tradition has left us with fragments of an ancient science of transformation. The Egyptian Mysteries spoke in hieroglyphics of the hidden architecture of the soul. The Greeks, through Plato and the Pythagoreans, veiled cosmic truths in myths and numbers. The early Christians carried within their parables a secret psychology of awakening.
At the heart of this teaching stands a concise set of principles known as the Five Being-Obligolnian-Strivings. These are not commandments imposed from without, but inner laws; obligations written into the very fabric of human existence. They are "obligolnian" because they are obligations of being, not merely behavior. They point us toward what a human being is meant to become and provide a compass for those who feel the call of conscious evolution.
This series of writings will explore each of these five strivings in depth. But before we enter into the particulars, let us first understand what they are, why they matter, and how they form a map of transformation for the serious seeker.
The Word "Obligolnian"
The term "Obligolnian" is unusual, even uncomfortable to the modern ear. It carries both the sense of obligation (something one owes) and a reminder of an ancient language of Being, a tongue that predates our fragmented spiritual vocabularies.
To strive in the "Obligolnian" sense is not to chase after arbitrary goals or to submit to dogma. It is to respond consciously to the lawful demands that existence places upon a human 'becoming' (as opposed to 'being'). Just as the heart must beat to sustain the body, so the soul has essential tasks it must undertake to fulfill its purpose within the cosmic order.
These strivings, then, are not optional ideals. They are requirements, written into our very structure, waiting for us to recognize and fulfill them.
The Five Strivings
The first striving: to have in one's ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for the planetary body.
The second striving: to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need to perfect oneself in the sense of Being.
The third striving: the conscious striving to know more and more about the laws of world-creation and world-maintenance.
The fourth striving: the striving, from the beginning of one's existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one's arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father.
The fifth striving: the striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of "marfotai," that is, up to the degree of self-individuality.
Reading the five as a single movement
The strivings form a coherent arc:
Care of the planetary body; place the instrument in order.
Formation of Being; establish a continuous inner demand for growth.
Right knowledge; study the laws that govern yourself and the world.
Payment and responsibility; discharge debt so you can serve.
Service; assist the perfecting of other beings toward self-individuality.
This is the outer-to-inner, lower-to-higher climb. In your own personal development journey, the first two strivings stabilize the outer court (body and the five lower centers); the third opens the inner temple through right knowledge; the fourth and fifth bring one to the threshold of the sanctuary, where service and sacrifice become joy.
Terms you should know
Planetary body: The Work-term for the physical organism; "planetary" because it belongs to, and obeys the laws of this planet. It is the indispensable vehicle of work.
Being: Not personality, not talent, not opinions; density of reality in a person, the integrated quality that comes from conscious labor and intentional suffering.
World-creation / world-maintenance: The lawful processes by which worlds arise and are sustained.
Common Father: The divine Source ("His Endlessness"), whose "sorrow" is lightened when beings fulfill their purpose.
Marfotai (self-individuality): a stabilized "I", not flickering impulses, but an enduring center of consciousness capable of responsibility and service.
Striving One: Right order in the planetary body
"...to have in one's ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for the planetary body."
This is often misunderstood as license for comfort. It is the opposite: precision about what the body truly requires; neither deprivation that wrecks the instrument nor indulgence that fogs it.
What it asks of you
Sufficiency, not excess. Food, sleep, movement, breath, posture, environment, all calibrated to support alertness.
Rhythm and hygiene of life. Regularity in rising, eating, working, clearing clutter (physical/mental), and limiting stimulants and anesthetics.
Respect for finite reserves. The body has laws. Overriding them steals from tomorrow's work.
Pitfalls
Ascetic vanity ("look how spiritual I am") and comfort-worship are the same error in different clothes: self-importance centered on the body.
Preview practice
Keep a seven-day body log: sleep window, first meal time, last meal time, 20 minutes of deliberate movement, 3x one-minute breathing checks (on the hour, notice posture and breath). Track mental clarity before and after. The point isn't optimization; it's relationship.
Striving Two: An unflagging need to perfect Being
"...to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need to perfect oneself in the sense of Being."
This is the engine of the path; an inner hunger that does not depend on mood or circumstance. This aims at the harmonization of the five lower centers: Thinking, Moving, Instinctive, Emotional, and Sexual, mapped to the five planetary forces of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus (respectively), preparing the vessel for the influence of the higher centers (Sun and Moon).
What it asks of you
Self-remembering. Repeatedly returning to the sensation of "I am," even when under stress.
Non-identification. Seeing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations as events in you, not you.
Conscious labor & intentional suffering. Doing what is necessary (not what is preferred); bearing the friction of going against mechanical habit without complaint.
Pitfalls
Turning "work on self" into a project of personality; collecting techniques, chasing experiences, while avoiding the quiet, steady heat required to bake Being.
Preview practice
Two-minute "red light" pauses (5 to 7 times daily): sense body weight, relax micro-tension at throat/solar plexus, quiet your inner talk, expand your attention to a whole-body field. Mark a dot on a card each time. This builds the instinct for return.
Striving Three: Knowledge of world-creation and world-maintenance
"...to know more and more about the laws of world-creation and world-maintenance."
This is metaphysics as a practical science. The Work insists that self-knowledge and cosmic knowledge are a single study: the same laws that shape galaxies shape your Being.
What it asks of you
Study of laws (Three, Seven, the Ray of Creation, reciprocal feeding) in parallel with daily inner observation.
Discrimination between information and understanding. Understanding = information digested by Being.
Correlation. "What is the Law of Three doing in my argument with a colleague? Where does the Law of Seven 'interval' appear in my week?"
Pitfalls
Concept-drunkness: treating diagrams as trophies. Law studied without Being inflates; Being pursued without Law drifts.
Preview practice
Keep a Law-in-life notebook: each day, record one instance where you saw a law at work, in yourself, in a conversation, in nature. No theorizing; concrete observations.
Striving Four: Payment and freedom to serve
"...to pay as quickly as possible for one's arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father."
This is the pivot from self-concern to responsibility. "Payment" is not self-punishment. It's settling accounts: acknowledging received help and voluntarily assuming the cost of one's existence.
What it asks of you
Gratitude as action. Care for others where possible; fulfill obligations honestly; make restitution where harm was done.
Acceptance of consequences. Stop outsourcing the cost of your choices.
Tithing of attention and means. A portion of your time, skill, and resources is set aside for work that does not feed your vanity.
Pitfalls
Martyrdom identity (performing sacrifice for admiration) and spiritual bookkeeping (obsessing over whether you've "paid enough"). True payment simplifies; it doesn't agitate.
Preview Practice
Write a debt ledger: list concrete debts (material, relational, educational, spiritual). Next to each, one practical step toward settlement. Begin with the smallest, finish it quietly, and notice the unexpected free attention that returns.
Striving Five: Assisting the rapid perfecting of beings up to Marfotai
"...to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings... up to the degree of 'Marfotai' (self-individuality)."
Service is the flowering of the first four. You cannot give what you do not have; you also cannot keep what you refuse to give.
What it asks of you
Right help at the right time. Aid that increases another's Being, not their dependence.
Transmission by presence. Your level of Being educates more than your words.
Universal scope. "Those similar to oneself and those of other forms..." humans, yes, but also the wider ecological and planetary field.
Pitfalls
Rescue fantasies (helping to feel superior), proselytizing, and disrespect for others' tempo. The aim is to support the conditions for Marfotai, a stable "I", not to manufacture outcomes.
Preview practice
Adopt a quiet mandate: once a day, offer a small, non-performative act that measurably reduces chaos for another being โhuman, animal, or place. No announcements, no moral receipts.
How the five interlock (and why order matters)
Stabilizes the instrument; without a fit body-vehicle, finer energies cannot be held.
Supplies the motive power; without an inner demand, the work decays into technique.
Gives steering; without law, effort wastes itself.
Clears the ballast; unpaid debts tangle attention and motive.
Fulfills the aim; what develops in you must circulate, or it stagnates.
Think of a distillation: heat (2), vessel (1), alembic geometry (3), the removal of impurities (4), and finally the tincture shared (5).
The Taste of Obligation
When rightly understood, "obligation" is not a burden, but a taste; clean, exact, and strangely joyful. The Five Being-Obligolnian Strivings name that taste. They are the grammar of a human lived lawfully: body in order, Being in motion, mind oriented by real knowledge, debts cleared, help given.
In the next installment, we'll take up Striving One in depth; what "really necessary for the planetary body" means in practice (and what it doesn't), how to set rhythms without rigidity, and how right care of the organism becomes the first gate to finer consciousness.
-Pierce!
August 31, 2025