The Five Being-Obligonian Strivings (Part V)
Payment and Responsibility
"...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."
Few of the Work's formulations strike the modern ear as sharply as this one. To "pay for one's arising?" To pay for "individuality?" What debt have we incurred simply by being born? And why should repayment be linked to the "sorrow of our Common Father?"
The Fourth Striving brings us face to face with the hidden economy of existence. It reminds us that our life is not "ours" in the sense of private property. We are given existence: a body, a soul, a place in the universe. We consume air, food, impressions, and energy. We draw endlessly from the great treasury of creation. Yet in our ordinary state, we imagine this is all free, that we owe nothing.
The Fourth Striving declares otherwise: You owe a debt. Pay it.
Arising and Individuality
The choice of words is again deliberate.
Arising refers to our very birth; the fact that we have been given existence on this planet, that the elements of earth, water, air, and fire have conspired to form a living organism. This alone is a gift beyond measure.
Individuality refers not to personality but to the possibility of becoming a real "I". To receive this possibility is itself a debt, for the cosmos has invested energies in us that could have gone elsewhere.
Thus, the striving is not simply a moral guilt. It is a recognition of cosmic economics: we are debtors to the universe.
What Does It Mean to Pay?
Payment takes many forms, but all have one thing in common: conscious effort that returns something of value to the whole.
Payment to Parents and Ancestors - We owe our very existence to those who carried us into being. Gratitude expressed through care, respect, reconciliation, and service is part of repayment.
Payment to Teachers and Traditions - Whatever knowledge of Being we receive, we did not invent. It was passed down through countless generations of seekers, preserved often at great cost. To study sincerely, to practice faithfully, and to transmit without distortion is repayment.
Payment to Earth - Our planetary body consumes the resources of the Earth. To care for the environment, to reduce waste, to live in balance, is repayment.
Payment to Higher Forces - Most mysterious of all: repayment to "His Endlessness," the Source itself. This is done not by rituals or beliefs, but by fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. A human who awakens, who develops Being, who serves others; this is the repayment that lightens the sorrow of our Common Father.
The Sorrow of Our Common Father
What is this "sorrow?" The Work describes this in mythic terms. His Endlessness, the Creator, suffers because many beings fail to fulfill their purpose. Energy is wasted, processes are left incomplete, and the great harmony is diminished.
The sorrow of God, in this sense, is not sentimental but structural. The cosmos is designed for reciprocal feeding; every part nourishes the whole. When beings fail to fulfill their obligations, the chain is broken, and the burden falls back on the Source.
To repay our arising is to free ourselves to participate consciously in this circulation. It is to lighten the cosmic sorrow by becoming a true link in the great chain.
The Fourth Striving and the Law of Reciprocal Feeding
This striving is the direct application of the Law of Reciprocal Feeding (Trogoautoegocrat): "I am fed by everything that exists, and I must in turn feed everything that exists."
Ordinarily, we live only on the receiving end. We take, consume, absorb. The Fourth Striving demands the reversal: to give, to serve, to repay. Without this, we remain parasites. With it, we become organs of the Great Body of the Cosmos.
Pitfalls and Misunderstandings
Guilt and Self-Punishment Repayment is not neurotic guilt. It is not endless self-accusation. Real repayment is practical, specific, and liberating. Each debt settled returns free attention.
Martyrdom and Vanity Another danger is to make "sacrifice" into an identity. One can pride oneself on suffering, on giving, on being the noble martyr. This too is vanity. True repayment is silent, without demand for recognition.
Calculating Accounts One may obsess: Have I paid enough? How much is still owed? This again is mechanical. Payment is not arithmetic but attitude: a life lived in gratitude and service.
Practices for the Fourth Striving
The Debt Ledger Once a week, write down specific debts: to parents, teachers, friends, earth, and self. Next to each, note one concrete action you could take to repay. Choose one and do it quietly, without display.
Acts of Restitution Where you have harmed another, through words, neglect, or action, make restitution. Sometimes this means an apology, sometimes a practical act, sometimes a silent amendment.
Conscious Gratitude Each evening, recall three specific things you received that day: food, help, beauty, air. Acknowledge them inwardly. This strengthens the sense of debt and the wish to repay.
Service of Attention The most precious payment we can offer is attention. Listen to someone without interruption. Give you full presence to a task. Attend to nature with reverence. Attention is food, and giving it consciously is repayment.
The Ancients on Sacrifice
The notion of repayment is not unique to the Work. It is found in nearly every ancient tradition:
The Egyptians offered 'maat' - Truth, balance, reciprocity, as repayment to the gods.
The Greeks spoke of eusebeia (piety), the duty owed to gods, parents, and polis.
Early Christianity taught that life itself was bought with a price, and gratitude must be expressed through love and service.
But in each case, repayment was not meant as a blind ritual. It was the recognition that to exist is to owe. True sacrifice is to return to the cosmos the finer energies that one has refined through conscious work.
The Inner Economy of Payment
The Fourth Striving also reveals a paradox: repayment frees. One might imagine that paying debts binds us tighter, but in fact, the opposite is true. Each unpaid debt is a chain on our attention. It gnaws silently at our energy.
When we pay, even a small debt, we release a knot. Attention becomes available. Conscience becomes lighter. The soul stands more upright. Repayment is liberation.
The Fourth Striving ends with the phrase: "...in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father."
This points directly toward the Fifth Striving, which is the striving to assist the perfecting of other beings. But we cannot help others if we are bound by unpaid debts. Only when we have repaid, at least in spirit, if not in full, can we serve freely, without hidden motives.
Practical Example: A Day in the Fourth Striving
Imagine a day lived under the Fourth Striving.
Morning: you awake and acknowledge, silently, that you owe this breath, this body, this day. You set the intention: Today, I will repay something of my debt.
Work: You notice the tendency to cut corners, to do the minimum. Instead, you make the effort to complete a task thoroughly. This is repayment to those who rely on your work.
Family: You call your parent, not out of duty but as repayment for life itself.
Environment: You pick up trash in the street; not for show, but as repayment to the earth that feeds you.
Evening: You sit quietly and recall: What did I receive today? What did I repay? Where is my account still lacking?
The Fourth Striving and the Alchemical Stage of Separation
In alchemy, after calcination and dissolution comes separation: the sorting of what is useful from what is dross. The Fourth Striving performs a similar function. It separates real debts (which can be paid) from false ones (self-imposed guilt and vanity). It clarifies where our energies must go.
Only by separation can the Work proceed to conjunction; the union with higher influences that the Fifth Striving demands.
The Fourth Being-Obligolnian-Striving is the call to repayment and responsibility. It tells us: You are not here for yourself alone. You are nourished by everything; therefore, you must nourish in return.
This is not a message of guilt but liberation. To pay for our arising and individuality is to stand upright in the cosmic economy, no longer a thief but a participant. It is to live with gratitude, to act with responsibility, and to prepare oneself for true service.
In the next writing, we will enter the Fifth Striving, the culmination of them all: the striving to always assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, up to the degree of self-individuality. Here the circle closes, for repayment becomes service, and service becomes joy.
Pierce!
September 3, 2025