Page 34 - NAMAH-Jan-2017

Notes on counselling
Equality — a prerequisite for higher living
Dr. Soumitra Basu
Abstract
Equality is not only an attitude but knowledge as well as a yoga. It is a prerequisite for a higher life. A
multifaceted equality has to be cultivated at different parts of the being to culminate in a soul-equipoise.
The subject of equality is an unique factor in
the arena of counselling with implications
both for the client as well as the counsellor.
Indeed equality is not only an attitude which
has to be cultivated, it is by its own merit a
subject that has to be acquired, assimilated
and lived.
The word equality seems to be so simple and
common and yet it is the most elusive and
chimerical as a reality. This is so not only
in individual life but also in collective life,
not only in psychology but also in sociology,
not only in inter-personal life but also in
political life. We know how difficult it is to
establish equality even in the most idealistic
State without suppressing at least an optimal
amount of liberty. If this is true in the life
of a nation, one can guess how much more
difficult it would be to establish a multifaceted
equality in the life of an individual.
It is important to note that though equality
seems to be a simple word, it has to be
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understood along several perspectives in
the individual. Psychologically speaking,
we have to deal with a multifaceted equality,
making it a complex issue. It is not enough
to establish equality in one’s thinking and
attitudes, it is also necessary to have a poise
of equality in the domain of our vital life,
the life of passion, dynamism and desire.
It is imperative to make equality a guiding
principle in the development of all parts and
planes of consciousness and not merely in the
development of intellect. Finally, equality
is a soul-characteristic that comes forward
when the discordant parts of the being have
to be harmonised and integrated around the
ego-surpassing, fourth-dimensional soul-
principle, the Psychic Being.
Equality in the mind
Personally, I find it strange that whenever I
am confronted with students who are being
trained to be counsellors, the concept of
equality is rather casually received when