Ancestral obligation (ICA)

This occurs when an individual realizes that he is the culmination of all human creation and destruction. Not only has he said "yes" to all the past but he experiences the burden of its consequences. It may be compared to Alex Haley in the novel "Roots", when he delves back into the past and recounts the journey of his people from Africa to slavery to freedom; or to Nikos Kazantzakis standing accountable to his grandfather, his ancestors and the land from which he came, as he writes his opening letter in "Report to Greco".

A dimension of this experience is a sense of awe, that is fear and fascination, as the individual marvels at the entire historical process and appreciates the world in which his ancestors lived and the journey that has brought him to this point. The ancestor worship of the Chinese is a ritualization of this consciousness. There is an understanding of the aweful duty one owes to those who have gone before to do one's part in this moment of history, together with a constant fear that one could fail.

The decision is to to honour the past as good and take on the burden of completing an unfinished task. Actions are put into a larger context and one finds one's self with a greater sense of patience than one had known before. As one appropriates the past one knows one is forgiven.

This state is number 42 in the ICA Other World in the midst of this World.