“The more individual cells — consciousnesses — begin to purify and align with divine will, the more the totality of the earth entity will be effected. The cells meld into one structure although they each have their individual life. There is a great deal of ambivalence in regard to this melding. On the one hand, man fears giving up what he calls his “individuality.” He believes that his uniqueness, his particular divine manifestation, is dependent on his separation. He falsely assumes that by oneness he loses any of what is uniquely his. In reality it is just the opposite. Thus he struggles against the innate fate of all created beings — the striving toward oneness. He resists and fights it, to his own great chagrin. For, on the other hand, the longing for this oneness can never be assuaged until it is beginning to take place. The longing is desperate in the soul, the pain of not experiencing it is excruciating. But not knowing of this longing, not feeling this pain, is the worse state of apathy, unaliveness, confusion, and secondary pain that can never be comprehended because it is a result of a long chain reaction whose origin is exactly the pain of denying oneness.” (PL #257)