The article tells how the different nations are colored by their own energy types and how the entire social life is colored by the seven life energies in all their different areas.
By Soren Hauge
The energy types are always in exchange between people, and our everyday lives are full of examples of what happens when energy types meet. In our family life and at work, we meet people who have different energy type dominances than ourselves, and who therefore react very differently to ourselves. This creates misunderstandings and confrontations, but it also creates opportunities to expand our horizons, see ourselves in a new light and develop a sense of humor. On a larger scale, we witness the interaction of energy types when groups of people, peoples and nations exchange and meet. Seen through the eyes of the energy types, we see lots of nuances, and we realize that an unimaginably rich world of structures and patterns shines forth, full of contrasts and diversity.
“You are the world!” ~ JidduKrishnamurti
We start on a macro scale and gradually move from the very large perspective down to the collective area, and from there to the interaction and dynamics of energy types in the individual and in different types of tasks.
Nations as collective individuals
A nation or country is a macro-individual that shows energy type dominance, both soul-wise and personally. Here we can study the energy types on a large scale and spot psychological commonalities that arouse recognition and that give us keys to understanding why there are kinships, cooperation, conflicts and challenges between the countries of the world. The soul of a nation will always express itself in its most prominent and shining artists, politicians, scientists and other pioneers who lead the country beyond the narrow nationalist boundaries, and into a more universal and altruistic direction. While the personality aspect of the nation will be taken care of by all the people who provide for the nation’s basic needs.
We select here a handful of examples of countries that are well-known and that clearly demonstrate the psychology of energy types. Valuable information has been given about these and other nations in Alice Bailey’s writings, which we rely on and which can elaborate on what we have briefly touched upon here.
Italy’s energy types
Italy is a good example of a country that combines the energy type dominances of the dedicated and the creative. The soul of the country is dominated by the dedicated energy type, which provides the key to the deep, heartfelt religiosity of the Italian people. Italians are predisposed to a very emotional, empathetic, and often mystical religiosity, where prayer and empathy with the life of Jesus play a central role. It is no coincidence that the Roman Church and the Vatican are located in Italy. Italy, through its soul aspect, has been a focal point for the spread of many of the highest ideals in the world through the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, and the Catholic Church. It is Italy that formed the framework for Saint Francis of Assisi and his special spirituality, and Italy is still a highly religious country to this day. On a more personal level, the creative energy type manifests itself through a strong artistic vein, a fiery temperament, and a European record for political instability and changeability. Italians are sensual, charming, gesticulating and warm-blooded, completely in line with the creative energy type.
The nations of the world are displaying on a large scale exactly the same psychology that we exhibit between each other, human to human.
France’s energy types
France is undoubtedly a very intellectual country, with strong traditions of mental development. It is a country with strong philosophical traditions, which reflects the country’s personal energy type. The sophistication of the language and national expressions of education also show the prominent role of the mental energy type. Philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism, Henri Bergson’s intuitive thinking and Michel Foucault’s structuralism in recent times are good examples, as are other famous representatives of structuralism and postmodern thinking. During the Enlightenment, the creation of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 was a strong example of intellectual pioneering work, the work of the French encyclopedists to promote learning and sound, critical sense was truly exceptional, and names such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot are etched into European cultural history. The fact that France’s soul energy type is considered to be the analytical one is perhaps best illustrated by the thinker and scientist René Descartes, who was a pioneer in the Renaissance, both in philosophy, mathematics and the emergence of modern natural science. Among the pioneering French scientists can be mentioned the chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who, among many achievements, paved the way for infectious disease medicine and practical immunology. France’s contributions to the world are many, but it has been said that the most important perhaps come from scientific research and intellectual, academic culture.
Germany’s energy types
Germany is a very good example of another central European country that has played a significant role in history. Germany’s personality energy type is the dynamic one, which provides a key to understanding the expression ‘German efficiency’. German mentality is action-oriented and well-organized. The flip side of this was expressed through the violent abuse of power that Nazism demonstrated under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Here the will aspect was perverted to its utmost. But since Germany is dynamic and resolute, the nation has also risen with great determination from the ruins of its own mistakes and has taken its place among the hard-tested countries in the globalized world. Germany’s soul is creative, and therefore it is perhaps more through art and the ability to create harmony and peace than anything else that Germany can give its best to the world. The nation has undoubtedly contributed great thinkers and cultural innovators in recent centuries. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is perhaps one of the most striking examples, as is Friedrich Schiller. Together with composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner, to name some of the best known, you immediately see that art is a gift from the German soul to the world.
England’s energy types
England is a nation that, in line with those already mentioned, has made key contributions, not only to Europe, but to the world. England’s personality energy type is – like Germany’s – the dynamic one, and this perhaps explains why it was precisely these two nations that constituted the opponents during the Second World War. England has been extremely dominant through the British Empire, but it has succeeded in creating independence for the former, subordinate countries in a reasonably peaceful way, and the British Commonwealth today consists of former colonial countries that are independent, but now cooperate with Great Britain. These include, among others, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Australia and Canada. In this peaceful association, England’s soul energy type is also evident, which is the sensitive, universally embracing one. Here we also find the reason for the great contribution that the nation has made over the centuries to the development of modern parliamentarism and democracy; a role that is difficult to underestimate.
After these European examples, we can conclude with brief descriptions of other selected nations where the dynamics of soul and personality energy type are easy to see. We choose four gigantic nations:
China’s energy types
China – the world’s most populous country – is a very powerful nation, with a dynamic soul energy type and a mental personality energy type. This gives it incredible efficiency and will to live, an adaptability and a unique ability for trade and economic growth that is second to none. In turn, China has much to learn from the sensitive energy type about human rights and ethics.
India’s energy types
India also has, like China, a powerful, dynamic soul energy type, which gives the nation a unique strength and endurance, which according to the country’s history is also connected to very conscious and deep, spiritual roots. The dynamic energy type is concerned with identity and India has, if anything, given its spiritual take on where we come from. The personal energy type, on the other hand, is the creative one, which means that innovations have come and will continue to come from the artistic and creative field, along with special potential as a peacemaker. The creative energy type is clearly reflected in Hinduism’s diversity of gods and goddesses in all possible forms and colors. Perhaps India’s Bollywood industry is one of the modern examples of the country’s self-expression. A willingness to use the possibilities of the IT industry could indicate that the mental energy type also plays an important role for India in the future.
Brazil’s energy types
Brazil is another of the giants among the world’s nations. Here, the soul energy type is creative and the personality energy type is sensitive, which gives a warm profile, with the emphasis on the sensual and friendly disposition. Brazil has a feminine quality and a colorful appearance, which is reflected in the game of football, the famous carnivals and the samba. With a rapidly growing world economy, Brazil, like India and not least China, will have a decisive influence on the world community of the future.
USA’s Energy Types
The USA or America , the last great power we briefly touch on here, has a dedicated personality energy type that gives a distinctly idealistic attitude to life’s challenges, and which helps to explain Hollywood, the American glamour industry, puritanical Christianity and a tendency towards fanaticism and a one-eyed desire for cowboy mentality and dominance in the political sphere when the personality dominates. In return, the soul energy type, which is sensitive and universally embracing, gives hope for a future where diversity and difference are valued with a genuine, democratic attitude. The USA is in the process of having to adjust to a world where it is no longer Western culture that dictates the standards, but where the ability to cooperate and respect differences becomes absolutely inevitable.
These examples of energy type activities of smaller and larger nations show us that there is an interaction between what we unfold in our everyday lives on an individual level, and the dynamics and processes we are part of in a collective sense. The role of Denmark and the Nordic countries is of course important here, and it can be an inspiring hint to highlight that the sensitive and the practical energy type have been highlighted as particularly Scandinavian characteristics. And from here we can now focus on how we in society see all the energy types in activity.
Society’s energy type spectrum
A society is – as we have just seen with nations on a macro scale – an expression of the energy types in collective size, precisely as it appears in the common social functions we all have, contribute to and are dependent on. In this way we create the collective individual, the community of which we are a part, and in which we place ourselves through our own individual and specialized dominances based on talents, interests and special opportunities. When an energy type is something we experience together, we call it an energy field . And as will be shown here, every society accommodates the development of all energy types.
Overall, we encounter the dynamic energy type in what is called the threefold division of power in a society: 1) The legislative, 2) the judicial and 3) the executive power. All three powers are aspects of the dynamic energy type by virtue of the determining and governing will, but with different emphasis. First, we have the most direct expression of the dynamic energy type and the will aspect, the legislative power . In Denmark, the legislative power is the Folketing, the parliamentary decision-maker who can change and adopt the country’s laws, the very foundation and foundation of our society. Next, we have the part of the dynamic energy type where the sensitive element comes into play, the judicial power , where rights and legislation have the task of protecting both the individual and society. The judicial power is made up of the courts and the legal system.
A society is an expression of the types of energy on a collective scale, as manifested in the common societal functions we all have, contribute to, and depend on.
Finally, we have that part of the dynamic energy type where the mental or form-creating aspect is important, namely the executive power , which carries out and realizes what the other two powers have determined. The executive power enforces the law and includes the police and prison system – here is concretized what the legislative power has determined and which the judicial power has followed. We see here that the dynamic energy type is connected with the management of society in three different ways, which contain in miniature the three primary energy types, all colored by the management aspect:
- Legislative power The guiding will (dynamic in its purest form)
- Judging power The value-determining will (dynamic & sensitive)
- Executive power The structuring will (dynamic & mental)
The dynamic side of society
The dynamic energy type of society is clearly evident in the state power, in the government, all its ministries and the authorities in general. In other words, it is the political world in particular, where decisions are made and regulations are made for the society and culture of the nation. It is the decisive and guiding force of the will in a collective context. It also includes the courts, the military, the fire service and the police, which act resolutely to protect, preserve and defend.
The sensitive side of society
A country’s sensitive energy type shows its face in everything that has to do with soft values and humanity. This naturally includes everything that has to do with ethics, value-based activities, health and humanity, care and nurturing. Functions such as schools, kindergartens, hospitals, service industries, e.g. the health sector and education are therefore absolutely central.
The mental side of society
The mental energy type of the nation is expressed in communication, which in our time especially concerns IT or information technology and involves the Internet with its many functions and the use of telephones, satellites and other high-tech equipment that involves communication. It also involves societal functions such as think tanks, the advertising industry, service industries in the form of transportation, communication, trade, stock exchanges and finance with business life and the play of market forces, and it involves the enormous role of the mass media, as well as civil service and diplomacy.
The creative side of society
The creative energy type in society unfolds in the wide range of art and cultural life, which includes a large spectrum, for example, theaters, museums, holding festivals, exhibitions, music events and similar events, where a great diversity of creative expressions merge into a higher unity. This includes the entire entertainment industry and the fashion industry and also has to do with the functions in, for example, the restaurant and hotel industry. But also areas such as psychology and conflict mediation fall under this energy type.
“ We must always change, renew, revitalize ourselves. Otherwise we harden .” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The analytical side of society
The analytical energy type unfolds in the research and technological activities of society, which include all kinds of research institutions, universities and higher education institutions, technical institutes and educational institutions as such. Today, it is a comprehensive range of activities and an area where there is intensive development, for example in medicine, space research, chemistry and microbiology, nanotechnology, nuclear and astrophysics.
The community’s dedicated page
The dedicated type of energy in the life of the nation is easy to see in the form of the many humanitarian organizations that carry out vital work, social work in general, voluntary aid work, religious institutions, and the associational life in general, where many important causes are followed to the door through great commitment. Philanthropic activities, collections in times of disaster and organization of relief work, assistance to those in need, and attention to important needs show the idealistic quality in the development of society.
The practical side of society
Finally, we can see the practical energy type in a country’s organizational functions throughout the entire economic circulation and energy manifestations in logistics, transportation, manufacturing, industry, sanitation and energy supply in the form of electricity, gas, water, oil and renewable energy. This also includes physical manifestations such as sports and athletics, just as it concerns the concrete and well-coordinated, physical tasks of the military in the service of the nation. When energy has to move from a state to full manifestation and implementation, no matter what, there is always an element of the practical energy type in activity.
From this large macro scale, we can now move down to a smaller scale to see the unfolding of energy types and, not least, the interaction in collective functions.
The facets of energy types in a company
If we take a company or a business as an example of a workplace where many people work together to create certain products, then in its main functions we can see the types of energy in activity and interaction. At the top of the system are two management aspects, namely the board of directors and the executive board . The board of directors hovers above water and makes very general decisions. It will also typically be the board of directors that hires the top management, the executive board, the top managers who have department heads under them, if the company is of such a size.
A board of directors usually consists of at least one trinity, which in concentrated form typically contains the three primary energy types. Although the roles are not always clearly divided, the classic version, which is also known in association life, in its simplest form has three functions. The chairman of the board represents the leader or the dynamic. Next, the secretary represents the sensitive energy type, which holds the whole together and registers and records what happens. Finally, the treasurer constitutes the last primary link in a board of directors, and has to do with calculations and the quantitative aspect of the work in the form of the financial.
“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further. But cooperation, which is what we must strive for today, begins where competition ends.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
Decision-making and direction
Below the board of directors, we find the executive board or the day-to-day management in a company. The management or director and the department heads naturally express the dynamic type of energy that takes the lead and makes the decisions that set the direction. Of course, there can be many different combinations here, depending on the structure and purpose of the company, but this is the most important, determining force. The impulses from the initiator or founder come to life here and give the company its purpose and destiny in the world. The management expresses the company’s ‘therefore’ or special mission. It is the impetus for the underlying idea behind the company’s existence and special originality or contribution to society.
Well-being and relationships
In a company, the sensitive energy type will be expressed through the importance of human contacts and the very quality that provides a good and safe working environment. Sometimes this is helped along the way through the work done by the secretary, receptionist or consultant in the form of advice or perhaps help from a coach, psychologist or employees who introduce recreational aspects to the work. When a company overlooks the sensitive aspect and lets the dynamic and mental have an unfettered influence, it always happens at the expense of the working environment and the human factors that ultimately ensure human quality and a healthy working environment. It is a classic example of human failure in the name of efficiency, and it never pays off in the long run. It is therefore beneficial to take seriously investing in human relationships, health and warmth in the workplace. All too often, this is due to failure on the part of managers who do not have enough empathy for what is happening between people and how situations can best be resolved.
When a company overlooks the sensitive aspect and lets the dynamic and mental have unbridled influence, it always happens at the expense of the working environment and the human factors that ultimately ensure human quality and a healthy working environment. It is a classic example of human failure in the name of efficiency, and it never pays off in the long run.
If you look at the bottom line of a company, an investment in health and a trusting atmosphere with good communication across borders will always prove cost-effective in the long run, because employees will want to give more wholeheartedly if they know that they are not just interchangeable cogs in an unmanageable machine, led by inaccessible bosses who are not interested in shared well-being. Innovative and value-based leadership and management will be crucial for the company’s balance and development.
Communication and idea generation
The communication aspect of a company is of course crucial, both for the internal functions and for the ability to be in lively exchange with the surrounding society. This is where the mental, strategic type of energy comes into its own. This aspect includes the important development of ideas and the innovative thinking that can keep the company at the forefront of its field. IT, information technology, or the way information is handled in the company or organization, is a particularly important part of this area, and expertise is therefore often needed here. It is also the company’s think tank and market analysis work that must play together with sales and PR activities.
Design and creativity
The creative area of the company involves both the interior design of the building and premises and the image that one chooses to promote, so it has a lot to do with self-perception, just as it has to do with ‘branding’ and design. This requires skilled people with an aesthetic sense and the ability to promote a harmonious environment, where the different functions cooperate in a life-giving and energy-creating way. Many companies are thinking more about art today, just as interior design is being adapted to the need for identity.
The entire area of psychological working environment and the mental climate in a company involves both the sensitive and the creative, psychological energy type. But it is important that it is not just about external image, because the atmosphere of the place cannot lie to the employees. The creative field is also about balancing interests, and therefore involves conflict management and crisis management in the best possible way with psychological sense. In some companies, the area also involves the shop steward function and the possible need for mediation. Since many companies are intensely focused on product sales and the bottom line, the soft values are easily neglected, which affects both the sensitive and creative, conflict-solving field.
Expertise and detailed knowledge
Every company has its own expertise, especially when it comes to the products that are its specialty. Here we have the area where the special specialists can develop with defined niches and the competencies that are developed in the laboratory or workshop. They are the analysts or technicians and fitters who ensure that the products function and are used correctly. And if the company does not have these people itself, then good partners must be created who can deliver what is desired.
Product promotion and sales
PR work provides the platform that ensures that the products and the company’s special profile become visible and accessible to current and potential customers and partners. This is where the dedicated or idealistic type of energy comes into its own, and the motivational force takes center stage. It constitutes a very special area in itself, which includes advertising campaigns with ‘branding’, the work of salespeople and the presentation of the company’s identity and ability to meet needs. Commitment and an infectious ability to make the product attractive and credible are required. The work can include different types of service personnel who create customer care, media coverage and perhaps special offers that show the product as advantageous. It requires the use of know-how and resources from the area of creative design, and both visual means and the use of the right descriptions must be created. Creative designers and copywriters are used in collaboration with the employees or partners who can bring the product to the customers.
Manufacturing and delivery
The practical energy type anchors the company’s activity and lets its products get out into the world. It focuses on production, administration and logistics – shipping or transport – the flow of the economy and the use of the specific resources and the organization that ensures the result. Here, there must also be order in the law and there must be ongoing quality control so that the goods offered meet expectations and can be continuously improved. And as has been shown here, the functions of all energy types can be seen in activity in connection with a company or organization. The same principles apply in associations. The only thing that needs to be done is to see how the functions apply in specific cases and what variations they exhibit. By keeping an eye on all factors, it is also possible to optimize a company or association, and this applies not least to the interaction between the different employees.
” No single person can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it .” ~ Halford E. Luccock
Read articles in the same category: Roberto Assagioli’s article: The national soul and personality and Psychosynthesis – individually and socially
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