Man has the instinct to survive and to ensure the survival of the species by procreation. His purpose has been to satisfy this instinct. His intellect has supported this purpose and the Personality Consciousness is the outcome of his experience, both taught and learned.

In our imperfect world Man's Personality Consciousness has done its work well. Man has survived for millions of years, but why?  For the pursuit of happiness?  To leave a better world for his descendents to be happy in? Fine thoughts, but somehow this just doesn't fulfill the answer to the question "what is the deeper purpose to life". The answer is elusive to Man when guided solely by his Personality Consciousness so he gets about the business of survival.

In a particular society and a particular generation in which survival is threatened, i.e. depression, world wars, Man's survival and procreation consciousness, his Personality Consciousness, takes control of his being. The search for wholeness, for expressions of the spirit and for a deeper purpose is set aside as Man directs his gifts, his energy, his thoughts, to survival. But even when survival is assured to a high degree his fears can continue to possess him and he drives for greater survival assurance, i.e. super survival. Then life is about survival, possession, competition, and not about wholeness or any deeper purpose.

Man believes greater assurance of survival will bring happiness. He looks to establish the outward signs of success in the survival stakes, i.e. material possessions, success in his work, respect from others. But with all this life is empty.

In this emptiness he turns to kicks, the smorgasbord of life. In these there must be meaning. He starts to take drugs, his own form, living a fantasy life, football, TV, movies. But there is only a short-lived high. He tries, he tries, he tries again but the answer is always the same. He walks out of the movie house into his own world, and it is empty of deeper meaning. He perceives the prison of the material world, always tempting, always empty. He cannot understand. His Personality Consciousness controls him and it has no answers.

It is in recognizing this emptiness, accepting that his escape into fantasy is not an answer, and viewing the destruction his greed for super survival has had on his environment that he can open himself to contemplating a reason for it all. He can only find the answer within himself, but he will not understand if his own being is drowned in self and fear. Only by recognizing the possibility of something different, entirely different than that which he has been striving for being of value for him, can he hope to find it and recognize it.