Thousands of years ago, in ancient Sumeria, a system of psychoanalysis was practiced which was much more all-sided than psychoanalysis as practiced today. It is remote from us in time but has a universal quality that modern psychotherapy lacks.

It represents a personal inventory of ideals of conduct and individual evolution, and can be of the greatest value to contemporary man as a balance sheet of his degree of harmony with the Law.

Zarathustra, considering that man lives in the midst of a field of forces, knew that the natural and cosmic forces which surround him and flow through him are superior, positive forces. But he also knew that man by his deviations from the Law in thinking, feeling and acting, constantly creates negative, inferior forces in the midst of which he also lives. He is connected with all of these forces and cannot be separated from them moreover he is always cooperating, consciously or unconsciously with the superior forces or with the inferior ones. He cannot be neutral.

Under this system, the individual made a weekly self-analysis of his thoughts, words and deeds. This balancing showed the extent to which he was cooperating with or deviating from the superior forces, and gave a cross-section of his character, abilities and physical condition, thus indicating the degree of his evolution in life.

The analysis enabled him to recognize his strong and weak points. By sincerely and vigorously striving to make his thinking, feeling and actions ever better and better, he progressed with the lifetime job of self-improvement.

There may be some who feel that with all the modern sciences it is unnecessary to go back eight thousand years to an ancient teaching. But it is a question how much the developments of science have accomplished in increasing human happiness and well-being. The general insecurity and neurosis of the present day and the widespread economic and social unrest give a definitely negative answer. Man has gained an enormous amount of theoretical knowledge in the framework of his scientific culture but this has not increased his happiness or individual evolution. It has not served to connect him with the universe, the cosmic order or to show him his place and role in it.

Without such knowledge man cannot follow the path of optimal evolution for himself or for the planet.

The present-day neurosis is caused by man's current deviations from the law of harmony with natural and cosmic forces. One who tries his best to live in harmony with them will never develop neurosis.

Psychology today tends to emphasize only one or two of these natural forces. Freud, for instance, considered deviations from the law of the natural force of sex caused man's inharmony; others have concentrated on other forms of deviation. But the system practiced in Zarathustra's time considered harmony with all the natural and cosmic forces to be necessary for all-around health and psycho­logical balance. Its superiority over other systems rests in its all-sidedness and universality.

The job of self-improvement, it shows, has to be carried on day by day, by the individual himself. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, depends largely on the analyst, for the person being analyzed assumes a somewhat passive role. In the Zarathustrian method the achievement of harmony is the lifetime task of the individual, not someone else's job to be completed in a couple of years or less.

The sixteen elements used in the system embrace every aspect of human life. It was not the purpose to divide the natural and cosmic forces into any rigid or artificial pattern, but simply to consider them in such ways as would express most clearly their value and utilization in life.

Perfection was not demanded in the analysis, but the individual was urged to strive continually to improve his relationship to each of the sixteen forces and to achieve ever greater harmony and utilization of their powers and energies. The individual who does this will enjoy an actively creative life, bringing him the highest measure of happiness and service to others. The one who continues to deviate will find life becoming less and less interesting and rewarding, while misery and frustration will become increasingly great.

The World Picture of Zarathustra and the sixteen natural and cosmic forces of ASHA gave man a clear knowledge of his place and role in the universe, and this ancient method of weekly self-analysis enabled him to know how clearly he understood the teaching and how thoroughly he was practicing it, absorbing more and more from these ever present sources of energy, harmony, and knowledge, and following the path of his individual evolution.