The Self

Who am I? 

You might have heard about the Self, or you might have even done some inquiry into the Self, and yet others might have consciously experienced the Self. But what does this mean exactly, the Self? 

The Self, is what we truly are. It is also referred to as consciousness, the being, the higher Self, or the I Am presence. It is the Source of creation, consciousness or God that is expressed by us in our own unique way. We are the whole, and because we experience seemingly parts in this reality of separateness (duality), you could say, we are an individualized part of that whole. As we said before, the whole, God, or Source, is like the sun, and we as our individual selves which extend out of and are part of the sun, are its sun rays. This then means we are as the sun, always connected to the sun, and in truth we are the sun. Expressing ourselves in our own unique way, experiencing creation as an individual point of view, and bringing back all of this learning home to Source. So the Self is who and what we truly are, and as the Self we experience an individualized expression of the Creator or creation. 

What happened to the Self? 

 

We as the collective Self, as the collective consciousness, Source, or God, had the wish to experience ourselves more fully. To taste, feel smell and grasp ourselves and gain knowledge and learn about ourselves. But how can one(ness) experience itself? This is impossible, so to experience itself it had the wish to be separated or individualized, and so created itself as parts. Each Soul or aspect of Self, as we said, being as a sun ray, part of the whole and part of the same sun, so in turn being the whole. And through this process of individuality each Soul then inhabited a body, and a planet, all of which is created out of the same Source which is the Self. Even the body’s software or navigation system that we call the ego, is a part of creation, so also a part of the Self.

But by coming into the body, in this reality of forgetfulness we forget who we truly are, we forget our true Self, being infinite consciousness. And even though as a baby we are still aware of being one, we slowly grow up as a child believing we are separate, that we are a body, with a self created image about ourselves, this being the ego. We start believing we are this ego and body, and separate from all other parts, and all of creation. It is only through this belief, of being a ego and body, that we experience, limitation, restriction, pain, hurt, rejection, jealousy, hate, shame, guilt, greed, fear and an overall sense of separation. Through this ego body, and these selves, personas, identities, masks that we have created and wear, we then experience our reality, and we then start to believe that this is who we are. But in truth, you are the Self, which is the ocean of collective consciousness wherein all the planets, bodies, and all these created selves, all feelings, thoughts, images and all of creation abides and exists. So you could say, instead of knowing that we are the ocean, we believe ourselves to be a drop in this ocean.

What is preventing us from being the Self?

 

We are the whole ocean of creation as one consciousness, which is the Self, but through our forgetfulness in this reality as we come into the body, we then start to believe we are a drop, instead of the whole ocean. And as we are an individualized part of the creator, and being the creator itself, we have free will. This means we are free to believe and create whatever we wish to, we are so free that we can even create a prison for ourselves, and believe ourselves to be something we are not, or which is just an aspect or fantasy which abides within this vast ocean of consciousness which we truly are. These aspects and parts that we believe to be who we are, are just abilities and potentials of expression of consciousness itself. We are the totality of this consciousness wherein all these parts exist.

So what is preventing us from being our true Self? It is the belief that we are something else than we truly are, we believe ourselves to be a part instead of the whole, this in turn which creates suffering. We believe we are an ego, a body, with an identity, a persona, a mask, with a past and a future, with trauma and childhood wounds, with a shadow and blind spots. All of this which is holding us firmly and tightly in the belief and identification of being an ego, a body, and a separate part of existence. This then keeping us in an unconscious state, unconscious of who we truly are. So we will need to empty the cup of what we ‘think’ we are.

How to be and experience the Self?

 

Our true quest in this reality we call life, as some religions and mystic schools have already suggested, is to “know Thyself.” Our mission is to discover who we truly are, and through knowing ourselves, then to express ourselves in our own unique way.  And to express ourselves with absolute sincerity, with clarity and awareness, through our conscience and heart, with a sense of connection to all of creation, and with a sense of fullness, wholeness, completion and with unconditional love. And then all these created selves and ego aspects will seem so meaningless, impersonal, they will seem to be just aspects happening within our own ocean of consciousness. With this understanding we will then be able to accept them with compassion and love, but we will no longer identify with them, they no longer become personal.

But first we will need to empty the cup of what we think we are, it will need some work and effort on our part. We will need to expose the ego, our shadow parts, it’s roles, and all the aspects which we identify with and think we are. We will need to expose the ego completely for the falsity and façade that it is, we will need to do this with complete openness and honesty. This process will allow us to detach from the ego and the selves we have created, it will loosen it’s hold on us and the belief of it being ourselves. We will need to perceive all our flaws, all our demons, all our roles, all unflattering parts and all our shadows, all will need to be exposed and to become conscious, so there will be nothing for the ego to hold unto, and nowhere to hide.

And step by step, through contemplation on the Self and reality, through process work and emptying the cup of what we think ourselves to be. Through self inquiry, through meditation and prayer, we will eventually be able to dethrone the ego and remove it from the centre of our reality, and allow the Self to embody and become the centre of our reality. And through this process of realization of the Self, we will then slowly bring all aspects, parts and selves into one whole, into one congruent and cohesive self. And as the unconscious naturally will seek the light, here all parts are brought together, our shadow, unconscious and denied parts, and all aspects of reality are accepted, all the dark and light is unified into one.

 

This is a process that unfolds naturally, but when we become aware of this process we can help it along, its goal being the union of conscious and unconscious and being present with all of ourselves. Through this process, we will have more understanding about ourselves, through aligning all these parts as a whole, we will then understand and have the experience of being the ocean wherein all these parts of creation take play.

The understanding and experience of who we truly are will bring us great harmony, joy, peace, freedom, a wider perspective of reality, true compassion and true love for ourselves and all of creation and its parts. It will allow us to experience a sense of spaciousness and a sense of wholeness, all of this on solid ground.

We are connected to Source, we are Source and express as the Source, which is timeless, undisturbed, unchangeable, unaffected, we are the infinite without beginning nor end. The ego, with it’s aspects and everything within creation comes and goes, like the clouds above our head, it is all changeable, but our Self is not.  The Self, as infinite consciousness, always was and always will be, throughout all our experiences, this with or without our consent. Our Self, as the ocean wherein all abides, was always here, impersonal, judgeless, fearless, nameless, it was never born and it will never die, it is the ocean of consciousness wherein all of creation plays its role. It is what we are, and we are It, and we always have been.

The Self can be felt and experienced, simply by closing our eyes, taking a deep breath and asking ourselves Who Am I? By asking ourselves this question, we allow our fixed belief of being the ego and all its identification and the body and all its stories and attributes, to be questioned. And through this question, the ‘I’ we perceive ourselves to be will be questioned and loosen its grip and power. There will be a gap, a sense of an observer, something more than itself. And now we might become aware of who we truly are, which in turn allows us to be present and our true Self.