Both New Age and classical mystical literature speak of the "true Self" versus the "self" as we have many times in this blog. That we have a more sublime and stable Self than the face we put to the public is easy to see; in fact, this "face" changes when meeting different personalities or people at different levels of social power. While some of these changes are purposefully contrived, others are not - and we find that much of our "self" is a relational fiction, depending on circumstances. We might also find that when we are by ourselves for a period of time, we simply become; and in this "becoming" our personality seems to become less distinguished and individual. It is more "being" than, say, "Fred."
In fact, many New Agers, as well as popular Hindu gurus, believe we all share in the act, one that the true Self knows to be an act but steps aside for the drama to take place. So, imagine that this is true; and then imagine the many phrases of Jesus to treat others as yourself, as total equals. If I may paraphrase a few from the New Testament, "when you do this for the least of us, you do it for me," "love your enemy as your neighbor," "turn the other cheek," and probably a dozen more on the same issue, because this WAS an important issue for Jesus. We are usually taught that these were said to teach us that we are all seen as equal in the eyes of God, or, from a more practical stance, that if the teaching were followed we would have no more conflict. But we might also see that we not only are seen as equal by God, but that at base - at the level of Self - we ARE equal. That is, that we are playing the role in the drama as we must, but when we walk off the stage, we are just another Self, no more and no less.
It has been my experience that this is generally so: that there is a core of being that is far removed from the drama of personality, and even from good and evil. It just is. But I am reminded of other wisdom or semi-wisdom from others. For instance, although the Hindus believe that the Self is Brahmin, a full microcosm of God (the Brahmin in the Atman), they also understand that karma determines the color of the soul, or the spirit part of us that interacts with the material world. In this, the soul compels the formation of a personality to act a part, but this part is not as light as it might seem.
In it might be all the hate and darkness of a karma laden with violence and vengeance. It would not be something very easily discarded. As Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda in Castaneda's famous sorcery series, "when you become a sorcerer, you find what you are. You might be destructive, you might not. You cannot know until you gain power." (my paraphrase)
And so we are once again brought to the dilemma of being - that in a way it (our reality) is fake, and in another, as deep as the ages. Both are true, and I am beginning to understand how this might be through the material in Cynthia Bourgeault's book, "The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three." At it's essence, the book reaches to describe the Holy Trinity not as a static relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, however that might be defined (St Augustine described the Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son), but as a dynamic, not only in the name of these three, but in the aspect of Three itself. That is, that the set-up of the world is such that constant change is a necessity for the purpose of the world, which is 1) a going out from self for self knowledge, which 2) then leads to love, which 3) turns the self back to God (here I use self only as that which is distinct from God, the Uncreated). In this we can see the dynamics not only of God in its creator aspect, but also of humans as they enact this same dynamism. We, too, go out from Self to discover what we are (as that can only be seen through separation), where we discover that beneath differentiation is Union, which is Love (the message of Christ), after which we return to God. And so we are, as the Old Testament said, images of God - not "images" of a direct reflection (as the Uncreated has nothing to reflect in our ordinary sense) , but as images of the dynamism of cosmic creation.
And thus the "play" and the act of our "selves" begins to make sense, as does the seriousness of the effort. For even as the selves we know are only characters, they are created by the Uncreated for the most sacred purpose ever - to realize being and return to it in fullness. FK
In fact, many New Agers, as well as popular Hindu gurus, believe we all share in the act, one that the true Self knows to be an act but steps aside for the drama to take place. So, imagine that this is true; and then imagine the many phrases of Jesus to treat others as yourself, as total equals. If I may paraphrase a few from the New Testament, "when you do this for the least of us, you do it for me," "love your enemy as your neighbor," "turn the other cheek," and probably a dozen more on the same issue, because this WAS an important issue for Jesus. We are usually taught that these were said to teach us that we are all seen as equal in the eyes of God, or, from a more practical stance, that if the teaching were followed we would have no more conflict. But we might also see that we not only are seen as equal by God, but that at base - at the level of Self - we ARE equal. That is, that we are playing the role in the drama as we must, but when we walk off the stage, we are just another Self, no more and no less.
It has been my experience that this is generally so: that there is a core of being that is far removed from the drama of personality, and even from good and evil. It just is. But I am reminded of other wisdom or semi-wisdom from others. For instance, although the Hindus believe that the Self is Brahmin, a full microcosm of God (the Brahmin in the Atman), they also understand that karma determines the color of the soul, or the spirit part of us that interacts with the material world. In this, the soul compels the formation of a personality to act a part, but this part is not as light as it might seem.
In it might be all the hate and darkness of a karma laden with violence and vengeance. It would not be something very easily discarded. As Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda in Castaneda's famous sorcery series, "when you become a sorcerer, you find what you are. You might be destructive, you might not. You cannot know until you gain power." (my paraphrase)
And so we are once again brought to the dilemma of being - that in a way it (our reality) is fake, and in another, as deep as the ages. Both are true, and I am beginning to understand how this might be through the material in Cynthia Bourgeault's book, "The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three." At it's essence, the book reaches to describe the Holy Trinity not as a static relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, however that might be defined (St Augustine described the Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son), but as a dynamic, not only in the name of these three, but in the aspect of Three itself. That is, that the set-up of the world is such that constant change is a necessity for the purpose of the world, which is 1) a going out from self for self knowledge, which 2) then leads to love, which 3) turns the self back to God (here I use self only as that which is distinct from God, the Uncreated). In this we can see the dynamics not only of God in its creator aspect, but also of humans as they enact this same dynamism. We, too, go out from Self to discover what we are (as that can only be seen through separation), where we discover that beneath differentiation is Union, which is Love (the message of Christ), after which we return to God. And so we are, as the Old Testament said, images of God - not "images" of a direct reflection (as the Uncreated has nothing to reflect in our ordinary sense) , but as images of the dynamism of cosmic creation.
And thus the "play" and the act of our "selves" begins to make sense, as does the seriousness of the effort. For even as the selves we know are only characters, they are created by the Uncreated for the most sacred purpose ever - to realize being and return to it in fullness. FK
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