The True or Higher Self

What IS a human being? Surely, there's more to being human than meets the eye.

Oddly enough, the self we normally identify with is a "virtual" person, a fabrication of our ego. In fact, most people remember assembling their virtual self as they grew up, by agonizing over decisions about how to look, how to act, who to "be," what interests and activities to pursue, what friends to associate with. The purpose of fabricating a "virtual self" is to maximize our sense of attractiveness, safety, and power. But that has nothing to do with who we really are.

Occasionally, we get in touch with deeper levels of our being, and those are the parts that will remain when ego is Undone. Deeper and truer than the virtual "self" is the individual personality -- the unique human being God made. Still deeper, we find the Spirit aspect of the human entity, the Higher Self. That Spirit is not limited to our personality. Our Higher Self exceeds the personality, and overlaps with God.

There can be no security based on the virtual person we identify as ourselves. How could there be? Any virtues it has are not really OUR virtues. REAL security is only found in:

The deeper the level you identify with, the more secure you feel. You can be MORE secure in your real self -- the unique person God made you to be -- than you can ever be in your ego persona. But you are MOST secure in your Higher Self, the spirit. We all NEED that very broad spirit base to be MOST secure.

The unique personality

When we talk about personality, we're talking about uniqueness, difference. Every individual -- the human being God made -- is a precious creation of God. A person's value stands beyond what we normally think about good qualities and bad qualities, strengths and weaknesses, personal foibles, and the like. Each person is indeed unique and special beyond words. It's always appropriate to both recognize and value that.

The Higher Self

Every unique personality being has value as such, but more than that, the Higher Self shines in everyone, with a radiance that exceeds the individual personality. In special moments, at least, we certainly recognize the Divine beauty of the Higher Self. About it, you could say, "This radiance is what I'm channeling, what I'm letting through me, from God." But at the same time, you could also say, "This radiance is the part of me that IS God." Heresy? Not at all.

Though every human being has a personality that is a marvelous piece of Divine handiwork, God has not limited us to that alone. So He says, "You get to be a part of the Big Mystery. You get to be a part of Me!" That part of us -- that essence -- is pure Spirit. It is not unique, but gloriously universal. Universal as in Unity. Universal as in, "We are one and the same." Universal as in, "This is my body, this is my blood." In flashes of higher consciousness, we SEE, and in our enlightenment, we KNOW: "I am every man. I am one with all that lives." This is our Higher Self.

At LoveTrust, for purposes of clarity, we refer to that Higher Self as the "Self-same Self." The word "same" reflects that OUR Higher Self is not different from OTHER Higher Selves. It indicates THE Self -- that spark we hold in common, that spark in which God holds us, and in which we hold one another.

Self-actualization and Self-Realization

When we are not identified with limiting ideas of ego, our real personhood -- our personality as it was made to be by God -- is FREED (freed from ego's illusory coverings, limitations and restrictions). Then, at last, we can express ourselves as we were made to be. We can express ourselves truly, genuinely, immediately.

When our authentic personhood is not twisted or covered or suppressed by all the ego's constraints, we call that self-actualization.

Self-Realization extends beyond self-actualization. It includes the spiritual domain of the human being. Although most of us are not used to experiencing that glorious, ecstatic part of ourselves, it IS the REALITY of our spiritual nature.

Peak experiences of enlightenment

We get in touch with our spiritual nature in those golden moments when our guard is down and we don't have our ordinary walls to cling to, when we can't figure it all out, and we don't have anything down pat. Perhaps we've all tasted that enlightened state from time to time. But most likely we didn't fully realize what it was, or what it's worth. And to complicate matters, we probably felt more than a little bit disoriented.

But, as they say, "You have to be disoriented in order to be REORIENTED." Do we REALIZE that Divine disorientation -- when all our "certainties" about who we are feel uprooted, spun around, and shaken up -- is actually a Grace-given opportunity for transformation? Whenever we feel disoriented from our habitual viewpoint, enlightenment is indeed at hand. But to maintain that enlightened state, we must persist in it. At such times, if we decide we are tragically lost or "off center," we feel sudden fear, and we immediately try to "get ourselves back together." We hasten to retrieve what we have been relieved of, by Grace. In that case, all too soon, we get the old, illusory self back: "Ah, yes! This is who I am. I have regained my ‘center.' Now I feel myself again." Alas -- a golden opportunity lost!

In order to reap the positive potential of disorientation, we need to resist the tendency to regroup around the same old ego-orientation. We can remain free only if we can live without our old concepts and limits: "The birds have their nests, the foxes have their holes, but the Son of Man has no place to rest his head." Ah, freedom!

ENLIGHTENMENT is beyond the personality. It is of Spirit. Enlightenment is a condition of wonder, a blissful state of Divine Ignorance: Your lower mind doesn't know who you are! In this world of manifestation, whatever you define or think you know will be less than what enlightenment IS. So, the trick is, don't go back to defining everything -- especially yourSELF!! If you don't rebuild illusions of self, then the Ultimate Fact remains clear and obvious: You're One with God.

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