Over my last couple of posts I have been writing some thoughts about our sense of self. One way to think about our sense of self is to see that it is formed by a self-border – a line that separates our psyche into the ‘me’ and the ‘not me.’ On the outside of the boarder are thoughts that we recognize to be just thoughts. On the inside of the border are thoughts that we experience as ‘my’ thoughts or ‘me thinking.’
Those thoughts that exist on the inside of the self boundary appear to tell us who we are, and therefore we tend to compulsively respond to them. They do not appear to us to be just thoughts; in fact they feel like us. We appear to ourselves as sentences in our heads.
One way to get a sense of this is to look at the sentences that you use in response to the question, “Who are you?” The most common answer will be, “I am (insert your name).” If you probe beyond just your name you will start to come up with a string of other sentences. Some of these sentences will describe you as nouns such as; “I am a man.” “I am a mother.” “I am a carpenter.” – etc. Other sentences will describe characteristics that belong to you such as; “I am industrious.” “I am lazy.” “I am intelligent.” “I am stupid.” – and on and on.
Psychological Development
What psychologists have discovered is that our sense of self is made out of thoughts in our heads and they recognize that some of the thoughts that arise on the inside of the self-boundary are harmful to us and others. We may have developed habitual thought patterns that tell us that we are stupid, lazy, or worthless and these cause us to act in destructive or self-destructive ways.
The job of the psychologist is to help us break these habitual though patterns and replace them with healthy ones. It is much better for us to believe that we are “intelligent,” industrious” and “worthy” because then we will tend to act that way and be happier with who we are. Psychologists have helped millions of people live much better, more fully integrated and happier lives by pushing unhealthy sentences outside of the self boundary and attract healthier sentences into it.
Spiritual Transformation
Some spiritual masters will tell you that this psychological approach to development misses the more fundamental issue. In essence what they are saying is that although a healthy self sense is better than an unhealthy self sense, it still limits us to sentences in our heads. We are still left with a false sense of being a something that is the object of all the sentences that we hold about that something.
Let’s go back for a moment to the question who am I? When you ask me who I am and I answer “I am Jeff” what I mean is that I am the entity that the name Jeff points toward. Imagine meeting someone and asking them, who are you? They respond saying; I am the entity that my name indicates. How infuriating is that? If they go on to list all of the nouns and adjectives that describe them you may still feel that they are not getting to the essences of who they are. Saying “I am a carpenter.” is just a way of stating that I am an entity that has certain skills and performs a certain function in society – but what is the entity that has the skills and performs the function?
One way to understand what spiritual transformation is all about is to understand it as letting go of all of the sentences in our heads that describe us and coming to a direct realization that we were, are and always will be, the one that is aware of the sentences. There is no sentence that can capture who we are because we are not a sentence and we are not an object that can be described by a sentence. The great spiritual realization is that we are the subject. We are the source of all sentences and the knower of all sentences. Sentences in our heads can never capture us and hold us in place because we always exist behind all of the sentences in our heads.
Karen Kasper
/ January 19, 2012Jeff, I’m reading a book called “Ego, the fall of the twin towers and the rise of an enlightened humanity”, by Peter Baumann and Michael W. Taft. They use the people involved in 911, both terrorists and victims to show just what you’ve been talking about in you posts here. They also very interestingly describe how the concept of the personal self evolved and that humanity (on the edge) is moving towards a “post-personal” awareness. I think the authors may be materialists and perhaps discount “spirit” (not sure about this). Would be interested in your take on this book.
Thanks, Karen
Anonymous
/ January 19, 2012Hi Karen,
I have the book, but I haven’t read it yet. When I do I will be sure to let you know what I think.
Love
Jeff
Gina Hayden
/ January 20, 2012Jeff, your posts just get better and better. I want to thank you for demystifying the seeing of the ego/self and enabling us to touch some sense of our source. You make it incredibly gettable.
With thanks and gratitude
Gina
Jeff Carreira
/ January 20, 2012Thank you so much Gina, Let’s talk sometime and compare notes. Jeff
portailevolutif
/ January 20, 2012what a beautiful post ! it is almost irresistible not to answer this. This notion of spiritual transformation is very fascinating. On one side we have the Western Traditions of Enlightenment, which tell us just this : “get convinced of the falseness of all Borders, it is the ultimate Truth !” or like Ramana Maharshi was telling “ just Realize the Self !” On the other side we have the Western Traditions and the three great religions of the West which are much more careful and axe their insight more on Soul development.
It is indeed not the same thing at all. For example you can be completely Enlightenened, completely deeply convinced of the ultimate Truth of no borders, and your human person can radiate this conviction, and at the same time you can still have a Soul which is very in-mature, or parts of the Soul which are under developed. It is said that mediation doesn’t touch the big shadows is us, meditation just puts us in contact with Big Head and per se will do nothing to make us potentially better beings. On the other hand, as this blog beautifully says, simple psychological work only doesn’t has the tendency to confine us even more into our human lives, restricting our horizons in an unbearable way.
If Soul is in between,if Soul is what you touches at the same the the human and the divine in us, how do we grow it ? to me it is where intention is so important. One of the most magic truths is that our spiritual growth is always proportional to the quality and strength of our Intention. Even psychologists like Jung at then end of their lives, have recognized this fact. Jung was saying that after having looked at more than 100 000 cases he could say that the main factor of change and transformation is repentance. I know that these two words, Intention and Repentance have been completely infected by religious abuse on the Blue meme, especially the Catholic Religion which in the name of those two words has been committing crimes.
But well, at the end of the day, what is transformation all about. To me it is Desire ( Intention) and Repentance ( change of direction of desire). It is the fact that one beautiful morning we wake up and find that our horizon is much greater than what we could have ever imagine, and we find as a consequence that to continue to life like before is not an option.
Jeff Enlightenment alone is wonderful but what do we do with it ? that’s the question. Ramakrishna himself, in a veer beautiful talk about Ego was saying that “ there are two kinds of Ego, the one which is mature and the one which is not”. If the Ego is not mature at least mature enough, then Enlightenment is meaningless because the Enlightened one will not be able to do anything with all this Energy of the Void flowing through him or her. When the Ego is mature, Enlightenment will automatically produce a leadership, and investment in the world. That’s why teachers like Rudolf Steiner were sometime post poking Enlightenment in some of their students.
Tell me your thoughts. Much love and thanks for the wonderful blog !
portailevolutif
/ January 20, 2012sorry Jeff, the last post is from Catherine. I am creating this New blog and I am messing up with accounts… Love to you !
Jeff Carreira
/ January 20, 2012Catherine, Thank you for such a full and whole hearted response. I agree that enlightenment is one thing, but living it is another. Best, Jeff
Frank Luke
/ January 20, 2012And I second Catherine’s true comment too. Jeff, I single out your statement noting that attempting to know oneself only intellectually is ineffectual. To know is half of the job but Being holistically with your entire self is the other half . From my own experience, my coming to knowing my Self was a holistic synthesis of heart and mind, my whole being. I believe a true spiritual Awakening is that kind of experience, undeniable and totally life-changing, bringing about a commitment to walk the walk of spiritual consiousness to the best of one’s development and for a lifetime, not just temporarily.
Thank you for continuing to present your very appreciated thoughts.
Namaste, aloha!
portailevolutif
/ January 20, 2012Namaste to both ! reading your beautiful posts… I feel Jeff agrees as well. I feel Life and Enlightenment shall not be disconnected. That’s why the Teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment are so fantastic and so timely. What do we do with the Energy of Enlightenment with its Force and Beauty ? is it only to go out of the merry go round of life, as Andrew Cohen says beautifully, or is it that this energy has a much more intimate relationship with Life and Evolution.
At the end of the day, Enlightenment and Life shall merge for humanity to Evolve.
Satprem, the great disciple of The Mother, was saying that our crisis is evolutionary, but a huge catharsis is necessary to make the next step. Basically we human beings are at a junction point similar to one one our ancestors passed, when they decided to stand on their two feet, or when the first human started to laugh ( laughter is a very spiritual evolutionary step). In Satprem’s view, we are crossing he sees now, evolution is not linear anymore, but a discontinuity is to be expected. His advice is remarkably simple. To be desperate with desire to evolve, and when despair is strong enough, the Kosmos will hear our cry and respond to it. Evolutionary crisis are not a smooth thing !
Frank Lukeftkl1234
/ January 20, 2012Hello, portailevolutif!
Yes, a significant uptick of spiritual conciousness is needed that may take generations if not centuries to accomplish. I see a cliffhanger where higher conscisousness is needed to avert the kinds of threats to humanity and the planet to turn around the self-destructive behavior on so many levels.
Will that unenlightened kind of behavior win out before humanity comes to reverse the despoiling of the planet and the kind of bellicose attitudes between nations that lead to wars? Or does humanity have the sense and ability to develop higher consciousness sufficient to avert apocalyse?
It seems a stretch at this point to see consciousness developing enough to save humanity and the planet at the rate things are developing but maybe when things get dire enough, solutions will be found to our problematic situations. Let us pray.
john
/ January 20, 2012I would “think” we are not the object or the subject of the sentence but the verb………..the process………the experience.
Jeff Carreira
/ January 20, 2012Hello John, spoken like a true pragmatist…I would have to agree wiht you….more to come on that.
Clifford J. Warren
/ January 22, 2012I am new to blogs and blogging, so my expertise in this area is limited by current abilities. I am asking for some leniency in this area. My question is: Does there have to be a “Vs” promotion of division into accessing areas of self that are very much intrinsic to and inclusive of the make-up of an individual’s personal growth? In my opinion, all things have a place in the web of life and the trick is to not get caught up in a static, hierarchical. stratified or divisive approach to knowing, understanding and living it. Inclusivity and ownership can do wonders for the evolutionary development of self as well as the social realms of culture and society.Do not get me wrong as I will always be a student of life questioning and searching because that is now “Who I Am.” I find what I have read, fascinating to say the least and will continue to read more as I appreciate what has been put forth. The next piece is something I wrote 10 years ago.
I Have A Right To Exist
I will not allow my life, my existence, to be defined by anybody else. Especially since I now realize who I am. It’s simply not a matter of who I once was (taking my past into account), nor who I’m supposed to become (pre-determined by others). I am who I am, nothing more, nothing less. When one starts questioning and searching, he is challenging his perceptions to the point of knowing. Some will call this truth.
I believe it is this search for truth that inevitably gives rise to happiness and unrealized human potential within our ever changing and confusing lives. When one stops searching and growing, life can become stagnate, meaningless and hopeless.
I will continue to challenge my perceptions of reality, because that is now who I am.
Thanks,
Joseph RedHawk aka Clifford J. Warren
Frank Luke
/ January 27, 2012The Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Khan related a teaching that I had to ponder for some time before I believe I achieved what I think is an understanding:
A man is standing in them middle of the street directing traffic. When approached by a puzzled passerby who asked “Who are you? Are you a policeman? are you a —-? are you a that?”, responded in the affirmative. End of story.
What I take away is that the responses are acknowledging that to answer “who are you”, the truly accurate answer is “Yes, I am all of that”, including even being a liar, criminal, a whore, a thief, as well as teacher, artist, friend, man, etc, and that we as humans can be capable of being all things as humans. Is this takeaway too much of a stretch?
In my own life, I have been and am constantly surprised at my different unexpected aspects in all honesty.
Pir Vilayat also said dthe following that sticks in my mind:
“Don’t be afraid to become whom you think you are not.”
This has given me a lot of reassurance in the transformations I have undergone and continue doing so.
Jeff Carreira
/ January 31, 2012Reblogged this on The Flow of Influence.