Tag Archives: True Self

PURE CONSCIOUSNESS

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When I came to understand more clearly the difference between my ego (or false self) and my “true self,” and then looked at various ways I might reach that “true self,” especially by becoming a “nobody,” I was stumped as to what this would actually mean in terms of human experience.

            I thought I’d do some research on work done in academia on the “self” and discovered Galen Strawson, a philosopher famous for studying the nature of consciousness or the “self.”

            Strawson writes that pure uninterrupted consciousness lasts only about one-third of a second to three seconds – which has recently been modified by Fei Fei Li to an interval as brief as a blink. That’s not to say that this period of consciousness can’t be renewed and extended by follow-up thoughts. Strawson thought, though, that turning a succession of thoughts into a narrative story is not necessary to be truly human. I agree with Strawson that it’s in a pure consciousness experience where we actually exist as our “true self.” That this experience, not one influenced by established “roles” or self-edited “movies” or “stories,” is where the “true self” actually exists. And, if this “true self” can be directed through our best understanding of an “alive” God, then we’ll be able to “see” and “act” through God’s eyes and mind after developing the “tools” which help us see and think like God would see and think if God were a human being – as if God were actually one’s self. Such principal tools of God include love, truth, justice, and beauty.

            Of course, it’s important to gain the freedom to become one’s “true self,” by using our own intrinsic freedom – the freedom God originally gave us at birth – but which we, unfortunately, and all too often, relinquish during the periods when we’re busy developing our egos into false selves.

            Remember, once you achieve becoming “nobody,” it’s only then that you’re able to become your “true self” – anytime you want. Just imagine the power of that – to be able to see through God’s eyes, experience life through God’s mind and soul, and, then, be able to act as God would act if God were a human being – that is, as if God were you.

NOBODY

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Recognizing the need to get rid of one’s ego in order to reach our “true self,” I started thinking about the women medieval mystics, like, most importantly, Marguerite Porete, and Hadewijch and Mechthild, as well as, more recently, Emily Dickinson and Simone Weill, all of whom talked about becoming “nobody” or “no one” – which was necessary to approach God directly. They wrote from a state of true humbleness (because a lot of pride can be hidden behind a false face of humility). They traveled all the way to zero – to nonbeing – completely disappearing. And then looked back towards the world – where others thought that such a move was nonsensical, and yet they, repeatedly, affirmed this.

            I began thinking their approach had a lot to do with freedom – that to escape one’s ego (as well as that ego’s “God”), we have to get free of our “old self,” free of old ideas and assumptions about “life” and the “world” – and so, becoming “nobody,” might do the trick!

            To achieve a place where there’s only oneself and an impending meeting with God (or the Holy). And then wait.

            The promise is that, out of this nothing, God is able to arrive – even through loneliness or depression – if you just wait, God will arrive – in a supersonic jet of joy.

            Immediately after, when one opens one’s eyes, we’ll find ourselves looking through “fresh eyes,” that is, a newborn’s eyes, and what you’re able to see and experience at that moment is exactly what God is seeing and experiencing – through your own eyes – as if you are God and God is you.

            This is what Jesus was able to do and why some people spontaneously followed him, while others wanted to kill him, because the former were filled with a joy like they’d never experienced before, and the latter, on their part, became angry that any human being would dare  become this kind of person.

THE INTERCONNECTIVITY BETWEEN SELF AND GOD

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Artificial selves worship artificial gods
While the search for one’s “true self”
Has to end up discovering a true God.

Accepting one’s family imprint on one’s self –
Or society’s imprint –
Or even the imprint of a small circle of artist friends –
Invariably leads into a room captioned “religion”
With an exclusive set of beliefs.

God, however, is wild –
More so even than Nature itself –
At all levels – particles through galaxies.

God obviously cannot be held in hand like a medallion –
To be sworn upon –
And there’s no pictures either.

God is invisible – lives nowhere –
And always is a surprise to us –
Like the wind
Which arises so suddenly –
Carrying oceanic flavors.

God is Love –
Waiting as long as you need.

Yes, the ultimate truth about God
Is that God is willing to wait for us!

FREEING ONE’S “TRUE SELF”

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There’s no consciousness without the material world
And there’s no part of that material world without at least some consciousness.

Also

There’s no physical entity that doesn’t include the potential for “life”
As an intrinsic and necessary part of its structure.

Because

Life is inherent in unlife –
And consciousness is innate in life –
So objective spiritual truth must be a fundamental element of the cosmos.

Eventually, over time,

God was born as a human being, bearing the name of Jesus,
And Jesus, in turn, matured into God while remaining wholly human.

In sum,

God created the universe by opening up an infinitesimally small gap into and through nothing –
Starting out with dust –
And is now partway on the path to re-creating God
In another time and space
Who, spiritually, is the ultimate perfect balanced combination
Of Love, Truth, Justice, and Beauty.

It’s like opening up one’s hand –
Discovering a trapped bird –
And allowing the freedom of an unborn self
To fly straight to its very own “true self.”

LONELY AS A ROCK

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If there were no God
I’d be lonely as a rock hurtling through the void.

If there were no “high true” human character to attain –
I’d travel to an amusement park and ride around all day –
Eating cotton candy – while going round and round.

If there were no love available for me –
I’d rent a room in some high attic
And never go out again.

If truth completely evaporated out of American society –
I’d hitch a ride to dusty red Mars with a bunch of bizarre billionaires.

If it turned out that Jesus was not really Jesus –
And that the Buddha never blossomed into his “true self” –
I’d stop asking further questions and respond solely in exclamations –
Like “Huh,” “Argh,” or “Wheeh!”

If I thought it’d be pointless to learn any new things –
I couldn’t find fault with Trump saying: “Duh, maybe Hitler was a pretty good guy
Since he did get people back to work.”

And if there really were no God, there couldn’t be joy either
And the word “hope” would never be found in any English dictionary.

THREE SECONDS

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“Be here now!”
Say the Zen Masters –
Because the past’s already gone
And the future’s not yet arrived.

This is the point of “no time” or “eternity”
Which is where we’re all trying to reach.

But, wait, just what, and where, exactly, is that?


According to Galen Strawson, a second generation Oxford Philosophy Professor,
It’s a “hiatus free period of thought or experience” – a few seconds at most –
Because our eyes and minds are always “jumping” –
In fact, the latest scientific research shows that this experienced “Now” is not actually a point,
but an extended period – of up to three seconds.

So, when the Buddha tilted his head back, opened his eyes and saw the morning star –
His own “hiatus free moment of enlightenment” – suddenly, he could understand everything.

Everyone can have a similar experience!

That is, if you can just get past your gabbing, obsessive-compulsive telling stories
and producing mental films of yourself as a “star” or “hero” of your creative imaginative/dream productions –

After which, getting past all that – and opening up your eyes and heart
You accept what you are seeing and experiencing – at that moment.

Then, trusting your mind and heart as to what to do next – and do it –
That is, what your “true self” knows needs to be done.

Seeing through this open window – at reality itself – and then acting!

That is “enlightenment-plus.”

Both the Buddha and Jesus emphasized that one needs to act upon what one sees or experiences
In that spiritually-open moment.

This is what it means to be a human being who thinks, experiences, and acts as God does –
Jesus, the Buddha, and Mohammed repeatedly illustrated this to us –
Not to show how great they were – but how great the potential of each single human being
on the planet actually is!

NOT A PICTURE BUT A STREAM

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Born faster than the eye can see –
Life as a “true self” –   

Because, as soon as you stop birthing – you’re dead!

It takes courage to stay in a stream of constant birthing –
Uncomfortable and scary.

The authorities of the world demand acceptance of a fixed personality
So people can be manipulated without violence –
Yes, even those who “love” you want you to remain the same
For a lifetime.

But anyone who can change faster than a thought or heart feeling
Is not a picture, but a stream –
An actual stream.

Such a person arrives from the state of being nobody –
Dodging all the bullets aimed at them –
No matter from which direction they’re coming –
No matter the intention with which they’ve been fired.

They dream of escaping a frozen old age
By fighting “downstream” – towards infancy –
Towards spontaneity –
Towards the art of “coming-into-existence” –
Brush touching canvas –
Pen, paper.

Someone, who’s a “just-about-to-be-made”
Kind of person –

The real thing!

REALLY GONE

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God doesn’t provide you with a “self” –
Your parents and society do that.

That “self,” however, is not the same as you
Since you’re undiscoverable as God –
And always free to become your “true self.”

Your present self is really only a mask – a role you play –
So, if you start believing you’re “better” than others
Take your mask off and put someone else’s on –
Try a “black one,” for instance –
 Then, “talk back” to a police officer
And see how long you live.
Or take your mask off and put on
One of the opposite sex –
Spend a little time there
Experiencing different roles,
Costumes,
Language.

The point of comfortably inhabiting one’s everyday self
Is you’ll probably never have the opportunity to meet up with your “true self”
Until you retire and have given up your everyday work routines –
Then, turning around, you’ll discover you’ve become invisible –
And no one can see you any more –
Because your “work self” has evaporated
And, now, you’re no one at all!

It’s only a blink or two from this exact point
Until you’re really gone –
Actually, though, you’ve always been really gone
But just never had to acknowledge it.

PLENTY OF ROOM FOR ONE ANOTHER

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What a year!

Who could have foreseen more than half a million Americans dead of covid
Guided into an epidemiological swamp by the first American fascist President –
Also, who could have imagined white police officers
Snuffing out innocent black folk like mosquitoes on the porch.

Never would I have believed nearly a third of American hearts
Could grow as hard as granite –
With minds, however, at the same time, warped and wavy as silly putty.

Where are our nation’s best virtues found today – religious, political, and moral –
Or, have we just degenerated, at base, into a retro-Evangelical/Capitalistic world
Charged up by thrashing male patriarchalism
That’s growing increasingly violent –
Before drifting off to expire, one day, in abandoned and sad solitude?

Isn’t that why we need a fresh flood of femininity into society
Brought about by large numbers of enlightened women and mothers
Able to enjoy their beauty without any accompanying objectification.

So, when the world starts becoming more natural through its “second birth” –
That is, when every person can achieve their “true self” –
(As a single brilliant “dot” in an infinite human fresco) –
There’ll arrive a “new world” of joyous young people –
Free and mature –

Who’ll be careful to leave plenty of room for one another.

GOD LOOKS THROUGH A WINDOW

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Joy is so un-American, it can’t be expressed out loud
Because saying that word in mixed company
Would compel many people to look away.

Joy never developed much in Western tradition –
Except a few flakes – never more.

Joy comes with a dance
But there’re no “dancers” in neo-colonial wars.

Joy can’t be taught – it’s always a surprise –
Nor can it be earned because, essentially, it’s a gift.

Joy is usually found in the face of beauty
Especially that of blue green Nature.

Joy (first level) is who I want to be –
As the key to happiness (second level).

Joy is the name God proudly shows upon entering the world.

God looks through a window
To see if you’re “awake” –
To see if you’re “born again” –

To see if you’ve decided to become your “true self.”