Credit: Ayurliget.hu
Written by Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness
Here, I’d like to look at the sacred Self; the soul Self; the Atman; whatever you want to call the omnipotent consciousness that exists within, which we can (and perhaps should) embrace. The sacred Self (or simply ‘the Self’) is an aspect of Source, and we’ll have to transcend the influence of the ego if we want to open up to it.
The ego, which is a program of the otherwise benevolent mind, will keep us from discovering and embracing the Self if we allow it, and given that we have a lot of work to do to change the defunct manner in which our planet’s run, transcending the ego is among the best things we can do for ourselves and the people around us.
The rest of the world will benefit when we can move beyond the ego and into a place of pure, blissful submergence in the Self, and as consciousness continues to rise, more people will become aware of spirit and the necessity to embrace the infinite Self over the finite, ego-driven self we’ve become accustomed to.
I think it’s important for those of us who’ve become aware to continuously transcend the ego’s influence and put ourselves in a loving, heart-centered space where we can connect with the Self, and until we do, the collective vibration will remain low and limited.
The work we do to bring ourselves and our planet into the light is very important, and opening up to the Self will help us with our quest to enlighten ourselves and, eventually, everyone else who’s in need of physical and spiritual upliftment.
Master Lin-Chi describes the Self.
“’Spread it out and it fills the whole Dharma-realm, gather it up and it’s tinier than a thread of hair.’ Its lone brightness gleaming forth, it has never lacked anything. ‘The eye doesn’t see it, the ear doesn’t hear it.’ What shall we call this thing? … You’ll just have to see it for yourselves. What other way is there?” (1)
The Self is practically unperceivable with the physical senses, but it exists within nevertheless, waiting for us to realize and pick up on its existence. We’ll have to transcend our sense-based perception if we want to perceive the Self, and this goes hand-in-hand with transcending the ego and opening up to Source.
Only when our perception is focused on the spiritual realms will we perceive the Self, and our lives will flow in an unprecedented way when we achieve this. Our creativity will especially be sharpened, because the Self is nothing if not creative.
I’m reminded of a story about a man who raised his Kundalini to his crown and experienced enlightenment. The experience was so intense that he basically descended into madness for a great number of years before emerging from it to find the greatest spiritual perception he could hope to have.
His creativity flowed like never before, and our creativity will flow in a similar way (but without the madness) if we make a real and solid effort to perceive the Self.
The more we search for the sacred Self, Lin Chi tells us, the further we distance ourselves from it.
“Right now, all this dashing and searching you’re doing — do you know what it is you’re looking for? It is vibrantly alive, yet has no root or stem.
“You can’t gather it up, you can’t scatter it to the winds. The more you search for it the farther away it gets. But don’t search for it and it’s right before your eyes, its miraculous sound always in your ears. But if you don’t have faith, you’ll spend your hundred years in wasted labor.” (2)
However difficult the sacred Self might be to perceive, it constantly exists within and waits to be picked up on so we can enjoy the perceptual bounties that result. This extended and advanced facet of our consciousness has a lot to offer us, because it essentially is us in a higher form.
From what I understand, the sacred Self is different from the higher self in that the higher self exists primarily in the sixth dimension, whereas the Self is here with us now and exists everywhere. No matter where it resides, it has a lot to offer us and we’ll be very glad we opened up to it.
The Atman (or the Self) is the revealer of all things, Shankara tells us.
“The Atman is the witness, infinite consciousness, revealer of all things but distinct from all… whether they be gross or subtle.
“It is the eternal reality, omnipresent, all-pervading, the subtlest of subtleties. It has neither inside nor outside. It is the real I, hidden in the shrine of the heart. Realize fully the truth of the Atman. Be free from evil and impurity, and you shall pass beyond death.” (3)
If we feed the lower-vibrational qualities so many of us are ready to transcend, the Self will seem too far away for us to grasp. If we can open up to the Self by transcending these lower qualities, however, it’ll seem closer than ever because, in a sense, it will be.
We draw the sacred Self closer to our surface perception every time we refuse to feed the evils of the lower vibrations, and when we’re back in a higher state of consciousness, we’ll see how important our refrainment from feeding lower qualities really was.
For every lower quality, there’s a higher quality to match it, so let’s embrace the higher qualities inherent in everything around us instead of continuing to live below our potential by knowingly feeding qualities that hold us back. Even though walking tends to be much easier, we’re on this planet to soar.
Shankara also encourages us to embrace the transcendent nature of the Self.
“Meditate upon the truth that the Atman is ‘neither gross nor subtle, neither short nor tall’, that it is self-existent, free as the sky, beyond the grasp of thought.” (4)
The Self isn’t limited by the qualities that inhibit us here on earth, and instead, it’s free to move around as it pleases. It’s liberated from every lower-vibrational quality that sometimes holds us back, and we have to put ourselves on the same level if we want to align with it.
We have to embrace the qualities that help the sacred Self thrive if we want to feel it in its fullest purity, and we’ll be very glad we employed whatever disciplines were necessary for us to connect with it. We’ll be glad because we’ll see how much this connection strengthened our creativity and our general spiritual perception, and after getting a taste of the perceptions of the Self, we’ll never want to go back.
In our final quote, Ibn Arabi tells us that the sacred Self encompasses everything in existence.
“The Qualified Total Spirit [is] the Viceregent. It has no bodily shape and it is not even outside this universe and its heavens, but it englobes all existents and therein it is present and in control. In relation to it, highest top and the bottom of the bottom are the same.
“It is present in every one of those degrees. … It cannot be parcelled out or partitioned. If the skies fell in and the earth shattered, nothing would happen to it.” (5)
Given that we’re all facets of Source’s omnipotent consciousness, it makes sense that the Self essentially is the source of existence; our creator in a different form. This makes connecting with the Self even more important, and in time, every member of the conscious community will see the importance of connecting with it.
The effort we’ll make from there will be stronger and sharper than we might’ve expected, because our creativity and our willingness to contribute to our new society will have been strengthened enormously.
We’ll have happily taken it upon ourselves to address and heal everything about this planet that keeps us from reentering the higher realms, and we’ll have done it with the strength and support of this omnipotent facet of our consciousness.
Connecting with the sacred Self might not be easy, but we’ll reap a bounty of flowing inner rewards when we do.
We’ll be awakened and motivated to do whatever’s required to bring ourselves and our planet into the light, and beyond the Self, we’ll find that we have the loving assistance of waves of guides who are here to help us find the enlightenment we seek.
Connecting with the Self (and the higher self) is important, and when we make this connection, we’ll see that we were never left to deal with the difficult vibrations of the earth on our own. A lot of higher-dimensional souls are assisting us because they’re ready for us to see the light, and we can connect with them just like we can connect with the Self.
I think more seekers will make this connection in due time, but for now, those of us who are starting to make it can raise awareness of its flowing benefits. This is an aspect of our mission here on earth, and with the work we’ve all done so far, I’m comfortable saying that we aren’t about to stop any time soon.
In fact, our efforts will increase from here on out, but only if we’re willing to be the ones to increase them.
Footnotes:
- Burton Watson, trans. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi [Rinzai]. A Translation of the Lin-Chi Lu. Boston and London: Shambala, 1993, 79.
- Ibid., 58.
- Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher lsherwood, Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination. Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1975; c1947, 69.
- Ibid., 74.
- Muhyideen Ibn Arabi, Kernel of the Kernel. trans. Ismail Hakki Bursevi. Sherborne: Beshara, n.d, 5.
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I’m a 21 year old awakening seeker and creator of The Culture of Awareness daily news site.
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