Most of us are familiar with the ancient mystical concept of the Higher and the Lower Selves and the grand, nearly impossible divide that lies between. In some mystical circles the Higher and the Lower Selves are also known respectively as the Permanent and the Present Day personalities—the perfect and the corrupt. This makes sense, of course, because by all accounts, we were created in God’s perfect image. That perfect image is called the Higher Self. It is our epic task to construct a bridge across the grand divide of human consciousness (and unconsciousness) to reach it—and to reclaim it. Some of us are closer than others. When our bridge is complete, we will know. The reward is nothing less than divine integration, in other words, Enlightenment.
Understanding this, it makes sense to get to know our Higher Selves sooner than later. But how to get acquainted? And after getting acquainted, how to forge a relationship? We can pray, meditate, and receive sacraments, and many of us do. These tools certainly help. But considering the fact that we’re seeking a permanent relationship with this familiar stranger, it makes sense to go about it in familiar ways. So, as with any relationship, we must first introduce ourselves.
Lower Rea, meet Higher Rea.
I can recognize my higher aspect by that Self’s ability to Witness without attachment. Theoretically, the more in touch I am with my Higher Self, the more interested I am in observing a situation instead of becoming emotionally entangled in it. The more integrated I am with my Higher Self, the more able I am to grasp the underlying purpose in an unfolding scenario, positive or negative. Grasping the underlying purpose, I learn to be more objective—to take things, especially negative things—less personally.
Now that I’m introduced to my Higher Self and can recognize it on the street, (land, air and sea!), it’s time for the next step in the relationship. Something casual, not too intense or demanding—a walk!
This may sound preposterous, but I literally try to take a walk with my Higher Self (and my dog) every day. We stroll into the world together, down the River Walk, where we can encounter both friends and strangers—into situations in which I can be taught. Situations with the potential to strengthen our bond, allowing me to forge a relationship, and thus a bridge, built with steel instead of twigs. During this walk, I don’t hide behind my thoughts, meditations, or iPod. I consciously observe people, places, things, and situations, but most importantly, I Witness myself in relationship to all of it, and to any arising stimulus. In doing this, I allow my Higher Self to teach me the ways of the Divine. If necessary, to convict myself gently for irritable behavior (people, traffic, weather) or quietly observe that I have been able to handle a difficult situation evenhandedly. Or maybe, my Witness simply shows me the unbounded joys of a day off! The unbounded joys of true freedom, the freedom we will know when we are thoroughly rejoined with each other and with the Divine.
The more we take the conscious walk with our Higher Selves—our Witnesses—the better companions we become. The more integrated the Witness is in our lives, the less anxious, fearful, and reactionary our thoughts, words, and behavior become. It can take a lifetime, it’s true, but we’ve all been given one. Best to use it. As Lao-Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
A short walk is a great place to start!
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Hi rea,
I like what you have written. When you wrote “If necessary, to convict myself gently for irritable behavior (people, traffic, weather)…’ I was surprised that the “Higher Self” would judge,, even gently, the “Lower self”. Aren’t you just one person, reading this? Separating yourself into higher and lower just sounds so, well…judgmental.
If I may quote Eckhart Tolle “Instead of creating expectations of what should or should not be happening, cooperate with the form that this moment takes. Bring a ‘yes’ to the isness, because it’s pointless to argue if it already is. A greater intelligence is available to you when you no longer reject, deny, or ‘don’t want’ what is”.
You further wrote, “…or quietly observe that I have been able to handle a difficult situation evenhandedly’. If one does not handle a situation “evenhandedly”, what then, ‘gentle’ recrimination?
I have wrestled with this very subtle form of ‘enlightened’ thinking, for years, and find it to be harmful to the seeker. An inner judge (higher self) is super ego in disguise (sorry to be so blunt
, but look at this closely.
I do appreciate your post, and don’t want to ‘nit pick’…it’s just that the mind is wily and mesmerizing. The ‘best’ we can do, as life unfolds (good and bad) is come back to the simplicity of what is.
Being ‘natural’ takes our attention and an ongoing ‘chop, chop’ of the involving stories! The comedy/drama we are living is entertaining and we really wouldn’t want it to be otherwise! Taking it personally is where the suffering begins.
Thanks for your very interesting post!
You’re so right, Evie, about the not-judging (which the use of the word “observation” implies), but at the same time, noticing that there is attachment (in the irritability) I would “convict” myself. Subtle difference in meaning, here, but to me, “convicting” myself gently does not mean anything more than making an attempt to correct it. I know that some philosophies espouse simply noticing (implying no conviction) but I am a great fan of the theological line, “It is our job every day to look in the mirror and take sides with the truth against ourselves.” For me, the process of consciousness involves first observing without judgement, then (in a detached manner) conviction/correction. “Yes, I did that. I own that I did that. I will take the necessary steps to correct that thought/word/behavior. Make any sense? Sorry if it’s confusing.
Hi again,
I think we both know that this is a subject that is very difficult to talk about. I continue to find it so interesting (all the nuances) that I am drawn in by posts such as yours! So, I thank you, again, for your interesting observation! I’m going to break things down a bit for clarity, since this is tough to talk about! I would like to preface this with, I’m only sharing ‘my take on all of this’ and hope I don’t come across as a ‘know it all’! We are all learning, here!
Rea: “It is our job every day to look in the mirror and take sides with the truth against ourselves.”
Evie: Our society (parents, teachers, etc.) have been so brutal in setting up a dualistic inner battle within us, as children, filling our heads with the ‘good/bad’ scenario and what we SHOULD be like. We are riddled with guilt practically before we can walk.
Many spiritual/religious teachers have continued to spread this ‘virus’ by holding themselves up as having found ‘the truth’. So they, in turn, continue to tell us what we need to be like, what we need to be aware of, to reach “perfection”, to find the truth, be ‘one’ with all that is, etc.
We lose who we are in all of this, we lose our naturalness, our simplicity. Under life long layers of conditioning, we are really very sweet, UNDIVIDED, children.
So, to say, once again, that, ‘”It is our job every day to look in the mirror and take sides with the truth against ourselves”…this is creating an embattled ‘twosome’ an inner tug-of-war, a right/wrong atmosphere. Yes, we can say it is “observation” and I understand why that word brings a kind benevolence to “judging” yet, looking closely, there is still a nagging sense of not being good enough…needing to be better…needing to take sides “against ourselves”.
Rea: “For me, the process of consciousness involves first observing without judgement, then (in a detached manner) conviction/correction. “Yes, I did that. I own that I did that. I will take the necessary steps to correct that thought/word/behavior. Make any sense? Sorry if it’s confusing”.
Evie: We suffer so in battling life as it forms around us. Oh, the freedom we would know if we could be ‘the neutralizer’ in the so called force of ‘good vs. evil. Embracing time/life on it’s own terms as it arises, is freedom. Resisting life/time, and the forms it takes, is being lost in Life’s play. ”Attention” and where we place it, is the only real choice we have…it is freedom from dualism.
Rea: ”Yes, I did that. I own that I did that. I will take the necessary steps to correct that thought/word/behavior. Make any sense? Sorry if it’s confusing.
Evie: So ‘you’ are talking to ‘you’, at least to me it seems like you were talking, to ‘you’, there is only you.. or ‘one’, if you will. This inner talk is all taking place in ‘the one consciousness’…yours. You encompass it all, and express it all,and perhaps, creating it all!
Were you taking a walk with yourself, one consciousness, dividing into two, perhaps for interest, entertainment. I know, it seems bizarre.
Our expression, experience, in this objectified form, is consciousness being expressed in it’s myriad of forms.
It’s late…time for bed, here. I really enjoy these discussions and appreciate your interest!
well this is the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks that I have heard this exact same message.
the first was from my sponsor. I was talking to her extensively over a number of weeks, and started hearing feedback that I was irritable, bitchy, complaining a lot, reactive and swore a lot.
she said simply: your life goes so much smoother when you are meditating and praying consistently and living in your highest purpose/self. Then she fired me. UM
then last week at a meeting, a very unlettered, scruffy man whom I had only seen a couple of times started to share. and he sounded awful, he sounded irritable, reactionary, swore a lot, and talked about he knew he was talking from his lower self, and he also had a higher self, a spiritual self when he was willing, when he sought, when he prayed, did his yoga, and he didn’t take things so personally, and his life was so much better, when he lived his program.
and now here I am reading this same message. And indeed my life goes smoother when I am praying a lot, and especially meditating a lot or at least consistently. and doing the do things, which keep me in a fit spiritual condition. A day at a time.
words or choice of words to find expression for one’s spiritual path mean little to me. it’s all about finding the shoes that fit and walking the path to our purpose, our calling, whatever.
I personally don’t have any issues with a lower self or a higher self, others might call it something else, it doesn’t matter. neither am I a big fan of Eckart Tolle although I read him many many years ago, and also listened to the whole series he did online with Oprah.
I am comfortable with the idea of witnessing, of noticing, of observing, I’ve written that amy times on threads on VN. The meditation I use a lot is a 30 min sitting meditation and it calls me to observe my story without getting caught up in my story. I love that. I talked many times to my psychiatrist about that concept, about observing my story rather than getting caught up in it.
So Rea, thank you for carrying this message to me again, today, the 3rd time I’ve heard the message from 3 different people in prob less than 3 weeks.
Hi Nanacatharine! The great Cypriot mystic, Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, expressed a wonderful concept many years ago about the great pool of energy from which all humanity was created. He called it Holy Monadic energy. When humans are created, he said, they travel from that undividuated pool of energy through “the crystal of the human idea” and remain on the other side of it in all their perfection in perfect energetic form. The physical form is a mere projection of that perfection. So in a way, we really are in a movie we are also watching. That does not sound schizophrenic at all to me, but possibly that’s because I have integrated the concept and have been rebuilding the bridge for so many years.
Many other mystics have phrased his concept in other ways, but Atteshlis, otherwise known as Doskalos, (Doctor), was for me, is by far the most studied and poetic mystic of the 20th century, and possibly all centuries. His mystical visions were so clear and direct, yet he was a beautiful and grounded personality. His story is spectacular. I’ve read and studied much about this subject before Tolle came along, and I have read his work also. But what sticks with me is Doskalos’ image of us as a projection of perfectio, and in the process of projection, broken down in the world of separation, which like it or not, is our polar world. The polarity gives it its balance, like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, so I don’t judge the polarity. However, we still at the core, identify with the perfection that is truly us, which I call the Higher Self. Reaching it, and absorbing it, and learning from it, is a beautiful and peaceful process. Building the bridge to it isn’t easy, but it’s a spectacular integration, and what I believe we are here to do. xo
I am not a human having a spiritual experience I am a spiritual being having a human experience.
exactly
Hi Nanacatherine,
You are so right, words do mean very little! It is our way of expressing our inner most thoughts and feelings and they are inadequate…especially, writing our feelings!
Meditating is so good because it settles one down, has a calming effect. We live in our heads so much and the mind can go a little insane.
Getting caught up in the stories does more damage than anything else! So often, there is no love in the stories. In fact, love for yourself (and others’) arises when one sees the story (taking one down the same old path!) and says “no” to it. We fill our lives with repeated stories keeping us in the same place (this is the real meaning of karma).
Meditation is having respect for yourself, taking time out to love yourself. In a way, we don’t love and respect ourselves!
We all have many ‘habits’ that keep us miserable and when we wake up to these habit patterns, we can break them. Many of them have been ‘trained’ into us or they have been established to protect us, or even as escape mechanisms. A new way of living can surface when we become conscious that we repeat the same behavior and get the same results…insanity/misery results.
Love is there waiting to fill the ‘empty places’, but we do have to choose love. It arises, naturally, when we put it first…in everything we do.
We all use different word, but I think our hearts are saying the same thing!
Big hug!!
Please share more about the meditation you refer to. I truly believe that we all live in our story. Unfortunately, most of that story was created from past events that as children were interpreted and saved as our truth. Yet, we live as adults with the consequences of those memories – right or wrong.
http://www.archive.org/details/MCullenSittingMeditation
This is the 30 minute sitting meditation I often use. She talks about observing the story without getting caught up in the story. I also use another of her meditations. if you go to archive.org and click Audio and put in key word search meditation you will find many many kinds of meditation. All free.
The story is often what we call our old tapes. Sometimes I still get caught up in my own story, blah blah blah, I’m so tired of it.
Today I had something quite traumatic happen, I was fortunate enough to be able to get in touch with a crisis counsellor I used to talk to after my sisters suicide. he talked to me today about my story is changing, evolving, and the snag I hit today was in fact totally rational, and an evolving story. I’m was so happy that he said I was evolving, lol.
I often meditate. I’ve meditated for 20 years, sometimes consistently and the benefits are great. One thing about meditation I learned is that I often feel the benefit of it the next day, even though I thought it wasn’t working, because I was antsy and having difficulty finshing the 30 minutes. Other times i sink so far into it I’m oblvious to the world around me. Even sitting at my desk at work! It’s easy enough using a headset to look for all the world like your working, but I am actually meditating.
Thanks for posting that meditation, NanaCatherine. It’s a good one!
I also have a wily and mesmerizing mind. Never heard it put that way — but what a truth!! And, agree with using a different word that ‘convict’ — maybe too negative – and judgemental. Some words do jump out — and of course they reflect my world of the past and present — like – evenhandedly, (would rather use ‘balanced’ now) and judgmental (would rather use observe, give thought to).
Shakespeare said it so beautifully and of course he must have got it somewhere else — probably one of the ancients breezed by and expressed ‘that all the world is a stage, and we are all the players’. My son would kill me for butchering that quote. He said (my son) years ago that if I really wanted to study psychology — study Shakespeare and the Bible. Maybe it’s past time I did that???
Hi Maggie De Vore,
Good morning to you! I know, “wily” always pops up when my mind is taking me on a “trip”!
It is so good at sneaking the same old stories into our heads…keeping us in the ‘same old places’!! I’m glad that resonated with you!
Our minds are fabulous when it comes to ‘practical’ matters, like scheduling appts. and driving us to them, but the mind wreaks havoc when we apply it to our emotional world! It tends to be a total trouble maker.
The ability to re-train the mind to attend only to the business, at hand, and not to go into ‘made up’ stories is the doorway to freedom. Love arises, more often, when we make the ‘space’ for it!
Attending to the business, at hand, and not imagining a future event or dwelling in a past event, will allow a freshness of mind and that space for love to arise! The future and past thinking is filled with a kind of hallucinogenic energy which keeps us asleep to what is real…here and now.
Shakespeare was amazingly wise and ‘right on’ when he said “all the world is a stage…” We are characters playing our parts and our ‘glue’ is affectionate awareness/love.
Thank you, Maggie, for your response and you have a very wise son!!
Am also not at ease with the word ‘convict’ == would rather be an ‘observer’ which gives me a more positive approach to my human, physical and emotional condition at any one time of the day, etc. I am taken back to my studies in psychology and had long ago compared Freud and Jung who I thought were direct opposites. Freud being the one who thought all of us were bad and needed to be fixed and Jung who thought we are all human/wonderful and needed to grow. A very very simplistic definition to both great brains. Being one of the ‘more sensitive’ huminoids I HAD to stop beating myself up for major and minor indiscretions less the guilt took hold and led me back to wanting to ‘escape’. It was a useless battle of the ego.
Being born into the ‘animal’ kingdom I think we do have a lower self, born of ‘needs’ like food, water, sex and companionship. Do not have to dwell on that. It’s an isness!! Don’t you love that word??? Thanks Evie for reminding me of it!!
My highly simplistic approach to life, once I got rid of the drugs alcohol and sugar, is that if and when we practice good manners in all our affairs we will have less pain and suffering. Has something to do with faith, intelligence, loving, caring, compassion for oneself first so that I can then be really ‘prepared’ to be of help to others — if and when needed!!! Thanks for getting us thinking!!!
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: We are not a human being having a spiritual experience. We are a spiritual being having a human experience.
The more we live in all details of our lives as spiritual beings, the more we are seeking the soul qualities that are eternal. All material details are temporary. They will not survive the grave. But the spirituality of our individuality will remain and continue to grow in spirit realms beyond the grave.
God bless, J
What a wonderful post…so beautifully written…thank you for sharing this!
My mentor of years ago thought “it kinder” to say higher self, little self, less judgmental. Tthanks for sharing
I’m struggling with all the gentle debate over which words to use to describe how we get in touch with the sum total of our being and work to becoming our better selves. It doesn’t matter what we call it, first we must see what ought to be changed before we can embark on that journey. Maybe being a gemini makes it natural for me to assume multiple selves
, but I agree that there are multile levels of consciousness, and that it takes quiet reflection and some determination to reach hidden layers that go in hiding during the circus of da-to-day life. So I take the intended message to be: find the time and the will to uncover your hidden self, and together journey towards a higher plane.
Hi Rea,
I have read all the posts so far to this article. I have to say this is really enlightening. I go walking in a local state park twice a week. Usually it is a power walk, Briskly traipsing up and down hills and pathways for about an hour. I enjoy the solitude of the trails and the natural surroundings.
Today was different, I walked slowley for two hours, The park was deserted, nature was lively and my mind was needing peace. I looked at a waterfall that was dried up, The grass under the pines was brown and brittle. The pond in the middle of the park had a stagnate film over it, the stream feeding it had dried up about two weeks ago.
My first instinct was to try to do something about what I was seeing. Then I looked closer. The fish in the pond were still swimming, There was a water snake on the bank watching me as I passed. Squirrels were scampering along the railing of the path.
I sat down on a bench and thought about my connection to all of this, while listening to cicadas singing in the trees. I realized I was home. Not physically, but speratually. Everything that is happening in our lives has happened before, maybe not to us but to someone. We are observers, there is no right or wrong in it. The fern closest to the water grows bigger than the one in the dried up stream.
We put our feet in others shoes to understand their situation and some times we miss place our own shoes along the way. Today, I found my shoes and walked in them with my head held high understanding that I am not alone and the world is truly a beautiful place.
I love your walk, tealpond! thanks for sharing it! the world is a beautiful place!