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The spiritual Self is often depicted as the opposite concept of the ego-self.
But if we see the spiritual Self as our true nature, then it is a fundamentally different paradigm than the ego (what we usually consider to be us).
So let me start by saying, there is a lot of information in the spiritual marketplace and a lot of it is noise (at least in the context of waking up from the dream).
Similarly, there are a zillion different definitions of spiritual awakening and enlightenment. And because spirituality in itself is an evasive concept, we can do with it what we want.
In that spirit, here I take the idea of a spiritual Self and define it as our true nature.
I’m saying this as a reminder to always think for yourself. Don’t take anyone’s truth for the absolute truth, including what I’m saying here. After all, we’re talking about something that can only be danced around and never explicitly stated.
Anyway, back to the topic.
Calling the spiritual Self a self is somewhat misleading because it implies that it’s like a spiritual personality you can assume (whatever that might mean for you).
The truth is that the spiritual Self or true Self is No-self. To be even more accurate, there is no spiritual Self, there is only Spirit.
The ego has a funny little trick where it takes concepts that try to describe something beyond it and make it about itself. So when we try to identify with some kind of spiritual self, it’s really just the ego that has put on a “spiritual” costume.
This is not to say that the true Self (I’ll use true and spiritual Self interchangeably throughout this article) cannot be known.
But What About The Soul?
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius.
Sure, we can say the soul exists.
But if we’re talking about the spiritual Self or true Self, the soul has not much to say about this.
And if we’re really honest here, many of us talk about the soul but really mean glorified ego. We can often see this in New Age spirituality where people use the soul to justify their egoic attachments.
It’s understandable.
Most of us cling to our sense of individuality. The special snowflake in a sea of snowflakes is a very enticing story we like to tell ourselves.
And the soul is like the uber special multicolored snowflake.
It almost sounds like I’m making fun of the soul, and believe me when I say, I am (in a friendly quirky way though).
All jokes aside, inside the dualistic dreamworld a soul can exist like everything else. But if we draw away the curtain we will see that the whole dream is projected onto an infinite screen.
The dream, which includes the world, other people, you, the soul, and about everything else you can think of, is simply an appearance on the screen, it doesn’t really exist.
And this screen is the spiritual Self aka your true Self aka No-self.
The Spiritual Self is Not a Concept
The first order of business is to know that you can’t understand the true Self with the construct you want to understand it with, which is the ego-mind.
Many teachers and gurus make us believe that lifetimes of dedicated spiritual practice are necessary. Yet, ironically, to know the spiritual Self no spirituality is necessary.
Why?
Well, because spirituality is a concept created by the mind. It’s a fun way to amuse the mind.
But to know who or what you really are you have to see that the mind is also just a concept.
The true Self, however, is not a concept (if we look beyond the words, that is).
Knowing or rather being the spiritual Self has nothing to do with understanding something or assuming a new personality but has everything to do with seeing through all personality.
Your true nature is infinite and any label you slap on infinity inevitably makes it something else.
You cannot discover the true Self the way you would find out what flower you are in a Facebook test. You have to be willing to discard everything that is in the way to the true Self, which is everything (including Facebook tests claiming to know what flower you are).
Yet knowing who you really are doesn’t mean that everything that makes up your illusionary self will disappear. It means that you’ll recognize that all thoughts, emotions, ideas, and beliefs didn’t ever refer to anyone.
You’ll recognize that everything appears and disappears on the untouchable screen of pure Awareness/Consciousness, which is the true Self, which is No-self, which is You.
From this, we can also deduce that there are no multiple spiritual selves, there is just one and this one is none, which is the same for everyone.
Now, discovering this has nothing to do with purifying or elevating your consciousness.
You simply have to take a hard honest look at reality.
How to Know The Spiritual Self
“The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a ‘thing’ seen). It cannot be seen by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is Truth.” – Wei Wu Wei
Whatever appears in your experience, see if you can find anyone who is having the experience. Where does the appearance come from? Is there anyone directing all of this?
You only need to look honestly and you’ll see that there is actually no one doing anything. Appearances are arising and subsiding. Everything simply is.
This is the extraordinary ordinary realization of your true nature:
No one’s home.
Knowing the spiritual Self is not a fantastic mystical experience.
Knowing your true Self means being your true Self, which you already are right now.
It’s ordinary because it’s nothing new. It’s not an experience because it’s the infinite screen on which finite experiences appear. Infinity cannot be experienced because any experience by definition has a beginning and an end.
So, whatever you think is blocking your realization of the spiritual Self is the point you can inquire into.
When you, for instance, believe there is an experience you need to have, inquire if there is anyone who can have the experience.
You cannot experience your true Self from the vantage point of the illusionary separate self (ego). You have to see that the ego is a mirage.
After you’ve seen this, then what is left? Exactly.
No experience, knowledge, wisdom, practice, or purification is necessary.
Oh and the cool thing is you only have to see it once because what is seen cannot be unseen.
How Do You Know You Know The Spiritual Self?
Leaving any views and opinions on enlightenment and self-realization aside, to see the truth of the spiritual Self or No-Self takes seconds.
There is only one step from not-knowing to knowing.
It is really just the recognition that no one’s running the show. Whenever you feel like you are running the show, look directly at the feeling. Why do you associate the feeling with you?
This sense of separate self always appears when emotions and thoughts come together. But if you take an honest look, it falls apart.
When you first see this, you’ll most likely laugh your ass off at how obvious and anti-climatic it is.
Also, you most likely won’t be a completely different person. After all, this is less about self-improvement and more about self-annihilation.
There may, for some time, still be the same thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with the difference that you no longer believe the story the mind is telling.
You may forget at times but you never believe the old story again.
You know that there is no one to whom the story refers and hence everything won’t feel as sticky anymore. This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re done. Yet, I’m reluctant to say that this is the same for everyone.
For some, full Understanding might happen in a flash, without any conscious desire, for others, it might be more like scraping of attachments.
Nonetheless, with time, attachments and conditioning will start falling away.
And with attachments out of the way, you will recognize that you’re an integrated part of life and always have been.
Finally, you’ll know that you have always been the spiritual Self having pretended you’re not (even now while perhaps still pretending). You don’t need to fix or improve yourself.
So relax and reduce the importance of it all. You are already what you are and can never be anything else, so what’s the problem?
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“The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened.” – Ramana Maharshi
Luka
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