'The greatest freedom is the freedom to be the Self'
FreedomIt has taken the major part of my adult life so far, to unravel and unlearn most of what I was taught and absorbed about myself and my world since birth. I now offer my experience, learning and understanding to assist others to re-discover themselves and enjoy richer and fuller lives.
As babies, then young children, we are sensitive and inquisitive beings. Initially full of joy and wonder, we very quickly learn the skills necessary to survive the environment in which we find ourselves. If you were not received into the world at birth with unbounded love and joy, you will know about it. Our parents’ thoughtlessness or unconscious behaviour can be experienced as deeply hurtful and can affect us for the rest of our lives. They, in their time, may not have received unconditional love, nor had rôle models from whom to learn parenting skills. It was not their fault. They were just doing their best.
Busy and overwrought parents, often deprived of sleep, may soon pay less attention to the emotional and spiritual needs of the infant. The greatest of these is love and all parents will tell you that, of course, they love their children*. As children, we try to earn this parental love by pleasing them and fitting into who we think they want us to be. If we are not seen and celebrated for who we are, we feel rejected and undervalued by the very ones who love us, or so we are told. We learn to suppress our creativity and our very sense of who we uniquely and truly are. This can be so crushing, that we hide even from ourselves.
When so much of the true Self is hidden, the void is filled by the mind, manifested as Ego to the extent that we come to believe we must be our minds. There are countless other sources around us to reinforce this belief. Authority figures and the mass consciousness of the society and culture in which we live all contribute.
Rediscovery of my unique and original Self has taken many years and a colourful journey. I always knew, even as a small child, that I was a Soul or Self and expressed myself through a body and not that I was a body that had an external Soul, as I had been taught. Whenever I ventured to express this, I would be ridiculed or told I was wrong. If a parent or teacher continually tells a child he is wrong, he will eventually accept it.
However much the Self is hidden or suppressed, it cannot be extinguished. There is always a flame. The Pilot Light. This flickering, sometimes seemingly fragile, insignificant flame is the eternal connection to the Source of Being. It is the knowing within each and every one of us that tells us ‘there is more’. When we begin to realise that we are more than our minds and bodies, when we begin to Self-realise, then we can accept our own brilliance and be who we truly are. All the ‘Aha!’ moments and realisations start connecting to what we always knew and the hidden Self emerges from inner spirit into its expression in conscious life. This is because I, the Self, chose to live in a body on a planet. This latent potential within us all, is really the growth or re-growth into the Original Self. The desire or spiritual guidance back to the Self offers a potentially much more loving, fulfilling and abundant life experience.
The transition from unconscious mind-driven egoic slumber into the fully present Self is a unique journey for each of us. It is a journey many choose not to take or are never aware of and that is OK. Many more seek and yet do not find. That is OK too. It is a choice, a journey, and none is better or worse than another. The fully present human is not superior to the unconscious slumberer. They have just made a different choice. The difference is the state of Presence. It is the capacity and the extent of availability of the Self.
Presence indicates psychological maturity and good mental health. It is the capacity to be fully aware of internal and external events in the moment without being impacted. It enables us to respond to the event rather than react. It enables us to see what is really in front of us, so that we can make calm heart-felt choices. If we are really present as the Self, we can drop right into the heart level and respond with love directly for the greatest good of all concerned.
There are many distractions through the mind into what we are not, through identifications, preoccupations and attachments. The concept of being present is well understood. However, the practice of maintaining constant, invariable, clear present consciousness is another matter.
Most people will have had at least a glimpse of this, but may not have fully understood what it was. It is a particular moment in time when the drag of the past and the pull of the future entirely dissipate and we are left in the pristine uncluttered fullness of now: We experience heightened awareness of ourselves. A great sense of aliveness and our mortality at the same time. Our insignificance in our supercluster, Laniakea and beyond. The experience of awe and wonder of the Universe. The great gift of life in a body on a planet and the joy and gratitude it evokes. Suddenly, anything and everything is possible and attainable if we just dare to ask; if we have the courage to step up and be all that we can be. If we can have this experience for a moment, how would it be to live the rest of our lives this way?
This condition of Presence is simply being the complete Self. Paradoxically, it puts us in a place of infinite beauty, serenity and grace that the mind finds incomprehensibly complex. However, Presence is experienced beyond the mind. As the experience of Being becomes effortless, the detail, texture, colour, sound and vibrancy amplifies and is greatly enriched. The senses are engaged to the fullness of their capacity. Whatever the external event, whether judged by the mind as good or bad, the experience in full Presence is true to the Self in that moment and fully connected to everything around.
When truly Present, we are being the essence of our Original Love and our vibrational frequency rises until we emanate this love back into the Universe. This heightens the connection to all life forces, kingdoms and species on our planet and beyond. We appreciate the beauty of our lives and honour all life around us. Our Oneness with the Universe is deeply felt and acknowledged. Even so, we become very aware of our uniqueness; our individuality and our Aloneness.
Aloneness is not to be confused with loneliness. The latter is a state of self-pity and neediness, driven by fear. Aloneness is guided by love in the joy of Being a separate eternal consciousness. This is not the same as being ‘left alone with our thoughts’. That is a construct of the mind, whereas Aloneness is beyond the mind. It is the experience of individually belonging to the Universe: A sense of being, of purpose, of contributive value in the scheme of things; an invaluable, priceless, essential component of The Whole.
In a state of emanation, we become immune to the expressed and unexpressed fears of others. Our very presence in the midst of others affects them. They feel the love and see the light. This can assist them to re-discover their own presence and contribute to healing. Some may fear this energy and run away, sometimes literally. This may be because they are overwhelmed in their mindful state and not ready to face the truth of their existence. They will have other opportunities when they are ready. Life is not a race and there are no medals to be won. It is more loving to assist and collaborate than to compete.
So, if you are ready and willing to step out and be all that you can be or even if you doubt whether you have the courage, assistance is available. It only takes a phone call or an email.
*Our misunderstanding and the corruption of true Original Love is the subject of another article.