Who Are We Really?
From the “Life is Meant to Work” Teleseminar
The term false or substitute persona is what I use instead of what is normally thought of as the Ego, and comes from a different perspective. The ego is generally thought of as an aspect of human beings, inherent in who we are. People are thought of as having a strong or weak ego, which describes how strong their sense of self is, their sense of importance or self-worth. A person who is described as egotistic is thought to be arrogant or self-centered, in other words, too involved with their self.
The false persona, on the other hand, is the sense of self that is created and built upon in the process of making limiting decisions*. It is simply a construct, and is not who the person really is. However, people generally believe it to be who they really are, and generally experience this process of building up the false self as building strength or effectiveness for functioning in reality, out in the world.
When limiting decisions* are made, we start making distinctions we never had before we made the limiting decisions*. For instance, if you made the limiting decision* you are powerless, then the issue of feeling powerless or powerful becomes something you focus on. The issue of whether you do or don’t feel powerful was never something you thought about before you made the decision. You were just simply in your power. Or if you made the limiting decision* that you were not valuable, your value then becomes an issue of focus.
Before you made the limiting decision*, your focus was, instead, on relating directly to life, propelled and motivated by your enlightened self-interest. You were functioning from your empowerment, not focusing on it. When you are focusing on the issue of whether you are powerful or not, feeling empowered then becomes the point of your life, rather than life itself. You have now created a buffer between you and your direct experience. You are focused on building your false persona, for the purpose of compensating for not feeling powerful.
At the same time, this process of diverting our attention to the areas of our limiting decisions* has an important purpose in our evolution, because, on the soul level, we make limiting decisions* in the areas of particular interest to us. And so, in the case of having made a decision we are powerless, it immerses us in the experience of feeling powerless, focusing on the issue of power, getting into power-struggles, and so on. And so while it seems to be a divergence from actually living life, it is an exploration into an area of great interest to you as a soul, which you never would have explored and gained so much experience about if you hadn’t made the limiting decision*. And so making the limiting decision* and developing the false persona are important parts of our evolutionary path. But the false persona is not who we inherently are.
From my perspective, the concept of the ego as representing an aspect of who we are, is an outdated concept. It is connected with the idea that our physical body and personality are who we are, and that, as such, it needs to be bolstered and supported. I believe this to be the wrong focus. It distracts us from actually participating and engaging in life. Our physical body is, instead, a vehicle for the expression of who we are, not who we actually are. Our body, and the substitute persona we develop as a part of the limited human experience on earth, are ways of interacting on earth and engaging in our evolutionary process of moving from the physical to the divine, and integrating the two.
The soul essence is who we really are, and the more in touch with it we are, the more effectively it is able to use the physical vehicle to express itself. The focus of what is real isn’t on the vehicle, but on the expression that is coming through it. And that expression affects the vehicle — how it looks, how it feels, its impact on others, and its fundamental well-being. The focus of that expression is on whatever is its enlightened self-interest in the process of engaging in life.
*Limiting decision: A decision made in early childhood that is some form of deciding that life doesn’t work, and usually that there is something inherently wrong with you — such as “I am powerless,” “bad,” “without value;” or “The world is a dangerous place,” “People can’t be trusted,” and so on.
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