Uncover the Deepest Level of the Self
You exist on many levels. On the most superficial level, you are your physical body. Some would say the physical body has attributes like consciousness, thoughts, emotions and feelings.
On a bit deeper level, you are a personality that is beyond the body. The body is just a vehicle.
Some people are most likely to define themselves by their work. Others, by their relationships with family and friends. Still others by their belief systems, their religion, their politics, and so on.
Now you may understand all of this, but that is not enough. Take a moment to reflect and to be honest with yourself. Who are you? How do you define yourself? Do not answer based upon a philosophy that you hold to be true. Do not answer based upon what you think you should believe or intellectually know. Answer based upon what you feel. Answer based upon how you live your life on a daily basis. Answer based upon what you feel and experience from within your own life, not based upon what you have been told.
On what level of life do you put most of your energy? What level are you invested in? To find the answer, do not just think, but feel. How you live your life could be called your identity. What level of life are you most identified with?
Now, there are many more levels to you than the ones mentioned so far. We often build a narrative of our lives that we summarize when meeting new people from the first time. We identify with that level of ourselves as we function in the world, but there are much deeper levels to explore. Your being exists beyond your thoughts and emotions. Take a moment to feel into that. Who are you?
What are you that lies beyond thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and the “story” of your life? What part of you lies beyond all of that?
It is quite normal and healthy for your attention to move from one level to the next. Sometimes your attention is mostly on your body. Sometimes your thoughts, sometimes emotions, sometimes the activity you are engaged in. At each moment, your ‘self’ is related to on a different level. That is fine. But there is a particular level that you identify with as ‘you’ most of the time and put most of your life force into. What level is that? Ponder this, but do not think you have to have an exact answer.
The value of the question is in the pondering of it, not in the answering of it.
Now, there is a level beyond all the levels we have discussed so far. It is the Transcendental basis of all the other levels — not only of you as an individual, but of all life and all things. Just as the earth is the basis and the essence of all plants, trees and flowers that grow in its soil, the one Transcendent is the basis, the essence, of everything. It is who you really are. The eternal you. The you that lies beyond space, time, thoughts, emotions, and the story we tell others about ourselves. It is the source of infinite bliss, harmony, intelligence, love, wisdom, and yet it lies beyond all of those things. It is pure Is-ness. It is one with all that is. You sense it inside yourself, even if you’ve never defined it or given it a name.
In the state of enlightenment, this is what you know your Self to be. This is what you rest into, like an automobile resting in its idle state. The engine is always running. It is always there. But the awareness naturally rests into that.
Life is all about your relationship with all things in life. Know your relationship with the Self for whatever it is. Then you come to understand it. Then you evolve it. This is a natural process. Proper meditation and reflection move it along much more quickly, by allowing you to feel more and more who you really are. As you understand yourself more deeply, you see how you are not only fine, but Divine. You get to know more and more your true nature and your full potential.
In the state of enlightenment, you can still act with passion on all levels of life. But you are no longer lost to your identity. You are in the world, but not of it. This is not an attitude or philosophy or belief. It is a state of consciousness, a state of physiology. You simply see the world as it truly is. The deepest mystery of life is simply self-evident, obvious. You spontaneously and naturally live your life accordingly.
Dr. Michael Mamas is the founder of The Center of Rational Spirituality, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the betterment of humanity through the integration of ancient spiritual wisdom with modern rational thought. From personal issues to global trends, Dr. Michael Mamas helps individuals and organizations develop a deeper understanding and more comprehensive outlook by providing a ‘bridge’ between the abstract and concrete, the Eastern and Western, and the ancient and modern. Dr. Michael Mamas has been teaching for 35 years (including in the U.S., India, Europe, and Canada) and writes on a variety of subjects on his blogs, MichaelMamas.net and DrMichaelMamas.com.
