We may learn about the false self, we may learn how to hide features of false self from others so that we seem genuine, but hiding and merely learning about are not the same thing as authentic transformation. And that's the challenging subject matter we tackle on today's episode.
The way of the false self is invested in your outer identity and what you possess, whereas the way of the true self is invested in who you are and what you can share. It’s not by efforting that I come to know my true self. The path of finding my true self begins with the awareness that I am “shadowed by an illusory person: a false self.”
First clearly see your false self. And begin the unmasking with deep grace and self-compassion. There are plenty of reasons we “mask up” in our early lives. And when we're ready to move beyond those masks, we have to be tender with ourselves in much the same way we can imagine the Source or God would love you unconditionally.
Time Stamps:
1:50: How today's episode is a little different from a lot of our episodes
5:42: How many people choose not to raise their level of awareness and how that development impacts the future you create one way or the other
7:43: The work isn't easy, but what else would you rather be doing exactly?
10:19: The ego resists when it gives something which it doesn't have, it's finite
16:27: Releasing the false self can be the key to finding the true self
22:34: Merton says we should shift from the circumference to the center
26:22: Story of Akiba on his deathbed bemoaning the fact that he had not lived a life like Moses
28:16: Shelley shares a personal story as an example, and Chad follows with one of his own
37:07: It's who you really are, your essential nature
46:04: The idea of dismantling false illusions, and how so much of this is the stress you're carrying around
Show Notes:
Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner
What the Mystics Know by Richard Rohr
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