What is the True Self?

Dearest Sensei: Can you please describe the True Self? This is Bob.

Hi Bob -What most people mistake as their selves is the outer shell, the Ego Self. It is created out of physical and social conditioning and is experienced as separate from our True Self. And while I’ve written about this in several books (https://www.asksenseitony.com/store), I will summarize here in brief:

• The True Self lies beneath the ego, and is our true nature and ground of our personal being. It is normally hidden, but can be experienced through the Way of Mindful Living.

• Because all things are ultimately interconnected, the True Self is mystically in communion with cosmic Oneness. Therefore, it is incredibly vast and deep, in contrast with the narrow vision of the Ego Self.

• I see the spiritual life as a kind of Rational Romanticism: The important thing in life is to personally connect with your True Self, and thereby with the Absolute, so that the Ego Self can be transmogrified through wisdom and compassion which is love.

• Therefore, the play of an individual is as an artist of life (holy diver). Thus, the unique individual expressing Oneness. Once the connection is made via the True Self, authenticity spontaneously pours through into the appearance of the physical world. A person is, therefore, a mediating presence on a hero’s mythical journey.

Ultimately, the relationship between the True Self and Ego Self is not a duality but a dynamic, resulting in the transpersonal transmogrification that we call, Buddha. It is both our divine destiny and present awakened Life.