True Self or Super Ego?

[zeitgeist]

We always talk about the True Self, the higher institution inside us which is permanently connected to the universe. How can we separate this voice from the super ego, i.e. Freud's concept of the deep-seated biases that we receive from our our parents, society and culture?

Let me give you an example: I had some receding hair line, so I got a hair transplant done a while back. It is a minor operation and actually worked out quite well. In any case, one day before the operation, I banged my foot into a door such that I could hardly walk for almost one week. I happen to be very well-coordinated, so these things just don't happen to me. On top of that, the injury miraculously vanished exactly at the same time when my scalp had healed. I conjectured that my True Self wanted to give me the lesson that "you are not your body" and promptly cancelled my follow-up operation.

Perhaps it was a message from a higher institution, perhaps not. The alternative is that I was just ashamed as our culture still sometimes frowns on plastic surgery. My super ego was quite well articulated by my mother. When she heard about the upcoming operation she said, "My son, these are your genes, you should accept who you are!" You see the alternative view point, I may have run into the door because my subconscience wanted to tell me that I should not go against our cultural norms. How do we know? Any ideas how we can separate the alleged True Self from our subconscious desires and fears?

Reflections

[MiBeloved]

I will explain this from a different perspective, being that of splitting your life into two parts, having to do with your social facets and your spiritual facets. Both of these have to be balanced in one way or the other. Some people try to equalize these and others try to make the spiritual more of a priority than the social, while most people just forget about the spiritual and tend to the social only, because that is the most easy thing to do.
More or less, Jesus taught a good lesson in this regard when he made the statement about giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s. People, who are into spiritual life, usually want to make their entire life spiritual or they want to sanctify everything about their life. Some go so far as to believe that this can be done.
I feel it is a more honest thing to just partition out our life into two parts, the social and spiritual parts and then to just decided how much you are going to give to Caesar (to use that term), and how much you are going to give to the spiritual side.
So here is the split.
So my head is balding badly and my wife does not like how it looks, and also at work some people have dropped remarks about how I should brush myself up and get a hair piece so that I can look more presentable to the public when I represent the company.
On the other side of my life, on the spiritual side, I am inspired with the idea that it does not matter if I fix my baldness. That has nothing to do with my spiritual self. That is my body. It does not affect my spiritual self. So therefore I should not pay any attention to it nor waste; money getting implants and other treatments. I should give it no mind.
This spiritual jargon sounds very good but it is nonsensical because unless I can give up my job and not have to depend on that employer who feels that I need to brush-up my appearance, I cannot have just the spiritual side. I will have to give the social or material side its due if I want to benefit from it by getting a salary.
So this is what I mean by a balance. You cannot have a good salary from a materialistic way of life and be totally callous to the materialistic way of thinking. You have to be honest with everything. So it makes sense to give to Caesar what is Caesar as Christ said.
If you are going to use the road that Caesar built, then don’t try to tell him that you are going to pay a toll to your church or your God and that will be enough for using the road. That will not work.
But if you can decrease your use of Caesar’s road, then it is alright to decrease the amount of money you pay for tolls.

A little meditation might help to get your priorities in order:

https://www.createspace.com/Customer....do?id=3380228
Amazon:
Amazon.com: Meditation Pictorial: Michael Beloved: Books

[zeitgeist]

Interesting, I have never thought about this split. I would think one should look never for living a life where one never has to make a compromise between spiritual and worldly. If your job doesn't permit it, find a more fulfilling one. What do you think?

Zeitgeist

[MiBeloved]

I agree about finding a more fulfilling one but that is not always possible. Those of us who can do so, should.

[spacedout]

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

We always talk about the True Self, the higher institution inside us which is permanently connected to the universe. How can we separate this voice from the super ego?

Your question is one that has plagued seekers for literally thousands of years. Fortunately, there is a common theme which gives the answer. The common theme has come in many different texts and in many different languages over the years. The answer appears in such writing as the Vedas, the Upanishads, Bhagavid-Gita, Yoga Sutras, The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Dhammapada, the Qur'an and others.

"When you know yourself you will then by known, and then you will know that you and the father are one," Jesus. Your self is the ego, so you must know who you are before you can transcend the ego (the self). Knowing the self is not easy but it can be done through meditation and self observation. It takes time and it takes work. The True Self is the Witness. When you are capable of witnessing the ego (the self) you will then know that you are one with the Divine.

www.pureawareness.info

[GuideMySpirit]

It's good that you are starting to notice the sign and little messages that are shown to you all the time. Personally the way it will come is through deep meditation, discipline, consistency, and to just have faith in your Higher Self rather then trying to tackle every problem by your 'self'.

You must look at the world in a universal way rather then a separate illusion. Eventually you will begin to notice more significant signs such as 777, or 333 which represent certain key answers to your everyday life.

[p0rkytso]

Hi,

Interesting read... at times I think we all have somewhat of an attachment to the materialistic world and what matters most isn't the fact that we want to look or be perceived a certain way. Rather, It's about if you are "happy" with the choices you make/made.

It's great that you can acknowledge that your higher self has given you a sign through alternative means; not everyone would come to conclusion that signs/events that occur would be related to higher self.

I think if i was in your shoes and the same situation had happened to me; i'd take it as a reminder rather than be weighed down about making an in-proper/uncertain choice.

Life's a constant stepping stone, may it be major or minor changes to our physical life; as long as we remain aligned with our soul, the soul is the all knowing and all seeing source of our life.

I don't think my response made any sense but i hope it gave some sort of insight to your situation hehe

[spacedout]

Originally Posted by spacedout

Your question is one that has plagued seekers for literally thousands of years. Fortunately, there is a common theme which gives the answer. The common theme has come in many different texts and in many different languages over the years. The answer appears in such writing as the Vedas, the Upanishads, Bhagavid-Gita, Yoga Sutras, The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Dhammapada, the Qur'an and others.

"When you know yourself you will then by known, and then you will know that you and the father are one," Jesus. Your self is the ego, so you must know who you are before you can transcend the ego (the self). Knowing the self is not easy but it can be done through meditation and self observation. It takes time and it takes work. The True Self is the Witness. When you are capable of witnessing the ego (the self) you will then know that you are one with the Divine.

Pureawareness.info. Pure Awareness

I would like to add to my answer above that when the True Self has been exposed and is capable of being the witness of the ego it doesn't matter if you get a hair transplant or not. The self (ego) will do what it normally does, becasue it's on automatic anyway, and the True Self is simbly is the observer of whatever is going on with no thought as to whether it is good or bad. The True Self doesn't care one way or the other and has no feelings as to what the ego does. When you understand that you are the higher Self and not the ego (self) you have transcended the ego. In other words, you still have an ego but you are not the ego. Does this make any sense?

[zeitgeist]

Originally Posted by spacedout

I would like to add to my answer above that when the True Self has been exposed and is capable of being the witness of the ego it doesn't matter if you get a hair transplant or not. The self (ego) will do what it normally does, becasue it's on automatic anyway, and the True Self is simbly is the observer of whatever is going on with no thought as to whether it is good or bad. The True Self doesn't care one way or the other and has no feelings as to what the ego does. When you understand that you are the higher Self and not the ego (self) you have transcended the ego.

What you describe makes a lot of sense for many people. But, in my experience, there comes a point in the spiritual evolution when you are slowly sucked into a vortex and you suddenly cannot help doing what has become your destiny. All ego moves are negated with ever increasing force until you cannot help surrendering to the higher force in control. If I recall correctly, God said this in Neal Walsh's Conversations as well, you can delay your calling, but in the long run you just have no other choice.

[spacedout]

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

Any ideas how we can separate the alleged True Self from our subconscious desires and fears?

Reflections

It looks like you already know the answer to your question. If you (the True Self) can recognize the desires and fears then you already know the difference.