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Meditation
- Spirituality - Self Realization- Enlightenment
Who
Am I? What Does It Mean To Be Human?
Nasrudin, the wise
fool of Sufi tales, went to the bank one day to cash a check,
and the teller asked him to identify himself. He whipped a
mirror out of his pocket, looked at himself, and said, "Yep,
that's me all right."
We might whip out a driver's license
instead of a mirror, but our sense of who we are may go no
deeper than Nasrudin's. We seldom ask ourselves, Who am I?
What does it mean to be human?
Know Thyself
Throughout our history we Westerners have attempted to know
ourselves, as the Delphic oracle advised. In the Middle Ages,
we developed a theory of "humors" supposed to determine
our physical and psychological types. More recently some of
us have explored the subconscious that Freud uncovered, full
of our worst qualities, or the wider unconscious with heroic
and wise potentials that Jung discovered, or even the transpersonal
consciousness beyond our separate personal concerns that has
been more recently probed in the West.
The Ancient or Timeless Wisdom called
Theosophy has long presented a more precise and detailed understanding
of the full range of human nature than modern psychology has
yet imagined. Yoga philosophy, Tibetan Buddhism, and the teachings
of ancient Egypt are just a few traditional sources for the
expanded view of human nature found in modern Theosophy.
You may easily recognize aspects of
yourself in the Theosophical description of human nature,
and you may find other aspects that you only dimly sense in
yourself. For example, many people have intimations that they
are more than the everyday self--intimations of immortality,
the poet William Wordsworth called it. Within each of us is
a core, an eternal spark, the "atman" or Self, the
Christ within, or Buddha Nature which is one with the divine
Ground of being that we call God. We express this inner core
in the world through powers that our life experiences gradually
activate.
The powers, or capacities and abilities
by which we express our inmost Self, are called principles
in Theosophical literature. We can think of them in two groups,
one oriented largely to the outer world and more ephemeral,
called the personality; and the other deeper, more inward,
and more enduring, called the individuality. Expressions such
as "I wasn't myself" or "I was beside myself"
show an intuitive sense that we have both an outer or "lower"
and an inner or "higher" self. The Ancient Wisdom
makes this insight explicit.
The Personality
In the first set of principles, or personality, you can easily
recognize yourself, for it is what we usually identify as
"myself," consisting of the most familiar aspects
of our nature. Though it is sometimes called the "lower"
self, it is not inferior to any other part, just as low C
is not inferior to high C on the piano. They are both necessary
parts of a whole.
The personality consists of the physical
body (both the dense part we are all familiar with and a subtler
part called the "vital double" associated with the
energy that flows through it), the emotions, and part of the
mind.
Body, double, and vitality,. When you
feel tired or "low energy," your flow of vital energy
is low. When you feel energized and alive, the flow is strong.
The body has around and all through it an energy field called
the vital or "etheric" double or body. This field
is energized by the life force that the Hindus call "prana,"
the Chinese "chi," and Western psychologists "libido."
This force is a universal energy in all living things, whose
proper flow is essential for life and health.
Emotions. Emotions, feelings, desires,
and passions can be very powerful forces, and they tend to
have great swings. Sometimes we are enthusiastic and excited
about life. At other times we are depressed and lethargic.
We may be angry, sad, affectionate, joyous, all within a short
time span. Our bodies are surrounded and interpenetrated by
a field of emotional energies in addition to the vital double.
Emotions course through this field, sometimes threatening
to overpower us.
Personal mind. The aspect of the mind
that is included in the personality is closely connected with
the physical brain, and so is also called the brain mind,
or the concrete mind because it sees specifics, being down-to-earth
and practical, or the "lower" mind because it is
closer to the world around us. Through its powers we make
schedules, find directions, solve practical problems, and
organize our everyday lives.
The personal mind is also the "monkey mind" that
continually jumps about from one thing to another, as you
probably noticed if you have tried to meditate. It is the
seat of stereotypes, automatic defenses, rigid ways of reacting
without regard to the uniqueness of a situation, and conditioning
of all types. For example, if a person of another race or
culture is abrupt with us, we may feel hostile toward the
whole group with whom we identify that person. We act from
such habits and conditioning more than we realize.
The Individuality
Can you conceive of yourself without your body, emotions,
and "monkey mind"? Would anything be left? We use
the energies and powers of the personality constantly and
usually think that is what we are. However, sometimes we touch
another, deeper level of our being, for example, when we are
inspired and lifted out of ourselves.
When we are completely lost in appreciation
of nature, or in a work of art or music, or in religious devotion,
we can be lifted to a higher sense of who we are. This "standing
out" of our everyday self (which is what the word ecstasy
means etymologically) can also happen as a result of selfless
love, compassion, and sympathy. The spiritual will or intention,
which gives us a sense of direction, is also an aspect of
the individuality. One way to become open to this aspect of
ourselves is through meditative and contemplative experiences
in which the mind becomes still and in-turned, rather than
pulling us outward.
The individuality has also been called
the "higher" or immortal Self, the soul, and the
reincarnating Ego. It consists of another group of principles,
including an aspect of mind that is abstract because it deals
with generalities and universals.
Impersonal mind. The personal or "lower"
brain mind is conditioned by our experiences and is constantly
changing because of the influence of its experiences in the
world. The impersonal, "higher," or abstract mind
deals, not with sensory data, but with the universal principles
that underlie the way we respond to sensory data. Mathematics
and symbols that stand for a whole class of things call on
higher, impersonal thought. The impersonal and personal minds
are not separate entities, however. Rather, the personal mind
is how the impersonal mind works through the brain during
an incarnation. Both are aspects of one mind, manas in Sanskrit.
Intuition. You may have found yourself
puzzling over a problem or idea. Then you drop it and, without
warning, insight dawns. This is an example of the intuition
working through the mind. Sudden insight or illumination is
a characteristic of the intuition or buddhi, as it is called
in Sanskrit. Buddhi also gives rise to a sense of unity, whether
with another person, with nature, with the planet, the cosmos,
or with the Divine.
Spiritual intention. The principles
of intuition and abstract mind are directed by the spiritual
intention or will, an aspect of atman, the Self or divine
spark, that focuses our energies on long-range spiritual goals
and gives us a sense of direction from deep within. We may
sense this function of the self when we hold a strong intention
for a long time, as when a graduate student postpones personal
gratifications or we persist in spiritual practices over the
years.
The principles are not separate parts
of us. Rather they are aspects of the one Self within us.
They are ways the whole expresses itself in the world. They
are like the colors of the rainbow that emerge from the white
light of spirit or atman, the inner spark that is one with
the Divine.
Our Long Journey
"Atman is Brahman" is an Eastern expression that,
like the Christian "I and my Father are one," expresses
the important concept that we are one with the Divine. Atman,
the Divine within, is the very core of our being from which
all the principles emerge, and it is also the divine Ground
that sustains and upholds the universe. We travel from our
home in atman into the world to gain experience and return
enriched by the journey.
Myths and fairy tales about journeys
often depict our sojourn into the personality and body and
our return to our home in atman. The story of Tom Thumb is
one of them.
Tom's father was a tailor and his mother
spun thread. The thread represents the unformed substance
from which the cosmos is woven, and the fabrics fashioned
by the tailor are the forms made from this thread. Thus Tom's
parents symbolize atman or the divine essence from which everything
emerges in its complementary male/female aspects.
Tom is "no bigger than your thumb."
Atman is described in the Upanishads as "greater than
the great," that is, universal, but also as "smaller
than the small," a point of the Divine buried in the
heart of every living being. Tom was born prematurely, just
as we are unformed and inexperienced as we embark on our spiritual
journey. Tom is eager to leave home and parents and see the
world, as we are eager to embark on a life of experience.
During his adventures, Tom is swallowed
by a cow, an earthy symbol that represents taking on a physical
body. He also falls in with thieves and is swallowed by a
fox or a wolf, traditional symbols for greed and gluttony
that symbolize over-attachment to the physical world. However,
Tom also guides a horse by whispering into its ear, which
suggests that in time he takes command of the physical body.
Eventually Tom returns to his home and parents, a wiser boy
than when he left.
The pilgrim soul in us that journeys
through the material worlds is atman as a point in the Divine,
clothed in a fine sheath of buddhi. These two combined are
called the monad. As they embark on their journey, they become
embedded in the field of manas, the impersonal mind. Throughout
the long pilgrimage these three remain in union as the individuality,
and they become reflected in the world. Like Narcissus in
the Greek myth, the individuality becomes infatuated with
its reflection, the personality, forgetting who it truly is.
We as the individuality, or atma-buddhi-manas,
project many personalities over long periods of time. Reflected
in these personalities, we are faced with challenges and opportunities
that develop our principles and capacities more and more fully.
The capacities we unfold persist in our individuality as we
evolve and express them in the world. Nothing we gain is ever
lost, though it may be inactive for a time.
Finally we begin to sense the purpose
of our long journey through many lives. People who are interested
in finding the meaning of life through a study such as Theosophy
are beginning to turn homeward. The desire to work with our
spiritual purpose arises, and we feel moved to develop ourselves
deliberately and to live in greater harmony with the highest
within us. Like Tom Thumb, we head toward our home in atman.
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Important
Note:
Opinions
expressed on this page must be viewed as the ideas of an ordinary
student of meditation. While I truly believe
everything I say, you should not believe anything unless you
see it, feel it, and know it for yourself. I make no claims
of infallibility. In fact I absolutely claim fallibility.
*
Remember that meditation is an escape to
reality, not an escape from reality. Avoid
any guru or group that asks you to deny truth. Take the best
and leave the rest.
* Don't limit yourself to just one teacher. It will always
be better to know different ideas before reaching any conclusion
or that what we call bilateral thinking,
always see things from different angle, different perspective.
The single guru approach can lead to cult thinking with its
small mindedness and us vs. them syndrome.
It
is a mind that is unprejudiced by religion, philosophy, and
cultural conditioning. It is going naked in the stars.
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