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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > Spirituality

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  #1  
Old 19-07-2018, 03:20 PM
K1ng_L3ar K1ng_L3ar is offline
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The All vs the self

I hope I'm not the only one who's gotten tired of the term "higher self" or any phrase reinforcing the importance of the mythical pure ego. To me I think the Hermetic philosophers hit the nail on the head when they coined the term "the All" to describe not only G-d beyond us but also G-d who works through us and within us at the same time! Usually I refer to my "super ego" or "higher self" etc. simply as "my all". It came to me when I was watching an episode of America's Got Talent a few years ago. The contestants kept using the phrase along the lines of "I gave it my all" or "don't worry so long as you give it your all, you did your best" and so on. So for the last few years I've used the terms "my all" "your all" "their all" "our all" to describe what it's like living a post ego existence. I really like the term "my all" because it encapsulates perfectly and simultaneously the importance and movement of your life, your relationships, and your world. Beginning with the heart space all the way to your over soul. No part of you in the phrase "my all" even if it's above your immediate perception is expendable. Nor is any part of your environment expendable in the phrase "my all" because your environment is indeed a sign of your life. And the phrase also reminds us that YOU are as much part of the world of others as they are to you.
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  #2  
Old 19-07-2018, 07:26 PM
inavalan inavalan is offline
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We all have our beliefs, and our definitions of the words we're using.

It seems that in your model, you give your current incarnation and its environment more significance than others do. In my understanding, your "higher self" incarnated in "you" to have a physical experience, and to accomplish something. Your "higher self" does that over and over many-many times. It's like "your life" is a day of school, in many years of school. Some days matter more, some days matter less; only few, if any, are exceptional.
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  #3  
Old 19-07-2018, 08:33 PM
iamthat iamthat is offline
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Location: Golden Bay, New Zealand
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As inavalan says, we all have our beliefs and definitions and models of the human constitution.

I find the Alice Bailey model most useful - this regards the human being as a triplicity:

1. Spirit or Being - the All, unchanging and everywhere.
2. Consciousness or Soul - the Higher Self which repeatedly incarnates in form.
3. Personality - the mind and emotions expressing through the physical body.

So Consciousness or the Higher Self is not some mythical pure ego but a very real presence in every moment. Personality is the vehicle for Consciousness to experience form and learn from the limitations of life in form.

This model works for me.

Peace.
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  #4  
Old 19-07-2018, 08:46 PM
Starman Starman is offline
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The Tao says; "nothing in the universe is what we call it here on Earth."
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  #5  
Old 19-07-2018, 10:02 PM
weareunity weareunity is offline
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When sometimes thinking of trinity, my thoughts are drawn toward the completeness of the dancer, the dancing, and the dance. The singer, the singing, and the song. petex
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  #6  
Old 20-07-2018, 07:10 AM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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This is going to be a very personal tale.

I am a Bhakti Yogi, so I see 'God' as being totally separate from who/what I am, on any level that I could ever conceive of myself to be...because wherever there is conception or perception, the ego isn't too far behind.

This flies totally in the face of the beliefs and opinions of about 99% of people out there...but wherever there is a 'rule' there is always the 'exception to it' and I have spent my whole life being the sole exception to every rule there is.

At first, this really used to bother me that my 'beliefs' were totally different to everybody else's...but I guess this is what makes me totally unique and so, I have learned to accept it.

It was something Sadguru said the other day about Indian calendar art which drove this home to me.

I worship 'God' in the form of Lord Shiva...a totally separate being on every level from myself (and I do not care what others have to say about that). However, most of the images of Lord Shiva that I see look absolutely nothing like the visions I have personally seen...how He has appeared to me...nothing like it whatsoever!

First, he is not 'blue', he has pale skin, almost Caucasian or European. Secondly, he doesn't have brown eyes...his eyes are blue/green. Thirdly, he doesn't have chubby cheeks! he has a thin face and high cheekbones. Sadguru is correct when he said that in Indian Art, the template for the face of God is always the same!...put a flute in his hands, he becomes Krishna...put a bow and arrow in his hands, he becomes Rama...put a moon in his hair and a snake around his neck, he becomes Shiva...etc.

Then, a few years ago, I saw a picture an artist drew of Lord Shiva and I went...That's IT!....that is HIM! EXACTLY!!

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1b/32/4b/1...ea90263073.jpg

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I put my whole focus outside myself and go totally without instead of totally within when it comes to God and MOST people do it the other way around...I have this weird 'relationship' with Source, which is more like a relationship between lover and beloved than anything that is like "I AM the lover/beloved" because that just doesn't work for me....it may work for 'everybody else'...but I am not 'everybody else'.

Also, many do not understand this and they can't...just like how I can't understand where they are coming from and what they mean either.

All I know is that I have been spending too much time intellectualising and rationalising the nature of experience...the nature of consciousness...of love itself and it's not a question of going within my heart, but surrendering it to the God which is outside of it and to trust that he has 'got my back' and will take me wherever I need to go.
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  #7  
Old 20-07-2018, 09:41 AM
Lorelyen
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Yes. I think most people here use the term "higher self" really to mean principles to which they aspire rather than the real Self, stripped of all illusion and delusion. It isn't a term I use because the drive to spiritual development is to be those higher principles and be ready to review them en route to the Self.
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  #8  
Old 25-07-2018, 12:42 PM
kralaro kralaro is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shivani Devi
Then, a few years ago, I saw a picture an artist drew of Lord Shiva and I went...That's IT!....that is HIM! EXACTLY!!

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1b/32/4b/1...ea90263073.jpg
But this picture doesn't have blue on neck.
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  #9  
Old 25-07-2018, 12:58 PM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kralaro
But this picture doesn't have blue on neck.
Also doesn't have Gangadhara.

Maybe this was before Samudra Mathan...before the Halhala...

Maybe Shiv-ji can hide these attributes when the occasion calls for it...who knows?

I just resonate with that image much more than something like this:
https://fusion.werindia.com/wp-conte...ia-300x225.jpg

Pretty hard to see blue on neck when he is blue all over.

Also...he is fat in these photos, right?

What the artists keep forgetting when they make Shiva blue is this:

कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं
संसारसारम् भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।
सदावसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे
भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥


Karpuura-Gauram Karunna-Avataaram
Samsaara-Saaram Bhujage[a-I]ndra-Haaram |
Sadaa-Vasantam Hrdaya-Aravinde
Bhavam Bhavaanii-Sahitam Namaami ||

To me, he looks like an 'ordinary bloke'....well, an 'ordinary bloke' with Vasuki and Third-Eye and all that. lol

Also incredibly sexy - forgot that part.

I shall stop indulging now.
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  #10  
Old 26-07-2018, 05:31 AM
Joe Mc Joe Mc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by weareunity
When sometimes thinking of trinity, my thoughts are drawn toward the completeness of the dancer, the dancing, and the dance. The singer, the singing, and the song. petex

WB Yeats, the Irish poet, said something similiar in a poem called, Amongst School Children.

O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

Thanks.
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