Creating Yourself or Finding Your Self

There is a quote repeated quite often which in my experience epitomizes the most profound duality of humanity.  As we have free-will, I place no judgment as to right or wrong, good or bad, yet, before concluding this as an enlightened quote, we are wise to consider it’s implications.

“Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~ attributed to George Bernard Shaw

As this post has been misconstrued, so often, please allow me to clarify my experience upfront: The only self we create is the ego, an illusory and temporal identity and the ultimate cause of all suffering. To find one’s Self is the choice of surrendering one’s false identity in exchange for unveiling True Self, the Divine Self, our inherent Birthright and from whom all lasting treasures are unfolded.

We are inherently creative. The world accommodates us as a responsive ocean conforming to and reflecting our projections.

There are a few questions begging to be answered, however:

• If we have yet to experience our True identity, what makes us so sure we need to create ourselves? On what basis do we make this decision?

It is not from comparison. We can’t compare to what we have yet to uncover. And,

• If we have yet to know our True Self, upon what foundation do we create ourselves?

Humanity has been creating our-selves for eons. This is nothing new. We’re creating every moment, consciously or unconsciously. And, while advancements have been made, the current overall state of the world renders it questionable if creating ourselves has resulted in a favorable outcome.

One might argue that, in general terms, humanity creates by default without conscious attention to what one is creating. Before concluding we ‘know,’ let’s examine this a little closer.

The very notion of creating yourself is prefaced with the idea we know what is in our best interest. Haven’t we always felt we knew best for ourselves? Isn’t who we imagine ourselves to be right now – the one we want to change – already the result of having felt we knew best for ourselves?

Looking at it another way. Are we aware of every heartbeat? Every breath? Every expansion and contraction of every muscle? Are we aware of every thought we have every single day?

Awareness

The average person is estimated to have between 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. If we use 25,000 as a round-figure and exclude 8 hours of sleep, in 16 waking-hours we will have 1,562 thoughts per hour, or 26 thoughts a minute.

I don’t know about you, but in the moment it takes me to decide whether to pull my vehicle out at an intersection, I have more thoughts than I care to recall a moment later.

“…after the red car, no, the blue car is moving-up too fast, what’s the other direction look like, is that the sun reflecting off of something, she has pretty eyes, wow I’m glad that truck didn’t hit me, how long have I been waiting here, do I have my phone with me, GO NOW…”

You get the idea. And that is only what we are conscious of. What about everything that’s going on within us on an unconscious level? How can we be so sure we know so much?

Let’s dig a tad-bit deeper.

The perceived need to create ourselves is based in part upon the desire to have and/or be more in the future. Certainly we want to expand our abilities and express more of our innate gifts.

For many, underlying the desire to change is dissatisfaction with past and current circumstances, and who we’ve imagined ourselves to be thus far. In this instance, the recurring theme is an unfulfilling self.

Would it make sense to create ourselves, when dissatisfaction stems from imaging ourselves in the first place? If we create ourselves, are we expressing our True identity? Does a swan need to create themselves? Does our True identity need to be created?

We can choose anew and create a different life for ourselves. Definitely. We may create a better life than we had before. No question. In fact, we’ve most likely re-created ourselves many times-over.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” ~ Albert Einstein

Without attaching any value to it, what do you perceive as problems or challenges with today’s world?

You might find the woes result from a lack of integrity, ethic, honesty and transparency. Would an imagined self be an honest, transparent remedy?

The act of imagining one’s self requires hiding from being found out. Is that the integrity or ethic that we seek?

Again, without placing any attachment, what would you consider as the most consistent message being presented to you on a daily basis?

You might find it entirely founded upon separating one from another by age, race, gender, nationality, majority, minority, have’s or have-not’s, upper class, middle class, lower class, wealthy, poor, religious affiliation, political affiliation, left-wing, right-wing, moderate, conservative, extremist, traditionalist, blasphemous, conspiracy theorist, new-age, patriotic, unpatriotic, credentialed, lay-person, skinny, obese, celebrity, average, winner, loser, business, consumer, profit, loss, smoker, non-smoker, meat-eater, vegetarian, etc. etc. etc.

There’s a quaint little saying that goes something like this:

“United we stand. Divided we fall.”

Is our highest good being served by constantly being divided amongst ourselves? The entrainment of any consistent message has a psychological effect, and outward manifestation. A steady focus on differences ensures divisions between us so pronounced we may never unite with the recognition we are one human race imbued with inalienable rights.

The many far out-number the few. But, the few will retain control as long as the many are busy against one another. I’m just saying.

Allow me to offer the same is true for each of us. We cannot make ourselves whole by picking ourselves apart, focusing on faults, or creating new selves over previously imagined ones.

“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” ~ Albert Einstein

If we constantly re-create ourselves, apparently something remains missing.

Some would argue the whole purpose is to continue re-creating ourselves until we eventually get it right.

Please allow me to make a bold statement…

We won’t get it right, until we express our true nature, which is wholly dependent upon uncovering and unifying with our True identity. It is all of the imagined selves we’ve ever created which stand in the way.

Everything created rests on the foundation upon which it is built. If we’re not ‘founded’ upon our True identity, the ‘who’ we create will be as false as the one we’ve imagined as our current version.

If I may be allowed to make one last bold statement, albeit one you can prove for yourself.

If you would uncover your True Self, you would toss aside every idea of creating yourself as surely as a bad dream. Because, you will discover a far greater Self than anything you could possibly imagine creating for yourself.

Allow me to share this as an example.

In 1995 the mountains were calling and I set-out to find a little sanctuary. Since I ‘knew’ my highest good (yea right!), I was looking for a few acres of land with some form of housing. It didn’t need to be much. A cabin or cottage would suffice as it was only for a couple of years. But, I also didn’t want to place any limitations, so, 100 acres would be fine too.

Every day for six-months I reviewed the classifieds, line-by-line, rental and for-sell listings. I searched the internet such as it was back then, called real estate and rental agents.

Living in a valley surrounded by mountains, each day I drove up and down every single road of every nearby mountain on all sides. Then I expanded the search to more distance mountains.

Without finding anything affordable or promising, I considered these may be the wrong mountains. So, I loaded up the car and drove three days half-way across the country to New Mexico, up through Taos (beautiful) and into Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. While I did find a couple of nice places, something just didn’t feel right.

Yes, I considered this was new territory and perhaps out of my comfort zone. But that wasn’t it. Regardless of how beautiful it was, the energy just didn’t agree with me.

One night my youngest brother called. He was caring for my cat and dog while I was away, and something was wrong with my dog, Tiki. I arranged for her to be seen by an all-night veterinarian, and by mid-night I was headed back to Virginia.

By day-break, my brother called with news Tiki was doing much better. That was a huge relief. And, I noticed something else. It felt good to be headed back to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Okay, that part was settled.

Driving non-stop, I was entering into Virginia the next day when my brother called to inform me Tiki seemed as if nothing had ever been wrong. Surely she knew I was homeward bound. And, since she was doing better, I decided to stop-off to visit a native brother.

Bear often held Inipi ceremonies on Saturday nights. That’s a Native American purification ceremony, often referred to as a ‘sweat lodge,’ He was hosting one this evening, and so many folks had showed up it would require two ceremonies to accommodate everyone within the lodge, so he asked me to lead the second one.

Without getting into all the details, leading an Inipi carries responsibilities. You must remain hyper-aware of everyone within the lodge and their condition from moment to moment. It is complete darkness, and you need to forsake your own agenda for the well-being of everyone else. As such, the very beginning of the first-round would be the only opportunity I’d have before turning my attention to the responsibilities.

In short, I surrendered control of what my highest good might be, so True Self may guide me forward.

It didn’t take long. During the celebration feast following the ceremony, someone tossed a local trader magazine in front of me, which opened to a page with an ad staring me in the face of a secluded home for rent.

What did True Self come up with?

Imagine driving down a small paved-road in a rural area. To the left, you come upon a farm-like gated entrance with a one-lane driveway heading up a small hill of freshly growing hay.

Reaching the top of the hill the drive snake-curves through an old growth of trees. As you exit the trees on the other side, thinking you are on a small hill, you are met with a deep valley of 8,000 acres of undisturbed nature.

EIGHT THOUSAND ACRES!

Come on. I could never have dreamed that up for myself. It was beyond anything I could fathom.

On a moonless night, I could make my way along the driveway without headlights, relying only on starlight. There were 16 fresh-water-springs. The home had gravity-fed spring water, six fire-places, 4 wood-stoves and electric backup heat. The front porch was larger than my entire condo had been.

The master bedroom had huge windows on three sides, enabling me to sleep under moonlight and awaken to the first hint of light in the sky. Each morning and evening I was greeted by more than 50 wild turkeys and numerous deer, along with two blue heron which flew up-stream in the mornings, and returned down-stream each evening. Of course, many an evening chat with my owl friends as well

The point is this…

True Self held a vision of my highest good that was exponentially greater than anything I could have ever possibly imagined for myself.

I offer you to consider that the same is true for you. Your True identity holds a vision for you that will far exceed anything you can conjure up for yourself.

However, to experience it, requires surrendering the need to control, and handing the reigns over to the greater power and wisdom that dwells within you.

That is the real conflict we each face, reflected by humanity as a whole.

To surrender one’s need to control requires the ultimate Trust, for we must trust who we do not remember ourselves to be.

It’s time to re-member.

Each night this week after you’ve gone in bed, lay with your attention in your heart. Consider the qualities you would give Love. Then, without modesty or bashfulness, give yourself each of these qualities. And, gently drift asleep with the Love that you are.

En’ Lakésh,
GreatOwl

P.S. All of life loves you, I know ‘tis true. I feel it flowing through my heart, onward to you.

Copyright © 2009 – GreatOwl