PRIMORDIAL SELF
We begin this process by awakening what some call the original nature. I prefer the term primordial self. The primordial self is our truest self, completely natural, un-programmed by influences around us, thus void of ego and judgment. It is immutable, yet asleep in most of us, yearning to be awakened.
Just like the bamboo we discussed in the previous post, and everything else in nature, we as natural beings contain all of nature's knowledge, yet nothing more, nothing less. It is the untainted, uncontaminated nature within everything that exists. To what affect does this knowledge have on our lives? If it truly is the un tainted, uncontaminated nature within everything, everything also encompasses the infinite divine. This implies that we to possess the divine within us, and thus all that it is capable of. It also implies that it is available to anyone without regard to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or social status, giving us all equal footing next to one another, instead of opposed to one another.
It resides within the deepest recesses of your being as an embryonic form with all that is needed to awaken your primordial self. This embryonic form is obscured by illusions that you unconsciously and falsely recognize as truths for your life. The moment that these false realities are seen as illusions, the embryonic form of your primordial self begins to mature. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR AWAKENING!
SEEING THE ILLUSIONS OF THE CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORKS IN YOUR LIFE
Take a look around the room or space in which you are in right now. You notice that there is an up, down, left, and right. You recognize this as such because of the contextual framework of that room or space. For instance, the ceiling is up, the floor is down. That which is on your right side such as the book shelf is on the "right", and that which is on your left side such as the window is on the "left". This is the false reality that you are experiencing by the given contextual concept of the direction you are facing at this very moment. Now, turn around 180 degrees to your rear. Suddenly, that which was at your rear has become your front, and previously that which was on your right side, like the bookshelf mentioned previously, is now on your "left" and vise versa. Just a simple change of position, a change in the point of view alters what we first perceived as reality. So was the bookshelf on the right or the left? It was dependent upon the contextual framework you are presented with. So was it on both sides? There could be no title of the front without the rear, or no left without the right. These "titles" are illusions
Let us take this a step further and imagine that we are floating in deep space, the infinite space of the cosmos. Being infinite, it has no direction without having a reference point to work from (contextual framework). Remember, we said you were floating in deep space. you have no reference point. Which way is up, down, left, or right? We could have no absolute as we no longer have the contextual framework to create our reference from.
Much like the previous situations, the primordial self is obscured by the illusions of the titles we have placed upon ourselves. If I were to ask you "Who are you?" You would probably reply with things like, I am Bob, I am a son, I am a sister, a mother, a Christian, a plumber, a dancer, a manager. Or maybe some of you might reply, I am fat, I am ugly, skinny, emotional, angry, lazy, good for nothing. While some will even say, I am amazing, I am loving, kind, a good friend, a lover, beautiful, and honest.
In actuality, we all suffer from a case of mistaken identity. We even have physical I.D. cards to "prove" who we are. We have certificates to "prove" we were born and where we were born. I often laugh thinking about this as we can simply change our name to become someone else, and even put it back on that I.D. card, and replacing the given name on out birth certificate, this making these 'proofs" not actually proof at all. They simply show who you are at the time" But if the "you" can change, then is it really "you"?
Each one of these replies are nothing more than titles built from the contextual frameworks that we have been programmed to believe. Every single one of these replies stems from three false beliefs that we have been taught defines who we are. I call these three beliefs the Three Poisons.
The Three Poisons
1. I am what I have.
2. I am what I do.
3. I am what others say I am.
The Three poisons are conceptual contaminants that infect every fiber of our being. they are highly contagious, and those that recognize that you are infection often run away, leaving us with broken lives, yet grasping onto all three poisons firmly.
The first poison is the false belief that "I am what I have." Society has taught us that success is measured by what we have. How many of us remember our parents, friends or loved ones talking to us at one time or another about getting married, having a nice house, a nice car, or even as I have heard many times from my mother expressing the desire for me to "have better than she had". How many women have you heard tell the story about how as a little girl they dreamed of having a fairy tale wedding, a beautiful house with the white picket fence, yet when they are in their 30s and it has not yet came to fruition they feel disillusioned by those thoughts. I also think of the homeless person who often lives a very hard life of addiction to numb the feeling of being a nobody because he / she does not have anything. It is truly a heartbreaking thought, and as demonstrated, ingrained into our minds from a very early age that we are what we have. But if you are in fact what you have, what happens when it is all gone? Do you disappear with it? Much like the homeless person who far too many times turns to alcohol or drugs will take on the new title, new identity of alcoholic or drug addict rather than a nobody, so too will we need to search for a new identity. Clearly what you have cannot be who you are when it can be taken or lost at any given moment. This poison leads one to attachment and addiction.
The second poison is the false belief that "I am what I do." This poison is usually mixed with the first, making it double deadly. You can't have more if you do not have the means to retain it. So we do more to have more. We spend so much time "doing" just trying to be somebody, because this we believe is what makes us who we are. Some spend their lives in institutional religions doing their part, going to every service, every function, every meeting, yet this is no guarantee. I am reminded of a scripture in the Holy Bible that says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" Matthew 7:21-23[1]
We learn from the words of one of the greatest enlightened Masters of all time, Jesus Christ, that what we do does not make us who we are.
All too often we have been taught that one who does not have a career but works simple "jobs" to get by is not successful. We are told we have to "work hard", "get to the top" to really be somebody. The fast food worker, or gas attendant is often looked down upon by those in the corporate institution. This is a product of our programming to believe the poison that I am what I do. This poison clearly leads to social prejudice and persecution.
In the combination of these two poisons, we can spend so much of our lives "doing" to appear successful, to retain the titles that we falsely attribute to ourselves, to appear and feel like we are somebody, and to "have more" and feed the greed of the ego, that the we tend to lose touch of those we love.
In this endless cycle, we lose precious time. Precious time to live the life we are truly meant to live. Precious time to be with the ones we love, and precious time to demonstrate love to those who need it! The combination of these two poisons leads us to many levels of abandonment.
Yet, what happens when you lose your job, your status in your religious institution, or whatever it is that you are "doing" to retain the lie of your false identity? Do you disappear? This identity ceases to exist. This cannot be who you are.
The third poison is the false belief that "I am what others say I am." This poison to begins to seep into our systems at a very early age. Think back to a time when you were in school and if you did not keep up and conform with the latest fashions, music, slang, etc. you were considered to be part of the outcasts, the unpopular crowd. The belief that "I am what others say I am" does not allow for the freedom of expression, individual personality, and promotes the thought that one has to be like everyone else to be a somebody. This poison is spreading more rapidly today than ever before.
Current statistics have shown that "7 percent of all students being bullied verbally in some way or another including mental bullying or even verbal abuse. These types of bullying can also include spreading rumors, yelling obscenities or other derogatory terms based on an individual's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. Out of the 77 percent of those bullied, 14 percent have a severe or bad reaction to the abuse, according to recent school bullying statistics. These numbers make up the students that experience poor self-esteem, depression, anxiety about going to school and even suicidal thoughts (bullycide) as a result of being bullied by their peers. Also as part of this study, about one in five students admitted they are responsible for bullying their peers. Almost half of all students fear harassment or bullying in the bathroom at school, according to these school bullying statistics. As a result of this fear and anxiety of being bullied, many students will make excuses or find ways around going to school. School bullying statistics also reveal that teens ages 12-17 believe they have seen violence increase at their schools. In fact, these numbers also show that most violent altercations between students are more likely to occur on school grounds than on the way to school for many teens."[2]
Children are being taught at a very early age to conform or risk being persecuted. This thought process begins to shape the persons quality of life in the future as an adult, driving them to hold on to the three poisons, believing that these three poisons dictate what it takes to be considered successful. This is then taught to the generations that come after, into the vicious cycle of the ego. This idea is also false. The body regenerates itself every seven years. Not a single atom is left. Every fiber of your body has been regenerated. This means that a person who is 35 has received a new body 5 times already in their lifetime. With this being the case, holding on to the second poison of the false belief that I am what others say I am is a deception. You are not who you were 7 years ago! If "I am what others say I am", what happens to me when I don't fit that mold? As seen in the statistics above, it can be very tragic.
Looking out of the window of the frame that you have built around yourself.
This framework that we built around ourselves dictates directly how we experience the world around us. In fact, it dictates how we experience everything, even that which we cannot see. I am reminded of something written in the Talmud[3];"We see things not as they are, but we see things as we are."
The Buddha also said something very similar; "All existence is conditioned."
Everything we experience around us is directly impacted by the framework we build around ourselves. How we experience life is completely conditional upon how we define our lives.
If we build the framework of our lives around any of the Three Poisons that we have previously talked about, we begin to see things out of that window pane, distorting how they really look.
Imagine building a home from scratch, and having tinted windows installed to keep others from peering inside. While we may accomplish our objective, we keep the benefit of the sunlight out, it distorts the vibrant colors of nature from being seen in their beauty and full glory. It makes us depend upon false, manmade created light to see throughout the house.
We do the very same thing today. We build this framework around ourselves based off of the Three Poisons of "I am what I have, I am what I do, I am what others say I am", which in turn lead us into the illusion that this is the self, or "who I am.". We put on this costume of lies and walk into the world playing a part in the grand play of programmed society without ever giving thought to what things really look like, how they truly feel, or what they really are like outside of that comfortable, false security blanket that we have been told is the "safe place" that we often call the self. Leaving its warmth, and softness is too much to consider. Even with its holes and stuffing hanging out for the world to see, we choose to remain complacent simply because of the comfort it offers us. We never question if there is anything better, warmer, or more comfortable. Our attachment to this impedes any other possibility in our minds. What is this contextual framework, comfort zone, security blanket that makes up this false self as defined by the Three Poisons? A programmed belief system
How can "you" be who you truly are when "you" are so busy being the false self that your I.D.card shows? To become your true self, your primordial self and tap into the multi-dimensional conscious being that you are, you must first let go of being preoccupied with building up the false self (the ego). We will discuss this further in out next post.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
[2] http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/school-bullying-statistics.html
[3] The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend comprising the Mishnah and the Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud: the Babylonian Talmud (which dates from the 5th century AD but includes earlier material) and the earlier Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud.
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