taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
I can say this about what I think the Inner Self is, based on a personal experience. While I could quote various traditions all day long and post my typical 10-jillion word essay ... how about something simple:
In college, which was in many ways the purist time of my life (no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, etc.), I had several experiences of samadhi, or satori. One of these was with a Teacher of Ageless Wisdom tradition. If I had not known better, I might have mistaken him as the Syrian Master (Jesus), but it was not him. It was, nevertheless, an experience in which my thoughtform of the Teacher was ensouled by that Teacher - and in this way, it could truly be said that for a short while, I and that Teacher were one.
What I was already familiar with through study, meditation, and dozens of other direct experiences, was that we are more than the flesh, more than the emotions, and more than the mind. Indeed, these are but vehicles, or the "clothing" of the Soul, as it sojourns in the three worlds for four score years or so. My meditations up until this point, and certainly also after, would often take me in consciousness into the state described as the mind being held steady in the Light, and so I had already proven for myself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my Inner Self (and everyone's) is beyond the personal ego, or personality. I also knew, by this point, of about 7 former incarnations, and already had some considerable insight into most of these - gained from no external source, though I have certainly had some corroboration, as well as much continued questioning.
Probably one of the most profound experiences I had, was another Satori, experienced in connection with the same Teacher mentioned above. This time, however, it was an object distinct from both myself and the Teacher with which I identified (or, became `One'). It was an apple. And ripe with symbolism & significance, this juicy red, Washington State (perhaps my favorite variety) ... has come to me, through interpretation, some 13 years later, as but an outward representation of the spiritual heart. The connections have to do with shape, color, & design, and also with esoteric symbolism, but at the time, the experience was almost purely blissful, with the focus of consciousness being in the Sambhogakaya - or Buddhic vehicle.
What's most important, for me - and the reason I add this to the discussion - is that I experienced, beyond a doubt, the "Peace which passeth understanding," of the Christ ... and/or the samadhi/satori of Hindus and Buddhists. It should be self-explanatory, but for clarification, this means that one can no longer from that moment forward ... ever fully forget (and why would one try?) ... the fundamental Union, Unity, or At-one-ment of all persons, all things, and all states of being. One comes to recognize in the outer awareness, as the reflection of the essential experience, that our Innermost Self knows & is the One-without-a-second - meaning that it abides eternally in the state of non-duality. If a deja-vu is like a tiny, microscopic rent in the veil, then I would have to say my samadhi experiences were like small `tears' - and only the (consciousness of the) Bodhisattvas and the Prajnaparamita will understand the full signficance of that double entendre.
So, beyond the outer three vehicles, and even transcendent relative to the threefold Soul itself (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) ... I think our Inner Self is the living, electric Spark of pure Spirit. Like a spark within the flame of a candle, this highest state of our existence is utterly dependent upon, and in truth identical with, the flame itself ... nevertheless, we do recognize a distinction between the spark and its parent Flame. That distinction, though fleeting (watch a candle sometime - I imagine that's how G-d, or Adi Buddha sees it), is certainly of vital significance to you and me, for it forms the entire human pilgrimage through the lesser kingdoms, the Human kingdom, and finally through the wonder & bliss of the 5th, or Spiritual Kingdom ... to the summit of spiritual attainment, Moksha (or Liberation, Salvation). And all in the "twinkling of an eye" - verily, a Spark!
Season's Greetings ...
In college, which was in many ways the purist time of my life (no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, etc.), I had several experiences of samadhi, or satori. One of these was with a Teacher of Ageless Wisdom tradition. If I had not known better, I might have mistaken him as the Syrian Master (Jesus), but it was not him. It was, nevertheless, an experience in which my thoughtform of the Teacher was ensouled by that Teacher - and in this way, it could truly be said that for a short while, I and that Teacher were one.
What I was already familiar with through study, meditation, and dozens of other direct experiences, was that we are more than the flesh, more than the emotions, and more than the mind. Indeed, these are but vehicles, or the "clothing" of the Soul, as it sojourns in the three worlds for four score years or so. My meditations up until this point, and certainly also after, would often take me in consciousness into the state described as the mind being held steady in the Light, and so I had already proven for myself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my Inner Self (and everyone's) is beyond the personal ego, or personality. I also knew, by this point, of about 7 former incarnations, and already had some considerable insight into most of these - gained from no external source, though I have certainly had some corroboration, as well as much continued questioning.
Probably one of the most profound experiences I had, was another Satori, experienced in connection with the same Teacher mentioned above. This time, however, it was an object distinct from both myself and the Teacher with which I identified (or, became `One'). It was an apple. And ripe with symbolism & significance, this juicy red, Washington State (perhaps my favorite variety) ... has come to me, through interpretation, some 13 years later, as but an outward representation of the spiritual heart. The connections have to do with shape, color, & design, and also with esoteric symbolism, but at the time, the experience was almost purely blissful, with the focus of consciousness being in the Sambhogakaya - or Buddhic vehicle.
What's most important, for me - and the reason I add this to the discussion - is that I experienced, beyond a doubt, the "Peace which passeth understanding," of the Christ ... and/or the samadhi/satori of Hindus and Buddhists. It should be self-explanatory, but for clarification, this means that one can no longer from that moment forward ... ever fully forget (and why would one try?) ... the fundamental Union, Unity, or At-one-ment of all persons, all things, and all states of being. One comes to recognize in the outer awareness, as the reflection of the essential experience, that our Innermost Self knows & is the One-without-a-second - meaning that it abides eternally in the state of non-duality. If a deja-vu is like a tiny, microscopic rent in the veil, then I would have to say my samadhi experiences were like small `tears' - and only the (consciousness of the) Bodhisattvas and the Prajnaparamita will understand the full signficance of that double entendre.
So, beyond the outer three vehicles, and even transcendent relative to the threefold Soul itself (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) ... I think our Inner Self is the living, electric Spark of pure Spirit. Like a spark within the flame of a candle, this highest state of our existence is utterly dependent upon, and in truth identical with, the flame itself ... nevertheless, we do recognize a distinction between the spark and its parent Flame. That distinction, though fleeting (watch a candle sometime - I imagine that's how G-d, or Adi Buddha sees it), is certainly of vital significance to you and me, for it forms the entire human pilgrimage through the lesser kingdoms, the Human kingdom, and finally through the wonder & bliss of the 5th, or Spiritual Kingdom ... to the summit of spiritual attainment, Moksha (or Liberation, Salvation). And all in the "twinkling of an eye" - verily, a Spark!
Season's Greetings ...
taijasi
