TO SELF IMAGE OR NOT TO SELF IMAGE

© 2009 Howard McQueen

I recently began an email thread with a colleague perhaps twenty years younger than me. He, like me when I was his age, is intent on making a place for himself in this world. In our discussion, we begin exploring feeling into the concept of self, as in self image. An article he promoted my way reaches the conclusion that

The Root of all problems – INADEQUTE SELF IMAGE (ISI)

The authors of this article show how to map out a reality tree (symptoms, cause and effects and map all this back to root issues, the parent root being ISI). The article goes on to encourage the reader to create their own reality tree. The immediate benefit (IMHO) is that you explicitly begin to construct (perhaps for the first time in your life) a map that will show you your personal conditioning and how it has/is shaping your life. The article then goes on to recommend that to revise and heal your ISI, two strategies are pivotal: 1. Daily Declarations and 2. Super Suggestions. If you are interested in reading the full report, it is available via http://quantum-confidence.com/The_Core_Solution.htm .

My own lens of Buddhist psychology reminds me that attachment is the root of all suffering. The presence work I am involved in encourages trauma and conditionings to arise, be recognized and to be present with these shadow “energetic distortions”. One might say that I am working to back-fill these distortions with Love and Compassion. The effect of this work is a continued wearing away, a dissolving of my personal ego to make room for ushering in Life and Love - to have their way with and through me. So, after reading the aforementioned article, what it triggered in me is a restatement

The Root of all problems – MAINTAINING ANY SELF IMAGE


If I had read this above statement twenty years ago (when I was in the heightened state of making my way (“breaking into”) the consulting business), I suspect that it would have been at best confusing and at worst, possibly dis-empowering. I was working seventy to eighty hours a week to startup a new business and was throwing all of my energy and awareness into birthing this new business.

So, is there any inherent conflict in allowing these two concepts to co-exist?

[Healing an
INADEQUTE SELF IMAGE] ~~~ [Not maintaining ANY SELF IMAGE]


Perhaps there is not any conflict. What I do see is a rhythm in life, especially in this Western world. There is a sense of urgency of breathing in deeply, to build an ego, to express your “self” and, in so doing, acquire a wealth of direct experience efforting to make specific things happen. Then, at some stage in an individual life, the rhythm can shift to a breathing out, to relax and begin relinquishing the ego and all the attachments that came with the breathing in.

Is it counter-productive to build and create something that one then feels compelled to dismantle and deconstruct?
What (if any) is the price to be paid for becoming lost in our self-constructed image charade?
Is it possible to concurrently feed and nourish a "self" as well as allow a greater "Self" to awaken?

There are billions of humans on Gaia. I can imagine billions of experiments going on with this breathe-in / breathe-out rhythm, as well as combining other rhythms of other cultures. I can also imagine the ranks of those working towards no SELF IMAGE beginning to swell, as baby boomers and others, much younger, experience the environmental stresses inherent in the global village circa 2009.

I believe these stresses are creating sufficient energy for the mutation of human consciousness. If you also feel this way, or are intrigued and interested in more information and perhaps ongoing dialog, drop me an email howard@mcq.com.

My intent is to engage a small community in conversation that will be light and will illuminate, through a sense of playfulness, knowing that there is not right or wrong, just consequences and outcomes that we live with.

Here are some ruminations set into our play and playfulness …

In one hand, not having an egoic personality / self identity enables us to come from an authentic space.

In the other hand, lacking an essential personality might disable us from engaging in the world in new, more meaningful ways.

How do we build a capability to be non-aggressive in connecting to our confidence

Indeed, the seemingly paradoxical can only be experientially lived. Ramana Maharshi was no drooling statue, a testament (like Eckhart Tolle) that demonstrates living not under the rule of egoic self.

I would contend that a self-identity built around doing / efforting brings certain rewards that are bundled in with the attachments to identity. The die every day and the emptying out of the constructed self indeed de-construct and dissolve the small, separated "self", allowing a deeper Self to flow through the empty vessel. I read your comment "essential personality", and what resonates with me is an energetic response to the external world to survive, thrive and prosper.

The human O/S is full of fear and anger over injustices. Our western culture has skipped over most things sacred, in favor of doing more and more, and, all the while, the patina of the ego is stretched, showing stress fractures, as are the individual and institutional structures. Something is way out-of-balance with our practices ...

I am all for engaging the world and one's inner self to uncover and share authenticity.


PLAYFULNESS AS OUR ART UNFOLDS
(stimulated and inspired by conversation with Chris Cade, founder Inscribe Your Life)

What would happen if we suddenly adopted a broad sense of playfulness,
on the basis of seeing ourselves as mere actors in a play,
that have lost their scripts, unaware of all outcomes?

I remember when I knew how the world “worked”,
back when I felt comfortable and safe.
As of late, I live in the not knowing.
This is becoming my cornerstone
for the curiosity I constantly bake.

How will this path of self unfold over the coming years?
Wonderful mentors and teachers abound,
experiments readied, awareness waiting to be found.

Let the play and playing continue, unbounded.
Here Ye, Here Ye, all Bards, brothers and sisters, near and far,
know that your stories and exploits
with spirit are welcomed at this door!

~ ~ ~