That which you habitually think of as your self is also the only thing that is holding you back.
What? You don’t believe me? Good. Don’t believe anyone. But, please do find out – for your, well, self. You see, everything I will now say is already known to me, to you and to everyone else. We all already know all about the self.
Here’s a few words with ‘self’ in them.
Selfish
Self-centred
Self-obsessed
Self-serving
Self-promoting
Self-important
Self-induced
Self-afflicted
Self-doubt
Self-esteem
Self-deception
Self-critical
Self-delusion
Self-abuse
Self-hatred
Self-harm
Self-discovery
Self-aware
Self-righteous
Self-seeking
Self-control
And of course, in extremis, to extend to Latin,
Sui-cide
And to counter these:
Self-denial
Selfless
Self-sacrifice
Self-effacing
and
Un-self-ish
There’s many more self words. Obviously, if we have all these words it’s to describe aspects of the self that we have recognised, and hence know. No?
Self-self-analysis
What we see in the first list is words that point at how the self is either
A: a problem of some sort
or
B: primarily or only interested in itself
In suicide the self of course wants its own self to die, and seeks to die by killing — you. This is a pretty good hint that the self really really does not like you. After all if it did like you, it would kill itself, and not you; yes?
The second list are words that point at either:
C: not taking notice of the self
or
D: being free of self.
But how can you be free of your self? Isn’t your self actually ‘you’? Or to turn it to the reflexive, is not my self me?
Here is the word that can set you free.
Yes, that’s NO.
You, who are reading these words, are NOT the self you think you are. Your false self is a false imposition.
You are the being, the pure presence, behind the self. But you must see and know that for, well, your self.
You can see the problems that language brings us. Who is it that will see that the self is not your — self? Eastern religions and philosophies tend to use the word Self with a big S like that to point to that which sees the self for what it is. From my viewpoint this is just adding yet more potential confusion and yet another level of Self. You’ll sort it all out just as soon as you really see the self in action.
Just do that.
You might well ask — how?