Surfing with Wind

**Wind** · 1st February 2018 15:53

Perhaps this will answer your question, dear BG.

DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE SELF

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

I have always been drawn to the work of Carl Jung. I heard of him in my psychology classes. I didn’t really know why I loved him, until I read his biography, and it clicked.

He and I have the same passion : Understanding the mysteries of life.

He was born in Switzerland in 1875. He was deeply fascinated by anthropology, philosophy, science, psychology, and religious studies. In his research and experience, he discovered many, many great things about the human mind.

Mainly, he focused on the subject of self-awareness.

What is self-awareness? And better yet, how can we define the Self? We throw around the words “I am” all the time to try to define ourselves. I am this, I am that. We have a bunch of labels in our minds that we feel are a good representation of ourselves, of “who we are”.

Kind. Lazy. Adventurous. Beautiful. Ugly. Average. Intelligent. Logical. Dreamy. Agressive. Compassionate. Playful. Bold. The list goes on.

But if we look more closely, those labels can be true, sometimes, but they aren’t really representative of who we are, 100% of the time.

Maybe sometimes you are lazy, and other times you are motivated. Maybe when you were a child you were shy, but now you are a lot more outgoing.

Maybe you are usually very compassionate, but yesterday you said something really nasty to someone you love.

“Why did I do that? I am usually so (fill in the blank)!”

“I really wasn’t being myself!”

“Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.” – Carl Jung

Labelling ourselves with certain qualities and faults may be comforting in the sense that we have a consistent mental image of ourselves. But if you are anything like me, you have experienced moments where you say or do things that really surprise you.

Carl Jung stresses in his work that there are many, many levels to ourselves, and labels are insufficient to define the complexity of the human mind. Much like Freud, he developed ideas about the unconscious.

That is, the parts of ourselves that we are not aware of.

The fears. The desires. The anger. The guilt. The sadness. The interests we rejected growing up.

“In each of us there is another whom we do not know.” – Carl Jung

As children, we are told that a lot of things we did or liked were unacceptable.

We are told to be a “good boy” or a “good girl”, and to develop acceptable characteristic in ourselves, we need to let go of other ones. We need to fit into the mould. This is done through conditioning, socialization.

For example, maybe once when you were 4, fully tapped in your creativity, you started painting all over the wall. Then your mother or father saw you and got extremely upset that you made such a mess.

An understandable reaction, but from then on, you will associate painting with being”bad”.

Of course, as an adult, you know that painting in itself, is not bad. But as children, we are too young to understand the difference, so it gets stored in the mind as guilt.

If you were to pick up painting as an adult, it would trigger and reawaken a light sense of guilt in your chest.

That guilt may present itself in a different way to you, giving you thoughts like “This is ridiculous. I should be working right now”. You may not directly associate the feeling with your childhood experience, but you will feel discomfort.

Another example would be a little boy who shows the emotion of sadness, who has emotional, tear-filled outbursts. He may be told to “toughen-up” by a family member, maybe an older brother. He may see someone on TV say that boys shouldn’t cry.

The little boy will grow up developing the core belief that “men don’t cry”, which is untrue, and unrealistic. He may always be a sensitive person deep down, but may become so out of touch with his emotions that he no longer expresses them, or transforms all sadness into anger.

Or maybe we decided to go to school one day wearing something really different. A neon pink dress. When we get there, we notice a few girls laughing and pointing at us in the corner of our eye. Shame shoots through our veins, and we don’t wear that dress, ever again.

From that memory, we develop a belief to protect ourselves from further shame, such as “I have bad fashion taste, I should wear whatever other girls wear” or “When I expose my taste to others, I am rejected”.

“Shame is a soul eating emotion.” – Carl Jung

We are extremely fragile at that stage of development, and rejection or strong disapproval in any shape or form can really harm the soul and the heart. Even if these harms were caused unintentionally, by loving parents or other members of our circle.

The total of all experiences of rejection and threats, real or imagined, direct or indirect, causes us to lose touch of who we truly are. We create a version of ourselves that feels acceptable, and makes us feel safe in our environment.

It is our way of adapting and surviving on a psychological level.

A questions you may ask, is how do we get back in touch with our true selves? And better yet, is it necessary?

According to Jung, it is essential for the human. He even goes as far as saying that becoming our true selves is the ultimate goal in life.

"The privilege of a lifetime is becoming who you truly are." – Carl Jung

Jung developed a method to reverse the damage, and rediscover who you truly are. He called it “the process of individuation”.

Becoming a “whole” individual.

“The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.” – Carl Jung

In studying different cultures and people, he noticed that many people suffer on mental and emotional levels. The reason they suffer, is because they are actually consistently rejecting themselves. Jung claims that self-rejection is one of the most painful of all human experiences.

It is well known that self-loathing and the lack of self-awareness can cause many problems, ranging from interpersonal issues, societal problems, mental illness, and even physical illness.

“Deep down, below the surface of the average man’s conscience, he hears a voice whispering, “There is something not right,” no matter how much his rightness is supported by public opinion or moral code.” – Carl Jung

Because these parts are rejected, the person will feel alone even when they are surrounded by people. Any relationship and contact they have will not feel “real”, because they are not allowing the soul, the true self, to have a relationship. They are only allowing the persona to have one.

And so, the heart suffers and feels alone, because in reality, it has never had real and authentic relationships with other human being.

“Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.” – Carl Jung

The process of individuation consists of becoming aware of all the layers of one’s psyche, or mind, and then integrating them together to become whole again. It is a multi-step process, and at each step, we feel a little better. A little more free. A little closer to being our true selves.

Becoming self-aware is a process that has been named many things in history. In the East, it is called the process of enlightenment. In occidental countries, it is sometimes called self-actualization. Any way that you see it, it always involves removing “false” layers of our personality.

Jung’s developed his own twist on it, with his own terminology. He named the layers of the psyche as so :

The persona, the shadow, the anima and animus, the wise man/woman, and the Self.

Becoming aware of who you really are takes years of practice, and it is not something that needs to be rushed. Nevertheless, familiarizing yourself with the dimensions of the human mind can help kickstart the process. And what better way than reading Jungian philosophy.

“To find out what is truly individual in ourselves, profound reflection is needed; and suddenly we realize how uncommonly difficult the discovery of individuality is.” – Carl Jung

**Wind** · 1st February 2018 16:12

“So then, here’s the drama. My metaphysics, let me be perfectly frank with you, is that there is the central Self, you can call it God, you can call it anything you like, and it’s All of Us. It’s playing all the parts of All Beings whatsoever everywhere and anywhere.

And it’s playing the game of hide and seek with itself. It gets lost, it gets involved in the farthest-out adventures, but in the end it always wakes up and comes back to itself. And when you’re ready to wake up, you’re going to wake up, and if you’re not ready you’re going to stay pretending that you’re just a ‘poor little me.’

So then, when you’re in the way of waking up, and finding out who you are, you meet a character called a guru, as the Hindus say ‘the teacher,’ ‘the awakener.’ And what is the function of a guru? He’s the man that looks you in the eye and says ‘Oh come off it. I know who you are.’

So eventually–there are all sorts of tricks of course that gurus play. They say ‘Well, we’re going to put you through the mill.’ And the reason they do that is simply that you won’t wake up until you feel you’ve paid a price for it.

In other words, the sense of guilt that one has. Or the sense of anxiety. It’s simply the way one experiences keeping the game of disguise going on. Do you see that? Supposing you say ‘I feel guilty.’ Christianity makes you feel guilty for existing. That somehow the very fact that you exist is an affront. You are a fallen human being.

But that sense of guilt is the veil across the sanctuary.

And so you go through the mill. Why? Because you’re saying to yourself ‘I won’t wake up until I deserve it. I won’t wake up until I’ve made it difficult for me to wake up.

So I invent for myself an elaborate system of delaying my waking up. I put myself through this test and that test, and when I convince myself it’s sufficiently arduous, THEN I at last admit to myself who I really am, and draw aside the veil and realize that after all, when all is said and done, I am that I am, which is the name of God.’

~ Alan Watts

**betoobig** · 1st February 2018 21:40

Posted by Bluegreen (here)
"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event."

Can someone explain this to me

when you reject something you are paying attention to it, you are focusing on it...therefore it will manifest...in other words it appears in the world...IMO
Much love

¤=[Post Update]=¤

We are powerfull cocreators

**betoobig** · 1st February 2018 21:44

We are powerfull cocreators

**Foxie Loxie** · 1st February 2018 22:25

Hey, BG! I would LOVE to dance.....thanks for the invite!

I always enjoy your music videos!

Had never heard of the "Chambermaid Swing"!
Cool! Reminded me of how my Mother had won a Jitterbug contest in her teen years!

**O Donna** · 1st February 2018 23:02

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

**Wind** · 2nd February 2018 00:56

"Better in battle
than the man who would conquer
a thousand-thousand men,
is he who would conquer
just one —
himself.
Better to conquer yourself
than others.
When you've trained yourself,
living in constant self-control,
neither a deva nor gandhabba,
nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,
could turn that triumph
back into defeat."

~ Gautama Buddha

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TcDEq2TiKMQ

**O Donna** · 2nd February 2018 03:37

To march into hell for a heavenly cause

To march into the breach for my friends.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R7eKJzKLVaY

**EFO** · 2nd February 2018 08:25

First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining
(3:50 min.)

"My Silver Lining"

I don't want to wait anymore I'm tired of looking for answers
Take me some place where there's music and there's laughter
I don't know if I'm scared of dying but I'm scared of living too fast, too slow
Regret, remorse, hold on, oh no I've got to go
There's no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on
And you've just gotta keep on keeping on
Gotta keep on going, looking straight out on the road
Can't worry 'bout what's behind you or what's coming for you further up the road
I try not to hold on to what is gone, I try to do right what is wrong
I try to keep on keeping on
Yeah I just keep on keeping on

I hear a voice calling
Calling out for me
These shackles I've made in an attempt to be free
Be it for reason, be it for love
I won't take the easy road

I've woken up in a hotel room, my worries as big as the moon
Having no idea who or what or where I am
Something good comes with the bad
A song's never just sad
There's hope, there's a silver lining
Show me my silver lining
Show me my silver lining

I hear a voice calling
Calling out for me
These shackles I've made in an attempt to be free
Be it for reason, be it for love
I won't take the easy road

I won't take the easy road
The easy road, the easy road

I won't take the easy road
The easy road, the easy road

Show me my silver lining, I try to keep on keeping on
Show me my silver lining, I try to keep on keeping on
Show me my silver lining, I try to keep on keeping on
Show me my silver lining, I try to keep on keeping on

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DKL4X0PZz7M

**O Donna** · 2nd February 2018 21:41

These are the wonder years

**Wind** · 6th February 2018 00:08

"Is it possible to be inwardly aloof from the pleasurable things of the world and yet be outwardly able to enjoy them? Is it possible to love another in a human way but yet retain the inner detachment requisite for resting in philosophic peace? Can we make the best of these two worlds? The answer is that just as we can learn by practice to remain inwardly peaceful in the midst of outward turmoil, so we can learn to remain peaceful in the midst of outward pleasure. But this practice is hard to learn and most beginners fail at it. For a man to train himself in emotional control over the mad loves and insane passions, the recurrent longings and tormenting desires, is like training himself to die. Let no one underestimate this tremendous task."

"If there were nothing more--no exciting or dramatic inner experience--possible than this ameliorating peace, this extra-deep feeling of stillness, it would be enough to make the time and care given to it worthwhile. But there is more for those who want also to know something of its source, its workings and connections. Beyond that little measure of knowledge, be content, for the Great Mystery swallows all who find it. Yet there is nothing to fear."

~ Paul Brunton