A Little Bit on the Self and the Conditions of the World

As you develop a meditation practice, you can't help but run into it.

The idea of the self is discussed in the world of psychology, philosophy, as well as the Yoga and Buddhist traditions. In early adulthood, we are trying to find ourselves; we are trying to understand the self that is independent of family and society. Sometimes self is written with a capital S. Regardless of whether or not you capitalize, this Self is the eternal within us and the ineffable that we hold. People can get very technical about what the Self is, how to understand it, and how to live from this Self completely rather than from the static of expectations, beliefs, and thoughts that we and others have about our Self. It's great to read about it. I find it very heady, and it stokes my curiosity; it inspires expansive thought. But it's also an easy way to again be once removed from direct experience.

Here is how I see it these days.

No matter how much or how little we come to know ourselves, there is always something invisible to us, and it is big. For our entire lives, we hold this invisible self, and it is something that is very malleable. It is shaped by the conditions of our lives and the world. We have some control over how the self is shaped, but like the conditions of the world, we really have very little control over any of it.

However, when we have a stillness practice, we reach a place where we can see how we shape ourselves. It is in this field of awareness where we can engage consciously in the process of shaping the self. Awareness of this process could be called living from the self. Through this we find more freedom in expressing the self/ourselves in the world.

As for the world, it is also a set of conditions that are in a state of continuous change. Again, we have very little control over the conditions of the world, but we can contribute to its conditions through a conscious process of shaping the self. We can be part of what we want to see in the world. We can be part of creating what needs to be brought forth into to the world.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you in the comments section.
-Renee