Contemplation – Part 2

True Self – God Self

We begin this second part of our reflection on contemplation by looking at what is meant by the True Self. But, first, a little context. In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the False Self. The False Self is how we interact with the world in ways that we learned subconsciously in infancy and early childhood. These “ways” (to get our needs met) coalesced into ingrained emotional programs for happiness — which cannot possibly work.

The True Self is dwelling with and in God at the core of our being. It remains in a state of perpetual happiness and peace. It is Love, pure and simple. The True Self and God are in profound union. One could call it “inter-being.”

Let’s start with the Hebrew Scripture. In the creation story in Genesis, God breathes life into humankind from His own being. God creates us and gives us life by breathing His breath into His human creation.

In the New Testament Gospel of John, Jesus breathes on the disciples immediately after His resurrection. He is literally breathing the same air we do. But this time, Jesus breathes out a gift —the Holy Spirit. That Spirit (God-giving-Godself) is once again breathed into us, just as it was at the dawn of our creation.

Some of us may have had the wondrous experience of being present at the birth of a child. After the delivery, the sound we wait for is the newborn’s cry. That signals life-giving breath has entered the child. The child cries out as the breath that is God enters into his very being. The newborn’s first breath is YHWH, Ruah, or Spirit entering the baby. God breathes His own breath into every life. God is inhaled in our first breath, and we, as unaware newborns, accept the breath of God and exhale a joyous cry of life.

The True Self is God’s Self that lives within us from our first breath, throughout our earthly lives, into eternity. Jesus told us in John’s gospel, “The Father and I are one. He is in me, and I am in Him. Together we make our dwelling place in you.” This is what we mean by “inter-being.”

Often we allow the True God Self within us to be overwhelmed with the needs and expectations we learn in childhood or the drama of everyday life. Instead of tapping into our oneness with God, we rely on our ego, our False Self, to get through life. If we become identified with that False Self, we never wake up spiritually. We live in a dream world of our own making. Often, it can become a nightmare! 

We strive for a life of fullness, happiness, love, and completeness and never really find it. We don’t find it because it is already here. It is within us. It is “the pearl of great price” of which Jesus speaks. It is “the treasure in a field” for which a person sells everything she has in order to buy that field.

Often we feel incomplete, like something is missing. It is like there is a void within us that nothing external can fill. We yearn for the fullness of love. That yearning is the conscious Self-seeking for the God within. And God, who has dwelt within us from our first breath, is luring us to commune with Him. He is our treasure — where our only true happiness is to be found. We need only to buy the field, i.e., consent to God’s presence within us.

We only know fulfillment when we surrender our False Self and embrace our True Self — the God Self. This is God’s Self that was implanted when we first cried out with life. When we are one with our True Self, we are completely loved, entirely at peace, and fully content. We embody the Love of which St. Paul speaks so eloquently in Corinthians 13. This Love is renewed daily as we surrender the False Self and its emotional programs.

Our True Self has no ego. It has no expectations, no fear, no anger. It is the fullness of God. We need not wait for heaven to find and experience our True Self. Therein lies “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” (Phil 4:7) Let’s begin our heaven now — here, on earth. In dying to the False Self, our “second death will do no harm!” (St. Francis)

Our subsequent reflection will be about the journey. We will share the contemplative road to finding, loving, and trusting the True Self— in union with our God, Who is already here “inter-being” within us. 

In God’s Unfailing and Unending Love,

Father Jerry and Gwen