Matilde, one of our readers from Switzerland recently asked us:
Hi there! What’s the difference between the mind, body, spirit, soul and the self? In an article, you say that we should question who we are and that we will discover that we are not our minds, but that we are nothing and everything at the same time. But what about the soul? Is the soul individual? Are we all separate souls? Or are we the self, and we are all one?
I’ve come across this question a few times through our Q&A requests. Knowing the difference can liberate you from who you think you are, to love who you truly are.
The Difference Between the Mind, Brain and Body?
In order to understand the difference between the mind and the self, we must first learn to distinguish between the body and the mind.
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The body is an intricate organism that is composed of several parts that allow the mechanism we know as the “brain” to function. Take away the heart, liver, or kidneys and the brain won’t work for very long. To think of our brains as separate from the rest of our bodies is a mistake.
We are all born as empty slates with new brains every time we enter this world, but not with a new mind. Let me explain this further: our minds are composed of information and different forms of conditioning that we have been taught throughout our lives. This content manifests itself through the brain and remains within a layer of consciousness after we die that Carl Jung referred to as the “collective unconscious.” This is precisely why so many people can remember “their” past lives.
Using modern technology we can create a simple analogy: Our brains are the computers or smartphones, and our minds are the operating system within that device. If the device breaks, all the data can still be transferred to a new device.
In this way, the mind is the ultimate software because it can only know what you teach it. You can teach it mathematics, physics and history and it will be able to recollect all of this information, creating more – but this is all that it can do. This is why if you pursue truth, living through the body and mind are incomplete without the Spirit.
How the Spirit, Self, and Soul Are Connected
There’s a divine driving force guiding us all known as Spirit. Spirit uses the mind to create an identity (the “Self”) in order to aid our survival.
This “Self” (or ego) you possess, is composed of all the memories you have that you identify as belonging to “you,” e.g. your name, your nationality, your political/religious beliefs, your life ambitions, what you’ve grown to like and dislike, and all the personality characteristics that are the result of your environmental experiences or genetics.
Most people go through life believing that they are this story, believing that they are the thoughts they are thinking, instead of the essence that is experiencing those thoughts.
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Do you see the difference? If our conscious experience of life was a cinema, most of us would be so absorbed in the movie that we would forget who was actually the person sitting in the chair watching that movie. It’s this subtle shift in awareness from being the movie to watching the movie that we can refer to as the Soul.
If I insult the beliefs of a person who believes themselves to be this mental “Self” they become angry, insecure or upset. If I insult the beliefs of a person who lives from a more Soulful place, they will acknowledge my statement with much less emotional reaction to it. Why? Because they have cultivated a degree of inner freedom by learning not to identify with the mind, personality and self.
A person who identifies with, and believes themselves to be their passing thoughts and emotions, will suffer in life much more than a person who has found the centered of their being, their Soul.
Mind is the Beginning, Soul is the End
While the mind comes at the very beginning of our existence, the Soul can be said to be the very end of our existence. The mind and Soul complete a full circle; the mind is a beginning with no ending, and the Soul is an ending with no beginning.
Spirit was there since the dawn of time and will be there once we leave. The mind, on the other hand, was the beginning of our “individual selves,” however the end to this illusory division only comes when we learn to expand our conscious awareness and live from the Soul.
In the English language, the brain and mind have almost become synonymous, and this is why it can sometimes be so difficult to understand these concepts. That is why I like to turn to the languages of ancient cultures who dedicated themselves to the quest for Truth.
For example, Sanskrit has the word “chetana” (consciousness) and they also have “manas” (mind). In their understanding, “manas” was limited to the physical senses and could only yield “vijnana” (information), but it could not provide “jnana” (wisdom) or “vidya” (understanding). Sanskrit also distinguishes the unconscious mind from all these other elements, calling it “chitta.”
As we can see, we are multi-layered beings.
How can we be everything and nothing at the same time? Are Souls individual and separate from each other?
Imagine our life energy, Spirit, as a massive ocean. Now imagine each wave in the ocean as a Soul. If the wave uses its “mind” to think about itself, it will look and compare itself to the other waves and “think” it is separate from them. It is only the fully present wave that is truly “experiencing” itself, that is truly aware. A single swell of water is just as much a wave as it is the entire ocean.
Mind, Body, Spirit, and Soul
Taking care of our bodies helps us to maintain a healthy and clear-minded awareness. Becoming more aware of our Soul helps us to cultivate greater awareness in our lives that allows us to be liberated from all the mental layers that form obstacles on the way back to the ocean of Spirit.
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Can not correlate the arguments as they are discrete.
There has to be correlation between soul and body. Can body stay without soul. Mind is a concept that randomly generate wishes. It has no power to analyse .
Wonderful simplification of complexities!
I finally got certain concepts through this.
A joyful read.. thank you.
woh I enjoy your content, saved to favorites! .
So, Buddha was wrong to say we are just a collection of mental states, and at death, this collection breaks away and there is no self, no “spirit”, nothing? I’m still confused.
The Trinity is a false doctrine. God is not a Trinity. Man is not a trinity. From Taylor’s book:
According to the Word of God, God formed Man’s body from the dust of the ground, breathed God’s breath of life (spirit) into Man’s body, and Man came alive, became a living soul; that is, Body + Spirit = Soul. Genesis 2:7 shows that The Trinity is a false doctrine. The Trinity, or any trinity, has 3 equal parts. This equation accurately reflects Genesis 2:7, and it demonstrates that body, spirit, and soul are not 3 equal parts. This equation says that body and spirit are two parts each by itself, but the soul is not a part by itself, for the soul is dependent on the other two parts, body + spirit. Can a body exist by itself? Yes. Can a spirit exist by itself? Yes. Can a soul exist by itself? No. A soul needs both body and spirit in order to come into existence, as this verse explicitly says.
Copyright © 2016-2017 Arthur Rain Taylor. All Rights Reserved.
Body, Spirit, Soul – An Exposition of Genesis 2:7
ISBN-10:0-9985753-1-3; ISBN-13:978-0-9985753-1-5
20-pages essay, $2.99 at iTunes, Barnes & Noble, etc.
.
I’d like to suggest another metaphore too.
That the cardinal sins, vices and virtues. 7 deadly sins. Those “sins” relates first and foremost to materia. To body and head. Instincts and Ego. Feelings and Brain/intellect.
I analyze those typical biblical vice & virtue quickly, “Shall/Shall not…”.
Then they all seem to be very much related to
1. emotions
2. behavior.
Which again are all very material (the empirical part of us)
The part of us that are found within the bandwidth, the frequency, we reside in here on planet earth . “This world” related.
If our body is the dress of our soul, then the deadly sins are very “dresscodec” orientated
These lower chakras, the typical Vice & Virtue, go from very primitive such as hunger, heat to a bit less primitive and more brain-related, such as longer term desires, Narcissism and ++
The force within that dress, is a Self, or a Soul or what some call the Kundalini
I’d say above the 5th chakra, above the Material side of us-above the human part of us —> Uber-Mensch, above the body and our intellect/brain, we need another input, than the logical circuits that other brain will compute as “solutions and inspiration”. The Divine “Brain” can inspire us all, but it needs a channel. Radio-communication. But not everybody has in tuned in very well, so they do not see the connection, nor hear the messages.
They need to tune it in, or “open their 3rd eye” (6th chakra). This is were the spiritual part of the soul gives us input. The Divine Channel. Christ Consciousness and more.
The spiritual channel allows our force, our kundalini, to go above the 5th chakra, and thus our totality of our soul, keeps growing/expanding.
Our soul, is tuned into the 3 dimensional world we now live in. And we need both our primitive parts of our body (intincts), our higher parts of the body (brain) and some spiritual guidance and inspiration (spirit). , to become fulfilled (Nirvana).
When we die, the body, material parts of us, stays back in this 3d world. We have no use for it in a pure spiritual dimension. Then again, new bodies our born, and some will be reborn here. Other will go back here later and such.
David Icke is quite spot on with his motto. How does his saying go:
Infinite awareness having an experience.
Self-awareness, would in my view be awareness of all the three parts that constitute a 3d soul/self.
1.Body-awareness
2. Ego (intellect/brain)- awareness
1+2 Carnal and Chakras below 6th.
Higher chakras, as the the 6th, third eye and 7th, the crown, is more spiritual.
That which is above classical “vice & virtue”. That which is Uber-Mensch is the third part.
3. Spiritual-awareness
Awareness is to similar to “insight”.
Resemblances here to more classical psychoanalysis:
1. Id
2. Ego
3. Super-Ego
What I have used Kundalini to describe, is also very similar to Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone Force, which also relates quite a lot, to Freud’s Libido.
So the Super-Ego, is the sort of Holy Spirit, the Guide of your life and your other parts. The other parts, is the more uncontrollable and impulsive Son/The Id (instincts) and the more Rational Father/The Ego. The Holy Spirit, when spirit is Holy as in Christ Consciousness, is the part that knows and controls the son and the father. The super-ego is the supervisor and guide, of the Id and the Ego, to a healthy place.
1. Son (Id) (Body-Instincts)
2. Father (Ego) (Head-Brain/Intellect)
3. Holy Spirit (Super-Ego) (Spirit)
These 3 parts build our Soul. The more harmony and maturity they work with, the more true Self, a person will build. His consciousness becomes then more like the consciousness of Christ.
That is a Self that is more True, than the Ego-based pseudo-self, because spirit will make the self (or soul), more in harmony with the universe, with source. And source sends us spiritual “impulses” to guide us in this life. Intuition, Syncronicities, Dreams and more variations.
Hi, thanks for the article. I understand that they are all different ‘things’ (sorry, I don’t know what else to say), but not how. Are there any more analogies about them that could help me? I think I might be able to understand that better.
I also have a question. What is the right age to start our spiritual journeys? I am turning 12 in just over a week, and spend quite a bit of my time thinking about questions like these, and I read a Loner Wolf article at least once a week to ponder over, but am I too young? Or is there no fixed age to start thinking about these things?
Hola Anna,
I saw your email earlier this morning, I’ll respond to your question through there. To answer your second question, there is no age as to when you can begin a spiritual journey. It comes when you are most in-tune with it. In fact, it’s actually wonderful someone so young has an interest in these topics, it shows immense maturity and potential for wisdom growth.
Warmly,
Sol
With “Spirit” you mean what other call “Source”, “Universe”, “Everything-that-exist” ?
Exactly Appunto, ‘Spirit’ is just the term I was taught and apply in shamanism but each culture has it’s own version and word for this underlying energy that drives existence.
Thanks, I got it.
Another question.
You mention body, mind, brain, soul and spirit. But where is “consciousness” here? I suppose consciousness is something else. Or soul is consciousness?
Soul and Consciousness are one and the same; they are manifestations of Spirit, they are the mirror that allows Spirit to become self-aware.
The problem arises due to our minds language where we’d like to be able to ‘label’ something that is ever fluid by thinking about it. Here’s an experiment; thoughts will always create distinctions. So instead just look within you right now.
Where does a thought begin? It appears to arise out of and vanish back into this inner space we call “consciousness.” But where is the actual, solid line between thought and consciousness?
Can you see the very point at which this inner space called “consciousness” turns into this other thing called “thought?” Can you see the very point at which this thing called “thought” dies into “consciousness?” It’s this very inner space where all arises that is the Soul.
Dude, you are so spot on!
Thanks for your reply.
I think consciousness was something else, separated from Soul.
And Soul is our true self, as you said a manifestation of Spirit.
Soul speak with emotions, feeling, sensations, and not words as do mind.
I see basically three different explaination for consciousness, but none of this compare to Soul. Religions said that is human consciousness. Some other philosofy said that is universal consciousness (What you call Spirit). And third things can be what I see: Consciousness as the knowledge that man has of himself, of one’s
body and its sensations, their ideas and for their own actions. It can
also mean a system of moral values of a person, which allows it to
approve or disapprove their acts. Plus I think that consciousness is sum
of all our past lives.
Using the same modern technology analogy that you use I think:
Our body are the computers; our brian is CPU; our minds are the operating system; our consciousness it’s the data which we store on computer (the sum of our experience in all our lives); and the soul is the energy that feeds the computer;
and the Spirit could be the power plant.
How do you see?
That’s an interesting perspective, though I can’t say it’s my own experience.
From what I understand in your explanation, I think your perception of the Soul closely resembles the organized religion idea of it; where our soul is this separate ‘self’ within us that leaves our bodies once we die toward an afterlife of some sort.
Sensations come from the physical bodies sensory receptors. Emotions and feelings are the closely connected to the mind. For example: If you’ve been raised a vegetarian and are presented with meat to it, you will FEEL disgust toward it. You might even have the EMOTION of anger toward the person who served you it if they knew you were a vegetarian. You see, what we like, dislike, love, hate, get jealous about all have to do with our mental experiences.
The traumas you have, the beliefs you hold (a person who believes themselves to be Christian will get angry if you insult their beliefs), the food you like, even the people you are attracted to are all connected to your mental experiences, the social conditioning of your upbringing. The Soul is not responsible for their creation.
The Soul instead is the space in which these emotions, feelings, thoughts and senses arise in. Mystical schools throughout time have given you one key tip: our Souls (consciousness) are the mirrors of existence (or Spirit), it is in your power to polish and clean all the Dust from them (this ‘dust’ is all your mental/emotional baggage which filters your clarity when perceiving existence.)
Pure Consciousness is free from all knowledge, morals, values and ideas (all that is of the mind, because they are all taught to us, we are not born with them but we are born with pure consciousness.)
But most don’t experience pure Consciousness, we experience some form of filtered consciousness (either filtered by our minds/emotions as described above or filtered by whatever ‘residual information’ is left behind from previous lives.) This is why I prefer using the word Soul as opposed to Consciousness.
Your analogy does sound pretty close to my experience, the only difference being that unlike material data of a computer, human consciousness is a fluid and living energy which means the data information in this case is stored in the energy itself that is feeding the computer (Soul).
Thank you for your comprehensive answer. I really appreciate your patience in answering. I’d like to make a long conversation together on the subject. Always keeping in mind the limits of language: words are only
indications and not the truth (the finger is not the moon that
indicates).
First
of all I would like to disassociate myself from any religious point of
view, even though I was born in Christian family, today I do not follow
any religious movement. I’m interested in the spiritual and philosophical point of view, as
well as some scientific point of view of some good research (there are
still some good as Robert Lanza, who wrote “Biocentrism”).
It is a subject that interests me a lot.
About emotions, there are two base from which flow all the others: love and fear. I agree with you, the soul is not responsible for the suffering created by the mind. Eckhart Tolle has written an entire book on the subject of the ego, one of the best I know. He speaks of the “ego mind” (I read in italian he calls “Mente Egoica”). But the soul creates love, it’s their language. If
you do one thing (think, say or do), it should always be accompanied by
a sense of love, and not driven by negative feelings such as fear,
which then generates hatred, resentment, etc. Only when it is accompanied by love, you know for sure that is not the ego mind behind.
I compare
consciousness with computer data, because if it is true as everyone
says that we are here to gain experience and acquire lessons, then this
knowledge, this wealth of experience, where is it? Is not the expansion of consciousness? The term awakening of consciousness, is moving from a state of neglect; or it’s a complete new knowledge?
I understand that is a topic discussed for a long time, and that there
are many explanations as many people who have philosophize about.
This article was approaching a little to the idea of a “Being at
three levels” (as explained well by Neale Donald Walsch in Conversation
with God): the body, the mind and the soul.
What I think is if consciousness could be something other than the soul. One thing that expands.
Many thanks for this speaking! Maybe one day we will meet and we can continue the conversation.
Greetings from Switzerland ))
It’s my pleasure to share my experience with you appunto and contribute to the growth of our readers with such interesting conversations.
I’m happy you make the distinction between being spiritual and being religious; too often they are used interexchagibly when in many regards they are almost the opposite.
Eckart Tolle’s remarks are Eastern teaching (particularly Buddhist) par excellence. While carrying obvious merit, such teachings do not necessarily apply readily and absolutely for Westerners, in part due to the Eastern emphasis on depersonalizing. The problem with Tolle is that although he is wonderfully eloquent, he is basically like the man who won the lottery and is trying to teach you about financial advice; he never did anything to earn his ‘gift’. A few months ago during one of our seminars I heard one of his students tell me he was now studying under a Zen master to be able to learn the ‘practical’ side of his teachings.
From my own experience I feel the idea of the mind/ego is limited for Westerners as our Ego’s are much stronger than the Easterners have, applying Eastern methods is too limiting. I wrote about this in another article: https://lonerwolf.com/psychospiritual/ . We need a much more catharthic approach.
I can only speak from my own taste of this, but I feel the lessons of consciousness are left behind in a layer of information that stays in this realm when our Spirits return back to their source. The expansion of consciousness occurs at the same time as the ‘intensifying’ of our Spirit; this consciousness expansion and intensity of Spirit is what could vaguely be called our ‘Souls’. In a way I guess you could say we are moving from a state of neglect before the expansion, a state of ‘sleep’.
I should make more time to read, I’ve heard much about Neale Donald Walsch but haven’t had the pleasure of any of his works.
The best approach to all this is to experience it more so than try to understand it mentally. They’ll be dozens of theories, dozens of ideas but as you well said; the moon and the finger are the trap of living in a state of duality. The less we label it the better, ironically, it is necessary to label it at the beginning to speaking the language of the mind others live in, and attract them to your message.
I would love to meet you and other of our readers some day, Switzerland is definitely on my list of countries to visit next.
Much warmth!
Thanks for your reply Mateo. And thanks for give your info about Eckart Tolle. Although I enjoy reading 2 of him books, I heard several other criticisms against him (there are several blog post or forum post who speak bad about him).
However you are saying that he does not have the merit of any idea behind what he says, but it took everything from Buddhism. Well … almost all are inspired by Eastern philosophy, the Tao Te Ching, I-Ching, Buddhism and the like. At least that’s what I think I see in all the modern spiritual masters.
What I like in this modern spiritual masters is that they use a modern language to explain something written time ago; plus they try to put in relation modern world with this old philosofy. For example I have the book Tao Te Ching but is very hard to understand, especially if you are at the begging.
Even if this masters take their ideas from somewhere else, then they should also feel this in real life; otherwise is very hard to explain with your words: you need first of all understand and be able to put in practice (as everything else).
Tolle has also credited with having “awakened” people like Jim Carrey (who is now spreading the message).
I will read now your others articles..
Switzerland is nice country, but Australia (I think you are there) is much better ;) If you come here (Lugano) then come to visit me.
Best
I believe Eckart Tolle’s ideas have much merit, he is wonderfully eloquent , and as you said; draws awareness toward these ancient teachings that are so valuable.
However, many of the students that have come to me have done so from other of these masters. The reason is that these masters present everything in terms ‘enlightenment’, the moon, and by doing so they give birth to the ‘seeker’. Before this message there was only people wanting to find ways to be free from inner conflict, now there are people free from one conflict and replacing it with another which is ‘seeking’ the awakening. This presents an easy way to enter the biggest pitfall of all, which is ‘spiritual bypassing’.
That however is not really so much the problem as is what happens after. Because all these Eastern teachings focus on an ‘ego death’ and ripening of our spiritual side, they create an imbalance. We are just as much spiritual as we are ego-based beings, ignoring the maturation of one side of ourselves by exercising the other will bring troubles.
For example; I’ve come across at least a dozen people who after years of practicing Kundalini/yoga/meditation exercises they entered moments of Samadhi. But because they hadn’t dealt with past memories and traumas, when the ‘ego’ is quieted which is what is holding all these memories locked in the unconscious; all this turbulence came afloat within the Samadhi experience, turning it into a hellish experience that took them months to recover from.
It’s the same as Shamanism done by amateurs with no guidance. Opening the doors of your ‘ego’ can released some of the most terrifying altered states of consciousness you can think of. I’ve experienced this myself.
For Westerners, approaches like Neo-Platonism, Alchemy, Kabbalah, even Shamanism are much more suitable as they involve rituals which are cathartic for our feeble ego’s while still entering moments of communion with the divine.
Tolle thanks to his fame can now make people aware that there is a place of inner stillness as he shares with you his experience, that’s what this ‘awakening’ is for people like Jim Carrey or Oprah. He has become the biggest sign post, the longest finger for everyone to see which is wonderful. But his advice can only do that, make you aware there is a moon. To be able to teach people to transition from the finger to the moon requires a whole different set of tools.
It’s been the same with all prominent Eastern teaching masters; think of Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna, Tolle, Osho, Adyashanti, Chögyam Trungpa, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Maharishi Mahesh. How many of their collective millions of readers/students can directly say they’ve reached a similar level of ‘awakening’ to any of these masters? None of them had masters themselves, they happen upon it by “Grace” to use the Christian expression.
Some people will find comfort and richness in their words, but I feel others with the modern mind that is much different from the mind of thousands of years ago will struggle with these amazing teachings. Instead of approaching the message the same way so many others are doing, why not approach it in a new way?
I think once you taste the 42 degree dry heat we have here at the moment you’ll begin to miss Switzerland :)
Thanks for share your experience. I take time to read others of your articles, and I found every single article very interesanting, and fully resonate with me.
I also see that you have good knowledgment in Shamanism, a topic which I definitely love.
I can imagine that 42 degree are a lot, but as Croatian I prefer hot than cold.
I hope to meet you one day.
Take care!
God first.
Live altruistically.
God forgives you.
Great Piece, Mateo. Might just use it this week. OK?
Sure thing Johnny, it’s a simple piece but I feel it is an essential one to understand the rest of our work. Thank you for sharing it.
Simple, but elegant. That’s why I like it so. Thanks for the go-ahead. Look for it on the Concordance Blog Monday afternoon.
I will search through it then. By the way, that’s a beautiful medicine wheel you’ve laid in the garden. :)
Hello Mateo,
I appreciate your understanding and explanations.
Keep it up real as you do the authenticity if your knowledge/experiences, is what makes the difference.
Success all the way.
– Then self-actualization which Maslow refers to is the maximization of potential of the self (body/ mind)? And is it conditioned by time/age?
– Self-transcendence is the process of you gain more and more control over your self by your soul? Soul is the end, grow in a linear manor, then until when it reaches the stage of Personification which Carl Jung mention? Is it free will?
– And when it reaches to the stage of oneness coming back to Spirit you mention about? Any case that free will decide not coming back to spirit?
Hola Pij,
In my understanding, Maslow’s self-actualization refers to the Souls ‘intensity’ of being fully present, it comes as a by-product of the collective/whole process of spiritual maturation in balancing mind with body and soul. In this sense it is not dictated by age, but time may play a role (it can be done in on single moment, or an entire cycle of lifetimes).
Self-Trancendence is not so much gaining ‘control’ over your Self as that would imply our Soul has a ‘will’ that can control something else (Self). It’s rather a liberation, a trancendence from your limited Self micro tunnel vision to your Souls macro-vision awareness of all that is happening within you. The Self would normally react to any internal struggle it perceives, while as the Soul that has matured enough will be free from that reaction as it has a ‘deeper’ understanding of the futility of the individual Self’s problems.
Carl Jungs Individuation process (or personification as you write), is connected to the ego development in that we quite never reach the climax of our ego’s development. It is always in a semi-finished process. To truly transcend the Self or ‘ego’ we must first allow this Self to be completed so we can be entirely aware of what it looks like and what we are transcending.
There’s no such thing as free will in my experience, and science has proven it many times. ‘Free Will’ is a false belief our illusionary concept of ‘Self’ has created, who would like to feel in control of its surroundings perceiving itself as separate. It must be the way, there has to be a ‘controller’ and something ‘controlled’, in my example above it’s like the wave thinking they can control the ocean.
The Soul will continue coming back until it completes its maturation process, the only liberation from that will be once we have attained something resembling the Buddhist concept of Enlightenment, or ‘Moksha’ as the Hindu’s call it.
If I may, about the Maslow references: I’m a many years “fan” of his, but only within the past few years did I learn that, late in life and after an exhaustive study of those he thought were Self-Actualized people, he had proposed a 6th tier to his original 5 stepped pyramid: Self Transcendence, which Maslow argued, is a meta-need, a higher state of consciousness where we transcend our ego and embrace a fundamental connection with the rest of the world. This transcendence is generally accompanied by intense happiness and well-being, the feeling that one is aware of “ultimate truth” and the unity of all things with a good dose of Service to Others. He called Self-Transcendence the next step in human evolution. It is the level of being towards which we, in humility, strive.
I have a deep appreciation for Maslows work as well, he was one of the pioneers of Transpersonal psychogy which is the closest branch of psychology to use a more spiritual inclusive model.
His notion of Peak-Experiences wonderfully illustrate many of the Eastern ideas of natural ‘Samadhi’ states we all experience. I’ve often been hesitant in using his concept of Self-Transcendence though solely because it felt a bit incomplete as the pyramid has no 7th step of what happens after the self has been transcended. I also feel his Self-Transcendence Tier should be a separate design from his ‘basic needs’ pyramid hierarchy as Spiritual matter, unlike Self matters, are less hierarchical and more holistic (perhaps with the use of a circle instead?).
The idea of a 7th step WOULD make sense, in terms of sacred numbers. Perhaps it might be seen as the level of Self-Realization, as in the realization (i.e. the embodiment) of the Self as Creator, which seems to me to be the next logical step or “need.”
I really like the Idea of using a circle (Medicine Wheel ;) ) to represent a hierarchy of “Spiritual Needs.” Most appropriate.
Medicine Wheel or even a Mandala, something I might look into :).
Hi Sol, you said “To truly transcend the Self or ‘ego’ we must first allow this Self to be completed so we can be entirely aware of what it looks like and what we are transcending.” can you please explain more about the completion of the self? Is the self somehow scattered so we need to put it back together? Or is it underdeveloped, but how? And also how is completion of the self related to the expansion of consciousness and spiritual growth? Does completing the self also mean growing spiritually?
Hola Ika,
We are multi-dimensional beings. At some point ‘spirituality’ and psychological balance were disconnected from each other, perhaps lost in translation from many Eastern masters who condemned the ‘Ego’ as an enemy in our spiritual growth.
Our Soul and Ego might be two different aspects of ourselves, but they are two different aspects within one Wholeness, one unity. If we want this unity to mature and develop we must treat it in its entirety and not as different ‘parts’.
Our spiritual growth can only occur if it is in balance with our psychological wellbeing. How far can someone spiritually grow if they carry within them psychological traumas from childhood and a poor imbalanced sense of self-worth?
To reach spiritual heights we must first dig deep into our ‘depths’, as above so below. For a tree to grow tall and up to the sky it must first have very strong well developed roots under the earth. That is what I mean by needed a well defined ‘ego’ before we can reach cosmic heights.
Ah, right. This is where I lose it. I don’t have the well defined ego and psychological clarity to process what’s inside. It’s similar to the feeling when you understand someone speaking other language, you know what to respond to it, but you don’t know how to put it together.
It’s like the energy accumulated can’t be channeled properly, like a swelling, it’s straining and sore. It gives me fever and blurs my perception. Well, this sure sounds weird, but this is the closest to how I feel.
I’m sorry if this is irrelevant, it just feels really good to be able to put it into words.
I love hearing our readers experiences Ika.
I can tell you that it is a process of ripening, the moment will come when you’ll experience that clarity and be able to see through the muddle of thoughts, desires and identification with them.
Meditation is often the simplest ‘bridge’ to this, but I really want to help our readers explore other methods that have worked for me so I’ll share more in upcoming articles and projects :).