The Center of the True Self

Notes, August 15 2024

August 15

Sparkill, NY

The self as we generally know it is what would be called self-centered.

In this ordinary self, I care about me and my own needs alone. The needs of others always come second; and most of the activity of the self consists of desires that surround it only. It wants to be "safe;” and if that has to take place at the expense of others, so be it.

I see this is a recipe for avoiding relationship with others. In the end, I want to take but not give. Yet there’s a true self within who is quite different.

The center of the True Self is located much closer to the soul—right next to it, in fact. It directly receives the emanations of heaven. Under these influences, it’s much less "selfish”—that is to say, it’s very unlike the action of the ordinary self—and instead has an innate understanding that it serves a higher purpose. Under this influence, it becomes quiet, contemplative, interested in meaning and in life rather than greed and desire.

The ordinary self is quite complicated. I've noticed that it wants to explain everything; and yet as I move through life, no matter how many scientific or intellectual explanations for the nature of things I encounter, they still don't actually "explain” what the world is.