Your Higher Self
Your Hardwired Portal To The Universe
Introducing Your Higher Self
When things are tough and you are starting to think that no one else get this much hassle, when you have difficulty sleeping and your mind keeps going over things looking for an answer, when you know the answer’s there but no matter how hard you try or how often you ask for help you just can’t find it - this is the time to relax and trust your higher self
What Is Your Higher Self?
The simplest way of answering this question is to look at the key words in that question:
HIGHER
Visualise a ship at sea. The ship floats on the surface of the ocean and its purpose is to transport cargo and passengers from one location to another.
Think of the ship as your conscious mind.
The ocean is metaphor for your subconscious mind. The ocean is deep, dark and mysterious and generates powerful currents which have a strong influence on the direction of travel of the ship.
The sky is metaphor for your higher consciousness. This is often referred to as your higher self or higher power. The sky contains the clouds, the wind, the weather and is the gateway to the planets, the stars... the universe.
Think of your higher self as your hardwired portal to the universe and everything "out there" – or the dimension of spirituality.
SELF
It doesn't take too much self awareness to recognise that we are quite complex and that the totality of what we refer to as "myself" is an amalgam of many different aspects of our total or whole self which are also know as "sub-personalities" or "selves".
In this model, the higher self can be thought of as your spiritual self.
The higher self is something that we experience when the conscious mind is quiet through the practise of mindfulness or any other means that stops it thinking.
The Characteristics Of Your Higher Self
- This is the big you, the transcendent you, the you that is often referred to as your higher consciousness or higher self.
- This is the you that acts as your conscious mind's portal to the universe, everything conventionally thought of as outside of you.
- This is the you that is connected to every thing and everyone else.
- This is the non-dualistic you that does not see distinction between "this and that" and experiences "everything" as unity.
- This is the you and exists in the dimension of spirituality.
- This is the you that is beyond your thinking mind.
- This you can not be thought and can only be experienced.
- This is the you that is beyond time and space.
- This is the all powerful you.
- In the Christian expression this is the God or Divine you.
- In Taoism this is The Tao or The Way
- In the Buddhist expression this is the Buddha mind, the enlightened mind or the "Big Mind".
- This is the you upon which you expend so much time, effort and energy while you are stuck in seeking.
- This is you that is always here - now, in the present moment.
- The critical question is:"How difficult is it to put aside the controlling self and find the Higher Self?" The answer is that it can take years, or with the right preparation, a few minutes.
Connecting With Your Higher Self
To connect with your higher self you need to stop thinking.
How do you stop thinking? The most powerful and proven technique for learning how to stop thinking is meditation.
The over-arching goal of most meditation techniques is to gain a degree of control over the mind and freedom from the incessant flow of thoughts and internal chatter - the monkey mind as it is sometimes referred to - to relax and relieve stress, and to realise increased or higher states of insight and perception.
The meditation practise with which I am most familiar and which is featured extensively on this site is the practise of mindfulness.
As the conscious thinking mind quietens and the gaps between thoughts widen you will become more aware of your higher self.
There is no right or wrong way to experience your Higher Self, but it is important to pay attention until you are sure you can discern it.
Aligning With Your Higher Self
With practise and over time you can learn to listen to your higher self. As this level of attainment grows and develops there is a corresponding shift in your relationship with your ego.
As you start to develop a good working relationship with your higher self you increasingly become aware of how your ego gets things horribly wrong because of:
- Your ego's desire to be in control,
- Your ego usurping the role of your higher self
- Your ego disconnecting you from your true source of power
This leads to the necessary realisation that you need to drop your ego and get out of your own way.
Over time it becomes painfully apparent that dropping the ego is not a one-time experience but a frequent activity that should be undertaken at least daily and often many times throughout the day.
Then you discover that as you take your higher self seriously it engages and starts to take you seriously, and everything changes.
I describe the point at which you seriously start to engage with your higher self as taking the red pill.
You can learn about this in I took The Red Pill.
Return to: What Is Spirituality?
