Will the real Me or You Please Stand Up?
When I meet you, who do you want me to see you as – a woman?, a man?, a woman who sees himself as a man (he/him)?, a man who sees herself as a woman (she/her)?, a feminist?, educated?; a Catholic, Buddhist, or Evangelical?; an anarchist or fascist?; Black, Hispanic, or Asian?; a Democrat, Republican, or Independent?; Gay or Straight?; Angry and Intense?, a Pacifist?, vaccinated or unvaccinated?, a Trump-hater and Biden-lover, or vice versa?
Who are you? How many labels do you wear? How many labels do you want to be known by? Will the real “You” please stand up (remember the old TV show, “To Tell the Truth”)?
Is it just me or have we, as a nation, become incredibly divided? Does it seem like the labels we use have polarized us, even justified us becoming antagonistic to each other, and in some cases violent?
But . . . let me ask you a few more questions? Are you what you do, how you think, or how you feel? I hope you don’t see yourself that way. Because what we do, how we think, and how we feel are generally, often tied to our ego, our false personality, our shadow self.
When you were born, a spirit incarnated in your body. Before you were old enough to develop an ego or a false face as a response to your parents or your social network, you were essence. You were spirit, divine essence. Creator gave us part of its essence but with distinct anomalies to make each of us unique.
We all share (are unified in) the Creator’s divine Essence yet are made uniquely diverse in our particular characteristics. This obviously goes beyond race, politics, economics, creed, sexual preference, etc.
Now, whatever you’ve had to make yourself become to make it in the world, or whatever body your spirit is housed in, or however you think and feel about yourself – none of that is essence. Our essence runs deeper than that. Essence is primordial. Essence is the spirit-qualities you were birthed with, first when your actual spirit was created, and when your spirit entered your current body.
Summarizing Dr. Jose’ Luis Stephens Ph.D. (audio lecture: What is Essence?, The Power Path School of Shamanism), essence is our life-stream, our expanded self but linked to deeper sources. It is the blueprint of ourself, our expanded “me” that exists in many dimensions but also which manifests in the physical.
Essence is our “true” personality, with no dysfunction or pathology. It is grounded, healthy, happy, blissful. It can be forgotten or shoved to the side by our ego or false personality. But it is always there to be recovered when we are ready. It is the experience of awareness, expansion, spaciousness, openness, and boundlessness rather than the tight labels and roles we overlay upon ourselves.
When I meet you, I’m searching for your essence. I don’t care if you are a woman, man, Black, Brown, White, or Green. Your essence may be hidden below the layers of your personality but I know it’s there. I am searching to find it. And I want you to find it in me as well!
No more falling for how our political times have divided us. We unify in our diversity by upholding each other’s essence.
Steve Bull, Transforming Lives
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