An important step in gaining a correct understanding of these teachings is to become familiar with the true nature of our being. In order to help achieve this, let’s examine the authentic, true self and the egoic, false self in this brief summary.
Simply stated, we need to understand who we really are. As we will see, having knowledge of the true self is not the same as the actual experience of identifying as the true self, but we have to start somewhere. We can begin to discover an understanding of our true nature by exploring the idea of who we are not. Consider the following excerpt from my upcoming book. In this excerpt, we introduce the concept of the false self of the ego.
The egoic self
“…the ego is that nagging, often negative, voice in the head. Interestingly, the ego is that it is also the other voice, that voice of reason that questions the negative voice. The ego tries to reason with itself and pull itself back into line. The ego, really, is all of the voices in our heads. It will often probe for the limits, offering the most extreme and worst pieces of advice. Then later, after some time of reflection and remorse, the ego will come to us apologetically, assuring us that it can fix itself.
The ego will guide us into doing something wrong. Then it will come back and assure us that it will never allow that thing to happen again. However, it is unlikely that the ego will reform itself in this way. Such reform does not serve its interests. The ego will encourage us to do something we are resistant toward doing. Then it will come back and beat us up for doing it. Indeed, if the ego was a friend of ours, we might not stick around with them for very long.
The ego is obsessed with the outside world. It feeds itself by attempting to acquire possessions, wealth and status, all of which could disappear at any time. Therefore, regardless of how confident anyone’s ego may seem, all egos live in fear. Our practice teaches us to look inwardly to seek that which will sustain us, but the ego looks to sustain itself from the outer world.
The role of the ego
The ego has two main functions. Its first function is to protect itself, and it has all sorts of creative and relentless ways of doing so. As we have stated, the ego is all of the voices, so it will often attempt to disguise itself, rather insidiously, behind the guise of one of these voices. Without question, your ego will feel threatened by the practices we are undertaking and will look to defend itself.”
“A second function of the ego is to maintain a belief that it can and should control all of the events that happen to us in our lives. Control freaks, tyrants and absolutists are amplified versions of this tendency. As mentioned, the ego is never satisfied or okay with the present moment. It is constantly thinking of the past, perhaps to not repeat mistakes, or it is worried about the future, looking to head off any perceived problems. Ironically, as Alan Watts states, ‘It is this very sense of responsibility which disturbs its peace of mind.’ The ego yearns for security, not understanding that this security will only arrive when it lets go and surrenders.
Seeing past illusion
Jules Harris offers a response to both of these functions of the ego, ‘But the good news is that, when we let go of illusions, our buddha-nature then becomes available to support us in ways our ego tried and failed to do.’”
We identify with our thoughts and emotions. We even wrap up our identities with our tendencies, our jobs, and the things that we enjoy doing, and we can see this in certain phrases that we use. I am a lover, not a fighter. I am an electrician. I am an adventurer. Yet, in the preceding paragraph, Jules Harris introduces this different concept of who we might be. What is Tao? What is our buddha-nature? To answer these questions, let’s once again refer to my upcoming book.
The authentic self of Tao
“If you spend enough time investigating Zen, you are all but certain to cross paths with a phrase something akin to, ‘You are not a personal being having spiritual experiences. You are a spiritual being having a personal experience.’ If we take this to heart, that our true self is transcendent of our day to day experiences, then our true home is transcendent of these experiences as well. In short, our true self, our true home, is transcendent, and manifestation is that which is the transcendent at play.”
There is so much that can be said on this topic of our true nature. For now, perhaps it is best that we keep things as simple as possible. You are not your thoughts, your body, your ideas or your emotions. All of these things are simply further arisings within manifestation. Instead, the true self is that which witnesses all of these things.
In these teachings, we say that Tao is our true nature. It is who we really are. Now is not the time to convince you as such. In fact, as we have said, no amount of convincing is likely going to be able to take you to the experience of this truth. Yet, when we understand the truth of this teaching, of the existence of the false and the true self within us, we can also begin to discover the source of much of the confusion and distress that we otherwise experience in our lives.
Questions or feedback? Contact me directly.
