Chapter 4   The hidden Self

Ask yourself these questions. Who am I? What am I?  What is my purpose? People have always pondered the meaning of their existence. There are those who have been fortunate enough to find the answers. Many have not and are still searching. 

Since my intention here is only to present the Laws of manifestation so that we can create the reality we desire,  I will not dwell at length on the above questions. What I will do however, is formulate a model of ourselves so we can better understand our inner workings. 

This is essential for the comprehension of what is to follow. Remember though, that it is just a model and somewhat simplified. But it is a vital start on the right track and will help us understand the higher Laws when we're ready. With that in mind, let's continue.

Without getting too esoteric, I will simply say that there is much more to us than meets the eye. There is more to our makeup than just our physical body. Consider this:

You are walking on the street and happen to trip over perhaps accidentally hurting your foot. You bump into a friend and he ask you, "How are you?" You reply, I have a sore foot". But who in fact is the "I" that has the sore foot? Think about this.

Or you have been working very hard and someone asks you the same question. You reply, "I have a splitting headache". but who is the "I" that has developed the headache?

You see a beautiful woman across the road and you exclaim," Wow, she has a great body". But who is the "she" that has the body?

So you see that we are more than just a body. 

Our body is a part of us but is not all there is of us. 

When you think about it you notice that even our everyday language indicates this. Indeed we are more complex than first appears.

I will go a bit further with this. Say you've just been involved in a love affair. Perhaps it is over and you are a bit worse for wear. Somebody asks you how you are and you reply, "My feelings are hurt" or "My emotions are in a mess". But who is the "I" whose emotions are upset or whose feelings are hurt? 

Following the same reasoning, we can see that 

Our emotions are part of us also but there is more to us than only our emotions.

And finally, say you've been trying to solve a difficult problem for a while and seem to be getting nowhere. A friend asks, "How is it going?" you reply, "I need a rest. My mind is a blank". Once again, who is the "I" that has a mind? So therefore it can be said that you must have a mind. 

Our mind is a part of us. But we are more than just a mind. 

Well now we've come to a major breakthrough in understanding our true nature or hidden self. We have come to these profound realisations:   

We possess: a body  

We possess: emotions  

We possess: a mind 

But none of these is yet the real us. They are merely elements of ourselves that go towards our total makeup. However, the question still remains unanswered, "Who are we?" Well believe it or not we are getting closer. 

We also now know the Law that we create your reality by our beliefs. So our beliefs are another part of ourselves. Research has shown us that our deep beliefs actually have their home in the subconscious mind. 

Therefore our subconscious mind is another aspect of our makeup. 

This is that vast area of ourselves, that for the most part we know very little about. But it is probably the single most important factor in determining our overall state of existence. This then is another important aspect of ourselves.

Just one little more extension on this theme. A lot f religions, talk about that when we die "our Soul goes to heaven" or somewhere else or wherever. Where it goes does not matter here but again think what is being said by a phrase such as this. If my  Soul  goes to so and so then this really implies that I am something different to my Soul. That I have a Soul. 

Well if I have a Soul then who is the I who has the Soul? Who am I and what is my Soul?

It's all bit confusing isn't it? And this last little point certainly does not get us any closer to an understanding of who we are.

Alright, by now we can see four essential sides of ourselves. All that now remains is to get an answer to our original question. Listen carefully as you find out who we really are.

It is then no surprise that from time immemorial, philosophers, mystics, saints and sages have indicated that we are essentially  Spiritual beings. And this spiritual side of ourselves is actually our true reality. For the sake of this treatise, let's call this real self Soul.  

If this real self is Soul the I suggest a slight change in perception and simply see ourselves as Soul. 

It can then be said that in all truth 

We are Soul. 

Yes Soul is in fact what we really are, that deep hidden part of ourselves that we've been trying so long to find.

And if Soul is our reality, then our puzzle all starts to fit into place. Therefore we can say that, 

Soul has:

a physical body
emotions
a mind
a subconscious mind 

Now for the sake of avoiding confusion and for further clarity, I'd like to redefine some of the terms that I've used to describe our makeup. From now on then, I will call the emotions by the term "Emotional Body". I will call the mind, the "Mental Body". And I will call the subconscious mind, the "Etheric Body".

Now we can rewrite our model of ourselves as: 

Soul (you) has a: 

Physical Body 
Emotional Body
Mental Body
Etheric Body 

You might at this stage ask the question, "What is Soul?" Well that one you will have to work out for yourself. Suffice to say that Soul is the real you. Our higher self. Our God self. Whatever we want to call it is not important. I'm simply describing certain attributes of Soul. The rest you will find out for yourself. This is because real joy only comes when we do things ourselves. And by revealing too much, too soon, a great deal of the value of this book would be lost.

You see somebody might tell us in great detail, how to paint a picture for instance, but we will never learn to paint unless we actually do it ourselves and practice. The same applies to all things in life. Working it out for ourselves leads to real knowing whereas being told only gives us a theoretical knowledge. True we need the theory to begin with, but then we can let it go when we become the Knower. I will leave the question of Soul to you.

I'll just say that Soul has been given life by the Creator of the Universe to reflect Itself. 

It is the Divine spark of consciousness, that by knowing the Laws of the Universe can in fact reflect all the qualities of Its Creator.

In essence It is potentially unlimited but It has to learn how to become without limits, or free. And this is actually part of our purpose on Earth. To learn to become totally free. Spiritual liberation is another term for the same thing.