Self-Image Concepts concerning the Significance center form the special category of self-image. Self-image is a basic ego concept, made somewhat difficult to recognize because it is often unconscious. We form mental pic-tures about ourselves and how we should be and reject any part of ourselves that does not match. Self-image leads to the “masks” that we put on. The influence of self-image can be felt on the most basic levels. We picture ourselves as strong and reject ourselves for being weak. Feelings of weakness are then suppressed and not allowed to exist and find an integrated balance. We create the neurotic need to be strong, to balance the suppressed, but still unconsciously felt weakness. Moreover, selfimage defines exactly what strong and weak behavior is, which varies according to individual and culture. Self-image can be especially limiting when we try to establish personal growth goals. We think we should always be happy and successful, and we suppress perceived unhappiness and failure. The free flow of energies is inhibited. Our perception of what is becomes limited. A trap for the spiritual seeker is the self-image “I should always be loving.” When we are not loving, we feel as if we have failed. “Love” becomes a forced sentimentality, which later rebounds as the complement is experienced. The problem is that our idea of love is just another concept constructed by the mind; it is not real love. I am not saying you should express resentment if that is what you are feeling. It’s just that, as a spiritual seeker, it is easy to fall into the self-rejecting habit of judging your feelings and becoming upset when you discover negativities you think you should not have. This is nothing less than suppression, and I have seen “spiritual” people who continue to reject themselves even though they have been in spiritual circles for years. As a result, they make no progress and become hypocritical, thinking they are “loving,” when they are constantly giving out messages from their suppressed subconscious of exactly the opposite. They are trying to make themselves conform to a spiritual ideal that they have acquired. Whenever you want to be like anything or anyone, no matter how beautiful or exalted, you reject yourself. You are trying to mold yourself in the image of another, and this never works. If the person whom you admire is a great person, they didn’t become so by trying to emulate someone else but by being themselves. Being “yourself ” is what we are talking about – not trying to force yourself to conform to a concept of the mind. The task becomes one of recognizing what you really are instead of what your concepts superimpose on you. This is yet another way of describing the nature of the spiritual quest. Self-image concepts are part of our unconscious mental conditioning. As you go further into understanding what you are not, other conditioning will surface to be released. By processing whatever negative feelings you are aware of, you will gradually discover the underlying concepts. You may pick up the thread at any point, and eventually the complete pattern will become clear.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 15:21:18 +0000
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