Behavioral patterns are the map to the unconscious, suggesting the route to knowledge of self and deeper awareness of how to resolve issues and advance. A warrior studies patterns of behavior to learn about the human condition, to understand the deeper issues of self that may appear to entice and captivate outside entities that seek sustenance, that seek to feed off human energy. A warrior is always a student of life. In this manner a warrior learns how to navigate through even the trickiest of situations, leaving behind the behaviors that do not advance the journey of life but only inhibit. To study one’s own life patterns, as well as to observe and study others, is to know the self on the deepest level. This is the warrior’s way, always a student but always advancing to new levels of awareness, mastering self and life.
Soulbyte for Thursday March 19, 2015
It takes courage to face the self with honesty, to be absolutely truthful, without the constant need to protect and be safe, without the needs of the child self getting the upper hand. To be courageous is the warrior’s way. This requires not only maturity but a commitment to change and growth. To draw from the vast pool of courage is to draw to the self the greater intention of all beings: the quest for wholeness. And so the warrior does not shirk the duty to self in this endeavor but pushes through needs, desires, and wants to find personal truth. Only then will needs, desires, and wants be fulfilled, and only then will they become less necessary, for in the end the warrior discovers that there is so much more to strive for. This too is the warrior’s way. To face the truth of the self is a journey taken alone, for no one else can do this for you. The warrior knows firsthand that this is what it means to be courageous.
Chuck’s Place: The Tripartite Self
– Detail from artwork by Jan Ketchel
If we examine the inner workings of our everyday mind, we will likely discover three distinct characters: the Child, the Adult, and the Wise One.
The Child may be observed as the one who immediately reacts with fear as the day begins or when the day ends. The Morning Child may fear what bad things await in the day, whereas the Evening Child may fear what may pop out and surprise it in the darkness of the night.
The Child might constantly feel it has done something wrong; it’s in trouble; it’s not as good as everyone else; it’s simply inadequate and flawed. Perhaps the Child holds a secret belief that it truly is unlovable, that it must hide and cover up for fear of being exposed as simply a fraud—deep shame indeed.
The Child might lodge itself in the throat or the jaw or the heart, its tension shutting down the deeply opening and releasing breath of abdominal breathing. Or the Child might pressure for constant physical activity—running, spinning, climbing—racing in some form to release its fear in constant activity. Or, in contrast, the Child might remain sluggish and hidden, seeking never to attract the attention of interaction that threatens exposure, failure, and disappointment.
The Adult is the ego self. In one form or another the Adult is formed to manage the needs, feelings, and beliefs of the Child self. Donald Winnicott, pediatrician and psychoanalyst, proposed the term “false self” to capture the compensatory nature of the adult ego that tries to cover up the felt deficiencies of the now subterranean child self. This falseness is a kind of inflation where the Adult wears a mask that suggests talent or competency, when the truth is that it’s really covering areas of deep doubt within. For example: a man who is terrified of woman might don the mask of Don Juan and become a conqueror of women, or a woman might play the role of seductress to secure a babysitter for her frightened child self, afraid to be alone in the night.
Beyond its falseness, the Adult ego is the legitimate heir or chief navigator of this life in the body. The ego ate the apple in the Garden, it is the center of consciousness and decision making. It is a powerhouse in its own right and for better or worse must steer the ship of our choices.
– Photo of art by Jan Ketchel
Appropriately, the Adult must turn its attention toward securing its place in the world. A living must be made, basic needs must be met. The Adult must become the hero that charts the course to survival and perhaps thrives in the daily adventures of life. Depending on a host of factors, such as DNA, family of origin, finances, and relationships, the Adult ego might find itself confident and solidly grounded, adventurous and daring, or it might be barely holding on in the most basic of life’s challenges.
Regardless, however, of the degree of ego success, the truth is that all egos are equally confronted with the truth that life in this world will end, and that a far more comprehensive world awaits in death, where particles are waves—where everything is energy—and there is nothing solid to hold onto.
Fortunately, in the background of the self is the Wise One, the quiet voice in the depths of ourselves that reconnects us with the fruits of the Garden. The Wise One tells us the truth when we ask it what to do. Often there’s a moment of calm, of clarity, when we’re told, see, or know the truth—what is right action. Should we continue in this relationship? Should we eat this food, take this drink? Should we take this job? Should we speak the truth?
The Wise One generally does not press us. It realizes the futility of teacher approaching student. And so, often the Wise One sits back and let’s life with all its consequences be the elementary school teacher. When we’ve accrued enough knowledge through willful failures we become ready to ask and acquiesce to the guidance of the Wise One within and begin to choose right action as our life’s modus operandi.
– Detail of cover painting from KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Much of life is spirit developing a homogenous whole between the heterogenous entities of these tripartite selves of Child, Adult, and Wise One. The Child is the channel to our deepest needs and innocence. The Adult is our greatest hope for reconciliation and karmic advance in the sea of oppositions we must confront within and without in this life. The Wise One is our truest guide who holds the wisdom of countless generations and past lives, as well as access to life beyond space and time. But the Wise One will only come to us in a meaningful way if we assume full responsibility for life in this world and preparation for life beyond this world as well, or at the very least are humbly ready to listen. Such is the mystery and magic of the tripartite, holy trinity of self.
Homogenizing,
Chuck
Note: Although no reference is given to the illustrator of the work pictured above that we have chosen to represent the Wise One within us all, the painting is from the cover of KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. With thanks and gratitude!
Soulbyte for Wednesday March 18, 2015
Abide within the law of give and take. Observe nature and how flexible it is. Learn flexibility so that your life may be filled with all you need. If you are too contained, without the ability to give and take, your experiences will be limited and your life only marginally fulfilled. Notice how nature gives and takes, fully, with abandon. But notice also that the give and take of nature always has purpose, that one thing leads to another, and so there is always a reason for that abandon though it may not be at first apparent.
Open to the give and take of nature in your own world, naturally, by opening to the gifts from the universe, from the guides and helpers of you all, and see what comes to teach you what it means to give and take with abandon within the laws of nature and the universe. It is not so hard as you might think, but it may take a while to get it right, for in giving and taking there is also the lesson of enough. What is enough? And how do you learn that law? Well, that is another lesson!
Soulbyte for Tuesday March 17, 2015
Do not rage against the unseen for that will result only in fictionalized projections and a waste of energy. Draw inward when mind projects, when rage stirs, and calm the senses. Far better to be ignorant than to have created a world that does not exist. Mind stirred to rage of the unseen or untruth is mind gone haywire!
Attain balance within by turning only to the workings of the self, paying attention to the physical body, attending to breath as cleansing mechanism, and let rage escape like the fires of ancient dragon beings. In this manner will cooling winds provide calming territory in which to wait. For waiting is the only antidote to projected rage. Wait and you will find out what you need to know.