A bargain basement toolbox

"Truth has no form." is a quote from Idries Shah. This is a profound statement that is probably about as close as you can come to really describing your True Self, i.e. Oneness. Essentially, what it means that as soon as you try to put words to describing anything on that level, you are immediately wrong, just by virtue of using words. Anything that you can talk about in words is NOT the One. Even that last sentence is wrong. Do you feel a headache coming on?

However, Idries Sha went on to say that although Truth has no form, there are useful systems and tools for trying to describe Truth, or a part of it. Thus, you have the invention of many systems, like religions, mystical traditions, and practices. When used as tools, and remember the Plumber again, they can help someone realize Oneness. However, once you start to think the tool is Truth, you have become gripped by the ego.

I'd like to lay out a set of tools here, maybe more than one set. Over the years, I've gained proficiency with using a number of different toolboxes. Each one has a different vocabulary and approach, and all of them are artificial because they try to describe the layout of that which cannot be described. They are models.

The vocabulary is sometimes the most challenging part. About a year ago, I was at a conference, and I met a lady there who is a chiropractor. We got to talking and we soon "recognized" one another for our similar essences. The best way I can put this is that when we interacted with one another, it was very easy for us to detect the Oneness in each other almost effortlessly. Each of us was a natural at reflecting the other's divinity. (This stuff is hard to describe.)

However, the vocabulary was a big barrier to having some fun conversations! When we first called each other on the recognition, the first thing we did was sit down and trade toolboxes. We taught each other our vocabs and belief structures for that moment. Then after that, we were able to talk about things using one of our sets.

So this is the toolbox I showed her:

People have what I call "spiritual anatomy". Your being is divided into components: a physical, an emotional, a mental, and a spiritual piece. Each one of these has a corresponding term.

Physical: The Animal Self - This is the part of you that is alive in the biological sense. It doesn't think so much as it reacts. Primarily, it is concerned with physical survival. It wants four things: food, sleep, sex, and warmth/safety. When one of these things is lacking, you get physically uneasy, and everyone wants a different amount of each.

Emotional: The Inner Self - Everything about you that is emotional is part of this self. People's inner selves have the thinking capacity of a one or two year old toddler. They want things beyond what the animal self wants. The ego is also part of this self.

Mental: The Outer Self - This is your mind. This is the part of you that you probably think is you. This is the voice inside your head. If you have ever been in a crisis situation, and you've realized that part of you is totally collected and unmoved because it is coolly logical, that's your outer self. When you do a math problem, you use this.

Spiritual: The Divine Self - This is the part of you that is less an illusion than the other pieces. It is the piece that knows it is part of the One, and it has a great view up there of everything that is going on.

Now it gets more complicated than this because each of those four things can further subdivide, but we won't get into that.

In our next installment we'll talk about how these pieces connect to each other.