by Michael Maciel

The Self does not exist on the Earth plane. Because of this, YOU do not exist on the Earth plane either. Because the Self (along with the soul) is who you are. If you do not exist on the Earth plane, where DO you exist? And furthermore, who or what is this person who obviously DOES live here, the one who thinks, is self-aware and is conscious of the world? Who is THAT?

When Jesus said, “I come from above,” he was speaking for all of us as our true, spiritual nature. He was saying that who we are is NOT a product of this body (which he referred to as a “temple,” one that could be destroyed and rebuilt in three days) but rather like the people in some of his parables who had traveled into a “far land” at the behest of their lord. Whoever we are, we are definitely in a far land.

What if everything you think you are is a fiction—even your consciousness? That would imply that the real you exists someplace else, would it not? It’s not so difficult to imagine that the self you have created is a false self, but can you imagine that the “you” that you think you are, the one that sits inside your brain looking out of your forehead as though out of a picture window, that that self is not you at all? What if the person referred to in the question so adroitly posed by gurus to would-be seekers, “Who are you,”—the one that feels more like a countermove in a chess game than an answer—what if THAT person is nothing more than an animated figurehead?

You have to consider (and I mean, REALLY consider) that consciousness is overrated. Maybe the Self is as different from your conscious self as your conscious self is from your toenails. And if that’s true, there is no way that your conscious self can lead you to Self-realization. You literally can’t get there from (t)here.

What then can you do? Well, the first thing is to recognize that God is WAY bigger than you are, that your true self—the Self (and soul)—is as close to “other” as anything you can imagine. Stop regarding consciousness as the totality of your being, because it’s not. In reality, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of you. Trying to get more of it will only separate you further from who you really are.

I know that this all sounds counter-intuitive, but believe me, it’s worth looking into. The Self is not what you think it is. It’s not “you” in the way you’re used to thinking of you. Nothing you can think from the standpoint of who you think you are will get you closer to Self. You have to lose “you” to find YOU.

Only by denying self can you find Self. The more you let go of the idea that you are already God and start to entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, that God is entirely outside of anything you can conceive, then you will stand a chance of finding the Self. And when it arises, you will SEE it. It will be as real as anything you have ever seen before. At first, it will seem external, something “other.” But that’s because you are the other. You are the one on the outside looking in. Doesn’t that seem plausible? No amount of empty affirmations will bridge that divide. The “you” who is making those affirmations is powerless. Nothing it says will make any difference at all.

This is going to demand some real worshipfulness on your part. You are going to have to admit that you don’t have anything—no inherent divinity, no “already there” mentality, no “God and I are one” justifications. You and God are NOT one, not when it comes to breaking out of the illusion of self. Self has no affinity whatsoever with self. None. But in order to discover the truth of this, you are going to have to venture into the unknown.