| Self, Soul & Parables |  |
Parables and mythical stories have been with us throughout time.
From the earliest of cave drawings to modern writing and film,
parables,as guides to human experience, have been a source of
inspiration throughout history. They are the teachers that guide us
through the challenges confronting us at different stages in our
lives. Parables provide us with images and symbols that crystallize
human experience into digestible pieces. As we are symbol seeking
creatures, parables serve to illustrate each lesson we are about to
embark on. They inform they guide and they teach.
Periodically, in our collective human journey, we have major
awakenings. Our history books inform us of this, all of our major
disciplines are affected. A breakthrough in science often leads to a
breakthrough in human awareness. For example, "the sun does not
revolve around the earth," but, "the earth revolves around the sun"
struck down a core belief that could not be sustained by the facts.
Earth-centeredness equalled self-centeredness during this period of our
history and both were dealt a fatal blow. As a result, we humans
became part of something larger than ourselves,a part of the Universe
if you will, rather than being its center. When we take a long view
of our recorded history we see that such awakenings have
occurred regularly and continue to this day.
With the information explosion of modern times, we are likely on the
threshold of another major awakening. The world becomes smaller as
each of us gains access to new information sources via the Internet,
and as the benefits from that expanding knowledge base continue to grow.
One could argue that our collective consciousness is uniting as we
abandon isolationism and move toward the growing awareness that we
are indeed One.
Within each period of history a symbol would emerge in the
consciousness of man that described this process of evolution at the
personal level. The symbol for today is the arising of the Self, well
described by Carl Jung and the human potential movement of the late 60s
and early 70s. From Self-actualization to Self-empowerment, the symbol
of the Self announces a growing understanding that at the center of us lays
a core, and this core is our Self out of which emerges creative expression
of our truest nature.
The Self is not our Ego which has been our symbol of outward expression
until this time. The ego has been an integral part of our human journey but
is no longer its mainstay. As many Eastern philosophers point out, the
ego is a stepping stone to this new threshold, the arising of the Self. This
Self is our core which, as we shall see, connects us to the Divine.
Remember, the ego wants to be a God unto itself, totally self-sufficient and
isolated, lying at the root of all our addictions which take us away from our
true Self.
This Self contains and expresses that which we are in our feelings and
emotions. This feeling nature has been called Heart and refers to our
strongest desires and passions. "Follow your bliss" Joseph Campbell
would suggest in answer to such questions as "who am I?" and "what is my
purpose here on this earth?" The "recovery movement" has linked this Self
with "the lost Inner Child." Again, another description that places the Self
as our feeling nature. I believe that this Self is the "true" center of our
human personality and when "free" and "actualized" connects us to our
Soul, its spiritual counterpart.
Our Soul is our connection to the Spiritual and the very source of our
being. Our Soul takes on human form for its Earthly experience and gives
rise to the Self which is the spiritual in human form. Self and Soul are the
flip sides of the same coin. On the one side we see our spiritual nature;
on the other we see our essential human nature. Expressing the Divine
through our human form brings God down to Earth and renders this physical
experience "Holy." Our parables, myths and stories recount this journey
where the hero or heroin, after undergoing a period of "initiation," emerges
more vitally alive, unencumbered and free.
The Self then, is brought forward and nurtured on the human plane of
experience. Expressing this Self strengthens us in our human drama and
leads us back to Soul. Self and Soul work dynamically together to maintain
the bond between the human and the Divine. We see that we are Spiritual
beings first and foremost. And our humanness is but one expression of
the Divine that seeks to enlarge Itself through the human journey, to once
again assert why we are here - which is simply To Grow!
About the Author:
Maurice Turmel PhD is the author of "Parables for a Modern Age" and
"Parables on Grief & Loss." He was a practicing therapist for nearly 25
years. His current interests involve writing, speaking, songwriting, recording
and performing. Visit his website to sample some of the above and to learn
more about these connections between Psychology and Spirituality.
http://www.self-helpnow.com
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