1 Is It All in Our Mind?
God said : “Inasmuch as We are One, what can be made of Our One Self? Who is speaking now, and Who is listening and writing down what I say?
It would seem that I AM, and you, the thought of you, are My fingers, and so My fingers type.
Understand, you are not lost in Me. The deepest Truth of Us is found, and so your personality finds your blessed Soul.” HL 4387
Which part of us is real?
If we question ourself about who we really are, it is because we are in doubt, we are uncertain. But uncertain of what? Are we uncertain that we exist? Most likely not. And we use external references to prove to ourself and to the outside world that we really exist as a distinct entity separated from other entities. The body is our ultimate reference supporting our perception that we are separate and distinct from anyone else. But if we are “relatively” certain that we exist as separate beings, it doesn’t seem enough to ascertain us of WHO WE ARE. To perceive ourself as separate does not seem sufficient enough to convince us that we are Real. The body is a perceived boundary but it does not give us any meaning, our meaning, which is the essence of an identity.
The real identity or meaning of WHO AM I? is more difficult to figure out because we can’t pretend we created ourself. And going upstream on our genealogical tree won’t answer the question. Simply asking the question WHO AM I? expresses the fact that I perceive myself as separated from my own meaning. So which is real and which is unreal, my perception of myself or my own meaning? Only one of the two must be real. Consequently, the other one must be unreal.
The splitting of the mind
This seems confusing and it is indeed. There is a part of our mind that must be trying to teach us what we are not or that we are not what we are. This part of the mind must be the one that identifies itself with the body. The other part of the mind must hold the meaning of Who I Am, must know what we are so it doesn’t have to raise any question of identity. It knows, so it IS. Meaning cannot be divided otherwise it is not a meaning. A meaning must be Whole, unchangeable, immutable.
The part of our mind that tries to teach us that we are not what we are is called ego. It is the part that is always uncertain, always doubting, always agitated, always upset, always guilty, always deceived, always unsettled, always feeling incomplete, always lacking. This is the “insane” part of the mind. It is insane because it is not sane, not healthy, not happy, it feels constantly sick. If it cannot recognize itself it maybe because it is unreal as darkness is not real since it is defined by the absence of light, therefore the absence of meaning. The other part of the Mind — the sane, healthy, happy part of it — that does not ask any question about its own identity is absolutely stable, calm, certain, holding itself, its meaning, in perfect serenity. This is the part of the mind that can see itself in its own light. Would it not be easy to call this Healthy Mind, a sparkle of God’s mind? Since the sane part of our mind holds with absolute certainty our meaning, therefore it holds and safeguards our identity, in Latin identidem or idem(the same)+ens,-entis(being) +idem(the same, repeatedly). Sameness with One is the essence of our IDENTITY.
But if it helps our understanding to make a distinction between the Sane, Healthy and Shiny Mind and the insane, dark one, it would be closer to Reality to say that our Real Mind is Whole while our insane mind is only a virtual mind. It does not really belong to our healthy mind. Only a whole mind can be real. A split mind does not have any consistency, any reality. Our healthy mind is real because it holds our meaning, our identity. The insane mind, the one that perceives itself as a separate entity can’t hold any meaning. It is fragmented and incapable of having any unity and coherence.
The reconciliation of the split mind
This brings us to a powerful insight: everything that is real must be based on EQUALITY. If our meaning as (human) beings is whole, it can’t bear any division, any levels, any hierarchy. Unless we recognize all human beings as equal, we can only see ourself as separated from our own meaning, thus experiencing ourself as unequal to something else, hence unreal.
When we feel divided, abandoned, deprived of love, lacking, we are experiencing ourself as if we are not what we are, hence experiencing ourself as unreal. When we feel whole, happy, giving, and loving, we are experiencing and being what we are, hence experiencing ourself as real.
We could identify our Real, Healthy Mind as being also our Heart because Reality is Whole, is One, is Meaningful. Our insane mind or ego is a fac-simile of the Mind, without any heart, that is without any content, meaningless.
Only what is shared is real. Egos can’t be shared, therefore they are not real.
Written by Normand Bourque on Jan 01, 2013
