|
|
A SPLIT PERSONALITY MODEL OF REALITY
In this book we speak of the connectedness of all of mankind as a single flow of universal energy and intelligence. It seems like a philosophical ideal rather than a “here and now” reality. A dream-like psychotherapeutic escape mechanism from the realities and pressures of the real world. Not so, say several recent self-help authors, the ancient teachings of India, Buddhism, and certain quantum physicists turned philosophers. Somehow though, we find it difficult to feel very “connected” to the guy who cut us off on the freeway this morning, or to the astronauts on the space shuttle as they orbit the earth, let alone six billion other people and an infinitude of existence’s that pervade the earth. Such an awareness of “connectedness” would require a fundamental paradigm shift to grow from a feeling to a vivid reality. The mind is capable of astonishing mental gymnastics as well as incredible feats of “blocking out” of environmental data. The first step in any fundamental paradigm shift is to create analogies, which act as a catalyst towards understanding.
Let us indulge in one such analogy or “thought exercise” which may over time, create the necessary “crack in the curtain”. In this case, we can think of humanity as a case of multiple split personality disorder (MSP). In documented cases of MSP in people, each personality has the absolute ardent belief that it is an entirely separate entity from the rest of the personalities that dwell in the same mind. The first step in the treatment is to make the patient aware of the disorder and to recognize these personalities in an attempt to harmonize them into a unified, balanced, healthy entity.
So too is it constructive to view ourselves in the context of our fellow humanity. The individuality that we perceive is no more real than the individual entities occupying the same physical body of a person with MSP. For the purposes of this thought exercise, we can regard society as an MSP patient on a massive scale. The first step in the recognition of the global entity or the “real” personality, is to accept, as in the case of the MSP patient, that we must develop a greater awareness of all of the other personalities as being one with us in inhabiting this single living body - mother earth. We must understand each personality as representing a different, or several different, aspects of our very selves in the deepest most intimate way.
The next step is to understand exactly what each of these personalities represents within ourselves. The final step towards Union is the realization of the truly connected one-ness with each of these personalities and the ultimate balance and inner contentment that results.
Key to the understanding of the nature of this universal split personality and to the ultimate harmonization of these personalities into a single powerful creative force is the understanding of what each of these personalities represents within ourselves; What each one is trying to tell us metaphorically about ourselves. Only once we have accepted the message of each of these personalities can we begin to accept that they emanate from within our greater selves. Only then can we experience the reality of Union.
See everything not as it appears on the surface, but for what it represents symbolically as in a dream. See in every woman, the representation of the universal mother. In every household pet, the entire animal kingdom. And in every act of another, the potential which lies within each of us, either positive or negative.
Look upon each event, each circumstance, as a mirror upon one’s own soul, a cry from within the greater self of what needs to be unified or reconciled within the self in order for it to be healed into a state of natural balance and harmony, just as the MSP patient must become intimately aware on the deepest level of the behavior of each of his personalities and what they represent within.