by: ilimow
Today if we are asked as to what kind of person we are, we tend to say, we are not a GOOD HUMAN BEING. We say this not out of modesty but out of guilt-stricken sincerity. Though we don’t call ourselves Bad, we don’t consider ourselves Good either. This applies to the majority of the human race, and perhaps includes 'You' too.
The answer ‘You’ give is due to our life-long confusion. The confusion that emerges as the result of our constant self-talk. The confusion that leads to an identity crisis urging you to believe that there is more than one person living inside you. You often shuffle between each of these different ‘You’ at some point of time in your life. The three ‘You’ that shapes your entire personality are:
The External You
The External ‘You’ is the active, manipulated self. It is this ‘You’ that the world sees. This ‘You’ is what the world knows you as. If this ‘You’ is good, then the world considers you Good. If this ‘You’ is bad then the world calls you Bad. This ‘You’ is the mask you wear throughout your life.
This ‘You’ is not born with you, but is created the moment you start conceptualizing the life events that occur around you. This ‘You’ acts as the shield because it avoids the world to see through itself. This ‘You’ is created to safeguard the personal interests that matters. This ‘You’ behaves according to the program you have set for it. It is never spontaneous. Instead a deep level thinking always occurs before each action.
This ‘You’ is created with an intention to cover up the Internal ‘You’, and hence is under constant pressure to reach up to the world’s expectation. This ‘You’ constantly craves for control over each and every situation. It is constantly involved in the process of evaluation & judgement, so that it can prepare itself beforehand, to face any situation. This ‘You’ fears the unknown, and that's why it wants to know and understand everything around it. Since it’s this ‘You‘, you identify yourself most of the time, it often tends to believe that it is the only ‘You’.
The Internal You
The Internal ‘You’ is the passive, timid self. This ‘You’ talks to you in your solitude. This ‘You’ is borne within you since birth. It is this ‘You’ that is known only to you and no one else. This ‘You’ is aware of the bad intentions behind the good deeds and the good intentions that fail to serve the purpose. This ‘You’ is the ‘You’ that wears the Mask all the time.
This ‘You’ is under the constant threat of survival. It lacks confidence and does not consider itself good enough to face the world. It considers life to be unfair and world to be an enemy. This ‘You’ suppresses all its desires as it fears misunderstanding & rejection from the outside world. Hence it takes shelter behind the External ‘You’ that behaves according to the world norms.
This ‘You’ is the frustrated one as it is aware of its own weakness and helplessness. This ‘You’ wants a savior to save itself. This ‘You’ seeks comfort in the form of HOPE, which leads towards GOD & RELIGION.
The Real You
The Real ‘You’ is the pure, eternal self. This ‘You’ is the part of the Pure Absolute Beingness, which existed even before your birth and will continue existing even after you die. This ‘You’ is the Unknown Phenomenal Self.
This ‘You’ is the supreme undying Self, which is beyond the comprehension of mind, beyond all conceptualization. It is this ‘You’ that stays with you even when you are asleep. In sleep you loose contact with your mind and the world. You are not even aware of the bed you are sleeping on. That awareness comes soon after you wake up. And then the Internal ‘You’ takes over you, which is again taken over by the External ‘You’. Thus the Real ‘You’ gets ignored because you acknowledge either of the External or Internal ‘You’ as your Self, in the waking state.
It is because of your ignorance, that you see the Real ‘You’ as the separate self. The Real ‘You’ is the one that is sought after. It is this ‘You’ that is referred to as GOD.
The knowing of this ‘You’ is the beginning of Awareness. The Understanding of this ‘You’ would bring about peace to the restless human soul. The realization of this ‘You’ leads to ENLIGHTENMENT.