Notes on Good Separation - (5375)

Introduction

Following the series of posts about the steps of dissolving the ego, here is a post on the stage of separation.

Notes

Separation is the result of many conscious efforts of observation. It is actually a conscious action that is based on conscious knowledge and faith.

The ability to separate from any "I" comes from having observed an "I" and having understood the teachings about the pluralised "I" and the essence.

The observation of any "I" takes us to clearly understand that the internal state we experience as a reaction to a given event comes from a psychological "I". That is, a psychological person living within our interior.

That psychological person has it's own agenda and way of thinking, feeling, speaking and doing.

Before our self-observation reaches this point of maturity, we don't really know that such internal states come from a psychological "I" within us.

Basically, it is when through self-observation we have established knowledge of the predictable nature of this psychological person. We know everything about the environment, the triggers, the before, the during and the after of its manifestation. We know all that it will think, feel, say and do or not do.

Good self-observation takes us to separation. That is to be able to clearly know that there is an "I" trying to manifest through our human machine and that we are not that "I". We are the free essence. 

The next step is to exercise conscious will to not identify with that "I" or psychological person knowing that it is not our free essence. Knowing that it is a conditioned fragment of essence wishing to manifest, and it is not the thinking, feeling and acting of the real 'me', the free essence.

In other words, it is the "I" within us that is suffering, crying, protesting and feeling negative and upset.

It is also fundamental to understand that the free essence is really us and holds our correct and particular true response. 

To be able to separate any "I" from ourselves, we need to have knowledge of a few fundamental points. These points are the following.

• We are the free essence.

• The feeling of the free essence is the joy to be alive. Negative thinking and feeling is not the free essence thinking or feeling.

• We are a plurality. That is, many different "I's" live within us. None of them are our free essence.

• We become the "I" and stop being the free essence when we identify with the identity of the "I".

• To be the free essence is to be awakened. To be the "I" is to be asleep and to have forgotten ourselves.

 • It does not matter if we have 100,000 different "I's", what counts is that we know that we are neither of them and we can be the free essence all the time.

• To not identify is to separate.

• We are always better off not getting identified.

The key of separation is to tell ourselves many times, "I am not this way of thinking and feeling, this thinking and feeling is NOT of me the free essence." then make efforts (great efforts sometimes) to let that way of thinking go and bring the virtues and values of the free essence to respond to that situation.

End (5375).