The Great Self

                                                 The Great Self…...for Pieter

 

 

                                

                                    

                                        “Harry - you're a great wizard, you know."
"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.
 "Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!”   J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is a story, in part, about a kid who is out of touch with his Great Self, in this case symbolized as a great magician. This is very much a question of true identity, the big Who question. Harry has to awaken to his birthright, and make the heroic journey to learn how to embody his magical greatness. There are a lot of stories along these lines such as the lion raised by sheep, The Prince And The Pauper, Vasa Lisa, The Frog Prince, King Arthur, and many more. These stories are all symbolic of the psychological journey to contact and awaken to one's Great Self.

Everyone is guilty at times, of being too hard on themselves, devaluing, negating, not giving themselves enough credit, or not appreciating themselves fully. This is because of our distorting of the Puritan concept of humility being something whereby you shouldn't feel pleasure, and if you feel good about yourself and express it in any way, you are sinning. The Puritan's gave us many culturally infused gifts like self-hatred, turbo repression, manifest destiny, and the “work ethic.” What people usually mean (especially managers), when they use the term work ethic is that they want you to martyr yourself, always work harder/longer/with less pay, and smile while you're doing it. This has nothing to do with being fulfilled, appreciated, and well compensated for your work, and making sure that work doesn't become the dominant part of your life.

So let's look at a possible description of the opposite of all this, which is self-love taken to it's logical conclusion. This is what we want for our children and dogs, which is to fully appreciate and be who they are, and to never apologize or feel guilty about who you are. You may feel guilty about something you've done (especially if you're a dog!), but never about who you are. This is what we all tell our friends whenever they're struggling, we say; “Just be yourself,” “You're great just the way you are!” This is unconditional love.

C.G. Jung had the idea of the Great Self, which is at the center of the psyche and is the origin of our ideas about God. Theologically, this comes out as “we are made in God's image, or the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, or become as a child to enter Heaven,” etc. This Great Self is the Axis Mundi, and the cornerstone of our ability and desire for wholeness. Dreaming is a symbolic language of the Self, always processing a narrative that moves us toward wholeness, if we bring consciousness to the unconscious. For one who's center of gravity is in the Masculine, this is an inner marriage with one's Anima (the Feminine energy). Jung only wrote about this on heterosexual terms, but in my view, it includes any gendered form of relationship or sexuality.

This Great Self is also our Higher Power in 12-Step terms, it is something that includes, but transcends the ego. We all need an ego, to help us put our pants on and get us to go to work everyday, but the ego shouldn't be driving the bus, or you will become Donald Trump!

The Great Self can be seen archetypally, as the integration of the King/Queen, Warrior, Magician, and Lover archetypes. This is a fullness of one's ability for Self leadership and vision (King/Queen), the energy and capacity to get things done and be disciplined (Warrior, who takes orders from the King/Queen), the intuitive, esoteric knowing of the Magician, and the one who appreciates Beauty and is passionate about life.

This Great Self requires sacrifice, this is the source of all the sacrifice mythology we have in religion and many other areas. A submission and surrender is required, this is the meaning of the word Islam, the submission brings one in contact with the Divine Self which is an experience of intoxicating ecstasy. We easily feel some of this intoxication when we are feeling really good about ourselves, it is a natural state, and we used to have it a lot of the time as children, unless we were abused.

The natural state is why sexuality is such a sensitive, delicate, and powerful experience if it is seen as a sacred act, because we are literally baring our souls and bodies in the most open, vulnerable, loving, and beautiful way and giving that to another. This also creates an ecstatic intoxication in which we transcend our ego and merge with another.

The ego gets extremely nervous with all this Great Self business, because it is an exposure of the ego's game which is to stay separate and superior, like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtains. Even when the ego is helping us to feel like scum, it is still a subtle type of superiority (I'm lower, worse off, and more degenerate than all of you!)

There is a wonderful Russian story of Vasa Lisa, in which an adventurous male is captured and about to be boiled in oil. He runs free from his captures and willingly, sacrificially jumps into the boiling oil. He is transformed into a golden Knight with a thunderous voice and he comes to take his bride, the beautiful Vasa Lisa.

The King, having observed all this great transformation says to himself; “If a lowly adventurer is thus transformed, how much more will a King such as myself be?! (cue the ego police siren). This is the King's ego kicking in, and he becomes King soup when he jumps in the oil.

The story is about the arduous journey toward the Great Self, it is a heroic journey to fully embrace and love yourself, even the dark and dirty, muddy and bloody parts of yourself. To appreciate and accept who you are, and to see this as magnificent is what self-actualization is about.

So experiment with self-acceptance and notice any self-judgment without judging the judges, just be aware that we all have some self-negation, it's part of our culture, but we don't have to have that as our primary script! Try letting someone know (you could start with your dog or child), how truly awesome you are, it's the message we give to those we love, why not give it to ourselves?