Idealized Self, Petty Tyrants

When it comes to self mastery, there is a tendency to get ahead of oneself--to claim the prize before earning it. The "idealized self" sees itself as "already there,' or shames us for not already being "there." The idealized self is the liar in all of us. We form it out of a misplaced sense of guilt, and as a means of covering over the fact that we are all works-in-progress, at the level at which we most commonly interact. While the "higher self" is also a present reality and integral expression of who I am, when it comes to day to day living, it's the idealized self that's doing all the muck raking. When we find ourself reacting painfully to our circumstances, or embroiled in negative emotions, take it as a sign that there is cause for introspection of oneself, as opposed to assuming cause for prosecution of another. Thank the petty tyrants in your life--they have come to help you fulfill your true purpose by exposing the places in you that need to grow beyond reactivity to a place of allowance and acceptance. (I am loading these posts with language that needs more explaining than I am giving it, just to get the ball rolling. Expect that we will come back to key ideas over and over again, until we find ourselves sharing common understandings which we can develop. The concepts of idealized self and higher self can be explored at their source, as well--see the

Pathwork Lecture Series

(lectures #14 and 83) for more there. I have learned a lot from them, and have a lot more to learn from them.)