"one me watching all the other me's"

[ganjaboy]

Ram Dass once said something, somewhere to the effect that we need to have one "me" watching all the other "me's".

 

Does anyone else often feel that their concept of "self" is indeed fractured into many, many, many different selves that show up at different times? In my instance, there is the lazy me, the productive me, the heartless me, the generous me, the greedy me, the angry me, the sad me, the self-absorbed me, the kindhearted me, the homosexual me, the heterosexual me, the depressed me, the elated me, the caring me, the apathetic me, the me that finds meaning in everything and at the same time meaning in nothing, the me that is a dreamer and the me that is a realist.

 

I am disturbed when I recognize selves that do not seem to come from a completely pure source, for instance self-absorption or vanity. i have struggled with feelings of bisexuality and didn't understand where any of it came from. But I don't know whether it is right to deem them as completely evil and needed purged, or whether to indulge them when appropriate and as balanced by other more heartful acts. I had a teacher once who told me the secret was integration, not destruction.

 

any thoughts? thanks and peace

Edited December 5, 2013 by dhiggs

[i am]

It's all "you". But I think part of cultivation is keeping the non productive yous in check.

 

I've definitely taken his advice of "developing the witness" to heart.

 

An impartial, non judging viewer to all you do. Step outside of yourself and watch yourself from the outside, with no judgement. I like it.

[Marblehead]

I have mentioned before that there are two "me"s; one when I am at home and another when I go out into the world. They rarely conflict. Likely the best thing is just to know your "self"s. Know who is playing the part at any given point in time.

 

And I would agree, intergration would be better than trying to destroy. With good cultivation perhaps the number can be reduced to one or two.

[ChiDragon]

The highest cultivated state is the "selfless state". Then, there will be no one me watching all the other me's.

[Marblehead]

The highest cultivated state is the "selfless state". Then, there will be no one me watching all the other me's.

You let me know when you think you have attained that state, Okay?

 

(You're not even Buddhist. Hehehe.)

[ChiDragon]

You let me know when you think you have attained that state, Okay?

 

(You're not even Buddhist. Hehehe.)

 

Taoist do attain to a state of selfless too. Have you noticed that I haven't been exasperated as much as before.....???

[Marblehead]

 

Have you noticed that I haven't been exasperated as much as before.....???

That's only because of what you are smoking. Hehehe.

[Jetsun]

Ram Dass once said something, somewhere to the effect that we need to have one "me" watching all the other "me's". Does anyone else often feel that their concept of "self" is indeed fractured into many, many, many different selves that show up at different times? In my instance, there is the lazy me, the productive me, the heartless me, the generous me, the greedy me, the angry me, the sad me, the self-absorbed me, the kindhearted me, the homosexual me, the heterosexual me, the depressed me, the elated me, the caring me, the apathetic me, the me that finds meaning in everything and at the same time meaning in nothing, the me that is a dreamer and the me that is a realist. I am disturbed when I recognize selves that do not seem to come from a completely pure source, for instance self-absorption or vanity. i have struggled with feelings of bisexuality and didn't understand where any of it came from. But I don't know whether it is right to deem them as completely evil and needed purged, or whether to indulge them when appropriate and as balanced by other more heartful acts. I had a teacher once who told me the secret was integration, not destruction. any thoughts? thanks and peace

 

That is basically how Gurdjieff described the human condition, all these different "I's" within us competing for attention. Trying to get rid of one or some of them is just another way to strengthen them as your focus on it just feeds it attention and energy, so integration is the only way to go, if any get destroyed it wont be you doing the destruction.

[johndoe2012]

Most of what you are describing is what I would call energetic weaknesses which can be corrected using eg Yuen Method, healing code or other methods.

 

I don't think meditation is good for dealing with these things.

[Rara]

Yeah. I thought I was schizophrenic at one time.

 

As it turns out, the "real me" was afraid show up so much in "reality". The other "mes" are gradually losing interest in life now. I don't know where they are going though!

[ganjaboy]

Here's another perspective -- there's the mind-body-spirit connection, and how the three are closely interrelated. When I do yoga, which services the body, for instance, its physical nature reminds me to have a heart and a spirit which is very meaningful. It's like, one pole of a spectrum services the other, and they live in harmony. If I was all spirit, I would want to service the body, and if I was all body, I would need to service the spirit.

 

For example, yoga will give you an aesthetic body. It indulges a certain yang (physical) driven self, the same one that looks at sex physically, for example. The Jews call it "yetzer ra". But from the impartial "me", it's saying "Ok, so you're servicing the physical self again. Good, but what about your personality and charm?"

 

You see, this avoids you blindly following allegiance to a particular self. Does this sound like a healthy balance?

Edited December 6, 2013 by dhiggs

[SonOfTheGods]

one diamond, many facets.