“What Is ‘The False Self’”? (excerpt) THE IMMORTAL DIAMOND by Fr. Richard Rohr

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“I cannot lose anything in this place of abundance I have found.”

~ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA

I begin this chapter with a positive quote, so I can describe the False Self properly and avoid the usual connotations of false. Your False Self is not your bad self, your clever or inherently deceitful self, the self that God does not like or you should not like. Actually your False Self is quite good and necessary as far as it goes. It just does not go far enough, and it often poses and thus substitutes for the real thing. That is its only problem, and that is why we call it “false.” The False Self is bogus more than bad, and bogus only when it pretends to be more than it is. Various false selves (temporary costumes) are necessary to get us all started, and they show their limitations when they stay around too long. If a person keeps growing, his or her various false selves usually die in exposure to greater light.

Your False Self, which we may also call your “small self,”is your launching pad: for body image , your job, your education, your cloths, your money, your car, your sexual identity, your success, and so on,.These are the trappings of ego that we all use to get us through an ordinary day. They are a nice enough platform to stand on, but they are largely a projection of our self-image and our attachment to it. When you are able to move beyond your False Self—at the right time and in the right way—it will feel precisely as if you have lost nothing. In fact, it will feel like freedom and liberation. When you are connected to the Whole, you no longer need to protect or defend the mere part. You are now connected to something inexhaustible.

To not let go of our False Self at the right time and in the right way is precisely what it means to be stuck, trapped, and addicted to yourself. (The traditional word for that was sin.) And it’s not just a matter of chronological age. Some spiritually precocious children, usually those with a disability of some type, see through the False Self rather early. Some old men and old women are still dressing it up at my age (I’m sixty-nine now). If all you have at the end of your life is your False Self, there will not be much to internalize.  It is transitory.  These are all “accidents” largely created by the mental ego.  Your False Selfie what changes, passes and dies when you die.  Only yourTrue Self lives forever.

OUR FOUR ILLUSIONS

There are four major splits from reality that we have all made in varying degrees to create our False Self (The shadow self is not of itself evil; it just allows you to do evil without calling it evil. That is why Jesus criticizes hypocrisy more than anything else (eleven times in Matthew’s Gospel).  Something that is shocking to many religious people is that Jesus is never upset with sinners; he’s only upset with people who think they are not sinners!):

1.  We split from our shadow self (the hypocritical/self-serving self) and pretend to be our idealized (self-righteous) self.

2.  We split our mind from our body and soul and live in our minds.

3.  We split life from death and try to live our life without any “death.”

4.  We split ourselves from other selves and try to live apart, superior, and separate.

Each of these four illusions must — and will — be overcome, either in this world, in our last days and hours, or afterward. (That is what Catholics meant by “purgatory.” They gave us one final chance to get it!) Each of these splits from reality makes any experience of God or our True Self largely impossible. Spirituality, pure and simple, is overcoming these four splits and is the message of the rest of this book.

SOURCE: https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Diamond-Search-True-Self/dp/1118303598

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True Self and False Self: Week 1

What Is the False Self?
Monday, August 7, 2017

Your egoic false self is who you think you are, but your thinking does not make it true. Your false self is a social and mental construct to get you started on your life journey. It is a set of agreements between you and your parents, your family, your school chums, your partner or spouse, your culture, and your religion. It is your “container.” It is largely defined in distinction from others, precisely as your separate and unique self. It is probably necessary to get started, but it becomes problematic when you stop there and spend the rest of your life promoting and protecting it.

Jesus would call your false self your “wineskin,” which he points out is only helpful insofar as it can contain some good and new wine. He says that “old wineskins” cannot hold any new wine; in fact, “they burst and both the skins and the wine are lost” (Luke 5:37-38). This is a quite telling and wise metaphor, revealing Jesus’ bias toward growth and change. “The old wine is good enough” (Luke 5:39), says the man or woman set in their ways.

The false self, which we might also call the “small self,” is merely your launching pad: your appearance, your education, your job, your money, your success, and so on. These are the trappings of ego that help you get through an ordinary day. They are what Bill Plotkin wisely calls your “survival dance,” but they are not yet your “sacred dance.” [1]

Please understand that your false self is not bad or inherently deceitful. Your false self is actually quite good and necessary as far as it goes. It just does not go far enough, and it often poses and thus substitutes for the real thing. That is its only problem, and that is why we call it “false.” The false self is bogus more than bad; it pretends to be more than it is. Various false selves (temporary costumes) are necessary to get us all started, but they show their limitations when they stay around too long. If people keep growing, their various false selves usually die in exposure to greater light. That is, if they ever let greater light get in; many do not.

When you are able to move beyond your false self—at the right time and in the right way—it will feel as if you have lost nothing. Of course, if all you know is the false self and you do not know that there is anything “beyond” it, the transition will probably feel like dying. Only after you have fallen into the True Self, will you be able to say with the mystic Rumi, “What have I ever lost by dying?” [2] You have discovered true freedom and liberation. When you are connected to the Whole, you no longer need to protect or defend the part. You are now connected to something inexhaustible.

If you do not let go of your false self at the right time and in the right way, you remain stuck, trapped, and addicted. (The traditional word for that was sin.) Unfortunately, many people reach old age still entrenched in their egoic operating system. Only your True Self lives forever and is truly free in this world.

SOURCE: https://cac.org/what-is-the-false-self-2017-08-07/

FR. RICHARD ROHR’S WEBSITE: https://cac.org