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The Ghosts Within: Our Self Image Is a Lie

Ghosts are usaully thought of as something that exists after we die. We imagine a piece of us that haunts all of the places we lived when we were alive. But what if there is another kind of ghosts that is around even while you are alive? What if your self-image is actually a kind of ghost or lie?

Ghosts are thought to be insubstantial forms that come and go. They are not real or even solid, and most people have a hard time seeing them. And yet how solid or substantial are our internal images of ourselves-our beliefs and ideas about who we are? If you think of yourself as an unattractive person one day and then as an attractive person the very next day, was either image real? And can anyone else see your self image? What if you have a self image of being unattractive and someone is attracted to you anyway? Maybe others can't actually see your self image. What if your self image is a kind of ghost.

We are not always willing to see that our idea of ourselves is a kind of ghost because we really believe that is what we are. We may wonder, Who am I if what I think I am is something insubstantial and not real? What is here besides the ghosts of my self images?

There is of course a strong sense that we do actually exist, and that we are real. But where does this sense of existence and reality come from? Does it come from these ideas about oursleves, or does the sense really existing come from deeper within our being? It can be difficult to distinguish since the image and the realness can both be here at the same time, and our ego's idea of ourselves can simulate that deeper sense of realness we all naturally have.

One way to distinguish what is real from what is not is to ask yourself how real your ideas of yourself are. One measure of how real something is, is how long it lasts. The more real something is, the longer it lasts. How long do ideas about yourself last? They come and go (like a ghost in a ghost story) and don't last very long at all. A thought is often over so quickly that we can't remember a moment later what we were just thinking.

Our images we have of ourselves are always changing and passing away to be replaced by another idea or picture of ourselves or even a thought about something else. So those ideas or identities we have must not be very solid and real. They are just ghosts in our minds.

What about the simple sense of your existence? How often does that come and go, or in other words, how often do you have an opposite sense-that you don't exist? The inner sense that you exist doesn't come and go and is more real than your ideas about yourself. You do exist, but your self-images are just ghosts. You are not contained in your identifications or ideas about yourself. You are still here even when your images of yourself fade away, like the ghostlike images in a movie.

This real you is the you that matters. What would it be like to be more curious about this real you than you are about the false ghosts of your self-images? What are you really? of? What is the real you like? What does it really want? What can and can't it do? These are great questions to explore, but remember that the real answers are still not to be found in any ideas about yourself. Look in the simple sense that you exist for the truest answers

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Internationally known spiritual teacher, Nirmala has been offering satsang and one-to-one spiritual mentoring for ten years. He provides free spiritual books and many more ways to explore his teachings on endless-satsang.com.
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