Meditation serves us in becoming more peaceful and better people, but the ultimate goal of our spiritual practice is to encounter our Higher Inner Being and then to realize our Oneness with the Divine, the actual Source of Our Existence. If you have been experiencing Light in meditation, on a regular basis, you might find that the desire to go to the Source of this Light is becoming a natural impulse.

The many spiritual schools speak of an "outer self" and an "Inner Self". These phrases refer to distinguishing between the Lower and Higher Natures, i.e. between the ego and the Divine within you. This perception of duality is useful, but ultimately inconsequential, for over time the perception of duality eventually dissipates, for as one progresses spiritually, the Higher Nature gradually overcomes the lower nature.

The so-called outer self, also called the small ego, presents to us perceptually a condition of duality, but with regular spiritual practice, we begin to encounter what we might call an Observer, an over-riding Higher Consciousness, in comparison to ordinary mundane consciousness: the outer egoic self has its uses; however, it is connected to the desire nature and the physical body; it is naturally of an animal nature as its main objective is serving the interests of the desire nature and the survival of the physical body on the physical plane. This desire nature in and of itself is good; it is built to protect our body, the house of our spiritual body during incarnation; however, problems arise when we believe that satisfying the body and the desire nature is the goal. In such a case, we lose sight of the greater good and act only out of self-interest, not realizing that the greater good is in reality in our own self-interest. The egoic mind of itself is unaware of its true source, the ego wants to control, not be controlled. Why and how this has happened is beyond the scope of this article. For the time being, just accept that it is so, and know that the object of the Spiritual Path is to transcend the ego state. Thus, rather than the ego as like an uncontrolled horse, takes the rider where it will, the Higher Self when in control directs the horse (the ego or the outer self) towards the proper direction.

The outer self consists of our human individuality and personality, but really only pertains to the conscious awareness of this particular life experience; these experiences pertain to the years between our immediately known earthly birth and death and to what we think and feel about it.

As we live the results of the activity of the outer mind are absorbed by what we will call the Soul surrounding the True Inner Self, but the outer mind has only limited access to the greater mind of the Soul. The outer mind is not self-directive nor self-reflective; only the Soul reflects and chooses, and only the Soul mind integrates experience, whether we consciously recognize it or not. Think about it! Is it your mind that chooses or something else?

The True Inner Self actually transcends the outer self, but not exclusively; rather, the True Inner Self is inclusive. The True Inner Self exists as a spiritual level of even greater awareness than we experience ordinarily, you might say; it has an Awareness that we are Eternal, a sense of Beingness and a knowing that what affects One affects All; it is aware of timelessness. When we are in a state of Beingness there is no time.

The True Inner Self is inclusive of the outer self, but it transcends the outer self and the personal desires of the small ego; the small ego thinks only in terms of one life. The True Inner Self considers beingness and the needs of not only itself, but also the needs of ALL, because it is innately and inexplicably connected to the ALL and Everything; therefore, what we receive from this True Inner Self is both good for the One and for the Ultimate Good of ALL because it does not wish to harm; the True Inner Self recognizes All is One. The True Self's ultimate consideration is to do what is Good for All and the truth of its manifestation is Divine Love, Wisdom and Compassion. The ultimate purpose of our spiritual practice is to realize and engage with and Be Our True Self.

Through spiritual practice the lesser outer self eventually diminishes, as at some point, the sense of duality or separation from the Higher Self dissolves. The True Self, having the quality of Being the Observer, transcendently emerges. Sometimes the emergence is gradual; sometimes the emergence is sudden; nevertheless, as this emergence takes place, one experiences a Rebirth into Greater Light and Awareness and the lesser self diminishes in importance.

Eventually, the Soul assumes, in reference to the outer self, the Transcendent position as the Soul becomes completely and consciously aware. When fully Conscious, the Soul naturally and simultaneously realizes Oneness with God. The Soul, rather than the ego, becomes the Observer and the Experiencer.

The Observer observes your mind, thoughts, actions, and activities; it is your True Identity; it is nameless and has no gender, no specific identity that can be pinpointed and it is ever changing. Yet, each of us may be distinguished one from another; the distinguishments are like the colors of a rainbow; the rainbow is of one substance, yet varied in color and hue.

The distinguishments, our Souls, are differentiated aspects of God. The Ancient texts refer to both God and the Soul as El; the word used for God in Genesis is "Elohim," the plural form of "El."

Genesis 1:1, says "In the beginning God [the Elohim] created the heaven and the earth.... 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

In Genesis 2:7, it says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"

Who are they and who is us?

Genesis 11:1 says, "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." Verse 4 states, "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth...." Verse 6 and 7 state, "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

Again who is they? Who is us?

The Soul is Pure Consciousness. In terms of the Trinity, the Soul is the Logos aspect of you; it is that which was emanated or was created in the beginning, you might say, although in truth we cannot say when the Soul was conceived, for it is Eternal and without beginning or end. The references in Genesis and the Bible are allegorical and metaphorical; the ancient stories actually refer to deeper spiritual experiences.

When you shift from the outer mind to consciously adopting the perspective of the Observer: The Soul, your awareness shifts and becomes Soul Awareness. At this point, after a time, when the shift has become permanent, one realizes Oneness with God.

First there is duality, then there is no duality, then there is duality, then there is no duality.... eventually... there is no duality. The Spirit of the Soul is its Essence: Love, Wisdom and Compassion, and eventually all is perceived of as ever unfolding life. This is the Gnostic mystical experience of God-Realization; it can only be understood transcendently in its fullness.

In summary, if you do not yet know it, your Soul is greater than what is called the outer self. The outer self is of only a limited consciousness that pertains to this lifetime, the ego. The Soul, the True Self is Eternal; the Soul is the second aspect of our Triune makeup. Our individual Triune makeup is a microcosmic pattern of the Trinity of God.

We say that the outer self and the Inner Self become unified, but then later, we come to realize the Greater Truth, that there is only ONE GREAT SELF and the many souls are merely aspects of the expression of that One Light. This is not an intellectual understanding; rather, it is a spiritual experience,an intuitive, spontaneous realization that results in the knowing that The One Self of God is the same Self in all of us.

What differentiates us one from another is our Souls; we are created in God's image. The God Trinity is three fold: The God-head, the Logos, and the Spirit; and so it is with each of us. We are a reflection of the Godhead, Logos or Soul, and Spirit.

There is nothing but SELF, for SELF is all there is. Self-Realization is realizing who you are. God-Realization is realizing that All is God. When we become one with God and know we are one with God, the idea of separation dissolves.

The Exercise:

To begin this exercise, perform the Auric Egg Exercise and remain steady until you feel-sense the Divine Presence within. Proceed with a technique of slow, deep breathing, compatible with the rate of your heart and let all thoughts clear away, until the calmness exists that gives you inner peace.

Observe the Light at your center, and keep steadily focused upon it, while you relax; allow your consciousness to go into it. If you find yourself tensing up, or if your thinking distracts you, take slow deep breaths and relax again into the Light, and into its silence and the peace within. Sit until you feel your heart and breath become one, until they have a common rhythm.

Know you are tuning into a deeper consciousness within, the genuine feeling of the Presence of your True Being. This consciousness is the Real You, not a separate Higher Self. The so-called false or outer self is slowly transforming and dissolving away as you grow spiritually, making way for the Divine Beingness you are, to become more present, and even fully emergent.

In this deep, meditative state, when you start sensing this Inner Consciousness, the next thing to do is to direct a question to it. One question might be, "Who am I?" or "What is the source of this Light, this Presence?"

Here you must learn to ignore the ideas and thoughts of the outer mind, disregarding the outer self and its advice as if it didn't exist, accepting that it is the small self; knowing that it is the small self because you can observe it.

Know that this outer self or mind has served its purpose in guarding and protecting you on your spiritual journey; know this and thank it and then put it to one side for a while.

Now go deeper, and keep looking at the Light inside; look for the brightest part of the Light; the Source of the Light; then look into the Source of the Light; move in consciousness into the Source of the Light knowing that the Source of this Light is the Life and Light of Your True Being.

Notice how the lower mental level becomes quiet as you become more and more, the one who observes; notice that your small mind feels safe and disappears as you go into the Great Peace and Light of God; notice how the one who observes enters into peace as the mind becomes quiet and that the quietness allows you to go ever more deeply into the Light.

In the silence of the deepness, adopt a waiting receptive mode; continue to observe and watch and listen in this receptive mode. Allow the meditation to draw to a natural conclusion.

At the conclusion of your meditation, record what you received, saw, heard or perceived in your journal right away, because as you emerge from this deep level, very important parts of what you have experienced, you may forget as you go about your daily life.

Also write down any questions you may have so that you may meditate on those questions next time and or contemplate them between meditations.

Notes:

Incidentally, you may receive many good answers from the outer mind that may be similar to those you obtain from the True Source. This is because the outer mind is actually a collection of experiences of this life and in some cases past experiences lodged in the subconscious unbeknown to us on a conscious level have emerged into our awareness to help us when needed.

Know that put in the right place, the small mind is useful, for it has collected information concerning this life experience; if it were always wrong in its conclusions, we would learn very soon to have little confidence in our ability to think and analyze properly; our ordinary mind, is right in just enough cases to make us have total faith in it.

We may realize, however, when we go beyond the normal range of awareness, composed of our current lifetime experiences and gained knowledge, that such conclusions are really only superficial or partial renditions in light of what we may receive through the proper application of this exercise.