THE HIGHER SELF, THE LOWER SELF AND THE MASK

Key Extracts from Lecture 14

© The Pathwork® Foundation 1999

The aim of spiritual development is to eliminate the lower self so that the higher self becomes free again of all layers it has acquired. In your practical life, you will be able to sense quite easily – with yourself or others – that certain parts of the higher self are already free, while other parts of it are still hidden. How much is free, how much is hidden, how thickly it is sometimes hidden depends on the overall development of the respective person. The lower self does not only consist of the common faults, the individual weaknesses that vary with each person, but also of ignorance, laziness. It hates to change and to conquer itself; it has a very strong will (that may not always manifest outside) and wants its way without paying the price; it is very proud and selfish; it has always a great deal of personal vanity, the ego with all its manifestations. All these characteristics are generally part of the lower self regardless of other individual faults.

It will be easier for you to face yourself in this manner when you realize that underneath the layers of your lower self lives your higher self, your ultimate and absolute reality which you must eventually reach. And in order to reach it, you must face first your lower self, your temporary reality, instead of covering it up, because that puts an even greater distance between you and absolute reality or your own higher self.