Self actualisation is not self-worship

This entry is part 21 of 23 in the series Via Negativa

“For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self … Therefore there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.” (Thomas Merton, *New seeds of contemplation*).

Often times when stating “Becoming and being all that I am is my calling. Helping you become and be all that you are is my ministry.” People from the Christian mainstream say that this is just self-worship, putting yourself in the centre, a place that should be held for Jesus or at least god.

The question is where is god, or maybe how is god made manifest in my life? The answer is quite simple, god is manifest in me and through me. Because god is manifest through me, I need to become fully myself so that I can manifest god as clearly as possible.

Many will then object, shouldn’t we avoid the “self” and rather becoming like Jesus. And for me the answer is obvious, of course we need to become like Jesus. Jesus was a person who fully and completely became himself and we need to follow Jesus by becoming our own true selves.

”If one ever has the good fortune to meet a living saint , one will have met someone absolutely unique. Through their visions may be remarkably similar, the personhood of saints is remarkably different. This is because they have become utterly themselves ” (M. Scott Peck, The road less travelled)

It is when the EGO is put in the centre, uplifted and aggrandised that this becomes self-worship like erecting a beautiful building and leaving the scaffolding around it saying it is the scaffolding not the building that holds the beauty and purpose. However when we learn to simply relax into our true selves and use EGO as a tool not as a master running the show, then we remove the covering, the scaffolding and we can see the true beauty of the structure beneath. The true self. The imago dei. Like polishing dirt of a mirror the image becomes clear and we will truly reflect the divine light and love.

Richard Rohr writes:

What you seek is what you are. The search for God and the search for our True Self are finally the same search. (Richard Rohr, Eager to love)

When we make the journey inwards and reach our true self we will find that our true self is the divine and that we are truly and fully one. One with the universe, with god and everyone else. It is not self-worship it is god-worship. The divine voice can never be recognised externally until we recognise it internally. It is in my heart that Jesus speaks to me and only when I remove the clutter of EGO can I hear it clearly.

Jesus drew a line in the sand, clarifying the whole matter with a simple choice: either follow the external worldly and religious kingdom and all its values, beliefs, narratives, mindsets, and ideologies OR turn within and follow the authority inside you. He said it wasn’t possible to serve two masters. We would simply compromise them both. (Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy)

So it’s time to make the the journey inward, the adventure of finding out who you truly are, because when you find your true self you will find the source, the divine flame, love, call it what you will, I call it god.

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Series Navigation<< Feelings are not dangerous and unreliableSeeing the divine in all things is not heretical >>


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