Understanding the self is a complicated subject to discuss. Primarily, because every individual is different than the other. What I will do is try to bring your awareness into your being. What does that mean? I am focusing on what we can be, not what we are right now. I will explain why later on, but the meaning behind is not the "self" as an ego or in other words - as something that we have created through life, but the being as a possibility to express its existence. Simply put - we are centring on the consciousness behind the ego.
As we all know, we are an entire connected system of information exchange on varies levels of existence. We all are living in the reality of matter where the system is compressed by atoms which are in a close range, creating a more pattern-like structure which is visible to the eyes. Then we see the deepest level of existence where the matter is close to a wave, they both exist simultaneously there and the connection is subjective, meaning a connection exists, but not strongly as in the visible universe and can easily change form. In this level of subjectiveness, all things are one and connect in a multiverse type scenario where every possible outcome is true simultaneously (see quantum superposition).
Now in the sense of the "self", we have two main dimensions - ego and consciousness. The ego exists in the level of materialization - this is the established pattern of the mind that NEEDS to be fueled every single day. These neuro connections that create the ego-self are getting stronger and stronger by the repetition of what defines ourselves. Doing certain acts which build neuron connections in the brain will get strengthened with every time we do the same act. That defines our mental self because it tells the brain what works and what not which is our way of expressing the EGO.
The important factor that is missing is the consciousness which is attained to the ego to represent the current self, but it is not bound to the ego - its living life through it. What does that mean? Our consciousness is always superior to the mental image of us, it dictates its patterns, it's not the brain that is alive - it's our conscious-self through the soul that fuels the mental capacity of thinking and creating these pattern. Overall, for these patterns to exist we have had to make a decision which has been made possible through consciousness.
To "awaken" the mind into its whole spectrum of capabilities its crucial in these new ages to discuss philosophy which has the goal to change the thinking of the modern man into a less structured system of expression, meaning that you would know your current self but not be bound to it. Saying - "I create my expressive self but I am not bound to it, because I can change it whenever I like and evolve".
Also knowing that no outcome will change myself if I do not want that change to happen, that should be the new mentality. Speaking of an internal fuel of the ego by the manifestation of what the consciousness desires rather than what the environment pushes us to do, we are willingly fighting to change what we don't like so to see it differently and as what we want it to be. No environment has ever changed unless the people projecting on that environment have fought an internal battle to stop the current pattern of themselves projecting into the same environment. Simply put - change yourself to see the change in others and in your piece of land that you inhabit, and ultimately the whole Earth.
Consciousness is a lot like the deepest level of existence - all of the possibilities exist simultaneously until the man decides where to put the line, which path to take. So the current self exists because of the chosen path. Its the emanation of the current that we have chosen to radiate into the world around.
Think of it as a white piece of paper, you are writing into that piece to create its "self" that speaks for it individually. You write different patterns in that paper, that paper becomes the patterns. At first, we begin hesitantly to write with a pencil but as it progresses we go by a marker. That paper is the mind, the consciousness fuels it to exist. The coolest thing is that this sheet of paper, even if made by an everlasting maker, it can be replaced by a new one. The thing is that the new piece of paper wouldn't be exactly as brightest in colour as the previous one because it would have a transferred piece of thought that has been a somewhat a reaction to the previous self but with time this can change. Some people can change all of a sudden, others by more like a progressive cycle - all in all, it always would have something from the previous self which has been learned to not be repeated.
Now that we know how the system works we will easily see what thoughts are - a reaction of the ego on the current situation that is happening because it's fueled by the consciousness to go through the brain and observe. Thoughts are always a reaction on the past for the future. Even if you react on the past and dwell into the situation that has happened, you create a current past representation of the situation which still is a thought centred in the future (that's why you relive emotions when you think about a past event, bringing it in the future). Thinking more about one set of thoughts create a pattern that we spoke above, that will create more of the same thoughts because it takes even more space in the mind for it to occur again and again. If we have more thoughts of oranges in the brain the percentage that we will think of them in the future is high because a lot of space is taken by the thoughts of oranges and it is something that we know, like.
But because these thoughts are a reaction of the consciousness through senses and our consciousness can go through every path by deciding, it creates a self-reflection of the current ego by extracting the morals when is being put into the box of the self by travelling through the neural connections, mostly unconsciously giving a result that will worry us. I know that sounds a bit confusing so we will simplify it by an example: Let's say that by accident I push someone on the street and they spill their coffee, later that night I will think of that accident and the thought will worry me that I have acted in this way. That is happening because of the conscious soul reliving the day at night or when in silence to experience a different path than the mistake that the consciousness have made to happen meaning its not being its self, everything that is not in line to our current self is a threat to the self, that's why we defend our beliefs in a form of a "fight or flight" mode. We say to ourselves "I am feeling bad about what happened" - this occurs because the brain gets stimulated to react on the happening by reflecting the consciousness on the ego and bringing our moral normal decisions that we have accidentally broken. Normally I will never push anyone, but because that moral has been crushed by the accident I feel bad because the reality is opposite to what I would normally do, causing a reaction in my current - and future to the event - self.
What that speaks to us is that all thoughts of every possibility exist in our consciousness and it gets squished in our ego box which can be crushed by thoughts which are opposite and will cause an emotion of worry or bring joy by thinking happy thoughts and fill the body with other productive emotions when aligned with our pattern of thinking that has been established. The main conclusion is that the self is not its thoughts unless it chooses to accept them. Getting the same example as above, I choose the thought of me having to be more cautious which brings an emotion of guilt but that won't change the material objective past. Accepting that thought of me accidentally pushing a person and feeling guilty about it creates the reality in the mental and physical world which causes stress and worry to go thought the body in the present. In truth, we are just observing the thoughts and whichever we accept become our reality. But because the mind doesn't consciously distinguish past from present, we induce the same scenario that has happened with the coffee and we alter the brain to think it's happening right now, so it stimulates the same aspects releasing a form of guilt because of what I have done by accident. Creating a new memory of the past by reliving it which goes through our current self morals and causes us to feel bad.
I can take another route - accepting the mistake and feeling positive that I have learned a valuable lesson of needing to be more cautious to my environment. That will elevate the future by seeding a thought of change to the observation of the current, getting the consciousness into a higher state of expansion. Acceptance of the objective past brings peace to the current and hope for the future. Meaning I don't react on the past accident but acknowledge it's existence, not by thinking it's true right now, but by knowing it has already happened - I cannot change it, but I can change future events to not happen the same way. Knowing how the system operates will allow us to change the outcome by bringing more evolution than destruction from what we have done in the past.
You now understand yourself in a deeper way of existence outside of just your physical body but expressing through it. Overall you are nothing more than an observer who chooses to do certain acts by the tools which are all around us, as within. In every start of manifestation, there is the focus. Most of us misunderstand focus as of sensory input to the brain but it actually is a focus of the consciousness, as within and out, meaning - what I think within I will see outwards - as above so below, as within so without. All sensory input comes from one place - pure feeling which can be sometimes said as sixth sense but it actually is the highest sense within all senses. We use the senses as a path to feeling, but the pure feeling is ultimately the freest sense of attaining information.
All in all, I hope you like what I do. Feel free to share, follow and like. I know I haven't been active in a whole lot of time but I fight battles in my inner self so that causes revelations to occur as other feelings all in one place. I am no guru, just a guy who struggles to accept everything said above and tries to write about it so to make it easier to express because that to me is the freest philosophy of all philosophies stating "You can be everyone if you put your focus on it" which is bound to nothing more but your imagination. Peace and love <3
