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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? Most people think ghosts are insubstantial shapes or visions that come and go. They aren't very solid or real, and a lot of people can't even see them. And yet how real or solid are your images of yourself-your ideas about who you are? If one day you have an image of yourself as an very attractive person and the next day you see yourself as unattractive, how substantial was either image? And who else can see your self image? What could it mean if you see yourself as unattractive and someone becomes attracted to you anyway? It could mean that they can't actually see your self image. Maybe the way you see yourself is a kind of ghost. We may not be willing to learn that our idea of ourselves is not real because we are used to thinking these ghost like images are who we really are. We end up wondering, Who could I be if what the image I have of myself is not real? What else exists here besides these ghostly self images I take to be myself? There is a strong sense that we do exist, that we are real. But does this sense of existence and reality come from our image of ourselves? Or does the sense of being real and of existing come from somewhere deeper within our being? It's difficult to know for sure since the image and the sense of realness can both be present at the same time, and our egoic idea of ourselves can co-opt that deeper sense of realness we 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 pure sense that you exist right now? Does that come and go? How often do you have the opposite sense-that you don't exist at all? The sense that you exist is more real than your ideas about yourself because it doesn't come and go. You exist, but your ideas about yourself are just ghosts. What you are is not contained in your ideas or identifications. What you really are is still here even when your ideas about yourself fade away, like ghostly images in a movie. What if it is this real you that matters most? Wh not become more curious about the real you than about the false ghosts of identification. What is are you made of? What is this real you like? What does it want to do? These are deep and valuable questions to explore, but remember that the answers are never found in your thoughts about yourself. The true answers can only be found in the simple sense of existing.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Internationally recognised spiritual teacher, Nirmala has been offering satsang and one-to-one spiritual mentoring for ten years. He offers free spiritual books and many more ways to explore his teachings on endless-satsang.com. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.
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