The Innate Image

Consciousness

Mar 7

Written By Haydn Hasty

In Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri, he states:

“My will is part of the Eternal Will

My fate is what my spirit’s strength can make

My fate is what my spirit’s strength can bear.”

There is here an almost mathematical formula for understanding the parameters and the quality of your life, the guardrails, so to speak, between which the outcomes of your life depend. This formula said a different way, asks you what are you willing to create in your life that comes from your heart? What are you willing to risk in order to become that, to have that, to experience that? What is the truth about that desire that resides in you that you are ignoring? If the true inner you, that innate image that resides inside of you could come true, are you willing to start living that way?

And the second part of the question which is not any more difficult than the first is what are you willing to go through, to endure, to persevere through in order to have it?

Where is your breaking point?

Because the more those two parameters are expanded, what you’re capable of creating and what you’re capable of enduring, the more those two parameters are stretched, elongated, the wider the results will be, the greater the consciousness. Consciousness is expanded through enlargement and through compression. It turns out that the way up and the way down are the same in the sense that they both result in an expansion of consciousness. Granted, it appears that one is a little more physically enjoyable than the other…going up versus going down…but they both accomplish the goal of evolution…consciousness.

If you drew this formula on a piece of paper and started playing with it…what am I capable and willing to create and what am I willing to go through in order to have it…you will be amazed at what you come up with…you’ll be quite impressed with yourself and your ability to imagine perhaps has been unimaginable up to this point in your life. And then, you get to find out how important it is to you by defining how much are you willing to endure, to suffer, to have it.

The two paths are inextricably interwoven, integrated, and support one another. If you make only an attempt to expand either one of the parameters, creating/enduring, the whole process gets out-of-whack and fails to produce the outcomes you were hoping for.

So, it’s a balance. Deliberately and consciously taking on hardship, like increasing the discipline you apply to your life, like developing a meditation practice, going back to school, increasing responsibilities in your life in some manner, are all valid tools for expanding your ability to endure.

Deliberately and consciously taking the time to imagine and draw out what you think is possible in your life, to begin to give thought and prayer and desire to having a fulfilled life and fulfilling your purpose, this is a wonderful technique for expanding your ability to create.

Aurobindo says this:

“Pain is the hand of Nature sculpturing men

To greatness, an inspired labor chisels

With heavenly cruelty an unwilling mould.“

Knowing that what you desire would require pain, difficulty to have to pass through, it’s easy to see that many are turned away because they are unwilling to go through the hardship. Like getting out of a loveless relationship, or quitting a meaningless job. And it’s understandable…but it doesn’t change anything and keeps you imprisoned in the framework that you yourself created. Maybe being in a loveless relationship is all you’ve been able to create up to this point…but maybe you’re willing to reconsider the possibilities. But there’s no need in being naive about the process. The creative path can entail great suffering.

Aurobindo continues:

“Gethsemane and Calvary are his lot
He carries the cross on which man’s soul is nailed
His escort is the curses of the crowd
Insult and jeer are his right’s acknowledgement
Two thieves slain with him mock his mighty death
He has trod with bleeding brow the Savior’s way
He who has found his identity with God
Pays with the body’s death his soul’s vast light
His knowledge immortal triumphs by his death.
Hewn, quartered on the scaffold as he falls
His crucified voice proclaims, “I, I am God
Yes, all is God, peals back Heaven’s deathless call
The seed of Godhead sleeps in mortal hearts
The flower of Godhead grows on the world tree
All shall discover God in Self and things.”

Of course, that is the path that the great ones walk…enormous creation of life, the unbearable experience of pain. But they go hand-in-hand… creation/endurance.

In my own way, in my own path, personally, I have experienced in my life as a result of a purpose I felt the untiring need to fulfill, pain that would take me to my breaking point, a point where you hardly get out of bed or take another step. But so have you and you know this. You, too, have done this in your own way.

So, understanding that the difficulty you faced was directly tied to the growth and expansion that would come out of the enduring the pain and suffering if the process achieved this outcome, then you were able to see that, as a result of the pain, you grew. In even invisible ways, your life expanded for that is the true purpose of suffering, to cause to stir in you the Godhead, the truth of who you are, the indestructible Self that lies in you to be born at last.

More great ideas are born out of the ashes of life than from attending a workshop on creating great ideas. If the facilitator of the “Creating Great Ideas” workshop really knew what they doing, they would say, “Go…suffer…and then come back and tell me what you found.” But who’s going to say that?

They are, the ideas that are born in the ashes, as my experience has taught me, the ones to which you should pay most attention… for when everything in your life has been erased, you stand the chance of rising, of having the experience of the phoenix.

Why? Because that is who you are and suffering is the tool that expands those parameters of being. It expands and enlarges the playing field of what is possible. I didn’t say it was easy.

The great ones, like Christ, choose the path of the crucifixion. The great ones, like Aurobindo, live in isolation for 27 years to accomplish and fulfill the purpose of their life.

Because transformation is not based upon doing but being, 1 day in isolation that you set aside to recalibrate, to imagine what is possible, to be, to practice self-forgiveness or letting go of the past, that could be equivalent to you what 27 years were to Aurobindo.

Don’t underestimate how much you are capable of learning and how much can be accomplished through you.

But you, too, are great and that is the truth. But again, there is no need to be naïve. The very ones the world redeemer is trying to save are the very ones who crucify him. The price you pay is mathematically proportional to the light you expand…in the world, yes, but also in yourself. Do you see? Do you understand? So, how would you go about that today? How could you open just slightly your heart to deal with a pain of the past, a pain that you have repressed, hidden away so that you no longer have to face it, to endure it?

How could you just slightly open your heart to allow the pain of some past event to come forward, to allow yourself to feel the loss, the grief, and let the tears flow...to begin the process of saying goodbye to a person or situation that up to now, remains locked away in the recesses of your mind…to stretch your ability to feel pain, to lengthen your willingness and ability to suffer…to endure?

Now, let’s assume that you don’t particularly have any issues and that there’s no pressing suffering that you’re dealing with. There’s always the tendency with human beings to try to keep things the same, to niche out a comfortable place within the fray of life and hunker down and hope that things stay the same. But nothing stays the same and nature is pretty intolerant of anything trying to stay the same. The flower petal, the stream, the hair on your head, everything is in motion. Think simply do not stay the same in spite of the fact that you tried to make them status.

Life is anything but static same as well go ahead and align yourself with the reality of this movement.

So making the assumption that there’s nothing particularly wrong, I want to introduce the concept of the innate image. The innate image is the image that lies inside of you that represents your true self, the real you, the you that you’ve always wanted to become, the you that you are but have not yet become.

Without feeling the need to go out and create some havoc in your life, to create some suffering that will force you to change, which by the way is not a particularly bad idea in spite of the fact that it can be very painful, you can begin to investigate, learn about and start working with what I refer to as your innate image. This will have the tendency to start getting things moving in the right direction towards the creative parameter that I’ve already discussed.

The Mother, in the 1972 Volume 16 of her work, said,

“The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing, although in essence they are the same. The soul is the divine spark that dwells at the centre of each being; it is identical with its Divine Origin; it is the divine in man.
The psychic being is formed progressively around this divine centre, the soul, in the course of innumerable lives in the terrestrial evolution, until the time comes when the psychic being fully formed and wholly awakened, becomes the conscious sheath of the soul around which it is formed. And thus identified with the Divine, it becomes His perfect instrument in the world.”

What I am suggesting is that what I am trying to say by the use of the phrase, innate image and the phrase that the Mother uses, psychic being are somewhat similar.

Now, again I am acutely aware that the remarks that I’m making are largely intended for the American culture, a culture that is addicted to materialism and the lack of spirituality or meaning in the pursuit of that materialism.

So, I don’t want to overstep my bounds and dilute or mix what it is I think the Mother says because I would defer to that work immediately before I attached any importance to what I had to say. Nonetheless, I am also acutely aware that there are so many people who lack meaning and purpose in their life, resulting in a suffering that can only be healed through the release of this in eight images or coming in contact with the psychic being that lies inside.

If it is true, and it is, that the soul is that divine spark that lies inside of you and is the umbilical cord to truth consciousness, to the source of your being, then it is that soul that seeks the experience of itself in physical form, to realize itself. As the mother describes it, the psychic being is the sheath around the soul. I am suggesting to you that your efforts and your struggle to call forth that inner image of who you consider yourself to be are an incredibly powerful place to begin the movement into the parameter of the creative, of deliberately and consciously beginning to expand who you consider yourself to be by having the courage to start living out what you consider the innate image to be.

These efforts to make your real self known in the physical world create pathways for your soul to make itself known. The inner is now becoming your outer, governing everything in your outer world, and in doing so, you increase significantly your chances of awakening, of happiness, of self-realization… which by the way is the only thing that can satisfy the soul or the psychic being or the innate image, whichever one you would like to call.

In the vernacular, it’s doing what you love because chances are what you love is also what you’re good at. Doing more and more of what you’re good at produces more and more love of doing and now, the parameter of creation is in constant motion.

The innate image of the psychic being is not concerned with being comfortable, rich, or well-known. It is concerned with the expression of itself in the physical world and that is all. It is not concerned about being crucified, being rejected, being isolated, or any other negative condition, and that includes death. Its greatest joy is the experiencing of itself right in the middle of the mess, right in the middle of the daily meaninglessness and turmoil of life.

The psychic being’s greatest joy is the experiencing of itself right in the middle of the mess, right in the middle of the daily meaninglessness and turmoil of life.

It’s important to understand that this can take time. It’s not an overnight process. The evolutionary process of the inner becoming expressed in the outer will also have the tendency to take on its unique barriers and problems that have to be addressed and solved for the inner you to find its way in your outer life.

And now, the other parameter of how much you are capable of enduring, how much you are capable of persevering, has been set into motion but it has been set into motion deliberately consciously by moving in the other direction towards the expansion of the creative. So, quite naturally in moving toward the affirming, the life-giving, the movement towards the realization of your true self will activate the other parameter.

But now you’ve done it in a very positive way instead of having to require and use suffering and pain as the tools of growth. The limitations and barriers that you will face in the creative process will be absolutely perfect and in direct alignment with that growth. In fact, it could absolutely be said that those struggles are serving the creative process, strengthening it, empowering it with greater wisdom and insight through addressing the barriers and struggles that are unique to you in the evolution of your soul.

You notice very quickly that joy and pleasure are not the same things. Pleasure is fleeting and joy is permanent. To fulfill even for a moment the you that you consider yourself to be will last you a lifetime. And no one and nothing can take that away from you. You will have that experience of yourself forever. But of course, when one is deliberately and consciously attempting to bring that inner image forward into physical life, the chances are it’s not just going to be for a moment but for extended periods of time. These extended periods of time which can be for decades transform your life.

Joy can be experienced as one is fulfilling that innate image even in struggle and setback.

Pleasure can only be experienced when the struggle and the difficulties of life are absent.

The realization of this innate image, no matter what it is increases your ability to endure, persevere, and bear the shocks of everyday life. So, now, those two parameters of your life and fate existing between what you’re capable of creating and what you’re capable of bearing and enduring are consciously and willingly being set in motion. Life cannot and will not not respond. There is no effort that goes unrewarded. It is not pleasure that transforms you but joy and where does the joy come from? It comes from inside of you, so, this is a really great place to begin if you’ve become stuck in your life or if you feel a deep sense of inertia in your life. Identify what is it that brings you joy and have the courage to do it.

The other very simple mechanism for activating the parameters of creation and endurance is by simply doing the right thing when it is called for.

About a year ago, I was standing in line at the pharmacy. There was elderly woman dealing with the clerk and a man between her and myself. It became obvious that the woman did not have enough money to buy what was apparently a necessary prescription and she began to cry.

When she turned to leave without her prescription, the man in front of me looked at the clerk and said, “I got it.”

The clerk called the woman back and explained that the man was taking care of the bill. The woman wrapped her arms around the man and began to sob, thanking him. The man said, “It’s OK. I’m happy to do it.”

I got to watch the whole thing and was moved to tears myself. When my turn came and it was only me and the clerk, the clerk looked at me and said, “Wow.” I smiled and said, “Yes it was.”

Joy can be experienced as one is fulfilling that innate image even in struggle and setback.

I’m not telling you what the thing to do is. I AM telling you that you will know the right thing to do when it happens to you. And when it does, have the courage to act. When you do, you are deliberately and consciously working the parameters of creation and endurance. And the experience will change you. You may be broke tomorrow but you will have the experience of caring for another when they needed it and they can’t take that experience away from you.

You see, the experiences that we gather from birth to around 42 years of age are mostly unconscious, they are mostly effects, effects from that unconsciousness, and because of that, it takes a long time to develop, to become conscious. But when you are deliberately and consciously operating out of that inner image, you are operating out of cause and not effect. And that produces an extremely different reality for you.

I have shared this story in another communication but a brief summary of it will highlight the things that I’m saying in this message. I was approximately 39 or 40 years old and was going through what I would later refer to as a three-year death process. I lost everything including my children and was on the brink of absolute and total despair. Everything familiar had disappeared.

So I went to my mother’s house because I had nowhere else to go. I did not have a good relationship with my mother but I was desperate. While visiting she asked me to get something out of the closet and in doing so I came across a large number of boxes that contained letters that she had written to us and that we had written to her over the course of the many years since our departure to private boarding school at the age of 15.

And one of those boxes, I found a letter that I had written to my mother when I was 17 years old. My letter was an attempt to explain my current academic situation, the fact that I had not been accepted into college yet, and my rationale for having no clue as to what it was I was going to come when I grew up. But in that letter, and my explanation of having no idea of what a career path would look like for me, I said, “but if I had my choice I would become a village philosopher and get paid for it.”

I was lying there at age 39-40 at the bottom of the abyss and suddenly, without warning, my innate image made itself known. It was as though my soul reached out and said, “Here’s the answer you’re looking for. Here’s the way out of the abyss.”

I was shaken when I read that letter because I realize that I had always known what it was I was supposed to be doing and what it was I was supposed to become. The problem that I thought I had disappeared and was replaced with a different but just as difficult problem. I am broke. I have no hope of any recovery anytime soon and I have no idea how to begin making this dream come true.

What would happen to me would, of course, change the rest of my life and I would see that the steps to that inner realization had always been sitting right in front of me but had been unable or unwilling to see them.

There is a mythology and the science to living out that innate image which is the only thing that will set you free, the realization of yourself in physical form in daily life. But there’s no need, as I said before, and being naïve for you require significant courage, significant perseverance, and being willing to walk through the darkness and into the light, a light that there is no guarantee you may reach. It is, nonetheless, the path.

I also believe with all of my heart that once you experience that even a brief moment of that truth of who and what you are, you cannot and will not go back. The cost is too high. To return to the cage simply in order to survive is not worth it.

There is almost an inherent uniformity to the way that all of us in the American culture are raised. Void of any understanding or appreciation of the inner self, our entire lives are built and based on the outer world in which we live versus the inner world in which we dwell. The educational and parenting processes while differing in strategy, are quite similar to one another with a focus on the acquisition of the material, success, and money. If you want to see and understand the devastating effects this has had, you have only to look in the mirror. But maybe if you look one more time and take a deep breath, you might see something else. And it is that something else that will set you free.

No matter what you do and no matter how long it takes, no matter how many lifetimes are required, the innate image is the truth of who you are and that truth is eternal, unthreatenable, and self-existent.

I know how difficult it can be for you to come to terms with that innate image, with a fate that appears to have been imposed on you by God, circumstances, parents, and other things. If you are unable to know, to identify what that in eight images is, you have but to start asking, to start opening your mind and your heart up to being willing to hear the answer to that question. It is not just that your question will be heard, it is that the question must be answered because it is your very reason for being here for being in a physical body, to not just know but to experience the divine within you, the truth that lies within you. But that is only a start for once the innate image is encountered, the journey has only begun.

Except this time, it is this journey that will reveal the secrets of the divine, the secrets of your existence, and you will, at last, know what true freedom is. Now, at last, you transcend the effects of your life and become cause.

In doing so, those parameters of creation and endurance do nothing but continue to expand. The greater the light you are able to be exposed to and understand, the greater the darkness you will encounter. This is what all great masters have known. All great teachers have scars that attest to their transformation. But such is the path and the curriculum of being a human being. Stop looking outside of yourself for answers and start going within.

Have the courage to change.

Stop tolerating unhappiness, meaninglessness, and suffering.

Refuse! Resist!

Start a fight with God because I will guarantee you that God will win.

When our youngest daughter was very little, her grandmother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She replied, “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be a doctor or a dog trainer.”

You see, it’s is not that there are so many choices to choose from. Of course, there are! It’s that there is this one thing inside of you that is what you are here for, that that innate image seeks to realize about itself in physical form. At the end of this message or at the end of the day, perhaps when you’re ready to put your head on your pillow tonight, to the best you can to listen to the secret force of your soul that lies inside of you.