Is the higher self also the essence of who you are?

The essence of who you are is who you choose to be, or how you act and relate to others. The higher self is part of you. The lower self and lower instincts are also part of you. Higher and lower self are part of the essence. High or low, that’s a choice, or it may be dictated by circumstances.

For instance, if somebody is born into a gang-like family where he only sees murder, shooting and a fight for survival on the street at the very basic level, then that’s what he learns and what he perpetuates. It would take a great effort for him to rise into the higher self. Versus someone brought up in an ashram who would automatically think about that.

So the essence of who you are is what you choose to believe and how you choose to act. Not what you profess.

One of the joys of life is its complexity. Nothing is quite black and white. If you take the trouble to think about things, you realize it’s not two sides of a coin, black and white, you can look at it from a prism. Everything has several points of view. Everything has a multidimensional meaning and existence. It’s tiring to think like that all the time. It’s easier to simplify things into simple rights and wrongs.

The reality though is that there ALWAYS is a “but”. It is wrong to kill, but if you do it in the interest of the nation, then it’s ok; it is wrong to lie but if it saves a life, then it’s ok. And so on. There are always “buts” associated with anything you state. So one should not lament the complexity of life, but rather celebrate it.