A Spiritual Explainer Mini-Book

How to Unlock the Many Hidden “Yous” That Make You Unique

[Updated May 21, 2023] 15 practical ways of revealing the many “selves” of your psyche.

Non-Medium subscribers can access this full article/min-book here.

Contents

[0] The Oneness & The Many (Introduction)

Part 1 — SEVEN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONAL VIEWS OF YOU

[1] The 5 SPIRITUAL SELVES (Me’s & You’s) [2] The 5 Types of EGO (Your 3D or “Outer Self”) [3] The 5 Levels of Your SOUL (Your “Spiritual Self”) [4] Your 5+ KOSHA Selves [5] MANIFESTING Through 3 Selves [6] The 9 SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS of You [7] Your 9 CHAKRA Personalities

Part 2 — YOUR SPLIT BRAIN

[8] Your MASCULINE & FEMININE Selves [9] Growing Your 4 INTEGRAL THEORY Selves (Ken Wilber) [10] Your FOUR BRAIN CHARACTERS [11] Your 17 EMOTIONAL Selves (David R. Hawkins) [12] 10 of Your MANY VOICES (Voice Dialogue)

Part 3 — OTHER SPIRITUAL VIEWS OF YOU

[13] Your PARALLEL & INCARNATIONAL Selves [14] Your YOUNIVERSE of Selves (The Headless Way) [15] An INFINITY of YOUS

[16] HOW TO INTEGRATE YOUR “YOUS”

[17] Related Resources

[0] The Oneness & The Many

We are both individuals and universal (some say we are “God”). This is one of the more challenging concepts for humans to understand. Many spiritual teachers try to get this message across, and I have written about it in many articles, including:

• Life is Both Diversity and Oneness — at the Same Time
• Ego, Self, Soul, God & More: Who Do You Want to Be Today?
• Ego, Soul, & Beyond Revisited — This Is the Reality We Live

The following brief explanation comes from Matias de Stefano (YouTube). He bases his description on quantum physics — the science of the smallest things that make up our universe.

In our daily life, we cannot see the workings of those smallest physical things. One of these workings is that they are simultaneously a particle (an object) and a wave (energy). Whether physicists see a particle or a wave depends on how they observe and measure the object. (It is most likely that waves are the only thing that really exist.)

That fundamental quantum paradox applies to how we experience our entire universe. As humans, we experience our universe as an infinite number of things (particles). Each thing has a different frequency reflecting the wave that underlies it, but also makes it appear separate from all other things. That is the experience of diversity.

We can also experience our universe as a wave in which everything connects to everything else in a single, continuous, oscillating mass of vibrations. That is the experience of oneness (“unity consciousness”). We are also an inseparable particle in that oneness.

That analogy applies to all levels of reality and all dimensions. Everything is always both a separate individual/particle and part of the universal oneness/wave. It all depends on our perspective, our focus, and our understanding.

We can also think of each particle as a point of consciousness. That is what Seth/Jane Roberts suggested when he/she likened our consciousness to a swarming of bees, each of which is a separate consciousness.

Because, at our essence, we are universal oneness, from that perspective we can experience any particle within the wave. We have gathered some that we focus on as our identity. But we are still, in every moment, shifting from one bee/consciousness to another.

We think we are a thing, a being, a personality. At our deepest level of pure awareness, which is the universal wave, that is true. We are all the single awareness of Source/God/The Universe. As our physical bodies have changed many times over the years, our pure awareness has been a steady presence of who “I Am”.

But at every other level of separate particles, we are multidimensional beings. We have multiple personalities, multiple identities, multiple states of consciousness, and multiple past-present-parallel lives.

We are seldom aware of how we change from one “me” to another “me” through the course of our lives, our days, and in each new moment. If you can imagine the multiplicity of voices on popular social media platforms (like Facebook), that is like the multiplicity of voices that we are.

The rest of this article is about the many diverse particles that make up our consciousness. It is based on articles I have written (linked below) and other sources. I bet there are many more models like these out there.

“Your consciousness is not one thing like a flashlight that you possess. It is instead a literally endless conglomeration of points of consciousness, swarming together to form your validity — stamped, as it were, with your identity.

(Intently:) Whether dispersed, concentrated in a tight grouping, appearing “alone” or flying through other larger swarms, that particular organization represents your identity. Using an analogy, its “particles” could be dispersed throughout the universe, with galaxies between, yet the identity would be retained.”

- Seth (Jane Roberts), ‘The Nature of the Psyche’, session 791 on January 17, 1977

Part 1 — SEVEN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF YOU

This article has 3 sections. This first section reviews 7 models of consciousness and our experience of reality. They are similar but offer different perspectives and insights. This table shows how they overlap.

Awakening & Higher Consciousness

There is a tendency to think that the “higher dimension/chakra you” is more advanced and preferred. Because of that, we reject, resist, and deny the lower ones. But a better way to think of it is that we are at all levels all the time. The challenge is to know the oneness both on an intellectual and experiential level.

That is challenging because we accept some parts of ourselves and reject other parts of who we are. “Awakening” and “liberation” come from expanding the definition of who we are. Through each stage of awakening, we experience liberation as our identity encompasses more of our full and complete self.

[1] The 5 SPIRITUAL SELVES (Me’s & You’s)

— Here are 5 ways that people use the words “You”, “Me”, and “I” when talking about spiritual topics. We assume that others know which of these we are referring to. But that is often not the case.

Type 1: The “OUTER SELF” — Your Ego, Lower Self, Small “i”, Personality, Physical Body, 3rd Dimension (3D) Self

Type 2: The “INNER SELF” — Your Awakened (or Woke) Self, Genuine Self, Individual or Personal Soul, Inner Self, Superego (Freud), True Self, Emotional Body, 4th Dimension (4D) Self

Type 3: The “SPIRITUAL SELF” — Your Big “I”, Future Self, Higher Self, Your Truth, Christ Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Energy Body, Astral Body, Soul, Eternal Self, 5th Dimension (5D) Self

Type 4: The “SPIRITUAL COLLECTIVE SELF” — You as Atman, Consciousness, Cosmic Soul, Oversoul, Spirit, Godhead, Unity Consciousness, Universal Mind, Universal Soul, Causal Body, 6th+ Dimension (6D+) Self

Type 5: The “GOD/SOURCE SELF” — You as All-That-Is, Brahman, Emptiness, God, Source, Tao, The Absolute, The Creator, The One, God Consciousness, The Quantum Field, The Void, The Self Beyond Dimensions

CONSIDER: Looking at spiritual posts on Facebook or talks on YouTube, which “you/me/I” is the writer or speaker referring to? — Which do you mean when you think of yourself as a “spiritual” being?

You will never again be the personality that you are at this moment. Whatever self you will be (in your terms) or you were, each of those selves are unique, as you are unique. — Seth/Jane Roberts, “The Personal Sessions, Book 2", May 3, 1972

[2] The 5 Types of EGO (Your 3D or “Outer Self”)

The “ego” is the same as the Type 1 — Outer Self, described above in [#1]. The word “ego” is widely used in spiritual circles but is seldom defined. This lack of clarity causes much confusion and debate. I have identified the following 5 general ways that “ego” is used in spiritual discussions.

Type I — The “I AM” Ego — Your Sense of Being Separate (from everything else); Your Individuality or “I”-ness (opposite of everything else); Your Awareness of Being a Human; The Center of Your Consciousness in the Physical World

Type II — The “I AM MY STORY” Ego — Your Identity (“I am ____”); Your Personal Life Story & Experiences (physical, emotional, & mental); Your Social Selves (such as family, nation, race, politics, & career); Your Beliefs About Yourself and what you think others believe about you (such as assertive, smart, healthy, likeable, spiritual — or not); The Mask or Front that Hides Your True Self; Your Narcissistic Self (in extreme cases)

These types of egos are complex, but the “Story” ego is especially so. Each of your “Social Selves” and each of your “Beliefs” is a separate self that we take on (like a mask) depending on the context. — See [#12] below for examples of how each of these Selves has a Voice and role within our psyche. — See [#15] below for the many more stories that others have created about “you”.

Type III — The “AUTOPILOT” Ego — Your Unconscious Conditioned Reactions & Thoughts (opposite of Conscious Thinking); Your Less Conscious Monkey Mind or Busy Mind; Your Desires, Wants, Needs, & Demands; Your Self-Value (positive or negative) and Self-Importance; Your Egotistical (self-centered) Self; Your Protective Programming (“fight-or-flight reaction”, for example); Your Restricted, Resistant, Self-Critical, and Forever Commenting Mind (easily hurt when criticized)

Type IV — The “THINKING & DECIDING” Ego — Your Conscious Thinking & Intellectual Self (opposite of Intuition & Feeling); Your Analyzing, Comparing, Interpreting, Discriminating, Judging, Judgmental, Opinionated, Second Guessing, Deciding, and Controlling Mind; Your Protecting Mind (to keep you safe from troubles); Your Time & Space Mind (the part of you that most believes in time and space, and behaves that way)

Type V — The “PHYSICAL REALITY” Ego — Your Body, Mind, and Emotions (opposite of your Soul or Spiritual Self); Your Outer Self or 3rd Dimension (3D) Self in the Physical World (opposite of your Inner Self, Soul Self, or Higher Dimensional Self); Your 3D Operating System (processing and acting upon the information needed to function in physical reality); Your Temporary, False, Illusory, or Pseudo Self (opposite of your True, Authentic, or Eternal Self); The Part of you that intentionally keeps you ignorant of your Higher Self (the “veil” that hides your True Self and True Reality)

This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief. — Rumi

CONSIDER: Which of these definitions aligns with how you use the word “ego” most of the time? — Do you use it in more than one way in different contexts?

[3] The 5 Levels of Your SOUL (Your “Spiritual Self”)

As noted above, the different definitions of the “ego” are variations of the “Outer Self” in [#1]. The different definitions of the “soul” (or “spiritual self”) are expansions on “Spiritual Collective Self” in [#1], above.

1. Personal or Individual Soul — this is your soul as a separate experience taking place through your current incarnation (see also: “Inner Self” and “Spiritual Self” in [#1] above)
2. Soul Group — this is one of many larger groups of individual souls that you are a part of in your current 3D physical incarnation; it includes groups such as your family, nation, race, politics, and career; they all share in your present identity in some way (like the “I Am My Story” Ego, above).
3. Soul Family — this is one of many larger groups of individual souls that you are spiritually connected to beyond this incarnation; 3D Soul Groups are a type of Soul Family, but we are also part of other Soul Families that scattered across other dimensions and timelines and have no parallel in our present physical reality.
4. Oversoul — this is the higher-level soul that our individual souls are an aspect of, and which has total knowledge of each of its individual souls; there are multiple levels of oversouls forming a kind of pyramid of increasing responsibility; The oversoul is said to be in the 6th or 7th Dimension.
5. Universal Soul — there is only one Universal Soul that all entities in existence are a part of; because it is all-knowing, it is also called the “Universal Mind” and the “Akashic Record”; it is the first manifestation or form of Source/God (which is unmanifested and formless) and is its closest reflection in our universe.

CONSIDER: When you talk about “your soul”, which of these soul definitions are you referring to? — How would you speak differently if you changed your soul definition to one of the others? — See also Parallel & Incarnational Selves in #[11] below

[4] Your 5+ KOSHA Selves

Hinduism has the Pancha Koshas (the “5 sheaths” or “5 layers”) that make you who you are. Together they comprise our body-mind self. These are often taught as part of contemporary hatha yoga practices around the world. While there is some overlap with the models above, it is also different.

1. Your PHYSICAL or FOOD Body/Layer/Self (Anamaya Kosha) — The dominant you when you identify as your physical body through physical movement, pain, pleasure, eating, washing, and other physical body activities. (3rd Dimension in [#6] below) — Refined through hatha yoga, dance, tai chi, qi gong, and similar body practices. — Hinduism says the Anamaya Kosha is what we lose when we die. We still have the other 4 koshas, which carry our personality and karma into other dimensions and incarnations. - This kosha disappears when we are in a dream; the koshas below are still present.
2. Your VITAL ENERGY, BREATH, or PRANA Body/Layer/Self (Pranamaya Kosha) — The dominant you when you are consumed by your emotions (good or bad) and energy levels (sleepy, restless, calm, being in the flow); also, when feeling your environment and others (empathic). (2nd Dimension) — Refined through breathwork, energy healing, kundalini practices, and other practices similar to the Anamaya Kosha, above.
3. Your CONSCIOUS MIND or MENTAL Body/Layer/Self (Manomaya Kosha) — The dominant you when you are consumed by your surface level thoughts, beliefs, opinions, imaginations, and fantasies. (3rd & 4th Dimensions) — Refined through learning and knowledge.
4. Your SUBTLE MIND, WISDOM, or INTELLIGENCE Body/Layer/Self (Vijnamaya Kosha) — The dominant you when you calm your outer/surface mind and become your deeper/inner self; this includes accessing your psychic and inner senses, intuition, and higher knowing; it also includes being a detached witness of your thoughts, beliefs, and emotion. (4th Dimension); I have also heard that this is the ego and sense of “doership” (the one who is doing things) — Refined through meditation, mantras, affirmations, as well as spiritual learning and knowledge.
5. Your BLISS or SOUL Body/Layer/Self (Anandamaya Kosha)—The dominant you when you transcend all thought; this is your deepest layer of pure spiritual being; it is often associated with joy, ecstasy, peace, unconditional love, and enlightenment. (5th Dimension) — Refined through meditation and other spiritual practices. — In deep sleep, this is the only kosha present in your consciousness. — Ramana Maharshi says this kosha is the source of our likes and dislikes. He also says it is still part of our body-mind, and is not our true self which transcend all phenomenal reality.

Your body-mind system is and expression of all 5 of these layers. But you normally identify with one of them more than the others at any moment. That is what you are at that moment. We can switch between these instantly and do so many times each day.

The koshas are often described as layers that cover our true self (atman in Hinduism). However, Hindu writings also emphasize that this is only an analogy because atman is all these layers and beyond them. Swami Tadatmananda explains that in this presentation (on YouTube):

Plus 2 More

Some say the 5 Koshas above are creations of our thoughts, mind, and ego. But there is more to “us” beyond that. Thus, some schools of Hinduism define the following 2 additional Koshas. Others say because these are not layers of the separate self, they are not “Koshas”.

6. Full MIND-BODY CONSCIOUSNESS (Chittamaya Kosha) is the complete integration of the other Koshas. It is like the Universal Soul in [#3] above, and perhaps the 6th to 8th Dimensions (6D to 8D) in [#6] below.

7. SOURCE CONSCIOUSNESS (Atmamaya Kosha) is pure consciousness beyond form, which is like the “God/Source Self” in [#1] above, and The Void (or 9th) Dimension in [#6] below.

I have also heard the sheaths used describe dimensions of spiritual reality (see [#6] below). The Physical Sheath is equivalent to what most spiritualists call the 3rd Dimension (3D). The others would go up from that: Prana = 4D, Mental = 5D, Wisdom = 6D, Bliss = 7D, Mind-Body = 8D, and Source = 9D. That roughly aligns with some models of the spiritual dimensions of reality, an example of which is in #[6] below.

That also means as our consciousness expands to a higher dimension, we can reach a state of permanent Bliss. Some Hindu saints are believed to have achieved this.

CONSIDER: For my Yoga Teacher Training final project, I created a hatha yoga sequence (flow) that took one through similar poses but emphasizing each of the 5 Koshas in their order above. — How might you switch from one Kosha (layer/body/self) to another by changing the focus of your attention?

[5] MANIFESTING Through 3 Selves

This model of your many layered selves is a variation on the 5 Koshas. It is often used in New Age spiritual teaching to show an idea moves from its initial intention to its manifestation in our physical reality.

1. Our MENTAL or CAUSAL Body/Self — This is the deepest level of our self; it is the same as the “Personal Soul” in [#3] and is our level of pure awareness; it is also the source of desires, intentions, and purpose for our current incarnation — it is the “cause” of our existence. It might also be like the “Bliss Body” in the Pancha Koshas in [#4].
2. Our EMOTIONAL Body /Self — This is the first manifestation of our deepest intention; it is the part of us that “feels” before words are formed; our intention is a feeling or emotion before it is a more formal thought. This might be a combination of the Vital Energy/Prana Body and the Wisdom Body in the Pancha Koshas.
3. Our PHYSICAL Body/Self — This is where our intentions take form, first as a clear thought, then as spoken words, then as a physical manifestation (an object or an experience).

An expanded and more complete version of our manifesting layers comes from Elan. Elan is an Essessani ET (like Bashar/Darryl Anka and Ryo/Tyler Ellison). Andrew Bayuk channeled Elan in the late 1980s and 90s.

According to Elan, we start from the singularity of Source and move through the following levels of consciousness to manifest individual diversity in our physical reality. (Note that I expanded on Elan’s more simple definitions, which are in bold. I correlated those to the 3 Bodies/Selves above and the Spiritual Dimension in [#6] below.)

Level 1 — Being, Is-ness, Existence: Source/God/The Absolute Existing; oneness, unity, nonduality; associated with the 1st Dimension and the Universal Soul/Mind Dimension

Level 2 — Knowing, Awareness: Source Knowing it Exists; the first polarity; associated with the 2nd Dimension and the Universal Soul/Mind Dimension

Level 3 — Believing, Beliefs — MENTAL/CAUSAL Body/Self: Source Believing in One Thing Over Another; this creates Intentions, Purpose, Individuality, and the Diversity of Selves from the pure Awareness of level 2; A Self Creating its Causal (deepest Mental) Realty; associated with the 5th Dimension

Elan says that judging things as good or bad based on our beliefs is the primary mechanism for creating separation and diversity in ourselves and our universe. It is the opposite of “unconditional love”, which is the primary mechanism for creating integration and oneness (Levels 1 & 2).

Our life purpose comes from our Causal Body (Level 3). When we are doing something that emotionally excites us and positively supports the unity and integration of all creation, then we are manifesting our life purpose. Elan calls this “excitement with integrity”.

Level 4 — Feeling, Emotions — EMOTIONAL Body/Self: A Subtle Response to a Belief; A Self Creating its Emotional Realty; associated with the inner self (or inner ego) and 4th Dimension

Level 5 — Thinking, Thoughts — PHYSICAL Body/Self: An Outer Ego Response to a Belief; A Self Creating its Thinking and Deciding (surface Mental) Realty; associated with the 3rd Dimension

Level 6 — Acting, Speech & Actions — PHYSICAL Body/Self: A Gross/Physical Level Response to a Belief; A Self Creating its Physical Experience Reality (also called “phenomenal reality”); associated with the outer ego and with the 3rd Dimension

According to Elan, things do not manifest until this last stage. He says that we can experiment with different and opposing ideas and beliefs as much as we want in the Thinking (Level 5) stage. It is not until the Action (Level 6) stage that they become our reality, affecting us and our world.

The more our desires align with Source (Level 1), our Soul (Level 2), and our Causal Body (Level 3) the more powerful our manifestations will be. As noted above, “excitement with integrity” is an indicator that we are on the right path.

CONSIDER: Think of something you have manifested recently — can you trace its evolution from the Mental/Causal/Beliefs Level, through the Emotional Feelings Level, and into the Physical/Thinking & Acting Level? — How could you use this model to be more effective in manifest in your life?

For more on the idea of an inner and outer ego, see:

[6] The 9 SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS of You

There are too many definitions of the spiritual dimensions of reality to cover them all on a simple list. To learn more about that diversity, see my Explainer article where I review many different perspectives on the spiritual dimension.

To simplify things for this article, I only focus on Matias de Stefano’s 9 Dimensions of Spiritual Reality.

Each of his dimensions is a distinct perspective on the same reality or universe. As multidimensional beings, we are present in each of these dimensions simultaneously. At least in theory, we can experience and “be” each of these dimensions as humans. (Note that the names given for these dimensions are mine.)

• 1st Dimension (1D) — Pure Light & Consciousness — experiencing the single pure consciousness of creation; there is nothing else, just this one (oneness), single consciousness that is shared by all creation — near-death experiences (NDEs) are the clearest experiences of this white light; some people experience this perspective in meditation and with kundalini awakenings
• 2nd Dimension (2D) — Polarities & Vibrations — experiencing the pure energy that flows to create “time” and “space” through different frequencies and pulsations between (+) and (-) — energy work might give some access to the 2D perspective (see also the “Vital Energy Body” in the Pancha Koshas [#4] above)
• 3rd Dimension (3D) — Diversity in “Space” — experiencing the diversity of 3-dimensional space (our physical reality on Earth) through one incarnation at a time; the 2D pulsation of (+) and (-) energy gives rise to the infinite diversity of forms in 3D for us to experience — we experience the 3D perspective naturally in our daily waking lives
• 4th Dimension (4D) — Mastering “Time” — experiencing the diversity of incarnations (or timelines) that we have as individual souls; using our psychic abilities, we move through “time” in 4D as we moved through “space” in 3D to better understand each of our 3D incarnations — we can compare one incarnation with another — past life experiences, déjà vu experiences, and lucid dreaming are some of the ways we get glimpses of the 4D perspective
• 5th Dimension (5D) — Full Integration of 3D & 4D — understanding the entirety of our 3D and 4D incarnations; we see the whole picture of our individual experience of the diversity of the universe; this requires absolute non-judgment and unconditional love for every possible experience and thing (form) in all realities; some say that our Higher Self is in 5D — feeling absolute unconditional love for everything is a glimpse of this dimension; channeling our Higher Self can give us access to a 5D (and higher) perspective; but be careful because faking unconditional love can be a spiritual ego trap
• 6th Dimension (6D) — Creating Universes & Realities — understanding how to create and guide an entire universe, based on all we have learned in lower dimensions; some say Ascended Masters from Earth and lower Angels are in 6D — intentionally “manifesting” things in one’s life is a glimpse of this perspective
• 7th Dimension (7D) — Enlightenment & Heaven — understanding how to create and guide multiple universes and realities by mastering the lessons of 6D; the highest dimensional beings are in 7D, which some say includes Archangels — some humans can communicate with 7D beings, but experiencing the perspective of what it is like to be such a being is rare and impossible to describe
• 8th Dimension (8D) — The Akashic Records — understanding the pure and complete knowledge of all creation (all universes, realities, and incarnations); this is the same as the “Universal Soul” or “Universal Mind” in [#3] above. — using any of the “8 Clairs” (clairvoyance, etc.) is often tapping into this perspective
• 9th Dimension (9D) — The Void Beyond Dimensions — to know Source or God; this is the same as the “God/Source Self” in [#3] above. — meditation can sometimes give us glimpses of this void, though we seldom remember it because it is beyond the thinking mind and beyond all forms of experience, including “oneness” (1D); it is the nonduality that Advaita Vedanta points to; we may know it more in the void that surrounds our physical reality (see article below)

CONSIDER: The spiritual dimensions are different perspectives of the same reality. The more evolved our consciousness becomes, the more dimensions/densities/realities we can experience. But even a less evolved 3D consciousness can have glimpses of other dimensions. — In what ways have you experienced dimensions other than 3D in the past? — What might you do to experience more dimensions in the future?

How to experience 9D:

[7] Your 9 CHAKRA Personalities

This chart shows your 9 primary chakras. 1 through 7 are body chakras. 0 and 8 are beyond-the-body chakras.

We often relate the chakras to the Spiritual Dimensions. The 1st chakra reflects 1D characteristics; the 2nd chakra reflects 2D energies; 3rd chakra defines our 3D experience; and so on. This alignment is not obvious in the 9 Spiritual Dimensions model described in [#6] above, but it is in other dimensional models.

CONSIDER: A spiritual belief I have heard says that before our birth on Earth, we were a single chakra being. After birth, our core personality reflects that one chakra energy we had. We came to Earth to expand our consciousness into the energies/personalities of the other chakras. — Which chakra is your core personality? — Which chakras are you currently most focused on developing? — Can you identify how each of the chakras expresses itself in your personality?

Your chakras are not just spinning vortexes of light. They are dimensions of your consciousness that filter how you perceive reality. — Rhys Thomas (energy healer)

For more on the 9 Primary Chakras, see:

Part 2 — YOUR SPLIT BRAIN

Most of us experience our human experience somewhere in our brain. Our sciences (especially psychology and neurology) further support our sense of self, identity, and personality in our brain. Spiritualists often disagree with that, but not always.

[8] Your MASCULINE & FEMININE Selves

That we all have masculine and feminine energies is a core teaching of contemporary New Age spirituality. Note that these are not necessarily related to sexual orientation.

• The Divine Masculine You — expansion, expressing, acting, thinking, innovating, positive (+) energy, out-breath — Left side of the brain and Right side of the body for most people
• The Divine Feminine You — contraction, receiving, perceiving, understanding, creativity, intuition, negative (-) energy, in-breath — Right side of the brain and Left side of the body for most people

Note that positive (+) and negative (-) do not mean “good” or “bad’. It is the electromagnetic energy of the universe that allows diverse creations to exist.

CONSIDER: We all have both divine masculine and divine feminine personality characteristics. — In what situations are you more in your Divine Feminine state? — In what situations are you more in your Divine Masculine state?

For more on our Divine Feminine & Masculine, see Veritas’ article: How We Are All Robbed of Our Feminine Selves?

[9] Growing Your 4 INTEGRAL THEORY Selves (Ken Wilber)

Ken Wilber has been developing his Integral Theory model since the 1970s. The idea is there are 4 aspects of “you”: Inner, Outer, Individual, and Collective.

Those combine to create 4 versions of you: (1) an Inner Individual You, (2) an Outer Individual You, (3) an Inner Collective You, and (4) an Outer Collective You. Each of these yous grows and evolves in its own way. You can be an adult in one area, and an infant in another.

Characteristics of these are summarized in the 4 Quadrants in the diagram below ⬇. There is also a 5th “you” that integrates these 4.

Wilber says we tend to focus on some of these aspects more than others. As a result, we have strengths and weaknesses that make us less balanced and effective in our lives. The goal is to develop all 4 aspects — to become an “adult” in all 4 areas. And we continue developing these 4 aspects of ourselves — there is no end.

1. Our sense of being an Individual Self. That subjective part of us experiences birth, emotions, growth, and for some, spiritual enlightenment. — The goal of this aspect of you is to spiritually Wake Up to your True Self. Many spiritual gurus seem to have focused on this aspect to the detriment of other areas.
2. Our sense of our belonging to a Group or Collective. That subjective part of us belongs to many social groups, both voluntary and involuntary. — The goal of that aspect of you is to Grow Up into responsible and contributing members of your society and culture.
3. Our personal Physical sense of Self. That part of us includes our physical body and all the physical “things” we personally interact with as objects. — The goal of that aspect of you is to Open Up and express the many skills and abilities that you hold latent within your mind-body system.
4. Our sense of being embedded in a Larger Context. That part of us knows itself as a human being within objective systems beyond those we directly experience. — The goal of that aspect of you is to Clean Up and Show Up. Wilber defines Cleaning Up as doing shadow work to psychologically balance your psyche. To me, that is more related to Waking Up and Growing Up. But he puts Cleaning Up in the Exterior-Group quadrant, so that is where I put it in the figure below. — I have heard Wilber define Showing Up in 2 ways. One is actively engaging our skills (Opening Up) to create a better world. To me, that means doing shadow work at a collective level to clean up our natural environment and social institutions. That is how I defined it in the figure below. — More recently, I heard him define Showing Up as developing our 4 quadrants and integrating them. That might be the same thing as actively creating a better world. But it puts Showing Up outside of, and encompassing, the 4 quadrants. I had created a diagram like that, but I think this one makes more sense. (Though I still think Cleaning Up is redundant.)

CONSIDER: Are you an adult in all 4 of the Integral Theory Quadrants above? Which have you focused on the most? Which do you need to do more work on?

I also used Wilber’s Integral Theory approach in this article:

• Ken Wilber has a book coming out in late 2022 that discusses this in more detail. My information is based on websites and interviews, such as this one in June 2022.

[10] Your FOUR BRAIN CHARACTERS

This model of our brain comes from the Whole Brain Living approach of the neurologist, Jill Bolte Taylor. She developed this theory based on her recovery from a stroke. She suggests there are 4 distinct characters that reflect the functions of different regions in our brain.

We have a left and right side of our brain, which are often correlated with Masculine and Feminine characteristics, respectively. We also have a lower/older/limbic part of our brain and a upper/newer/neocortex part, which are associated with our emotional and thinking activities, respectively.

Our resulting 4 brain characters are:

1. Left Upper/Neocortex — The Rational Thinking You This is the rational thinking part of our brain that is dominant in our present physical reality world of time and space, right and wrong, and better and worse. This part of us defines and judges itself in terms of the outer world. (Similar to Carl Jung’s persona.)
2. Left Lower/Limbic — The Emotional You This is the emotional part of our brain that holds unresolved needs and issues from our past. It is triggered unconsciously, including bursts of anger, sadness, and love for another person. (Similar to Carl Jung’s shadow.)
3. Right Lower/Limbic — The Playful/Creative You This is our unconscious “present moment” emotional experience, with no reference to past memories and unmet needs. It is seen in the way a small child will interact with its world just the way it is in a playful and creative manner. This part of us holds a sense of oneness and a sense of community with its world. (Similar to Carl Jung’s anima/animus.)
4. Right Upper/Neocortex — The Peaceful You This is our thinking mind’s sense of oneness in the present moment in which there is peace and unconditional love of self and other. It is the “I am” state of consciousness. (Similar to Carl Jung’s self.)

Dr. Taylor suggests that over-emphasis or dominance by any one of these brain selves creates an unhealthy imbalance. Similar to Integral Theory [#9], her Whole Brain Living approach seeks balance and open communication among all 4 of the characters in your head.

CONSIDER: Are your 4 characters (selves) well balanced? Can they communicate easily with one another and allow each to play a meaningful role in your daily life experiences? What could you do to bring about a more appropriate balance among them?

[11] Your 17 EMOTIONAL Selves (David R. Hawkins)

David R. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness models different emotions and places them in a hierarchy of good on top and bad on the bottom. Shame (20) has the lowest “energetic frequency” and Enlightenment (>700) has the highest.

• 600–1000 — Peace/Bliss/Perfect, Enlightenment/Ineffable
• 400–540 — Reason/Understanding, Love/Reverence, Joy/Serenity
• 250–350 — Neutrality/Trust, Optimism/Hopeful, Acceptance/Harmony
• 150–200 — Anger/Hate, Pride/Demanding, Courage/Affirmation
• 75–125 — Grief/Regret, Fear/Anxiety, Desire/Disappointment
• 20–50 — Shame/Humiliation, Guilt/Blame/Evil, Apathy/Despair/Hopeless
• (This is a summary of the Map of Consciousness because the Hawkins estate is very protective of its copyright to the full map. You can, however, find the full map on many websites with a simple search.)

Much has been written about this model. What we are most interested in here is that each of the levels shown can be considered a “different you”.

With each emotion, you think differently; you behave differently; you feel differently; and you even look different. Your entire body chemistry and energy field change as your emotions change.

CONSIDER: The “Angry You” will always be the angry you, it can never be anything else. But your consciousness can switch to become the “Reasoning You”, or even the “Peaceful You” in the same situation. Your relationship with your ego influences which “you” is the primary focus. — Which of the Emotional Yous did you experience today (or yesterday)? — What determines which of the Emotional Yous came forward in each of those situations?

The self, as you think of it, is literally reborn in each instant, following an infinite number of events from the one official series of events that you recognize at any given “time”. — Seth/Jane Roberts, The Unknown Reality, volume 2, session April 14, 1975

[12] 10 of Your MANY VOICES (Voice Dialogue)

This list of “Voices” (or “Selves”) comes from a video (on YouTube) by the Zen teacher, Genpo Roshi (Dennis Merzel). It uses Voice Dialogue, a psychological technique that examines the many “Selves” (or “Voices”) that comprise us all. Each Voice/Self has a different job (or role) and perspective on reality which it thinks is the right perspective.

1. My PROTECTOR Voice/Self — its job is to protect me (my Self) from attack, uncertainty, risk, and danger. It also protects other Voices/Selves (below). It does this by creating barriers or walls. My Self and other Selves might not like that, and the Protector can feel unappreciated.

2. My CONTROLLER Voice/Self — its job is to control everything, including my other Voices/Selves and my world (people and planet). Its greatest fear is loss of control, especially that the Self will be out of control. If my Controller does not control me, then some external authority will (like the police). My Self tries to get rid of the Controller so I can feel freer.

3. My SKEPTIC Voice/Self — its job is to question everything because the “I” (my “Self”) am too gullible. My Skeptic is smarter than the “me” and can detect dangers that I would not see. It is skeptical of my abilities and of my other Voices. If my Skeptic was successful, my Self might be enlightened because it would be skeptical of all my Self’s ego-centric concepts and beliefs. But my Skeptic is also skeptical of the value of enlightenment.

4. My Voice of FEAR — its job is to be afraid of “them” because “they” are dangerous. It is also afraid of death, change, life, pain, uncertainty, conflict, and disappointment. It is always alert, looking out for my Self. It is paranoid and I (my Self) often try to get rid of the Voice of Fear.

My Controller, my Skeptic, and my Voice of Fear are all aspects of and helpers of my Protector Self.

5. My VICTIM Voice/Self — its job is to blame everyone and everything for my Self’s problems in life. It likes to tell my story of persecution and pain: it is not my fault; I am innocent; it’s their fault; and the world is unfair. My Victim Voice holds the story of my helplessness and lack of power.

6. My DAMAGED Self — its job is to take on all the physical and mental hurt that I have encountered since birth (and before) and hold it. My Victim Self tells the story, but Damaged Self holds the actual hurt. My Self tries to fix my Damaged Self, but it will never succeed — in 30 years, the Damaged Self will still be the Damaged Self (this is true for all my Voices/Selves). My Self might over-identify with my Damaged Self.

7. My FIXER Voice/Self — its job is to fix people and things and to fix the Damaged Self. My Fixer Self assumes that everything can be made better, and that there is always something to fix. It will even break things so they can be put back together better than before. It is a perfectionist who can fix anything, including the universe.

8. My Voice of DESIRE — its job is to expand the Self by wanting more of something. It is an agent of growth but is also insatiable and never satisfied. My Voice of Desire is what Buddhism tries to eliminate because it attaches to pleasure, which is the source of all suffering.

9. My SEEKER Voice/Self — its job is to seek knowledge and understanding. It seeks what the Voice of Desire wants. The Seeker brings the Self to spiritual teachings as it moves Desire to higher levels. But it never finds the teachings because it is always seeking.

10. My WAY Self — this self sits as The Way (the Tao). It is stillness, beingness, transcendence, emptiness, and formlessness. It is everywhere and nowhere. It is infinite, eternal, perfect, peaceful, and free. It is what the Seeker Self seeks and what the Follower Self follows.

⬇️ This video has more voices than those listed here. The number of voices/selves we have in this approach is limited only by our language and imagination. This is very much like the “swarm of consciousnesses” quote from Seth/Jane Roberts in the introduction [#0], above.

CONSIDER: All the different Selves listed in this article (from [#1] through [#11]) above are a Voice/Self of You. That is how amazing you are! And that shows the potential you have to be the self that you most want to be. — Which of these voices/selves do you welcome and embrace into your core consciousness? — Which of these voices/selves would you prefer to keep in the periphery of your swarming selves? Your answer to these questions is your dharma — it is who you are in your purest form in your present incarnation. Become that.

You all are always perfect reflections of whoever it is that you are deciding to be at each and every given moment. And therefore, you can never be anything other than who you are. — Elan/Andrew Bayuk

Part 3 — OTHER SPIRITUAL SELVES

There are other ways that the diversity of “you” can be dissected into finer levels of understanding. Those below do not fit into a “dimensional” model like in Part 1, above. Nor are they based on psychological and neurological approaches, as in Part 2, above.

[13] Your PARALLEL & INCARNATIONAL Selves

Seth/Jane Roberts says we are individual aspects of a larger entity. Our “entity” is like an oversoul, and other aspects of that oversoul are a soul family, as described in [#3] above.

The main difference is that Seth does not call these souls. Instead, they are our multidimensional selves, personalities, identities, and personality fragments (of the larger entity). They experience independent existences in their different dimensions in much the same way we do in our current 3D Earth incarnation.

Because we are aspects of the same entity, we share a lot of characteristics with our parallel selves, including personality traits, innate and potential skills and abilities, and life challenges and goals. At a subconscious level (often in dreams), we work together with them and learn from each other.

According to Seth, as we develop our psychic abilities, we will get to know our entity and parallel selves better. As we evolve to higher dimensions, we may choose to become an entity ourselves, although that is not required.

This is like my Energy Group, which I started channeling in November 2019. They often tell me I am an equal member of their group. I am just temporarily having an incarnation on Earth, which they are all sharing and learning from. Most of my channeled messages from them are guidance for my Earth identity from my Energy Group.

According to Seth…

“Although you ARE an individual and with free will, you are also part of another YOU. You simply do not identify with your greater self now. You have your own unique characteristics. Your greater being also possesses its own originality, yet there will be what you may think of as a family resemblance, and so overall you and your other self often choose the same kinds of challenges, if in dissimilar ways.

In their own ways, other portions of your multidimensional being are involved in experiences, then, somewhat similar to your own, though on the OUTSIDE the situation may be completely different. Their progress lies latent within the window of the moment point — the moment point simply being your current intersection with the reality that you know.

The adventures of your simultaneous selves, again, appear as traces in your own consciousness, as ideas or daydreams or disconnected images or sometimes even in sudden intuitions. They can be drawn upon, drawn OUT, to help you understand current problems.”

— Seth/Jane Roberts, The Nature of Personal Reality, session 669 on June 11, 1973

CONSIDER: Past life regressions are a major way to learn about your incarnational selves. Channeling is the best way to communicate with them directly. The easiest way to do that is through “automatic writing”, which is writing without thinking. — There are many resources online (YouTube) that give guidance on how to channel. Here is a guide that I have written about that:

[14] Your YOUNIVERSE of Selves

Douglas Harding proposed the Youniverse model as part of his Headless Way teachings. The model is a materialist approach suggesting that who you are depends on the distance that someone views you from.

For example, you are a “person” from the perspective of another person (or any mammal). But you are a collection of cells and molecules when you are viewed through a microscope. And you are the planet Earth, from the perspective of someone looking at you from Mars or Venus. Conversely, your reality (what you see) is different at each of those levels.

This diagram summarizes one way of looking at the layers of who you are at different levels in the Youniverse model:

There are other ways that we can divide up that physical and spacial model. The “me” at the center of the model is our transcendental witnessing sense of “I” or “I Am”. For more on these ideas, and a more detailed description of the Youniverse approach, see in this article (⬇️):

[15] An INFINITY of YOUS

I am not sure if this is spiritual perspective, but still interesting and related to the discussions above…

One way I have heard to understand that there are an infinite number of “yous”, is to think about how every person who sees or experiences you (as your 3D physical being) in holds an image of you in their mind.

Each of those images is from a unique angle, and is filtered through a distinct collection of beliefs and life experiences share by no one else. In addition, you are perceived by animals, bugs, plants, and who knows what else as you make your way in your 3D life.

Every one of those perceived images is unique and different from each other. And they are all different from the self-image (or images) that you hold of yourself.

That is a lot of images (or stories) of “you” that are out there, with many more to come.

— CONSIDER: Are any of the images that others hold the “real” you? Perhaps none are? Or perhaps they all are?

[16] HOW TO INTEGRATE YOUR “YOUS”

The list of “selves” that Genpo Roshi reveals through the voice dialogue technique [#12, above] is a fascinating revelation. Simply knowing they exist is insightful. But he does not give a method for addressing and integrating their various positions and needs.

• ⬇ This recording (14.5min on YouTube) from Elan guides you through a method to integrate your many “yous”. As mentioned in section [#5], above, Elan is an Essessani ET, channeled by Andrew Bayuk in the 1980s and 90s.

Elan presents a simple method to integrate your many “yous” without rejecting any of them. The method is based on the 6 Levels of Manifestation in section [#5].

The focus is mostly on those parts of you that you resist or reject in some way. (Those that you embrace are already integrated.) I also use it when I am feeling anxious or antsy about something that I feel should be done “now”.

I have used this technique a lot, especially during meditation (depends on the type of mediation) or immediately after meditating. It works well, for me at least.

Here is a summary of the steps as I understand them. I suggest listening to the Elan recording as well.

As soon as you notice a “negative” feeling (a feeling that you do not like; anything below 200 on the Hawkins Scale in [#11] above), do the following:

1. Stop. Try not to think too much about it. Instead, focus on the emotional feelings in your body. Thoughts will come up. That is OK. But try to put your focus on the emotional feelings.
2. Once you have the emotion in focus, embrace it. Do not resist it. Feel it with as much of your being as possible. This is what you were born to experience. The more you do this, the fewer thoughts you will have (that is my experience, at least).
3. Go beyond embracing the emotion. Expand the feeling. Make it as intense as you can. Do this for about 10 seconds.
4. Then relax back into the emotion. It should be much lighter now.
5. You now might see the underlying belief that the emotion comes from. With the emotional intensity now lessened, you can see the belief from a more objective position. You can put it in a larger perspective to understand why it exists and how it benefited you in the past, but not so much today.
6. You can then integrate the undesired old belief/self by acknowledging its past value. This integrates it, in a good way, into your larger self.
7. From there, you can consciously create a new belief (or self) that is more aligned with who you want to be.

In the practice outlined above, we work with our feelings at the Emotions level, instead of at the grosser Thinking and Acting levels. By working at the Emotions level, we have easier access to the deeper Beliefs, many of which are hidden.

In this way, using Elan’s Levels of Manifestation in [#5], we can also see how each of Genpo Roshi’s “Selves” in [#12] starts as a Belief and Emotion, before manifesting as a Thought and Action. That is why so many New Age spiritual teachings emphasize the importance of examining our beliefs.

Good luck with this.

“Now you are “around yourself” all of the time. You are ever becoming yourself. In a manner of speaking you are composed of those patterns of yourself that are everywhere coming together. You can not help but be yourself. Biologically, mentally, and spiritually you are marked as apart from all others, and no cloak of conventionality can ever hide that unutterable uniqueness. You can not help but be yourself, then.

… If I say: “You are becoming what you already are,” then my remark sounds meaningless, for if you already are, how can you become what is already accomplished? In larger terms, however, what you are is always vaster than your knowledge of yourself, for in physical life you can not keep up with your own psychological and psychic activity.”

— Seth/Jane Roberts, The Nature of the Psyche, session 779, June 14, 1976

[17] Related Resources

• [17.1] ⬇ This guided nonduality meditation builds on the question “Who Am I?” to effectively take you through many of the different “yous” that are covered above.

• [17.2] For more on The Many “Yous”, see this collection of articles:

• Note that the articles in that collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.

Contact

• I am not financially affiliated with any of the people or products discussed in this article.
• I appreciate comments, questions, and typo corrections. - See the About link in my Medium profile for contact information and related articles.
• Written in collaboration with my Energy Group/Higher Self and drawing on others. This is our perspective of the truth and not the whole truth of reality.

My Medium writings are available “paywall free” at www.AlanLew.com:

• follow my Facebook page linked to my Medium writings
• subscribe to My Medium Writings
• become a Medium member to support my writings

Visit and Follow New Earth Consciousness for More Articles like this.

• subscribe New Earth Consciousness NEWS, the occasional newsletter for NEC
• …and join our New Earth Consciousness Group on Facebook