Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2010-09 - AMORC

ut “hating oneself ” does nothing to reduce the discrepancy
between one’s self-image and the evidence contrary to it.
Nearly everyone uses a mirror at times for selfgrooming,
and one can wonder whether this leads to selfevaluation
in any respect other than the appearance of the
physical self. Rosicrucian students use a mirror for various
psychic experiments and home exercises, and in light of the
foregoing reports, one can wonder whether studying in front
of a mirror would tend toward greater self-evaluation and
self-honesty, or would distract from the object of study, or
would make a person so uncomfortable that he or she would
abandon the study period.
The “Total” Self
Apart from the factual material presented by Professor
Wicklund, there are some other considerations. All of the
foregoing deals with self in a piecemeal fashion, with its
aspects or components rather than the whole. This is the
workaday self, the “outer self,” that is involved in all our
daily doings. When attention turns inward to the outer
self, it embraces only one or a few salient aspects, but not
self as a whole.
Some will of course be uncomfortable with this
viewpoint. In fact, a popular slogan used today is “be
The idea of the Self is abstract at the very least and
almost certainly beyond ordinary knowledge.
holistic,” which means that a person should consider him
or herself as a single though multifaceted whole..., whether
in healing, teaching, adjudication or any other relationship.
However, it is doubtful that the totality of a person can, with
the outer self, ever be fully conceived (“embraced”) by his
or her full conscious attention.
Many people are already familiar with a different
concept of self, known as the “inner self,” the “true self,” or
quite simply as Self (with a capital “S”). This Self is considered
to be a “chip off the old block,” partly mortal, partly divine.
The divine part…, the part that is beyond intellectual
analysis, is considered to be indestructible, whole, and
not fractioned into parts as the other, outer, multi-layered
self is. The Self might be construed as the core of self as
opposed to the components of self. According to mystical
lore, we gain “knowledge” of this inner Self by developing
“psychic awareness,” which means in effect, bypassing the
component parts of the outer self that are manifested in
day-to-day affairs. A psychologist however, might suspect
that this is merely a form of evasion, avoiding self-evaluation
by withholding any effort to reduce discrepancies between
an idealised self-image and actual behaviour.
Many people are already
familiar with a different
concept of self, known as
the “inner self,” the “true self,”
or quite simply as“Self.”
The idea of the Self, namely, the core of or the
aggregation of all aspects of the multifaceted outer self taken
as a single unit of consciousness..., is abstract at the very least
and almost certainly beyond ordinary knowledge..., even
though it may not be beyond experience. It is therefore
a very tricky area of investigation for hard science. If one
begins with the abstract concept of the Self, one may assume,
and try to realise a concrete entity that fits the picture of a
psychological process. This is called reification. Also there
is a question as to one’s point of reference or viewing point.
Who and where is the observer who is to become aware of
that whole, immortal Self ? It can be none other than the
familiar, practical, mortal outer self, the one that is aware of
the world and of itself in the world, but cannot perceive its
complete totality.
That is not unfortunate. A sane person cannot
escape the outer self and has no choice but to go
right along with it. In the end, if the personality
(or soul personality) is to develop during this life
span, it will be in terms of its daily experiences and responses,
with piece-meal accretions to and transmutations of its own
awareness: To “know thyself ” is a matter of self-attention
to its many component parts, and truly knowing thyself is
beyond the scope of all enquiry.
Where the grand concept of the total, divine Self has
great value is in connection with cosmic principles and
cosmic factors whereby such transmutations can be brought
about more readily in our daily lives. The ideal of the divine
Self is the pattern toward which these transmutations can
advance-as in the mystical saying, “as above, so (be it) below.”
FOOTNOTES
1. Robert A. Wicklund, “The Influence of Self-Awareness on Human
Behaviour” American Scientist, 67:187-193, 1979.
2. C.S. Carver, “Physical Aggression as a Function of Objective Self-
Awareness and Attitudes Toward Punishment.” Journal Exper. Social
Psychology 11:510-19, 1975.
3. E. Diener, and M. Wallbom, “Effects of Self-Awareness on
Antinormative Behaviour.” Journal Research in Personality, 10:107-
11, 1976.
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The Rosicrucian Beacon -- September 2010