One of my favorite quotes by Carl Jung is, “The world will ask you who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you.” Sadly, most people do not know who they are, as their lives have been determined by what the world has told them. The outcome is not the real you, but a counterfeit or false self, largely scripted by culture, and sculpted by trauma. Whilst you may imagine yourself to be free and fully functioning, the truth is you are enslaved by cultural norms and values. Now I am not suggesting that as members of society we should not respect the law of the land, but I am concerned that blind conformism to unexamined beliefs and thinking has resulted in the deep fault lines we see in the world today. To avoid further polarization and ensure our evolution, we are each challenged to liberate ourselves from mental slavery.
Who you are is a product of two major forces, one within you, and the other outside of you. I am referring to your nature (genes) and your nurture (environment). Each plays a very significant role in who you are and how you behave. Your nature is the common denominator you share with all members of our species, Homo Sapiens. It consists of four interdependent elements: your physical being or body (sensations), your emotional being or heart (feelings), your cognitive being or mind (thoughts), and your spiritual being or soul (sacredness). If we were talking computers, I would suggest it’s our hardware. Now the downloaded software comes from our environment. It is the differentiating numerator making each person’s journey quite distinct. Ideally, our nature and nurture should complement and balance one another, bringing out our gold. Unfortunately, the software of nurture has for a long time (4000 years I would suggest) been fearful, competitive, and divisive, running at odds with our inherent nature or hardware, which is faithful, collaborative, and integrative.
The only way you are ever going to be your true and authentic self is when you proactively tune into your deeper nature, instead of reacting due to your nurture or programming. This will require something of a focal shift, where you pay more attention to what is going on inside of you, instead of what is going on around you. You may also need to consult with a trained professional to deal with any deep-rooted trauma that may be preventing you from living your true life. Once this is addressed, you will learn to nurture your nature, spending time with yourself, learning to be in the present (gift) of the here and now instead of caught up in the past (history) and the future (mystery). Through conscious breathing, emotional regulation, the work of mental flexibility, and meditation, you will realign yourself at a body, heart, mind, and soul level, for your true being to emerge. No longer a mere canvas upon which others have projected their ideas or images of who you are, you take up the brush and paint, becoming the artist of your life, liberated, self-determining, and real.