Conceptual Self

We all want authentic life experiences. We want to exist within our natural state of being without all of the fluff and pretense that usually circumvents authentic and true life experiences.

Discussion thus far has led to the conclusion that for a myriad of reasons, the self, our representation of our self to the world and to our selves, prevents authentic life experiences. Inundated with survival needs, we create a conceptual self image that we believe is authentic and attempt to convince the world of that authenticity.

We navigate the social scene perpetuating this conceptual self along the way. We are social animals after all and our social concerns take up a tremendous amount of our time and energy. We pretend, defend, compare, justify, judge, intimidate, imitate, satisfy, clarify, and fortify our relationships.

The mere existence of another human creates the need for social interplay. Within the context of our conceptual self we generate feelings like jealousy, judgment, comparison, manipulation, fear, anger, sexuality, desire. Without a conceptual self there would be no need for ideas like self-esteem, value, attachment, individuality, beauty, competition, envy, deceit, or honesty. Nor would we experience emotions like hurt feelings, empathy, loneliness, love, caring, compassion, respect, embarrassment, pride, hate, and shame.

We instinctually know how to breathe and use our basic senses. The rest we get from our family and culture. We learn how to walk, talk, laugh, cry, eat and even brush our teeth from observing others.

Life would indeed be quite simple if all we were concerned about was meeting our basic needs. Putting a roof over our head and eating an ample amount of food and drink to sustain our existence and sleeping when necessary.

But we are conceptual beings and as such want much more than this. We have aspirations for the future, dreams to be something more than what we currently are. We have children to perpetuate our existence and want the best for them. We add on many layers of complexity and intricacy to even the most basic and fundamental needs, such as eating. We have the south beach diet, weight watchers, high protein, low protein, high carbohydrate, low carbohydrate diets, and of course the latest craze, all-natural health foods.

The cars we drive, the homes we live in, and the jobs we aspire to all carry significant meaning to us. As we consider these issues, all manner of good and bad are interacting, garnering multiple layers of reaction and attention on an unconscious and conscious level.

These meanings create strong emotions like embarrassment and pride. We worry about paying the bills, create budgets and plan for our future prospects. We work to create new and improved possibilities for the future. All the while being hopeful, regretful, indignant, greedy, selfish, embarrassed, proud and much more. All of this activity is conceptual in nature.

So much of our effort goes towards physical self survival that we can easily convince ourselves that these actions are meaningful. I refer to all of the scheming, planning, positioning, wishing, and reacting that takes place on a conceptual level. These are not meaningful actions. Instead they just get in the way of meaningful action.

To put a piece of food in your mouth requires only the intent to act and an action. Thinking about it, scheming, calculating calories, worrying about it, these are all conceptual activities, add-ons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual act of eating. This is all of the fluff and pretense of our conceptual self existence. The physical act of putting food in your mouth requires a bare minimal of conscious thought. In fact this act alone would probably go unnoticed, without thinking, if not for all of the fluff we add to it.

Since we are conceptual beings it follows that most of our activity and effort occurs within the conceptual realm. On a daily basis we may interact with family members, praise a loved one, criticize a co-worker, help a friend, justify our existence or watch television. These are not activities that would commonly be considered as self survival but yet they serve the purpose of self persistence in our daily lives. As such they are helping us to survive on a social level.

Meditation is a time-proven way to improve mental functioning, develop mental clarity, increase confidence, achieve natural stress relief, develop intuition, improve memory, concentration and focus and to understand the conceptual self. Make it one of your daily activities and highest priorities. I assure you that once you do it, you will never stop. This program will dramatically enhance your life for the better.

To Conceptual Self Understanding, Abundance, and Excellent Health,

Namaste
Tony D’Agostino

Founder and CEO of YogaAwakening

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