Day: May 25, 2010

Revealing the False Self

Seth has been teaching a great series on identity over on his blog, this is from todays post “Escaping a prison of my own making”.

Brennan Manning does a good job of describing the impostor in his book Abba’s Child:

“Impostors are preoccupied with acceptance and approval. Because of their suffocating need to please others, they cannot say no with the same confidence with which they say yes. And so they overextend themselves in people, projects, and causes, motivated not by personal commitment but by the fear of not living up to others’ expectations…

Our false self stubbornly blinds each of us to the light and the truth of our own emptiness and hollowness. We cannot acknowledge the darkness within. On the contrary the impostor proclaims his darkness as the most luminous light, varnishing truth and distorting reality. This brings to mind the Apostle John’s words: ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,’ (1John 1:8).”
The first step in detaching from your false self is to recognize reality.

Pray and ask God to reveal where and when you began to put on this mask. Seek the help of a mentor or counselor. Life is too short to live as someone God never intended you to be.

Dream: Jail and Airport

I guess continuing my strange dreams, I had this one on Sunday morning.

It started off with Ari and I this place that was like a jail, it wasn’t one but it seemed like one. Ari was in charge of the place and I was hanging out in the lobby, but behind this glass door with iron bars were a bunch of guys in holding. I don’t remember much else, but that scene is still pretty vivid in my mind.

Afterward Ari and I were checking in at the airport, but she had forgotten her license. We left the ticket counter pretty disappointed, but as we are leaving her Uncle shows up with her license. The license itself was pretty banged up but it was her license none the less. After checking in we were out in the parking lot getting our bags and her Uncle and Aunt show up again to give us boxes of supplies for our trip (lots of food and bug replant). As we start to open the boxes and put foodstuffs into our bags, we took out junk (Indian symbols or other mysticisms). We put the good stuff in our bags and our two kids bags. 🙂