THE REAL YOU: BEYOND FORMS AND LIVES

Balboa Press

Contents

List of Illustrations..................................................................................ixPreface................................................................................................xiChapter 1. Introduction................................................................................1Chapter 2. Humans' Three Consciousnesses...............................................................9Chapter 3. Consciousnesses.............................................................................13Chapter 4. The Real Us: True Self (Spirit).............................................................18Chapter 5. True Self in Different Places...............................................................26Chapter 6. The Journey of Our True Self................................................................31Chapter 7. The Human Form (Why the Limited Physical Body)..............................................37Chapter 8. Reincarnation (Multiple Life Forms).........................................................43Chapter 9. Psychic Abilities...........................................................................47Chapter 10. True Self's Main Shortcoming and the Lessons Assigned in Life..............................50Chapter 11. Using This Life (Using Our Heart)..........................................................54Chapter 12. Steps in Strengthening and Using Our Heart.................................................66Chapter 13. Inner Heart................................................................................73Chapter 14. Using Our Inner Heart......................................................................78Chapter 15. Do We Need to Know Our Own True Self?......................................................81Chapter 16. True Self and The Purpose of Life (Attaining the Real Purpose of Life).....................84Chapter 17. Common Misconceptions......................................................................90Chapter 18. True Self Program..........................................................................94Appendix 1.............................................................................................97

Chapter One

When I was young, I would read holy books, and I often came across the term 'spirit' or 'true self.' However, back then, I thought that spirit was something deep within us that we could not possibly know about while we were still alive on this earth. I did, however, feel that somehow our spirit was affected by our attitude and condition while we were still alive.

In a way, what I thought of about our true self was both right and wrong. Before I explain further, I will tell you my "meetings" related to stories about true self.

After my graduate studies in the U.S.A., I returned to Indonesia and studied meditation from the late Mr. Ammirudin. He would tell me stories about true self, and it was clear from the way he was telling the stories that matters related to the spirit/true self were important. However, because of my limited understanding back then, I was fascinated by the stories themselves instead of the meaning or the main message of these stories, which was about true self.

Mr. Ammirudin told me about his meeting with an American professor who spent more than a decade traveling the world to learn about his own true self because he knew that getting to know his own true self was crucial in his spiritual journey/spiritual progress. Mr. Ammirudin told me that after doing a certain exercise, the professor was able to see his own true self in a mirror.

In addition to Mr. Ammirudin's story about the professor, another teacher of mine also shared with me his own personal experience. He told me about how he had spent 50 years learning about spirituality and how he was able to go to higher dimensions. According to him, in one very high dimension, beings there did not have the lower part of their bodies because the lower part of the body was the center of lust and desires. Without the lower part of the body, there was no lust or desire.

Hearing these fascinating stories impressed me, but I still did not really understand why these people were looking for their true selves and would want to go through all kinds of experiences. I also did not understand why in telling me all these stories, my teachers' mannerism and attitude showed very clearly that spirit/true self was very important.

Years later, I read many spiritual books, and some of these books talked about our true self. They often mentioned" the self within us," "the perfect self," "the all-knowing self," and other statements about true self. Many of the writers considered true self as the spark of the Creator, and this was the reason why true self knew everything and was even perfect. The writers also claimed that when we obtained information from our true self, everything would become easy. Some of them even believed that when a person reached his/her true self's consciousness, spiritually he/she was near perfection.

In addition to claiming that true self was perfect and the benefits of getting information from true self, many of the writers talked about how to make a connection with true self. They call the method of communicating with true self "channeling." In channeling, one would contemplate about a topic and would write down whatever comes to mind. This information would be considered information from a higher consciousness or even from true self. Indeed, there are many interesting stories about channeling.

The books also talked about methods people employed to reach their true self consciousness. One common method was hypnosis, and another through trance. I personally felt that something was not right with hypnosis or trance. Later on, after I realized the differences between the soul and the spirit (true self), I understood that there was a mix-up and a misunderstanding about the soul and true self by those who used hypnosis and trance to reach their true self consciousness.

In the meantime, as I was practicing meditation routinely, my Kundalini was awakened spontaneously without proper preparation. I experienced Kundalini syndrome, looked for help, and after my Kundalini problems were taken care of, I started meeting nonphysical teachers. One of my nonphysical teachers taught me about Shing Chi (detailed information can be read in my Shing Chi book). I then started practicing Shing Chi, Kundalini, soul consciousness, and other spiritual exercises until I completed them all. Yet, even with all that fast progress, I felt that I was still behind a huge wall. There were still many spiritual matters that I did not understand.

A part of me felt that the next step was to reach my true self consciousness, but I had no clear reference on how I could reach this true self consciousness even after I looked everywhere and read all kinds of books including those in psychology and other fields.

Years later, after I changed the type of exercises that I did, i.e. moving away from Kundalini, Shing Chi, and other spiritual exercises to remembering True Source's Blessings and starting to rely on True Source's Blessings, it was True Source's Blessings that helped me reach my true self consciousness.

Reaching my true self consciousness was the next step of my spiritual journey. As a true self, I witnessed many things that were unclear and were questioned by many people. I began to realize that the things...