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If you see your SELF as just your body, your mind gives authority to the body's wants and desires over all other considerations. You are concerned only with pleasing yourself and the biological urges of the body. To a person who sees himself as body, self-mastery would mean the ability to get everything the body wants. Satisfaction of basic physical needs such as food and comfort would be part and parcel of his life condition.
If you think of your SELF as your mind, you live according to the dictates of your mind. You are mainly concerned with doing the things your mind has figured out for you. It tells you what is right and wrong and how to act based on your intellectual abilities. To a person who sees himself as mind, self-mastery would mean the ability to acquire those things that his mind has decided is desirable. Those things could be philosophical, ideological, symbolic, accomplishments, degrees, glory, wealth. The mind has power to overrule the wants of the body, given the effort.
There is an idea that the SELF is composed of more than just the body and mind, that there exists a soul and spirit. The existence of a spirit cannot be proven by science. It is a completely subjective experience. Either one feels the spirit within or one doesn't. Either one believes or doesn't. However, one can prove, circumstantially, the reality of spirit by seeing the effects of believing in spirit and living accordingly.
Take it on faith that there is within all people, a divine spirit, a fragment of God that resides within our hearts. This divine spark guides us and leads the way toward unity and harmony in our lives. When the mind recognizes this spirit and follows its leadings, there is created the soul. The soul is the direct offspring of mind and spirit. The soul is the very best part of you that was created when you first realized the difference between right and wrong and continues to grow and evolve with each new moral decision that you make. This soul is what will survive after the death of your material body.
If you see your SELF as soul, your mind gives authority to your soul and lives according to the leadings of your spirit. To a person who sees himself as soul, self-mastery would mean the ability to acquire those things that the soul desires; to see the wholeness of life and the interconnectedness of all beings; to be able to find joy, happiness and fulfillment in all life's circumstances; to be able to see all of our fellow humans as brothers and sisters, as spiritual siblings; to realize that the universe is friendly to a spiritual individual and that we can lay our defenses down and live in peace. Life becomes infinitely richer, more rewarding, and a fabulous journey full of awe and wonder. However, it does not and cannot happen overnight. The mind slowly begins to delegate decision-making power to the soul.
The question is, how do we evolve from seeing ourselves as body, then as mind and then to seeing ourselves as soul?
We can remake ourselves into what we think we should be. We can make ourselves into what the external world wants us to be, or we can make ourselves into what our internal reality wants us to be. We are greatly influenced by those around us. The society in which we live nudges us, pokes us, and coaxes us to value certain things. How we look. How we behave. How to fit in.
If we value the things that society can provide for us, we nurture and support society and try to conform to its wishes even when much of it goes against what we truly want for ourselves. So we set up an accommodating front to face society, while keeping true within to one's soul. We create a face that we use to confront
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