Authentic Self: The Story Big Enough to Live In By Amy Pierce, MA Counselor, Teacher and Ordained Minister Evolutionary enlightenist Andrew Cohen writes, “And that’s what the world so desperately needs: mature, enlightened human beings who are willing to wholeheartedly take responsibility for the entire process, forever – to participate in the creation of the conscious universe, with and as the very force that created it. That impulse is . . . your very own Authentic Self.”[i] Authentic Self is that Spark of Divine Fire, that initial God-individuation that is the Greatest/Highest Self; Authentic Self is Oneness with identity. Built into each of us, sitting in our deepest heart, is a longing for connectedness. Sitting alongside the yearning is a belief and fear that we are ultimately alone. The longing for connection is about Home, the Great Source of Being that many of us call God. The “good news” is to be found in the truth of the reality of Oneness – meaning that whether or not we know or experience it, we are literally One with All That Is. Every tree and tank, every hellion and healer, every bully and baby are One and cannot be separated from the Whole. That we exist here on this duality planet as unique individuals by necessity means that there exist many distinctly differing paths to bring us Home. What works for one will not necessarily work for another, and to me, this is part of the beauty and grace of Consciousness Itself, of Creator, of Home. Eventually, we will come Home to the undifferentiated Oneness. Yet, we can also choose to come Home here and now as our Authentic Selves in form, which means that we must live and “behave as if the God in all life matters”[ii]. The Keyword of the Times is “Change” Huge changes are upon us. Time seems to be speeding up, and the consequences of the conscious or unconscious choices we make show up almost immediately. This instantaneous response lets us see that there’s no longer any room for doubting our authorship of the experiences we have. It’s time to wake up to the fact that we, like the God Who made us in Its image and likeness, are Holy Creators who must now take authority over both what we will make and what we have made. We are all in the movement of Life together. In fact, we ARE the movement, we ARE Life. Whether we are completely unconscious of this truth, or at the edge flirting with the idea of conscious evolution, or already immersed in the soup and fully engaged in creating a life of deep, profound spiritual responsibility and integrity, the times are calling loudly to each of us to take our place at the table and consciously create a new world. For the Sake Of Why the urgency? Because this Universe and our beloved Earth – a living, conscious Being – will no longer support our hiding behind the mask of separateness, another word for victim consciousness; we simply no longer have that luxury if humanity is to survive and thrive. You and I must really “get it” that there is literally no separation between us – you are another me and I am another you – and that every choice, every action, and every belief affects the Whole. For the good of All, for the sake of the Whole, and in service to the One, we must look at what it takes to embody Authentic Self so that we will choose to live and behave as if the God in all life matters. We must examine the ways and means of “healing the holdings of the heart” and look at how it is we create both the joy and suffering that we – and others – experience. When we take such a level of self-responsibility to heal ourselves, we help heal the world by becoming a healing presence wherever we are. From this embodied authenticity, we love each other back into our forgotten Wholeness by living as Authentic Self, that over-arching Aspect which has never left Home, and which holds the door wide open, waiting for us to remember who we are. Copyright 2008-2010, Amy Pierce, MA, Conversations About Authentic Self. First published in Awaken Consciousness Magazine, 2009. [i] Excerpted from Andrew Cohen’s “Quote of the Week.” [ii] Phrase taken from the title of Machaelle Small Wright’s book, Behaving As If the God in All Life Mattered, published by Perelandra Ltd. Amy Pierce is an ordained Minister in Integrative Healing with a Master’s degree in Applied Healing Arts. She is well known through both her teaching and writing in North Carolina’s Triangle region for her holistic, ecumenical approach to spiritmindbody healing, as well as through her three counseling ministries. For more information call 919.554.2711, or send an email. See her websites at authenticself.us and inspiritualwonder.us. RETURN TO OMPLACE HOME