Increasing numbers of individuals are clearly needed in our world, today, who wish to work toward the Greater Good, starting within their own inner lives. We clearly live in troubling times – —we need those individuals who can make a practice of living by the axiom: Do No Harm. The following are excerpts are from: The Secret Science Behind Miracles by Max Freedom Long – copyrighted in 1948.
The simplified version of Long's message is that, rather than taking myself for granted simply as 'Me' – I can increase my awareness of levels of the personality, each level having it's own value and function. The three levels: the Child-part, the Rational, Logical part (referred to as the middle self), and there is the Spirit or Superconscious. (May I caution the tendency for associative thinking - "oh, this reminds me of that". This is Not transactional analysis - which totally leaves out the Spirit component.)
Excerpt from Long's book: “Unfortunately, the majority of humankind is moved by greed and the animal instincts of the child-part with its complexed and unreasoning emotional hates and fears rather than by the unemotional logic of the middle, adult self. Few, indeed, listen the the promptings of the Spirit Self where the rule of Love and Service holds sway.
Our conscious mind selves may be said to rule the world, but they are dominated by the child-part selves which are still like animals as a part of their nature: willful, savage and unthinking. As middle selves we have been given free will, but until our cumulative world experience is sufficient to teach us the lessons we must learn, we will use that gift of free will very badly, both as individuals and as nations.
The Hunas taught that there was an ideal condition to which the individual might aspire—a condition in which the aid and guidance of the Spirit Self was requested, received and then acted upon. The one rule of life that must be obeyed was that we should do nothing to hurt one another. For those more advanced, the rule included loving service. Love can unite men and women and enable them to do great works for the good of all. Hate and fear can unite humankind only for war and destruction.”
The three levels: The Child-part; the Middle self; the Spirit-Self
- The Child-part
- belongs to the subconscious, is irrational
- is connected with the physical body
- creates all our emotions
- stores all our memories, stubbornly held-fixed ideas
- connects us with our intuition
- the part of us that is 'literal' and responds to ritual
- holds our resentments toward others as well as toward oneself (ie. feeling undeserving)
- can reach out and 'read minds' or gather telepathic impressions
- is under the dominion of the animal world
- without proper guidance from the Middle self, can run away with emotions, child-like impulsivity, quite frequent change of plans, shifting desires, angers
- the home of beliefs and convictions (unconscious)
- the home of childhood beliefs of our failures and inabilities – fear of others or even of God
- the home of our childhood conditioned patterns of beliefs from our family
- the location of origin of many illnesses
The Middle self
- conscious mind, entity who manages day-to-day tasks of living
- logical, reasoning part of the personality
- in relation to the child-part, the Middle self is the Parent whose task it is to educate the child-part
- Middle self develops a relationship with the child-part, who will then be of service through intuition, through receiving impressions, has the ability to take prayer to the Spirit-Self
Spirit-Self
- a separate spirit or self connected distantly with the child and middle selves and acting as an “over-self,” or parental guardian spirit
- the spirit-Self is distantly connected to the physical body, probably for the most part, by aka threads (the energy substance which surrounds us and connects us to each other it is how information and mana ( the life force and energy) travel. All contact whether in the physical or on another level involves the exchange of threads of aka material or energy. Ongoing relationship will build cords, energy and information is exchanged along these cords and connections ) issued by the child-part.
Applying these ideas
The manner of application I was taught was that of cultivating a relationship – as a middle or 'parent' self to the child-part. Beginning this process, I inquired of my child-part what name she preferred. This occurred decades ago. Initially, 'she' told me her name was Frankie – and, that felt right. After several years, as I made inner shifts, I was told her name was now Renie. And, even later her name changed, again, as if she was growing up.
Day-to-day I encourage, acknowledge and thank the child-part within. I thank her out loud when she helps me remember even some small thing – like, when I'm walking out of the house and suddenly she reminds me that I've forgotten something I needed for that day. She does this frequently for me. I thank her for her help when I walk into a clean kitchen in the morning because she helped me wash rather than leave a mess for morning! Or, if I've misplaced something – she helps me know where to look. The child-part connects us to intuition. However, I will hear her when I'm not distracted. Being too busy, too much noise, brain-clutter - affects our connection.
It's also important that we create adequate joyfulness, in a healthy way, for the child-part – as the child connects us with our vital energy – and if we overwork her or him, this would be very detrimental and unkind. Individuals who are 'pusher-types' are typically TOO busy, have difficulty relaxing, compelled to accomplish-- as if proving their worth, continually. These individuals often operate from a sense of urgency and lack sufficient and regular connection with their child-part.
On the contrary, others have their child-part running their lives with little parent-self supervision. What does this look like? The person's choices are ruled by their likes and dislikes. What is good for the person is less relevant than what they 'like' or 'want'. They may still live very much along the tight lines of their childhood conditioning – what they were 'taught', and/or ruled by habits and appetites.
Another sign is an ignored child—the adult person who possesses an ignored child-part fears others' disapproval, needs to feel liked, needs to feel validated by others, needs attention. These emotional needs are a sign that the adult person is probably not in sufficient contact with their child-part in a supportive way. The individual most likely offers limited to no acknowledgment to their child-part—does not praise or thank her; does not recognize or approve of her help in the individuals daily life. This child-part is being taken for granted. Distinguishing between the parent self and child-part is crucial.
This is how we increasingly become differentiated.
An important part of this relationship between the middle self and the child-part is that of helping this child-part to grow up. This is a task of the middle self, that of a loving parent – especially important and critical that we provide this to the child-part if we felt we lacked this type of validation as a child in our own lives...and even more crucial if we experienced abuse.
We can begin fostering this connection through the growing awareness that 'I am Not alone'. I have within me a connection to my child-part as well as my inner Spirit. This growing awareness can give great comfort in a time in our world where we are so distracted by so many externals trying to grab our attention and keep us asleep and disconnected from our inner life.
Begin noticing where and when your attention is grabbed away from you and discover the ways and means you find yourself distracted... by technological devices, by food, shopping, by keeping busy... Explore new ways to minimize these distractions.
Begin creating a relationship with the child-part of yourself. Talk to her or him as you would any child whose trust you were wanting to elicit. Ask how she would like you to call her or him. Begin to grow your awareness by differentiating between your child-part and your middle (parent-self). For example, I was working on differentiating whether it was my child-part or my middle self that didn't want to help me get to the gym. I concluded that my child-part wanted to stay home and do something else. It was necessary for me to give more energy to my middle-self so as to work with the child-part and encourage her to cooperate. Then, of course, at the end of the workout I always say, out loud... Good Girl!! and, I put a smiley face in my day-timer for that day. She likes that! She feels appreciated!
Furthermore, the child-part in us can feel a heart relationship with child-parts of other individuals as this self is intuitive and picks up on the feelings of others. They have the ability to relate from the heart to one another, playfully, without the typical 'adult-like' trappings of the middle self. It is a special connection when two individuals can slip away from their middle-selves and connect together on this heart-felt level. Judgments, however, such as: "oh, your acting childish" are felt as barriers to spontaneous and free expression of this part.
A word about fear and greed on the world stage > Emotions of fear, greed and subsequent behaviors of grasping live in the child-part of us. Throughout the history of humankind we read about men's greed and grasping for resources. We read in the history books about the barbarism, the conquering of groups. Cooperation has not been known to be a shining example in our history of the world. Looking back two to three thousand years B.C.E. we find men waring in conflict rather than cooperation over land and resources in the middle east. Millenia later, we believe ourselves to have dramatically become a more "civilized" people than in ancient times, however, a closer look reveals that it is our technological ability--not our human civility that has increased. Our human civility has not kept pace with our tech-knowledge.
As a result, the child-part of most leaders--then and now--continue to be based in fear of lack which leads to greed. The child-parts of these men design wars so that they can conquer and, therefore, HAVE the resources of the other. This level of being has been in existence for millennia. As a group, our potential is to raise our level of being through conscious connection between Middle, Child and Spirit selves. In this way, true faith, trust and the desire to contribute to the Greater Good overrides fear, greed and the desire to conquer and control others.
Furthermore, the child-part in us can feel a heart relationship with child-parts of other individuals as this self is intuitive and picks up on the feelings of others. They have the ability to relate from the heart to one another, playfully, without the typical 'adult-like' trappings of the middle self. It is a special connection when two individuals can slip away from their middle-selves and connect together on this heart-felt level. Judgments, however, such as: "oh, your acting childish" are felt as barriers to spontaneous and free expression of this part.
A word about fear and greed on the world stage > Emotions of fear, greed and subsequent behaviors of grasping live in the child-part of us. Throughout the history of humankind we read about men's greed and grasping for resources. We read in the history books about the barbarism, the conquering of groups. Cooperation has not been known to be a shining example in our history of the world. Looking back two to three thousand years B.C.E. we find men waring in conflict rather than cooperation over land and resources in the middle east. Millenia later, we believe ourselves to have dramatically become a more "civilized" people than in ancient times, however, a closer look reveals that it is our technological ability--not our human civility that has increased. Our human civility has not kept pace with our tech-knowledge.
As a result, the child-part of most leaders--then and now--continue to be based in fear of lack which leads to greed. The child-parts of these men design wars so that they can conquer and, therefore, HAVE the resources of the other. This level of being has been in existence for millennia. As a group, our potential is to raise our level of being through conscious connection between Middle, Child and Spirit selves. In this way, true faith, trust and the desire to contribute to the Greater Good overrides fear, greed and the desire to conquer and control others.
The more we are able to distinguish between the child and middle selves, the more we are able to give to ourselves what we need rather than expect our needs to be met by others - which leads to feeling hurt and disappointed when they are not met by others. A grounded middle or parent self is able to make requests, negotiate, and to say 'no' to others comfortably without worry of disapproval or paralyzing fear of hurting someone's feelings. This is not the job to be left to the child-part - however, many individuals leave these grown-up tasks to their inner child-part who then frets, worries, and becomes anxious. Sound familiar?
More to come regarding the Connection to the Spirit or High Self -
More to come regarding the Connection to the Spirit or High Self -
Experiment ! Notice ! Connect and Communicate with your Child-part. Come back and share your observations and experiences with us.
