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Ghosts are usaully thought of as something that exists after we die. We imagine a piece of us that haunts all of the places we lived when we were alive. But what if there is another kind of ghosts that is around even while you are alive? What if your self-image is actually a kind of ghost or lie? Most people think ghosts are insubstantial shapes or visions that come and go. They aren't very solid or real, and a lot of people can't even see them. And yet how real or solid are your images of yourself-your ideas about who you are? If one day you have an image of yourself as an very attractive person and the next day you see yourself as unattractive, how substantial was either image? And who else can see your self image? What could it mean if you see yourself as unattractive and someone becomes attracted to you anyway? It could mean that they can't actually see your self image. Maybe the way you see yourself is a kind of ghost. We are not always willing to see that our idea of ourselves is a kind of ghost because we really believe that is what we are. We may wonder, Who am I if what I think I am is something insubstantial and not real? What is here besides the ghosts of my self images? There is a strong sense that we do exist, that we are real. But does this sense of existence and reality come from our image of ourselves? Or does the sense of being real and of existing come from somewhere deeper within our being? It's difficult to know for sure since the image and the sense of realness can both be present at the same time, and our egoic idea of ourselves can co-opt that deeper sense of realness we naturally have. One way to distinguish what is real from what is not is to ask yourself how real your ideas of yourself are. One measure of how real something is, is how long it lasts. The more real something is, the longer it lasts. How long do ideas about yourself last? They come and go (like a ghost in a ghost story) and don't last very long at all. A thought is often over so quickly that we can't remember a moment later what we were just thinking. A new image or thought about ourselves is constantly arising to replace the last thought or image. And sometimes we aren't thinking about ourselves at all. So all our self-images images and identifications are not very real. They are like ghosts in our minds. How about the pure sense that you are real right now? Does that sense come and go? Do you ever really have the opposite sense that you don't exist or never existed? This sense that you do exist is more true than any of your ideas about yourself because it is always here. You always exist, but the thoughts in your mind about yourself are like ghosts. What you are has never been contained in your self-images. Even when your ideas of yourself fade away, like images in a movie, what you really are is always still here . It is the real you that matters. You can become more curious about this real you than you are about the false ghosts of identity. What is the real you made of? What is it like? What does it want? What can it do? These are rich and meaningful questions to explore, but remember that the real answers are not to be found in your ideas about yourself. The truest answers can be found in the simple sense that you exist.
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Well known spiritual teacher, Nirmala has been offering satsang and individual spiritual mentoring for ten years. He provides free spiritual books and many more ways to experience his teachings on endless-satsang.com. Don't reprint this article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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