“Just Call Them Me” contemplation by Hal Manogue

The ides that our sense of self, which we usually assume to be relatively stable and enduring, is actually constructed anew each moment out of a ceaseless flux of thoughts images and sensations may be an interesting concept when we read about it, but when seen directly in meditation it becomes undeniably clear, and by understanding egocentricity it can be life changing and helpful.

Roger Walsh M.D. Ph.D. wrote those thoughts in his essay Hidden Wisdom. The fact that the self changes like a rapidly blinking light is a hard concept to grasp when I use my physically educated senses to try to explain that reality. If I consider my ego to be the center and the norm for all my experiences, then I find that I’m totally unaware of other aspects of my self and consciousness. If I consider my center to be inner consciousness, then the idea of multiple selves begins to make sense. As a whole, within the universal whole, I am several wholes in one physical body.

For example, a letter in a word is a whole within a word which is a whole in a sentence and the sentence is whole within a paragraph and then paragraphs are wholes within a page and a page is a whole within a chapter and so on. Each element is a whole that makes a reality an experience. I use splinters and fragments of my self to experience different realities in order to widen my awareness.

Realities and imagination are synonymous; without one there wouldn’t be the other. I’m taught that imagination is not real, but if I think about it, all my realities originate in my imagination. My plans, desires and my creativity come from imagination. Civilizations spring from imagination and my belief system was created by imagination. I create my world and my unique realities and then I create how to live them. All modern equipment; cars, TVs, iPods, computers, homes, clothes, electricity use and scientific discoveries are rooted in imagination. The sciences deal in facts, which are initiated by curiosity, which is fueled by imagination. Music and musical instruments and all beautiful expressions are the work of imagination. I even imagine and create what I don’t see, which includes my own multi-dimensionality.

Each reality I experience widens my perspective, which is why I choose to manifest physically. Consciousness expands in different forms and in different densities and intensities. Imagination is a tool of expansion and it is used by all qualities of consciousness. I have the ability to focus on whatever aspect of consciousness that excites me and then imagine the reality I experience using several fragments of my own creations. By widening my belief system, I allow other thoughts stimulated by other selves to manifest, which change my experiences. I sense a deep rooted imagination creating realties for me to express and live. This well of creativity continues endlessly as I become aware of the choices and probabilities that can be experienced at any point in linear time. My stable of selves is constantly adding contrast, as well as variety, to each moment, so I become both physically and non-physically aware.

I am much more than what I perceive to be physical. I feel that I’m separate because one aspect of consciousness chooses to be. I’m not separated from my feelings, they’re a part of me, and they are also independent of me. I create all to experience using different intensities of consciousness to feel each moment. I create each day using a self filled with imagination and experience physical being. It doesn’t matter if I believe in multiply selves or the power of imagination, for they continue to manifest from another quality of my consciousness in my unawareness. I can just ride my wave of imagination to the beach of my dreams and then do it all over again using whatever self I choose and just call them me.