What is the limited or conceptual sense of self? It really comes down to our sense of I. Our ability to self-reflect. It is really the meaning-making machine of the mind. All the meaning we make about ourselves, about others and about life and the world. This all comes from our ability to self-reflect and our sense of I. Our sense of being an individual that is separate from everything else. This creates a perception of very solid matter. And this creates a world of comparison. Most of us live inside of this conceptual matrix of comparison and interpretation. Our mental concepts create the illusion of separation and most of us are identified with this. This is how we are conditioned to experience the world and our reality. There is always a gap between what is and our interpretation or concept of what is. This is the conceptual self. It is the collection of ideas that exist in the form of thought.

What happens for most of us is that our attention is inside of the thoughts, i.e., we think it is us, all of the time. And there isn’t any space or awareness of the thoughts. And the implication or the lived experience of this is that we are living inside a very limited perception of reality. A very limited perception of what is. A very limited and distorted perception of the deeper truth. Because all we experience is our thoughts. Can you see this? Can you maybe see this in a large part of your experience?

The more we understand and have figured out, the more deeply embedded and attached to our opinions and belief systems, the more distorted our reality is. This probably sounds the opposite of the way it should sound. We might think, but the more knowledge and understanding I accumulate the wider view I have of the world. I know more stuff. This is a paradox. The more accumulation we have, the less room and space that is available to go beyond the realm of the conceptual. Because all our understanding, accumulation of knowledge, everything we think we have figured out about life and about ourselves, our opinions, beliefs, they all exist in this conceptual realm that we are talking about. When we shift out of this conceptual realm, we become aware that there is a much deeper aspect to who we are that exists beyond the conceptual realm. The conceptual realm exists on the surface. It is a surface aspect of who we are. Dive deep into the heart of who you are in this podcast episode.