“The age of ‘self-help’ is over. The time has come to set our wounded egos aside and awaken to  our greater shared selves.  For the moment we do, the whole of humanity will begin to awaken with us.”  —  Val Jon Farris

What is the “SupraSelf?”
Supra means “above and beyond.” The SupraSelf is a superlative aspect of our identity existing beyond who we think, feel or believe we are. It is also not a “healed” self, nor is it cultivated or developed over time.  It is rather an indestructible, whole and complete aspect of our nature that exists outside of time and circumstance. The best way to describe the SupraSelf is as a Generative Presence rather than a Reactive Position. Generative in the sense of initiating “first cause” choices that are intentional rather than circumstantial. And Presence as in being open and inclusive rather than self-centered and exclusive.

The SupraSelf is however not a “better” or aspirational state of being. Rather, it is a very real and deeply authentic part of us that lives our virtues rather than espouses them. Anyone can claim greatness of character, but only those who demonstrate it in their daily actions and interactions actually embody it.

What distinguishes the SupraSelf from higher awareness or our spiritual selves?
Before I answer I want to say that the spiritual and higher awareness work so many of us have engaged in is vital to our development. The well-established work of unconditional love, law of attraction, being in the moment, personal responsibility, non-attachment and forgiveness are cornerstone principles of personal growth and spiritual maturity.

At the same time, we’ve reached a plateau with these principles. Many are asking what’s next in the self-development world. I believe what’s next is the SupraSelf and to clarify where it fits into the overall scheme I must first do a bit of recapitulation.

Philosophers such as Freud, Jung and Russell outlined the fundamental aspects of the identity such as the ego, id, super ego, collective unconscious and consciousness of mind. Then contemporaries such as Heidegger, Nietzsche and Durkheim introduced the identity’s transcendental aspects such as the “meta self,” and “presence of being” existing beyond the bounds of our obvious personality. And finally, creative geniuses such as Shakespeare, Shaw and Emerson breathed life into our cognitive understandings.

It is this last group of poetic philosophers I believe illuminates the unique nature of the SupraSelf best. Emerson articulates it thusly:

“Behold, it saith, I am born into the great, the universal mind.  I, the imperfect, adore my own Perfect.  I am somehow receptive of the great soul, and thereby I do overlook the sun and the stars and feel them to be the fair accidents and effects which change and pass. More and more the surges of everlasting nature enter into me, and I become public and human in my regards and actions.  So come I to live in thoughts and act with energies which are immortal.  Thus revering the soul, and learning, as the ancient said, that ‘its beauty is immense,’ man will come to see that the world is the perennial miracle which the soul worketh, and be less astonished at particular wonders; he will learn that there is no profane history; that all history is sacred.”

And Durkheim grounds the poetic genius of “the universal mind” and points to the practice for accessing the SupraSelf in this way:

“What this process involves is opening ourselves to the Absolute; it depends on tearing down the wall that cuts us off from the Divine.  This wall is our whole accustomed context, is our old ego with its unshakable habits of thought and its hardened demand for a quiet life, obvious meanings and personal security, all wrapped up in a firm framework of the familiar.”

Unlike the familiar framework of the ego-self which is made up of our titles, roles, history, beliefs and desires, the SupraSelf exists beyond the “me, my, mine” paradigm. It represents an exponential aspect of our nature that is not defined by the contents of our ego, or by our familiar personality traits. Rather, it is a larger context of self, or “dynamic container” that holds all the material that makes up our ego and personality. Because of its contextual nature, the SupraSelf possesses a measure of power the ego-self can never match.

To clarify, imagine an empty bowl in front of you. Next, place whatever fruit you want in the bowl and arrange it however you like. The resulting arrangement is much like the content of our ego-identity, (a banana of self-importance here, an apple of personal need there, an orange of hidden agenda thrown in for good measure.) The bowl however, while sharing the same space as the fruit, exists in a completely different domain of influence than its contents.

What distinguishes the SupraSelf from the ego-self is that just as the bowl shapes the position and accessibility of the fruit, the SupraSelf shapes the position and accessibility of all our inner faculties and resources. These include not only the self-centered aspects of our ego, but also our virtues, talents, behaviors, mental and emotional maturity and awareness levels, all of which make an immense impact on our life, performance and results.

To grasp the impact of the SupraSelf all one need do is try and organize the fruit differently than how the bowl is shaped. For example, no matter how hard I try to arrange the fruit in a flat linear pattern, the contour of the bowl forces it into its curvature, thus deterring my efforts to produce a linear outcome. In other words, regardless of the degree of conviction we apply to producing results, unless our efforts are in alignment with the contour of our SupraSelf we will produce more resistance than results. To clarify this point further consider this assertion.

A mediocre self has never produced extraordinary results. Only those who tap into and align with the most superlative aspects of who they are have what it takes to generate extraordinary outcomes. 

The difference between a fruit bowl and the SupraSelf is that the bowl is cast into a single inanimate shape, whereas the SupraSelf is an alive, dynamic container capable of spontaneous reshaping. The extraordinary power it possesses comes from its dynamic adaptability and the immediate affects its reshaping capabilities have on every area of our lives.

If the SupraSelf does indeed play such a crucial role in our life successes, how do we access it and control it? The answer to the second part of the question is simple, we don’t. The SupraSelf operates based on surrender not control. Surrender in the sense of “getting out of the way” and allowing our greater self to work through us. This does not mean we relinquish our responsibility for accomplishing our goals, but rather to be mindful that the energy, inspiration and passion arising within us originates from a greater source than our own will or ego.

Conversely, the answer to the first part of the question is not as simple in that accessing the SupraSelf requires a vigilant practice of surrendering our ego’s identity associations, including its indulgent beliefs, opinions and agendas and its incessant need for credit, blame, entitlement and control. Until our “ego bowl” is empty, there is too much clutter in our space to make contact with the SupraSelf.

Allow me to clarify this by expanding on the fruit analogy. Imagine clutching in each arm two or three huge shopping bags filled with fruit and trying to pass through a narrow doorway. Until we free ourselves from our “ego baggage” we are literally blocked from gaining entrance to the SupraSelf.

The good news is that the SupraSelf is just as motivated to make contact with us as we are to connect with it. The first step towards this extraordinary connection is to recognize that there is indeed a greater self dwelling within us and that we can access and leverage it to produce quantum leaps in our life.

The next step is to be willing to engage in surrendering our ego’s need for self-importance, being in control and playing the “credit/blame game.” All the energy we spend on these ego dynamics can be redirected towards coming into alignment with the greater power of our indwelling SupraSelf.

The third step is to engage in an ongoing development process in which we partner with a mentor and/or community of awake individuals who practice the ways of the SupraSelf, or comparable disciplines. What are these practices? There are essentially four, 1) Functioning Beyond Reaction, 2) Being at Choice, 3) Accepting Personal Responsibility, and 4) Utilizing the Power of “First Cause.”

While these four practices require greater explanation, the way to get started with them is to be willing to catch your ego in action, set your pride and certainty of self aside, and explore the deeper aspects of who you are. For as Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently once put it, “What lies behind us and what lies before us is tiny compared to what lies within us.”