Three Primary Selves

"The child I was is with me in the present hour.

It will be with me in the grave."

Mary Oliver

BRAIN PICKINGS posted an article about Mary Oliver.  Maria Popova reflected poet Mary Oliver's creative awareness:"She identifies three primary selves that she inhabits, and that inhabit her, as they do all of us:  the childhood self, the social self, and a sort of otherworldly awareness."  The child attempts to integrate a continuous thread through our personal identity.  The social attached to numerous ideas of obligation.  The otherworldly self is perhaps the most difficult to describe as it ebbs and flows into the other two.

This third self which senses the presence in all things is the artist or creativity which resides in us all. It takes us a step beyond the ordinary or obligated into an arena of artistic discovery disbursing our energy to all we yearn for.  This level is where we yearn and receive the mysteries of the world.

This is an unidentifiable place we repeatably visit to experience beyond the veils.  It is a sensual realm where we learn a new way of communicating and learning, effortlessly.  Through contemplation or prayer one trains the mind to sit still, to distance the worldly demands, and to witness all that is holy.