Authentic Self

Cohen: .... very few people seem to know about it. In fact, besides Aurobindo, I've never heard anybody speak about the Authentic Self in this way.

The HGA is said to be experienced as a deeply personal entity, separate from the mundane self, that offers one's ideal best aspect and aids one in acting with extraordinary effectiveness and fierce compassion. Very obviously the same thing that Cohen is talking about with the Authentic Self. Though western occultists are hardly unfamiliar with the idea of the egoless, universal transcendence of what Cohen calls the Self Absolute, this isn't nearly so much a preoccupation as pursing the HGA.

Cohen publishes a magazine about the nature of enlightenment, quotes Sri Aurobindo, and is literally a professional spiritual guru. So how is it he hadn't heard about this, and only recently came to understand it? Wilbur holds a claim to being the one of the leading contemporary scholars of spiritual practice. Why didn't he know to mention that the "Authentic Self" is a central preoccupation of an thriving community of contemporary spiritual practice?

Still, it is surprising to me that Wilbur, who has researched a wide range of enlightenment paths pretty deeply, seems to regard this as obscure. I know that he has said some dismissive things about western magickians and neopagans, but I would have presumed that he was familiar enough with the rigorous side of these approaches to have recognized the Authentic Self --- which he describes quite well --- as a preoccupation of folks working these paths. Jonathan Korman Miniver Cheevy Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Create a Link