#31 - MEW THEORY: You're Only as High as Your Lower Self

Episode #31 - You're Only as High as Your Lower Self (MEW Theory)

In this episode, I explore my personal theory, "You're Only as High as Your Lower Self." I unpack the idea that our "lower self" sets the foundation for reaching new heights. Tune in for insights into understanding your own limits and embracing them as a pathway to true growth.

🔗 Related Links: The full blog post with resources, references, and transcript can be found on my website.

Transcript

0:02

Vanished Me podcast January. Okay. Welcome back to the podcast. Sorry. Today's episode, I'm doing something a little bit different. So I'm starting to record these. Usually as well now. So there's a video for every podcast for now on you can find the video on YouTube or I will be posting it on social media as well. But not just that. I have a different way of approaching the podcast today. I've realised recently that, like, I'm kind of always like entertaining, like six things at once. As in like the books I'm reading, the podcast I'm listening to. And so what I've also realised is that they all kind of intertwine with each other, and they all kind of have like a progressive story of how I've kind of, you know, learnt from one. And that's led me to the next and whatnot. And so what I would like to do is drop a bunch of podcasts like five altogether, ones that are basically going to be like these five different themes, which on their own could be like respectful podcast episodes, but they all weave together and tell a story. And so I'm going to drop them altogether. So the first one is you're only as high as your lower self, which is an idea that I'm entertaining at the moment. So how this came about is I decided that I was going to do an extended waterfall. So something longer than three days and I started to do the fast. But then I realised that there were two parts of me that were in conflict. Those part of me that wanted to do the water fast. And there was the part of me that wanted to eat. And so that was really interesting because I started to explore like, okay, like, what are these like true selves? Because the reasons for me wanting to do the water fast was like, I wanted to like, you know, it's a spiritual practice and people get a lot of like spiritual insights and stuff like that. And so I was really curious and yes, I was like, okay, so it feels like my higher self like wants to fast, but like, my lower self is the one who's like kind of dragging me back and down and like stopping me from being able to do this. And so I really started to like, you know, explore this concept of higher and lower self. So I realised that the lowest self was the one who was stopping me from doing the fasting. And then I came with this theory because I thought about a chain and the saying that a chain is only strong as its weakest link. And I realised that I didn't really progress so far as my lowest self is willing to go. And I'm not judging that part of me, because I think there's always going to be a lower self. I think both have to always exist, like the yin and the yang. And so the way I say it is like a scale like this, the scale between the higher and the lowest self. And I try to think will half and I move that entire scale and where am I trying to move it to? So I started like entertain this idea. Well, it is a theory that different thoughts and emotions can produce different frequencies. For example, Thea is a low vibrational frequency while gratitude is a higher vibration and all like emotions can be mapped on a scale. And there's actually some scientist supports this theory from quantum physics to neuroscience. Check out the work by a doctor, Joe Dispenza. If you have an open mind. I think it's really, really interesting. But then, yeah, so I tend to entertain this idea that perhaps like the goal is to move to scale up this range of emotions and thoughts so that my day by day is more full of gratitude in these high vibrational emotions, rather than fear and loss in so low ones. So yeah, just just thrown that there's an idea. I spoke to my friend Rachel about this, and she said that it might not be so to date and linear, which is a great point, but it is very fun to entertain. But anyway, so I really wanted to explore this concept of higher and lower self. And I really want to know what has already been written about this. So I did what I do best. I've rabbit hole Hinduism actually had a fair bit to say on this. They said that the lowest self is the ego which centres on more worldly attachments and self-centred needs. The higher self, on the other hand, is a state of consciousness that is a divine aspect of ourselves which can be accessory yoga practices such as meditation and introspection and the realisation of the higher self is part of spiritual liberation which they call moksha. Deepak Chopra I probably said that wrong. Has a book called The Higher Self Getting in Touch with Your Soul. So I read that book and he had more slightly the Buddhist approach, I would say, where he believes that the high self is always there and it's a gap between you and your thoughts. That is the ego for your thoughts is our lowest self, while the higher self is the self or the awareness behind the thoughts. So very power of now. Freud, the founder of slippery analysis. He had a really interesting approach on this. He said that there is a human need for lower self and he said that we actually have an unconscious desire for death and destruction, which manifests as aggression, self-destructive behaviours such as suicide. And he called this the death drive. And he said that it's rooted in our desires to end the tensions and complexities of life. On the other hand, he theorised that we have the life drive, which is what drives us towards procreation, sexual cooperation and survival. I saw another theory that the reason why we have resistance is because there's like a animalistic need to limit that energy expenditure. And so if we can take the path of least resistance, the more energy we can save and the more chance of survival we have as a species. Speaking of resistance, I also read a really great book called The War of OD by Steven Pressfield. He focussed on resistance a lot because he said that when he's doing art, he notices that there's always that resistance. And something that's really interesting that he said is that the more that our goal is aimed towards our higher calling, the more resistance and fear that we will have around that. And I think that's a really interesting and cool tool. On how to find your North Star. He also said that resistance loves to rationalise with you. It'll always come up with reasons to stop you from achieving your goals, and sometimes the rationalisation is really true, but that doesn't mean you have to listen to it. And he also said that resistance is strongest at the finish line. So obviously there's a lot of limitations with this. I think there's so much written about this topic that I've only just scratched the surface. So there will be a lot of holes in my knowledge. Maybe one day I'll write a you are in these highs, your lowest 2.0. When I've evolved this theory more, which could be like five years, but I think this blog is just a caricature of a deeply intrinsic topic. But I do think that it's worth mentioning because I think it's a pretty universal topic that can still be applied to achieving goals and making sure that they are aligned with your true direction. And I think it also begs the question, like the whole question of what is the whole point of the journey? And like, what direction are we supposed to moving in terms of spiritual growth? You know, so I think there's a deeper question behind that. But yeah, here are some questions that I started to ask myself. What is the lowest helping me? How can I be more familiar with it so that I can recognise it when it's leading me through life? How can I challenge it? And so I decided to do a 14 day water fasts to see what voices came up and like, what does that lower self look like in me in really hard situations? How can I notice or identify with our voices in other parts of my life? And so my next episode is my experience doing a 14 day water fast. This is what I learned and ultimately what saw me.