INTRODUCTION TO The Planetary Self
How do we relate to the concept of Self? Have you ever asked yourself this question? We, humans, are complicated creatures. We’re highly adaptable with the ability to learn and develop complex theories. History shows that we tend to gather into tribes and create extravagant belief structures. Our concept of self is often derived from our beliefs. Religion, philosophy, and science have all offered answers to the question of how to conceptualize the Self.
We have been wrestling with this question forever. We naturally reach for an answer to this question out of a basic need to understand our “selves”. This is a fundamental life question that largely determines our orientation in the world. How we answer this question affects how we relate to ourselves as well as others.
“When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change”.
– Max Planck
Our brains naturally simplify complex things in order to make sense of them. The Planetary Self model leverages this simplifying mechanism to our advantage. An example of this mechanism at work can be seen in how we easily relate to things by analogy.
“The world is my oyster”
“You are the wind beneath my wings”
“A diamond in the rough”
“Life is a roller coaster”
For something as complex and abstract as the Self, the related object(s) matter a great deal. The Planetary Self model draws upon this simplifying tendency and aims to unlock vast dimensions of understanding within you.
So what is The Planetary Self?
The Planetary Self is a single conceptual object that helps us understand our Selves. It is an organizing idea. It is a heuristic device. It is a conceptual framework for understanding the abstract nature of our subjective experiences. The promise of these teachings is that, by learning about them, you will begin to develop an intuitive understanding of the energetic mechanics at work within all of us.
The teachings are broken into four main ways of looking at this one object. Think of these four elements as different dimensions of the same thing.
ONE OBJECT FOUR
DIMENSIONS
We learn about them in the following order…
You, surrounded by all of the things that affect you.
The Energy Chalice is a pie slice of the Ego Chamber.
The Planetary Self is the Ego Chamber inverted.
The Heroic Conduit is the Planetary Self through time.