Being freed from the Self. Do these words ring true to you as a regenerated believer in Christ?

It is good because it reminds me that a relationship between God and man is a Covenant relationship -meaning that both sides must be committed to doing something to birth and cement this relationship.

God has done his bit in providing a Saviour and Mediator -Jesus who suffered for our forgiveness and to grant us eternal salvation. Our bit is to exercise faith in the Power of the suffering of Jesus on the cross which has released the transforming Holy Spirit to dwell within the dedicated believer, and to offer our heart and life to God in making Jesus both our Saviour and Lord!

We come into this Covenant relationship by wholehearted faith and commitment and this is described in the song.

my old man

2 Timothy 3

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

That's a nice song.

I prefer to think of Jesus' example of the light being hidden under the bushel, that we are the light of the world, but we obscure that light with false ideas and spiritual mistakes.

We are the Self, with capital "S" but we act with selfishness, which has the small "s".

The self (or persona) can be considered the result of the physical traits (inherited characteristics) plus the developed psyche (i.e., one's past experiences, memories, and how in particular that those memories are conceptually linked).

Psyche part of self is: my likes/desires, my fears, my job, my family, my house, my goals, my hobbies, my body, my injury, my dog, my favorite, my opinions, my religion, my philosophy, my intelligence, my self-esteem etc: all that is self-centered, in the sense that self is planning to maintain or acquire or further these things. Conflict arises both within (when your own goals clash) and externally (when your goals conflict with others ambitions); conflict leads to suffering, therefore a liberation from self brings that psychological suffering to an end.

You used the term "freed from self". At the moment I wish to differentiate the word "free" from the word "liberated"; the original root of the word free means separated, detached from, not having to care for, irresponsible, not sharing etc, *whereas, the root of the word "liberate" means to treat with heat, to expunge i.e., similar to the word austere (in the religious sense of drying up).

Thus to be liberated means the drying up of personal desires and fears, such that language becomes: the computer, not my computer; the child, not my child; the car, not my car; one approach, not my approach; the shot on goal, not his shot on goal etc. This means that when a child is in danger, even if it is not one's own child, one will take action to secure the child's safety.

Whereas freedom is a state (from the suffix -dom meaning a state, position), liberation is the end of state i.e., the end of scheming to suit the ideal or ambition.

Similar ideas exist in other religions e.g., Ayn Sof (without limits/boundaries) in Judaism; Nirvana (trans. means ''blow out, extinguished'') in buddhism; and the Greek phrase ''Agio Pneuma'' in Christianity which means literally ''restraining that born of breath''.

In ancient cultures of antiquity, breathing was considered the sign of life, and also connected directly to ego (thinking, the cultivation of memory etc).

For instance, Hindu's practice Prana-Jnana (Sanskrit phrase) which is the restraining or stretching/prolonging ones breathing. Hindu's believe that self-centered thinking and breathing are linked, such that, if you lengthen the interval between breaths, the mind becomes less disturbed by personal sorrows or issues, allowing clearer more intuitive perception.

In Sanskrit, the word Prana (breath) is equivalent to the Greek word Pneuma. In Latin, the word Spiro (also Greek derived) was used for breath instead. Thus, the word Spiritus is derived from Spiro.

Therefore, the phrase "Spiritus Sancti" is a translation of the Greek ''Agio Pneuma". In English we say Holy spirit; however, the Greek word Agio does not have the same meaning as the Old English word Halig (Mod. Eng Holy). The Greek word Agio means literally "to restrain or renounce one's produce or growth". The term was used religiously from the tradition of sacrificing some of the harvest on the fire to appease God (as Abraham was going to do with his Son): metaphorically giving up the fruits of desire i.e., working (or thinking) not for honour but for love of doing.

So, the end of self is not the end of life, but the end of my life as a pursuit of a scheme. The ends are not destroyed or replaced, but marginalized, so that the means are done for their own sake.

The holy spirit therefore is the suspension of self (ego growth), not the freedom from self. You can still answer to a name, without associating that name with a scheme or ambition. You can still have ambition (ends, goals), but without using that ambition to dictate the means.

Liberation of the self is not a state, it is the ceasing of state, which means, the end of self-centered faith (persuasion related to self interest).

What does it mean to be "freed from the self"? It sounds like more meaningless symbolism.

Yes in all ways thank you for sharing that poem. (((Broken Alabaster Flask)))

No. I tend to live in reality, not a book of ancient myths.