THOUGHTS OF ACQUIRED AND INHERENT I

I learn a lot from Buddhism.

The Buddhist texts are like friends of mine, I know them from "before". I have a good understanding of what this exactly entails, we have probably encountered each other in past lives.

One of the great Buddhist teachers who inspires me is the Tibetan Jetsun Milarepa (1052-1135). In a recent Norwegian presentation of his teachings, I am introduced to the understanding of what is called my «Acquired I» and my «Inherent I». This introduction makes a difference. Milarepa gives me a perspective I can point to when I am asked.

In my «Inherent I», in my sensory and socially learned conceptions, I am my world. This is a real world. It pains and pleasures, but it is not the "higher" world I seek for my life. Milarepa explains to me that there is another world being watched over by my "Awakened Master", my higher self. He calls this higher world my "Inherent I". Milarepa shows me my spiritual self. A higher consciousness world that exists in the physical.

In this way I can safely travel from a "lower" sense world to a "higher" world of ideas. Thus, my physical life also has a meaning, as "vehicle" for a spiritual journey.

Jon