The three components of self
Our gestalt is divided into three orthogonal planes that appear to be elementary. They are mind, heart, and soul. These absolutes are actualized in our experience of the world and interaction with it, namely through our material being, approximated to body. Not only are these the elements of personality and hence, identity, but the world outside of ourselves mirrors this composition. We perceive the world to be composed of these three aspects as well; though the forms of impression and expression are diverse, they correspond to manifestations of these three.
Structure of self corresponds to structure of reality
We perceive meaning, stimulation, and are sparked to inner dialogue, imagination, and narrative by these definitive aspects of existence. Western philosophy has suffered a tendency to be either able to describe the nature of reality or of the nature of the self, but without integrating the two. Here I posit that external reality and interior self are in a constant interchange. Although this is normally a subconscious process, reflection reveals that reality is both constructed and constructing. Reflexively, consciousness is constructed and is constructing. Acting and meditating are the two continuums whereby a person is either actualized in present and body or is constructing an inner reality and aesthetic.
Mind
Mind is concerned with facts, and with objective analysis of fact and singular integration of facts. Expressions of the mind include math, vocabulary, and strategy. The aesthetic and goal of mind is intellectual understanding.
Heart
Heart is concerned with relationships to loved ones, kin, and to other humans, animals, and other life-forms that reflect our heart’s capability. The aesthetic and goal of the heart is feeling love.
Soul
Soul is concerned with the aspect of mortality and the transcendence that springs from its defiance. Soul finds its expression in sensuality and the mysteries of experience. The aesthetic and goal of soul is spiritual transcendence.
Aesthetics
Each dimension of the self has a corresponding aesthetic. Aesthetics are an inborn need and preoccupation of the individual. Aesthetics are a positive personal quest for beauty in the world and in the self. The perception of beauty is shaped by the goals of the three absolutes.
Meditation
The absolutes can only be encountered in a pure form through the internal states of original thought, reverie, and imagination known as meditation. Meditation is absorption into the self and the self’s original impressions. Meditation is automatically achieved through dreaming.
Body
Mind, heart, and soul are the elemental aspects of personality and reality. They are limitless, boundless, and infinite. One can experience them purely only through meditation, but in the world they are intractable. There are no absolutes in the world, only approximations. Interactions with the world can be achieved only through the body’s senses and capabilities. If one hopes to encounter the fundamental aspects of reality, this is done through the use of bodily senses. One also imparts change onto the world through bodily capabilities. For example, the body requires the ears and eyes to comprehend intellectual truth. The body requires the sense of touch to comprehend love. The body requires the ears to comprehend spiritual transcendence. Likewise, the hands may be used to express the three aspects of personality onto reality. Body is the only means of expressing elemental composition. This gives us hope that there can be a stroke of the infinite color on the canvas of reality.
Centering
One does not come to know self by going through motions and identifying with the demands of the world. One’s inner voice is continually battling for dominance in the constructed narrative of existence. Inner voice is strongest at night while dreaming but upon waking and during the daytime hours slowly succumbs to the demands and realities of the material world. One will slowly lose one’s balance unless one makes time for meditation and for conscious awareness of the contents of one’s meditations. When this is done on a daily basis, one is centered. To dream without being able to consciously tolerate the contents of the dreams is alienation from the self. In order to stay centered in the self, dreams must be recollected in a waking state by the individual in order to understand the self’s impression of the world. Without this step, it is impossible to interpret dreams and use them to fine tune efforts to understand and interact with the world.
Presence
When the self is centered, the body is capable of interacting with the world on authentic terms. This is presence. Happiness is derived from understanding the interplay between inner self and external world. Being present in the world is a recapitulation of being centered in the self. When the individual uses inner representations of the world to guide experience with the world, one is present. Note this does not imply efficacy. One’s hands may be tied but the self is able to privately harbor an authentic opinion that is not foreign to the self.
Dyssynchrony
When the individual immerses his self in his belief in the absolutes while operating in the world, one is present. He is informed by the world and is simultaneously shaping it. If the individual’s absolute internal states dictate his interaction with the world, he is psychotic. He is acting completely on his fantasies without regard to the feedback offered by the world. If the individual is repressing his inner aesthetics to the ideals of the world, he is repressed.