' The Overself '...

Overself is limited to glimpses which are partial, because he finds the Overself only within himself, not in the world outside.

It is temporary because he has to take it when it comes at its own sweet will or when he can find it in meditation.

It is a glimpse because it tells him about his own "I" but not about the "Not-I".

On the other hand, the sage finds reality in the world without as his own self, at all times and not at special occasions, and wholly rather than in glimpses.

The mystic's light comes in glimpses, but the sage's is perennial.

Whereas the first is like a flickering unsteady and uneven flame, the second is like a lamp that never goes out.

Whereas the mystic comes into awareness of the Overself through feeling alone, the sage comes into it through knowledge plus feeling. Hence, the superiority of his realization.


-Anthony Damiani from Living Wisdom