We have for long believed our true selves as being our physical bodies.
Therefore, as I mentioned earlier, even if we are told that we are not our physical bodies but instead invisible, we would not be easily convinced into believing so.
That said, I think we all believe there is an invisible world of the heart, or at least think there could be such a world. I can say so because I know that we all feel all kinds of feelings surfacing from inside ourselves.
I assume we all agree that the place we feel all kinds of feelings is our heart.
Therefore, to consider whether there is such a thing as a true self inside oneself, let's think about our own heart.
First of all, I believe the heart is generally understood as being invisible. In addition, I believe, if you were told that your heart belongs to yourself, most people would agree. However, what if you were told that your heart is who you are?
The world of the heart does exist and your true self to whom your heart belongs also exists. However, you believe that you are your visible self with a certain height and weight. If you were given a description of the world of the heart in which your visible self exists, you might be able to agree with it as one possibility. However, what if you were told that your heart is who you truly are? Can you believe that you are nothing other than your heart? I assume most people are unable to agree that they are their hearts. Most people would be unable to agree, because the heart is invisible to the eye, and they believe they are their visible selves.
In addition, the heart tends to direct itself outside itself. Unless we take control of our feelings, our feelings tend to become directed outside ourselves. Most people care about what others think of them. Most people feel lonely when alone, and most people think they want to be connected with the world in some way. On the other hand, there are people who are scared to interact with others. These people tend to not want to see the world as it is. They tend to consider the actual world as being uninteresting and tend to indulge themselves in the virtual world. Both types of people share the tendency of directing their hearts outward.
On another note, have you ever felt your heart as being tired? I assume some readers might know what I am talking about. The hearts of those who tend to direct their hearts outward easily get tired. There are people who get angry quite easily. In addition, most people feel comfortable with the knowledge that they are connected with the world, know what others are doing, think in the same way as others, and share the same opinion. There are also people who spend much energy on gathering information and sharing it with others, not wanting to be left behind. Consequently, these people will inevitably be comparing themselves with others, allowing their hearts to become tired. Naturally, such people would come to think they want to feel relaxed or be healed, and if their wish to feel relaxed or be healed cannot be met, the general view is that they will feel more stressed out, which then would adversely affect their physical conditions and/or relationships with others. I completely agree with the general view on this point. People's hearts become tired from comparing themselves with others, which is why they look for places where they can relax, be healed, and get away from everyday life. In other words, they try to secure some time to reenergize themselves so that they can go back to comparing themselves with others the following day.
However, putting oneself in a place where one can feel relaxed, be healed, and/or escape from everyday life is only a temporary solution. Doing so will not truly allow one to be healed or feel relaxed. One may be healed or feel relaxed temporarily; however, sooner or later his/her heart will go back to being influenced by the outside world.
Therefore, the study of the heart taught by Mr. Tomekichi Taike teaches practitioners to switch from directing one's heart outside oneself to directing it inside.
Regarding how we can make this switch, since the heart is where we feel all kinds of feelings, we need to begin by turning our thoughts toward our heart. In other worlds, we need to pay attention to the thoughts that our hearts allow to surface. That is what is meant by directing one's heart inside oneself.
Listen to what you are thinking. Listen whether you are directly expressing yourself or indirectly expressing yourself. You might be saying the opposite of what you actually want to say. First begin by checking such aspects about yourself. In addition, after you recognize how you tend to think and express yourself, ask yourself whether you think that you might be suffering. If such thoughts as "I am suffering" or "You are lying to yourself" surface, continue to ask yourself why you think you are suffering or lying to yourself.
If you find it hard to understand what it means to direct one's heart inward, the reason is that our hearts naturally tend to direct themselves outward. Unless we look after our hearts properly, our hearts will naturally direct themselves outward.
In other words, we naturally search outside ourselves for criteria to base judgements about ourselves. We tend to see ourselves through the eyes of others. All of us are more or less interested in how others see and judge us. In addition, we may try to figure out what others are thinking about ourselves, but we hardly consider what we think of ourselves. That is why we find it difficult to understand that a true self exists inside ourselves.
So even if we were told, "Your heart is who you truly are," we find it hard to believe so, and the same goes to being told, "Our true selves are invisible to the eye." Some of us may even laugh at such ideas.
Some people may refuse to accept such ideas; others may choose to ignore them. No one would likely accept them right away when first told. Inside every one of our hearts exists a large number of ourselves from past lifetimes in the dark and unaware of the truth, and all of us from our past lifetimes are refusing to accept the fact that our hearts are our true selves and that we are invisible. However, I assume, even when told so, readers who have not yet taken up the practice of reflecting on their own hearts would find it hard to believe so.
Those who have learned of this study of the heart through some opportunity, taken up the practice of reflecting on their own heart, and continued doing so on a daily basis may come to think, "We might be our own hearts and invisible existences." However, moving on from that stage where one thinks, "We might be," to the next stage where one comes to think, "We are," will take much more time and practice of reflecting on one's own heart.
The large number of yourselves inside your heart have all spent their lives on establishing their belief that the physical world is the real world.
To tell such large number of yourselves, "We are consciousnesses and we are all the same," would mean telling them to accept that they were wrong about believing the physical world as being the real world, so yourselves would naturally choose to refuse such an idea. This is because accepting that one was wrong about believing the physical world as being the real world would mean to accept that one made a mistake and that one was not a perfect existence after all.
The first thing we need to do is face ourselves inside our heart and understand with our heart our current condition. Because we have believed for so long that our physical bodies are ourselves, our belief that the physical world is the real world is extremely strong. This belief of ours will not shatter very easily.
Trying to destroy this belief system of ours from outside with a wooden hammer would not work. Doing so could put a crack in our belief system, but a crack would be fixed right away by ourselves. We are extremely alert about defending our belief system. Because we have been believing so strongly that the physical world is the real world, seeing our physical world fall apart is our deepest fear.
So ourselves inside our hearts choose not to hear what we try to tell them. They choose to remain in the same state as before and refuse to allow us to take charge. They may say, "I am god. I am a perfect being"; however, what they truly are is the frog in the well, which knows nothing of the great ocean.
In addition, once their belief system begins to break down, such people begin to completely ignore things generally accepted as common sense in the physical world. They behave in such a way because all their dark energies that they had been putting a lid on for so long surface at once, causing them to think that they are god and can do whatever they want to. When people arrive at this state, they come to do things that those who believe the physical world is the real world will find it hard to believe as being their behavior. When their dark energies surface, people will begin to say and do things that make no sense, most likely even causing themselves confusion. However, people come to act in such a way because they are being controlled by their dark energies; thinking that they are being controlled by another person would be wrong. They are the ones controlling themselves. However, the person being controlled by his/her dark energies, as well as those around him/her, would most likely not know that they themselves are controlling themselves and thereby think some other mysterious power has taken control of them. Unless those who believe the physical world as being the real world has some preparatory knowledge of what to do in cases of such emergencies, when the conditions needed to shatter a person's belief system comes to be met, he/she will begin to behave as if he/she has gone insane. This state could be described as the person having lost his/her compass that had been guiding him/her.
Another important point to consider is those who witness others behaving as if they have gone insane. How many of those who witness such people would come to think what they are witnessing is the condition of their own hearts and think they are no different from the person who is behaving as if insane. Most people, because they strongly believe that the physical world is the real world, would tell themselves, "That insane person and I are not the same." They would tell themselves, "Whatever is happening to that insane person has nothing to do with me. I am sane and intelligent enough to control myself."
However, once the conditions needed to shatter a person's belief system are met, the phenomenon of dark energies inside a person surfacing at once is something that could happen to anyone, including those who consider themselves as being perfectly capable of controlling themselves.
Please look into your heart and ask yourself the following: "Could it be that there are different aspects to me, where some aspects of myself are nice but other ones are like devils and demons?" Please turn your thoughts toward your true self inside yourself. I assume everyone more or less knows that there are two sides to themselves. However, how would you respond if asked whether you feel with your heart that there are a large number of yourselves inside you and you exist along with that large number of yourselves?
Have you ever heard of the phrases "past lifetimes" and "future lifetimes?" There are people who believe in reincarnation and like to talk about their past lifetimes and future lifetimes. However, such people likely only like to recall the days they lived in their past lifetimes and like to talk about how their future lifetimes will turn out to be like; they likely do not know that they are currently living along with themselves from their past and future lifetimes.
In addition, even those who know there are many aspects to themselves would likely try to hide their devil-like and demon-like sides deep down inside their hearts. Most of us would probably agree there is no need to act like a nicer person than one actually is. However, at the same time, most of us would not want to go out of our way just to damage our reputation. We all want to try to be a good person, who can recognize others' needs, help others, and understand the feelings of others.
Consequently, some people will come to know their way around the world, and those who come to be good at getting their way will likely lead a fun life.
However, that is not the way we are not supposed to lead our lives. I am not saying that we should go out of our ways just to get into trouble with others. However, we need to reflect on our devil-like, demon-like selves. Doing so is what it means to redirect our outward-oriented hearts inwardly. We should not be spending too much time on becoming good at getting our way. Instead of becoming good at knowing one's way around the world, I would like to recommend becoming good at knowing one's way around their true selves. Instead of trying to be a good husband, wife, parent, and/or child, we need to first reflect on our true selves before playing each of our roles in life.
If one comes to know his/her way around his/her true self and comes to be able to serve his/her role in life, I believe, he/she will naturally become a truly good person. Such a person would not go out of his/her way to suck up to others. Instead, such a person would be honest and nice just by being his/her true self.
If one becomes such a person, when his/her devil-like, demon-like side surfaces, it will be doing so through a filter of warmth. Therefore, there will be no need to put a lid on such devil-like, demon-like sides of ourselves. If one arrives at the state where he/she can be a nice person just by being his/her true self, one will not cause trouble with others even if his/her devil-like, demon-like side surfaces. Once one comes to understand the reason one was born and understand the meaning of life, he/she will come to know there is no time and energy to waste by causing unnecessary trouble.
One will also come to know the unimportance of labels, such as husbands, wives, parents, and children in cooperating in leading one's life together with others.
One may try to keep a lid on the large number of one's selves inside oneself and act as if one were great and perfect. However, as one continues pursuing the study of the heart taught by Mr. Tomekichi Taike, he/she will come to know that the oneself that he/she thought was great and perfect was nothing but the frog in the well, which knew nothing about the great ocean.