One Life, Many Selves

The self which people give more attention than any other self is the visible self. It is the self that people see the most -the one on magazine covers, in movies, and on television.

At the same time the visible self is the self that belongs to us the least -more a product of chance than of our choosing.

The fantasy self is the self that we often imagine we could be at some uncertain point -usually in the future. We have some control over how that self looks and appears, but our wishes about our fantasy selves do not run deep.

The fantasy self reflects not someone we would seriously wish to be, yet we do wish to be that self as strongly as we fantasize about that self.

The ethical self is the self beneath the appearances. It is the one we keep hidden from others out of shame, and -more than that- we keep it hidden from ourselves because we are personally ashamed of that self.

People tend to find their ethical self so disheartening that they distract themselves with the self they wear on the surface ... until the time comes when some choose to confront the darkness they carry inside.

The ideal self, the one we truly and seriously wish to be is hard to see, mostly because this self has little to do with who we are and the choices we have made. We wish to be like our ideal self, but people usually must reach far into their past to remember when this was the self they pursued completely.

And then there is also that absurd possibility that we may be somehow (religiously) united with it once more.

The inner self, that self of selves, is the self most people keep so locked away and hidden that they scarcely know they have it. It is the feintest to see with human eyes but the strongest and most powerful of all selves.

When a person examines the choices they have made -their hallow victories and their tragic mistakes- there remains that difficult-to-hear voice inside that says, 'And yet despite all this I can be made new again.'

The inner self is childlike and draws strength in the faith that although it may be and deserves to be annihilated, it may still find favor that all its wrongs may be overcome in the presence of a supremely loving authority.

This act of reconciliation is only possible through personally receiving the gift Christ gave on the cross to those who have faith in him.

And so life presents a simple question: who do you wish to be?