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The Spiritual Self refers to the animus, or life force, within each of us and the quality of its expression through our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It is that part of a person which is not any of the other four selves but which transcends them and joins them into a coherent whole and which seems to exist simultaneously on other planes of reality not readily perceived by the senses. I divide the Spiritual Self into two parts; one which manifests itself outwardly and another of which the individual is only vaguely aware and which is not apparent to others.
The more tangible aspect of the spirit is called the character and I have represented it symbolically here as a ribbon which brings the various selves together as a whole person. It is intimately connected with the other four selves, from which it arises, and may be viewed in terms of character traits which cannot accurately be called either emotional, intellectual, or animal in nature. These traits are tendencies toward one end or the other of a diametric continuum. For example:
| TENDENCY TOWARD | VS THE TENDENCY TOWARD |
| SELFISHNESS | SELFLESSNESS |
| HONESTY | MENDACITY |
| OPEN MINDEDNESS | NARROW MINDEDNESS |
| NOBILITY OF PURPOSE | BASENESS OF PURPOSE |
| EXTENSION OF LOVE TO OTHERS | FEAR & WITHHOLDING OF LOVE |
| RESPECT FOR OTHER LIFE | EVIL OR THE HARMING OF LIFE |
The other aspect of the Spiritual Self associated in some way with the body yet existing also from without is called the soul and is represented here as the bow upon the package which is the person. This is the life force, the existence of which is believed to be independent of the body. It is currently beyond our ability to know for certain, but many people sense that this part of us is immortal and may in fact cycle through nature, over and over, as it is set free at the moment of death. In the next drawing, below, I have given my interpretation of the life cycle of the Spiritual Self.
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It seems that the soul must be part of a higher reality and exists across dimensions that we are not equipped to perceive. At the moment that new life begins, some portion of it must become fixed within our four dimensions and invested within the embryonic life. I believe that it brings with it a certain energy matrix which assists in starting the organization of what will grow into the personality since newborns appear to have a definite but rudimentary personality which is commonly tested and recorded within minutes of birth in nine observations:
| 1. ACTIVITY LEVEL | 4. ADAPTABILITY | 7. MOOD QUALITY |
| 2. RHYTHMICITY | 5. REACTION INTENSITY | 8. DISTRACTION |
| 3. APPROACH/WITHDRAWAL | 6. RESPONSE THRESHOLD | 9. PERSISTENCE |
I believe the original connection must be made via the primitive Animal Self or pre-mind of the embryo. If the mind thrives and grows balanced and with internal harmony, this provides for the development of a strong, rich character. Spiritual growth and good character qualities result in a complex proliferation within the matrix of the soul. Symbolically, with regard to the illustration, you can think of this as the bow getting larger and more beautiful. With the death of the body, the mature soul returns fully to the higher reality from which it came carrying the qualities of the spiritual growth that occurred during the person's life, where it presumably joins with the combined life force of all the souls who have ever lived and awaits rebirth.
The cultivation of human spiritual growth appears to be an indirect process, intuitive in form and inductive by nature. Spiritual experience is not a thing learned from dogmatic doctrine. One should be gently guided into the process of nurturing of deep spiritual awareness by being encouraged to directly observe and experience the complex beauty of the physical universe and the grand interplay of living systems.
The directly observable signs of the level of a person's spiritual awareness and maturity are the depth of that person's understanding of, and respect for, other living things and for the interrelationships of living things to each other and to the systems of nature. This is the yardstick of human character.
Insight into the spiritual aspect of life may come from a surprising variety of sources, although many of the ones traditionally associated with the subject, such as organized western religions, may be of little value. Unfortunately, one is more likely to encounter in them the misbegotten progeny of some confused moralistic philosophy, idolatry, god mongering, and effete group snobbism, than the small amount of untainted spiritual teachings that they may contain. Sadder still is the fact that various economic strategies, from carnival sideshow hucksterism to shrewd and ruthless applications of laissez faire capitalism, corrupt many such organizations. Alternative sources, however, are often quite productive.
The excerpt below and the interpretation that follows illustrate this point rather nicely, I think.
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any circumstances. To have such clarity, you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.
I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old [person] asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart ?
All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life, I could say that I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. Does this path have a heart ? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use.
Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart; the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
The trouble is that nobody thinks to ask the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point, very few can stop to deliberate, and leave the path.
A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length.
And there I travel looking,
looking breathlessly. . . .
The stories of Don Juan, as presented by Carlos Casteneda, are both enjoyable and thought-provoking, regardless of their uncertain origin. In the preceding passage, the Yacqui Mystic provides, in symbolic and poetic language, a penetrating insight into the roots of much of the neurosis in modern western thinking. Herein lies one of the lost threads of the meaning and purpose of life, the loss of which results in an existence that seems difficult, draining, and joyless and in the world appearing a confusing, disjointed, and insane place to many. The following is my interpretation of Don Juan's message.
Being free of fear and ambition is a deceptively simple idea, but I believe it is an absolute prerequisite to making the correct decision when choosing whether to leave or continue along a given path in life. The statement that, "all paths lead nowhere," simply means that our destination should be the result of how we live along the way; rather than our sole focus. Tunnel vision, that lets us see only what we think lies at the end of the path, can cause us to miss the point, passing blithely over all of the opportunities we are presented along the way to enjoy the richness of the experience of living and to grow through full participation in the process. We fail to notice the beauty and wonder around us at which we could be, "looking breathlessly."
Something with a heart is a living thing. Therefore, the path with heart is the one with a "rhythm" which beats in tune with the life around it. All living things seem to be invested with a sort of energy or life force and it is through this that each is connected to the other. This force is not visible but I think we all sense its existence from time to time on a deep level within our beings. This part of us is what I call the Spiritual Self, an essential and fundamental facet of our nature that must be carefully nurtured, yet which goes wanting, to varying degrees, in all of us these days. Without spiritual awareness and growth, we are unable to perceive certain aspects of our existence such as whether a given path has heart.
The phrase, "as long as you follow it, you are one with it," implies that, when traveling a path with heart, we are in harmony from within and from without, seeming to move along effortlessly and gaining energy from going with the flow of the life energy around us, rather than against it. Having the "wind at our backs," so to speak, in this way, gives us strength and the sense of being "in sync" promotes positive feelings (joy).
This must not be confused with "going along with the crowd." Spiritual immaturity, insensitivity, and sickness are so much the norm these days that the path with heart may very well be the path less-traveled, in many cases. It seems to me that most of us are traveling heartless paths that, since those paths run in opposition to the flow and polarity of the life energy fields around them, weaken us and turn life into joyless drudgery. Due to a lack of spiritual awareness, we may find ourselves "cursing life," with the path ready to kill us before we realize that it has no heart (or even think to ask the question).
Spiritual growth involves, I believe, becoming aware of the interconnectedness of living things and learning to exist in such a way that all of the aspects of our being (selves) are in harmonious balance with each other and with the life energy of our world. Experiencing love, sharing it with others, and extending it outward to the living universe which surrounds us, is the way in which we express our awareness of this transcendental nature of life . . .
. . .And there I traverse the full length of the path with heart,
Of any path that may have a heart,
All the while, looking, looking breathlessly. . . .
From all of this it seems that we can deduce the answer to the second greatest of the so-called unanswerable questions, namely - why am I here? Or, in other words, what is the purpose of life? The answer appears to be, as the Hindus have observed, that the purpose of life is spiritual growth of the soul. Life is a series of interesting challenges or problems that, if faced nobly and with great purpose, joy and satisfaction result and spiritual growth occurs. As this process proceeds, our bow may get very large and beautiful indeed.
(FUNCTION/DYSFUNCTION) 
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