The True Self Goes Down Part I
The concept of the True Self (also called the wounded child within) has been known for centuries and has been studied and written about by many in the field of psychology. It has been called the inner child, the divine child, the wonder child and the True Self. (Whitfield)
Due to the fact that many who write about the phenomenon are not Christians, it is tempting for Christians not to trust their findings. This is understandable. However, the concept of the True Self is described in Scripture with such detail that I believe there can be no doubt that this is a true phenomenon that takes place in the soul of believers and nonbelievers alike. I believe it is a vital concept for us to understand in these end times if we are going to come into “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
As children we experienced emotional pain and decided it was not safe to be our real self. Unconsciously we separated from our true self and shoved it down deep inside. Some people are able to do this without building the walls that comprise full-blown dissociation. However, just about everyone has some degree of dissociation in their life as we shall see in the examples given further on in this book.
The True Self Revealed in Scripture
In order to see the True Self revealed in detail in Scripture, we need to employ two principles for interpreting Scripture. The first principle states that all Scripture has both an inward and an outward application.
The second principle is that of allegory. If the outward and the inward worlds are counterparts, symbol must be used to convey their similarities. The Apostle Paul used allegory—Hagar and Sarah representing two covenants, for example (Gal. 4:24-26). Other examples would be the Rock being Christ and the crossing of the Red Sea seen as baptism (1 Cor. 10). Following in the tradition of the early Church Fathers, I want to add my own allegorical interpretation here by viewing Judah as a type of the True Self.
According to the views stated above, men represent the understanding or certain minds; women are the will or certain principles. With this view in mind, the life of Judah, (a man and therefore seen as part of our understanding or mind) when seen with an inward application, reveals in detail how the True Self separates from the rest of the stream of consciousness and how the Lord restores it to its rightful place.
The best place to begin with Judah is by examining his place in his family’s birth order and the words spoken over him by his mother at his birth. His mother, Leah, married his father, Jacob, through the trickery of her father Laban. Jacob loved Leah’s sister, Rachel, and worked seven years to win the privilege of her hand in marriage. However, when the day of the marriage arrived, Leah was the one hidden beneath the heavy veil of the wedding dress, not Rachel. Jacob found himself married to the wrong woman, but after fulfilling his obligation for the marriage week, he was then allowed to marry Rachel.
So Jacob found himself married to two women, one he loved and one he did not love. The women were vying for Jacob’s favor and competing to see who could give him the most sons. Rachel was barren for many years while Leah produced sons. Eventually each woman gave her maid as a concubine to Jacob to produce more sons; so Jacob was dealing with four women. After Leah and the maids bore him sons, Rachel finally had Joseph and then years later died in childbirth bearing the last son, Benjamin.
In this atmosphere children were not loved for who they were but for what they could gain for the parent. Leah’s statements after the birth of some of her sons bear this out. After the birth of Reuben she said,
Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. After Simeon’s birth she said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. Next came Levi, and her response was, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. But with Judah’s birth Leah spoke words that showed this child was welcomed for being himself as she exclaimed, Now will I praise the LORD.
We can also view the birth order from the perspective of the meaning of each son’s name. Each name shows something about our inner life as we seek to mature in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Reuben, means “intelligence” defined by Webster as being “the ability to learn or understand.” We first accept Christ into our life when in our intellect, our mind, we learn about Him and try to understand who He is.
The second son was Simeon whose name means “hearing” or “hearkening” which implies obedience. If we are to progress in our spiritual walk with Christ, we must learn to hear His voice and obey His commands.
The third son was Levi, whose name means “joining.” As we hear and obey Christ, we are joined with Him in fellowship in an ever-increasing depth of relationship.
The fourth son was Judah, whose name means “praise.” As we will see through our further examination of Judah in Scripture, Judah is our True Self. The True Self is formed in us through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who confirms us in our identity and fulfills our need to know we are loved and that our life has meaning and value. Out of this relationship of knowing who we are in Christ, we can sincerely and wholeheartedly praise God from the center of our being without the restriction of walls or any false persona.
To recap the above: We come to a saving knowledge about Christ through our intellect (Reuben). We should then learn to hear his voice and obey Him (Simeon). As we continue doing this, we will find ourselves being joined with Christ in a relationship (Levi). Out of this relationship we will find our true self (Judah). All too sadly, many Christians never progress past the Reuben stage and are, therefore, immature, not knowing who they are in Christ.
I have much more in my book, Dissociation Revealed and Healed in Scripture, that reveals why Judah is the True Self as seen in the prophecy Jacob spoke over him, but I’ve laid enough ground work here for us to go ahead and see how he split away from the rest of his mainstream of consciousness and went down where he felt safe. It truly is an amazing revelation of how up-to-date Scripture can be when the Holy Spirit removes the veils.
Actually before we go there I want to show just one thing from Jacob’s prophecy where he said of Jacob, “he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? “Stooped down” in Hebrew is kara meaning “to sink, to fall.” “Couched” is rabats meaning “to crouch (on all four legs folded, like a recumbent animal), to lurk or imbed.”
Here is a picture of the True Self that has sunk down into a lower region of the soul. It is imbedded there like an animal crouching on all fours hiding itself for protection from its enemies. Scripture says he couched as a lion. There are several different words for “lion” in the Hebrew language. This particular word, aryay, represents “a young lion.” This is telling us that it is most likely when we are young that our True Self splits off from the rest of our stream of consciousness and imbeds itself deep down in our soul.
Then this verse asks the question, As an old lion, who shall rouse him up? When this person in whom the True Self has been torn away and embedded in the deepest recesses of the soul grows old, is there any hope for him? Is there anyone who can bring him out of hiding so that he can take his rightful place in this life? The next verse reveals that Jesus (Shiloh) is the one who will raise him up. There is so much more to say about this but it is way too long for this article.
Because of the length of this article, I am going to add a Part II where I will show exactly what he did when he split away from his mainstream of consciousness.
All this and more is in the book Dissociation Revealed and Healed in Scripture available here: http://hispresenceonline.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=1157&action and also at amazon.com. Price is lower here than on Amazon.
