The Core Self, The Ego, The Mask: Understanding the Levels of Change

This week, Annie Addington shares how we can remove the mask and ego so we can access the core self and use the energetics of change to support ourselves in our healing.

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So, I taught music and drama for many years. I needed to work in NYC for a period of 10 years in order to gain the benefits that I would need to support myself in later life.

Then, one day…..

I was having dinner, a lovely French dinner in NYC with some friends from Germany. The waiter came and poured Medoc into my glass by mistake. I looked at my friends and said, "I think I’ll just drink this now."  

My friend, who was a doctor, said, "I think you can probably drink now." Yay, said my lower self!!

Less than one year after that glass of wine, I found myself again in an abusive relationship with a drummer from Africa, 26 years my junior. I married him. 

WE MUST BEWARE! BEWARE OF A FOOLISH HEART. 

I did find my way out of that, and of course stopped drinking, but not without experiencing the learned helplessness that once again made me feel that I could NOT get out. It took time. 

If you look at the after effects of abuse, you have to realize that they will continually arise. 

The way out is the way through. 

By deep work to raise our consciousness, by understanding more and more deeply how this darkness tries to bring us down, we can rise and conquer.  

Conquer what? Conquer, through knowledge, through understanding of our experiences, the idea that we are at the effect of outer circumstances and rise with the knowledge of our absolute power to CREATE the Life we desire.

So, let me share some of the teachings that saved my life, that opened my mind and showed me how to understand that thing called, "Self". 

I just mentioned that my lower self was so happy to think that it could drink again. So, what’s a lower self? 

In the Pathwork, one of the first things that we learn is that there is a CORE in each being, a Center of Right Energy, where the Higher Self abides. That is the essence that we all have, that is bright, that is vibrating at a high frequency, that is, as some would say, Spirit. That is where Love and absolute creativity lie. 

Many understand the concept that we have many levels of energy. In the Pathwork, it was explained this way; imagine a large circle with a smaller circle within it, and another circle inside that. The inner circle would represent the higher self. The Core. The circle around it is the lower self. 

"The lower self consists not only of the common faults and the individual weaknesses that vary with each person, but also of ignorance and laziness. It hates to change and conquer itself; it has a very strong will that may not always manifest itself and wants its way without paying the price. It is very proud and selfish, and always has a great deal of personal vanity. It is the ego with all its manifestations." ~The Higher Self, The Lower Self and the Mask, Pathwork Guide, Lecture No. 14 | October 11, 1957.

Then the outermost layer is the Mask. In the lectures, the Guide says, "the sickly, sweet smell of the Mask." 

The mask is created because the feelings and actions of the lower self are not acceptable, so, the person creates a Mask Self. 

You all know the feeling, I am sure, of seeing someone coming at you with a great big smile, and you feel completely creeped out, because the other energy is alive and well under that smile. And it’s downright scary!

That is a perfect example of the Mask covering the lower self. 

Eva told us that, "All negativity is a defense against pain." So, in a sense the lower self was a protective layer. In fact, she taught us that everyone’s lower self was exactly the same, with the same emotions, i.e. your jealousy is the same as my jealousy. BUT, our Higher Selves are all unique.  

So much of the work begins with separating these voices and becoming aware of how these aspects are alive in you. We must become conscious of our very thoughts and thought patterns. 

Then, the mask can be confronted, the lower self revealed, the energies that live there released, and the pain will come and flow and the heart will open. I have seen it many, many times. 

In iPEC, where I did my coaching certifications, there are 7 levels of energy. All of the above can fit, as well, but the most important part of it, is that, for instance, in Level 1, that is where we find the Victim. That is the lowest vibration. It is the place where we are the effect of life and not at the cause. It is called catabolic energy, because only catabolic hormones are released.  Cortisol, adrenaline. 

Level 2, energy is characterized by conflict, with the core emotion being anger. This energy contains thinking of antagonism, struggle, resistance, frustration, and defiance.

Again, Level 2 is catabolic energy. 

However, it is a HIGHER level of energy and a way to move up the spectrum. 

That is what was happening when we, in the Pathwork, released the feelings in the lower self, showed them to others as they were, let our rage flow. 

The rage, or hate, or whatever negative energy that is there, is a defense.  There is always pain underneath.

For those of us who have been abused, I deeply believe that it is necessary to release the rage, the outrage and then, and only then can the tears flow unhindered, and hearts will open, and healing will take place. 

Even deciding to do this work brings one up to Level 3, which is the beginning of anabolic energy. Self-responsibility takes place. 

There are more levels as described in the Core Energy Process, but this can give you an idea of what kind of healing work is possible.  

Read Part 4: Are Your Inner Dialogues Killing You?

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My life has been filled with constant change. I survived and rose from the ashes of childhood abuse, an ever-hungry and curious spirit, seeking growth, knowledge and change.

My first time in college, I was a theater major. I had been acting for several years in Community theater and in Summer Stock, where I played Luisa, (the Girl) in the Fantastiks, for instance. After two years at UCONN, I received an award for my acting, and thought I was to become a great actress, so I left school and moved to NYC, where I studied acting at Herbert Berghof Studios. But, it was 1967 and an influx of Love and Consciousness was happening. Woodstock!! Music!!! Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll!

So off I went, into a new world. The abuse that I experienced in my childhood went very deep and I experienced all of the after effects of this violation. Depression, anxiety, promiscuity and parties.

In 1978, I found the Pathwork and Core Energetics and my life turned around. I entered into deep studies and personal work with amazing teachers.

I moved to Amsterdam in 1981, where there was a strong Pathwork, with the idea of living in Europe for one year. I reconnected with my ex-husband, whom I had met at the Pathwork Center. We co-founded an institute in Germany in which we worked with and trained people to further the teachings of John and Eva Pierrakos, to explore the depths of oneself; one's thought processes, one's physical condition and one's feelings.

In the Institute, we also gave teachings of the different character structures, the feelings associated with them, their beginnings and their effects on self and others in the form of communication, transferences and counter-transferences, i.e. a deep approach to enhanced Emotional Intelligence and the level of exchange it can elicit.

My son, Christian was born in 1984, in Holland, where I was living.

I was longing to work with people, to teach, to raise consciousness, so I did my certifications as a Coach and ELI-MP through iPEC Coaching, where all the values of my earlier training and exciting new ways of looking at the work became alive again. I signed up right away.

So now, the Core Energy Coaching Process from iPEC Coaching and the experience I gained from my studies and work in Core Energetics, meet, as one.

This is my commitment to be of service to others; I am excited, a child in awe, to see others rise and grow…to contribute to the healing process of others. I

I am planning an online women’s group where survivors can grow together, and I look so forward to reignite this process.

I also am singing and preparing my CDs for distribution. The End/The Beginning

Learn more at http://quantumtransitions.com/