The Self

There are three selves in each of us:

1. The essential self- This is the good person we where created as and intended by our creator to become. It is the self should strive to know and become in being true to our self. This is the self reffed in the parable of the Prodigal Son when it says that he "came to himself." It was created by God to love and be loved by and receives its identity from God alone.
2. The existential self- This is us as we actually are and which has fallen short of the essential self to various degrees by loving Gods good gifts more than God. The existential self receives its identity from all these things that it loves more than God.
3. The false self- This is a false representation of our self that we create and try to convince others that we are and may even convince ourselves that we are. The False self helps us deal with the guilt and shame that is caused by the existential self failing to live up to being the essential self. It consist of the hypocrisy and lies we tell others andourself and even God. The farther the existential self from the essential self the farther the existential self from the false self. The false self can not only cause us to lose sight of the existential self but also the essential self. When we have lost sight of the essential self than we are hopelessly lost without God. When the false self loses sight of the essential self than it tries to find itself by comparing itself to others interms of the false gods the existential self created. For example the false self may say it is rich or poor, fat or thin etc. In comparing itself to others it tries to make others look worse to make itself look better. The false self in being a false entity does not have a true identity.