Hehe- perhaps a clearer thing (i love this topic)
Many agree that there is a subconscious, super conscious or "higher self" and stuff like that and don't find that too out there.
What happens is you identify YOU as that little "conscious" part. I'll use my name, Evan. Evan will do techniques, inner work, self inquire, let things go etc. and find that answers, knowledge, power, and so on can come from the result of doing this.
But interestingly this turns into Evan went into "his subconscious" or "higher self" (i'm guessing most everyone has experienced this type of clarity/wisdom etc that comes from this place). I still identify myself as Evan, which is just a small segment of the whole deal with a story behind it, and then Evan went into this other territory and it made Evan a little bit better, more functional.
Except all that wisdom, power, confidence etc IS you and Evan is a small fragment of it that was created out of it - but I'm so used to calling that "me." Just like in a dream the WHOLE dream is in your head, your mind is literally generating every character in that dream but you still identify yourself as the central character and will say "in my dream these monsters attacked me" but it was all generated by you. You just identified with that vantage point.
It's not just some feel good self-help bullshit. When you start to believe and experience that the place where all those answers and clarity and power comes from IS actually you and not something you GET access to when you do xyz right, you adopt a very different stance in life. You begin to trust what comes up and don't look for validation etc. This has been what seems to be unfolding for me the more this unravels.
The only way you can have an internal conflict is if there is someone or something else in there to conflict with what arises
It feels more secure to have a right answer and a fixed idea of who we are and how we should be and so we generally make that "ourself" and turn all the power and shit into these mystical other things like "my subconscious" - "my shadow" - "my higher self" etc.
The more you have access to everything, the more "Evan" can be whatever he needs to be in the moment - whether that's kill a guy if his life is in danger, be unmovable with a woman giving him shit or also much lighter and fun with one when it's appropriate, without some pre determined concept saying one is right and one is wrong.
I get to play the part of Evan and do whatever I want with him. You can create your identity and make it as maleability and powerful as you want. That's very different than thinking that he is the entirety.
Like was said in an earlier thread you can have a steak in the matrix and know what it is and still enjoy the hell out of it. You just see it for what it is and the heaviness and significance of it starts to go away
That's why it seems so long winded re: "be yourself" but what you believe to be "yourself" is so central to all of it