Page 18 - BECOMING AWARE

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another fifteen years to go before you

achieved full mental and physical maturity.

During this time, your childlike consciousness

of yourself as a separate ego became painfully

aware of its inability to cope unaided in the

external world. The over-riding need of you, as

an immature human organism, was to be loved

- to be unconditionally recognised and

accepted as a uniquely individual being – in

which case, once maturity had been achieved,

there would have been no conflict between

your perception of yourself (ego, ‘I’) and your

actuality (your real, authentic self).

But, life is not ideal. In this imperfect world,

the experience of unconditional love is the

exception rather than the rule. Any

withdrawal of affection – that is, conditional

love - implied that none of your other needs

were going to be met. You, as a child, would

have instinctively sensed this threat to your

survival; it formed the foundation on which