Earthly Self

Earthly Self is a syncretic term for Bodily Ego, used by Emanuel Swedenborg.

Syncretic Terms

Bodily Ego > Acquired Self, Antahkarana, Apparent Ego, Awkward Self, Earthly Self, Elusive Self, Empirical Self, False Personality, Illusory Self, King of the Body, Little Self, Normal Self, Not Self, Outer Self, Personality, Self, Sensual Ego, Subtle Body, Talking Self

Notes

According to Swedenborg,

We are created in such a way that we are in the spiritual world and the earthly world at one and the same time. The spiritual world is where angels are and the earthly world is where we are. And since that is how we are created, we are given an inner nature and an outer nature—an inner nature that allows us to be in the spiritual world, and an outer nature that allows us to be in the earthly world. Our inner nature is what we refer to as the inner self, and our outer nature is what we refer to as the outer self (Swedenborg, 2016: 3:36).

Swedenborg contrasts Outer Self/Earthly Self with Inner Self. Inner Self, which is Swedenborg's term for Spiritual Ego

Swedenborg suggests that "From birth and by nature, our earthly self is opposed to our spiritual self

This is not true. our Bodily Ego becomes opposed to our Spiritual Ego only when the Physical Unit is under stress or duress, as it is when raised within a system that encourages/used Toxic Socialization in order to keep the Physical Unit diminished and amenable to control. Under those conditions, the Bodily Ego disconnects itself in order to operate in its instinctual Fight, Flight, or Submit algorithms.

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