Reveal Your Geyser-Self

Rather than being a spring beneath the lake of your ego, make your self into a geyser.

Photo by James Fitzgerald on Unsplash

Self : Ego :: Spring : Lake

There’s a gap — a disconnect — between how we present ourselves (how we allow ourselves to be) and who we truly are. It's like the distance from the surface of a lake to the spring that feeds it from beneath.

Like a spring, your self feeds the lake that is your ego.

You protect yourself with a veil that distorts light and keeps others on the distant shore. And, from the shore, others only see the surface of your ego-lake. They are unaware of the spring. And you can't truly know your self because you’re gasping beneath the pressure of the voluminous ego.

Vaporize the Ego Lake

Why not relieve yourself of that weight so that you may come to know your unencumbered and raw, authentic and genuine self?

The lake is beautiful, calm. Its waters ebb and flow and bring peace to those who visit its shores. But the source of the lake is concealed. It gives to all yet is known by none. People on your lake's shore may learn something about themselves, but only that sort of knowledge that comes from monologue.

They won't learn about or have the opportunity to connect with you because your ego-lake conceals you from the world.

Why must the spring be hidden? There's so much to learn from witnessing a spring at work, through its regular shows of force and beauty — its acts of creation. Rather than remain the buried spring, vaporize the lake and reveal the naked mouth of your self to the world.

Make your self into a geyser.

Reveal Your Geyser-Self

The spring is inaccessible, isolated, whereas the geyser is seen, celebrated.

Here's what the geyser is and what the ego-lake isn't:

• People on the shores of the lake stay as long as it pleases them. People near a geyser stand by, with an unblinking attention, anticipating its next show.

• The lake's spring contributes when it is pressured, compelled to keep the ego fed. The geyser exercises discretion; it acts according to itself, unapologetically, and with a confident intent.

• Rather than being obscure and convoluted, the geyser is clear and articulate.

By revealing your geyser-self, you give yourself and others the chance to know you as you truly are. Who could that harm, and how would it not help?

Springboard:

What is something you tend to conceal that would be cathartic to reveal? To whom could you reveal it? How would they respond?