Remembering Who You Are: The Direct and Indirect Paths to True Self

We’re not born with a sense of Self, it’s something we construct throughout our lifetime beginning with the emergence of representational thinking around the ages of 3 or 4. As we learn our name, differentiate our likes and dislikes, develop skills to categorize the world around us, and embrace living as a Self separate from other people, we experience an array of life challenges. What complicates things is we tend to live life disconnected from the truth that all things are impermanent. We do our best to hold on to what makes us feel safe, secure, loved, or worthwhile. But the harder we grasp at our attachments, the more suffering we perpetuate on ourselves. In this webinar we’ll explore the idea that there is something that does not change, a True Self delineated by all the great spiritual traditions that when remembered and experienced, can serve as a central organizing force in life.

• How the Self is constructed throughout life and becomes veiled from True Nature
• Why living a life of parts disconnected from True Nature perpetuates suffering
• Ways to access True Self via the direct and indirect paths
• Resources to guide contemplative practices

About the Presenter

John Fitzgerald is the creator of the 5-Actions Program™. Dr. Fitzgerald has been on Clinical Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Sciences University since 1998, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon since 2001, and a Certified Addiction Specialist since 2006. He holds a doctoral degree in systems science and social psychology from the Systems Science Graduate Program at Portland State University where he has also held an Adjunct Faculty position since 2007. His career has been devoted to understanding addiction and its treatments, and translating that knowledge into the 5-Actions Program.