Society of Friends Network. SOFN

Society of Friends Network, SOFN, part 1

I imagine SOFN as a non-profit organization which promotes ideas, life skills, tools, and materials which help people to realize their greatest potential, peace of mind, health and happiness.

The Idea

Every person grows up identified with a personality based on the conditioning of the parents and society. Often traumatized by experiences and by dysfunctional behaviors and influences we develop a false self which needs to be discarded and replaced with our true Self through a change of mind. Traditionally for some this mind change took place through traumatic events, in a midlife crisis, in quests for meaning or in following spiritual paths.

Many others never reached the level of consciousness which can lift us out of suffering into wholeness and health of mind and spirit..

The mind change necessary for healing consists of identifying the true Self in our own psyche, differentiating it from our false self which was based on traumatic upbringing and conditioning and consistantly choose to live and express as our true Self. The challenge of the SOFN is to make the understanding of the necessity of this mind change so common place that all world cultures recognize this need and take steps to integrate it into common means of education.

The true Self has been called God in us, the holy spirit, the true or divine Self, Brahman, boddhisattva, Christ consciousness, our original goodness, love, truth, peace of mind, serenity, the Great I Am, the kingdom of heaven within, etc. Consciously identifying with this Self frees us from the fears and atachments to the lower level of the ego.

The false self is the ego, the mask, the personality, the old adam, or d' evil, which is always trying to gain power and satisfaction by depending on something outside of itself. It is created as a false identity in reaction to childhood fears caused by emotional trauma. Neglect or abuse of the original spirit, of the child within, leads to an identification with the dualistic level, the thinking that is trying to protect us from harm on the material plane, which leads to a constant fear of not getting or not being enough, the root of all addictions and tendencies to depend on something besides the true Self.

We know enough today about how to free ourselves from the traumas of the past as well as from fear, doubt and a consciousness of lack to be able to teach how to recognize, develop, identify, and live out of our true Self. For, in fact, nothing is required but to be honestly ourselves by letting go of all tendencies that deflect us form being honest, sincere, and true to our original desire of goodness. This healing of the spirit is the prerequisite for healing mind, body and society and to develop world peace.