Week 3: Uncluttering our Core Self

March Newsletter: If I had been an advisor for Inside Out 2... From Wounds to Wisdom Series

Mar 03, 2025

“The practice of contemplation proceeds by the gradual removal of layers of clutter so that the radiant ground of light now shines less lumbered and encumbered.” ~ Martin Laird, The Ocean of Light

In Inside Out 2, Anxiety takes the developing Self of teenage kid Riley, and chucks it to the garbage dump. Anxiety says it’s time for a new self and begins the work of connecting new thoughts (or inner narratives) to the new experiences that cause anxiety. According to Anxiety, this is to protect Riley.

As with all our protective strategies, the intentions are good. But I’ve got issues with this:

The Core Self can never be chucked away. It is good, always, unwounded, untarnished. The Wisdom of the Enneagram authors Riso & Hudson, speak of this as our Essence. They write, “No matter what our past, we can take heart that even the most traumatic childhood experiences cannot damage or destroy our Essence. Our Essence is still pure and untarnished, although it is constricted and obscured by the structures of our personality.”

The idea of the Self runs throughout many traditions and spiritualities. Internal Family Systems calls it the Core Self. I like Core Self better than True Self vs False Self. I’ve come to see that it’s not really our ‘false’ self. The part of us that exist to protect and preserve us are very real and based in the truth we experienced. To those parts, there’s nothing false about them.

The Core Self is clouded over, covered as though with a black cloth (Teresa of Avila’s idea), though still radiant:

“The fountainhead that shines like the sun from the center of the soul never loses its radiance. It is ever-present within the soul and nothing can diminish its beauty” ~Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle

Martin Laird and many in various traditions call it our mental clutter, cluttering our perception of what is true. In the beginning quote, Laird says that contemplative practices help slowly declutter us, and IFS would say, integrate our various parts so that we can be more Self-led.

Often in Lent, Psalm 51 is read, ‘Create in me a clean heart’. When I read this beautiful rendition of Psalm 51 by Nan Merrill, I think of what clouds our Core Self. I don’t read our heart as dirty as we think of it, opposite to clean, more clouded by fears, unable to see or shine clearly, or operate in freedom, but cluttered.

I invite you to read it slowly, noticing what stands out to you:

You have placed Your Truth in my inner being;
Therefore, teach me the wisdom of the heart.
Forgive all that binds me in fear, that I might radiate love;
cleanse me that Your Light might shine in me.
Fill me with gladness; help me to transform weakness into strength.
Look not on my past mistakes but on the aspirations of my heart.

Create in me a clean heart, O Gracious One,
And put a new and right spirit in me.
Enfold me in the arms of Love, and fill me with the Holy Spirit.

Then I will teach other Your ways and prisoners of fear will return to You.
Deliver me from the addictions of society, most Gracious One.
O keep me from temptations that I may tell of Your justice and mercy.
O Gracious One, open my lips and my mouth shall sing forth Your praise.
For You do not want sacrifice. You delight in our friendship with You.

~ Psalm 51, Psalms for Praying, Nan Merrill

I wonder as we read this passage and enter this season of lent, if we can consider what clutters and encumbers us, perhaps the fears that limit our freedom to live from our Core Self.

As Father Greg Boyle points out below, it not only liberates us, its changes how we see others:

“Dwelling deep within all our souls is this undeniable, inexhaustible wellspring of love, wisdom, and goodness. If we can’t uncover and see this essential purity in ourselves, then everyone who we see is ugly, limited, and not measuring up.” ~Father Greg Boyle, The Whole Language

Uncluttering also does nothing less than give us eyes to more clearly see God.

“What bliss you experience when your heart is pure! For then your eyes will open to see more and more of God.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭TPT‬‬

So if I had been a consultant for Inside Out 2, though much appreciating the incredible work of the movie, I would’ve had Anxiety cover over the Sense of Self with a black cloth, not throw it to the garbage dump.

Maybe the cloth has tentacles down into the Belief Systems, yet the Core Self is still good, pure and radiant with the image of God.

Journal Prompts:

What encumbers you?
What addictions of society do you resonate with?
How does it feel to think of your core essence untarnished and unblemished?
What comes up for you as you consider the journey of wounds to wisdom?

Choose Your Own Adventure: Practices & Newsletters

Tool for Self-Awareness: Wisdom of Enneagram Basic Desires & Distortions

If you are familiar with your Enneagram Type, look at the basic desire below, part of your personality and need. Honor your goodness. See if you can notice with curiosity and compassion how that desire plays its self out in your life.