The sculptor’s statement is relevant to the process of self-realization as well. In our efforts to find ourselves, we often believe it necessary to reinvent or alter ourselves into someone entirely different from who we are. We overlook the inherent truth within ourselves. Becoming ourselves is the process of chipping away what is not us and discovering the self that has always existed. Becoming who we are is finding the divine self— the work of exquisite art, the universe embedded in our souls. Becoming who we are—the true “us”—is a path to healing and enlightenment.

Finding our true selves, however, is not easily achieved. It requires letting go of previously held ideas or states of mind and uncovering the wisdom available in our own hearts. Western rational thought has emphasized the analytical examination of self through scientific and qualitative means. However, reaching an understanding of self through purely analytical means is as futile as the work of an artist who creates purely from analysis of form and not from the creative powers of heart and soul.

The journey from head to heart results in the integration of the total self—mind, heart, and soul. We are born as our true selves, unwounded expressions of the divine. In an ideal world, our parents, our extended families, our teachers, and our whole culture would validate this awareness of the divine. But we don’t live in an ideal world, so layers of untruths are delivered to us and often we accept them as truth. The true self becomes buried or lost.