The work of being oneself might seem like hollow sentiment in our modern times, especially when most spiritual paths promote improvement or transcendence of the self into something else, something separately Divine.

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But mystics of all lineages eventually come to realize a single thread that runs through all of our understanding: we are unique expressions of a whole, a microcosm of the macrocosm, with the potential to be all that we need in any given moment.

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In Sufi traditions, we understand that within each of us exists the potential to manifest all the Divine Names. Any natural inclination toward any of those names is our unique expression of God, wholly us and wholly sacred. The work is recognition, then, as Ibn Arabi says, "If men knew themselves, they would know God; and if they really knew God, they would be satisfied with Him and would think of Him alone."

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In Dzogchen, the Great Perfection of Tibetan Buddhism, we find the teaching that your true nature—luminous, clear, empty like the sky—is already there. The path is not improvement, but merely a recognition of what you've always been and the practice of being able to rest within that so wholly that each moment you arise the exact you that needs to be.

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In Western Occultism, Paracelsus understood: "Be not another, if you can be yourself." The inner firmament, he knew, is already complete and our work is to align with what we already are. He stressed that we are meant to be responsible for consciously choosing our path, not excusing our nature as something set in stone by the stars. This is the work of knowing ourselves wholly and acting with full sovereignty in each choice we make.

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To arise in the ease of being oneself is not some hollow aphorism, but the most spiritual practice you can undertake.

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To deny ourselves is to deny the Divine. If our practices deny our essential selfhood, repressing aspects of ourselves and shutting down the Divine within, we find ourselves more and more confused about our joy, our purpose, our reason for living, and more inclined to act in fear, projection, and anger.

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This is why the dynamics between Self and Other are the ground of relational animism. We start with becoming whole to ourselves and, by extension, to one another—relating through the unity of the larger web while maintaining the essential selfhood that makes you, you and me, me.

This is the power of relational work: to start at the ground of the self and align into right relationship with the larger web of existence.