What is the Higher Self, and where did the idea come from? This slow, calming history follows humanity's oldest recognition, that a wiser part of you never fully descends into ordinary life, from ancient Egypt to modern psychology. Let it play as you drift off, or stay awake and learn. We begin in Rome around 253 AD with the philosopher Plotinus and his teaching of the undescended soul, then travel back to the Egyptian ka and ba and the Weighing of the Heart. From there we move through the Upanishads and Atman (tat tvam asi), Plato's daimon, Gnosticism and the Poimandres myth, Mani and his heavenly twin, Hermeticism and Nous, the Kabbalistic layers of the soul (nefesh, ruach, neshamah), and the Sufi stages of the nafs and Ibn Arabi's Perfect Human. In the modern era we cover Emerson's Over-Soul, Blavatsky's seven principles of Theosophy, Annie Besant, Aleister Crowley's Holy Guardian Angel, Alice Bailey's soul-infused personality, the I AM Presence, Carl Jung's Self and individuation, the Seth Material, Michael Newton's between-lives soul self, Assagioli's Psychosynthesis, Frederic Myers's subliminal self, Huna, and Dolores Cannon's work with the subconscious. Receive my free guide "5 Inner Blocks That Keep You From Deep Spiritual Growth." View my latest content all in one place.