In modern terms, the parallel with emotional division between outer and
inner life is obvious; but can we ask, without assumptions, which one was
the phantom?
A Chan master said, "The girl had split souls; which was the real one? “
If we say she was really at home, yet she lived with her lover; if we say
she was with her lover, yet she was lying abed at home.
The Chan answer is that both conditions, both "selves," were guests of a
formless host.
Another master said, "If you can awaken to the real one herein, you will
know that leaving one state of being and entering another is like staying at
an inn." In psychological terms, this would surest that the individual who
realizes the true host can enter and exit thoughts, feelings, moods, and
personalities at will, being centered in the primal spirit and thus not subject
to control by the contents of conditioned states of consciousness.
One of the great advantages of using such stories to jog the mind is that
the very act of remembering the possibility of "switching" already places
psychological distance between host and guest, thus dispelling to some
degree the mesmeric influence of thoughts, feelings, moods, and
personalities.
