The Counterfeit Self: Unlearning the Labels You Were Given
You are not What you Have Been Taught
The Counterfeit Self: Unlearning the Labels You Were Given
Most of us are living under a false identity. A mask. A counterfeit self that was handed to us long before we even had a say.
Think about it. From the time you were born, you were given labels: boy, girl, smart, lazy, pretty, ugly, weak, strong, black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Muslim, and replete with are the traditional trappings and culture. Labels stacked on top of each other until you couldn’t even hear your own true voice anymore.
That’s the counterfeit self. It’s not you—it’s the system’s version of you.
Where the Labels Come From
The world runs on categories because categories are control. If they can label you, they can predict you. If they can predict you, they can manage you. And if they can manage you, they can siphon your energy without you even realizing it.
Governments label you with nationality and ID numbers.
Religions label you with sin and salvation.
Schools label you with grades and ranks.
Media labels you with beauty standards and trends.
And the cruelest part? You start to believe it. You start living as the mask instead of the spirit and the soul that you are.
Why the Counterfeit Self Is Dangerous
When you live under those labels, you fight battles that aren’t even yours. You spend your life proving, defending, and performing to keep up with the false identity.
You end up in a loop of wars—internal wars, social wars, political wars—thinking you’re striving for justice. But if the justice you’re fighting for can be stripped away tomorrow, it was never real justice in the first place.
The counterfeit self thrives on conflict. It’s the perfect soldier for a system that feeds on chaos.
Returning to the True Self
Here’s the truth: you don’t need the world to validate you. You don’t need a label to make you real. You were born with your divinity intact.
Unlearning the counterfeit self means:
Refusing to be defined by systems that profit from your confusion.
Recognizing that you are not your job, your past, your mistakes, or even your body.
Remembering that the real self is sovereign, untouchable, and already whole.
When you reclaim your true self, the labels start to slide off. You no longer need to “prove” who you are…you simply are.
A Practice for Unlearning
Here’s a simple exercise you can start today:
Write down every label you’ve been given, by family, religion, school, society.
Cross out the ones that don’t belong to you.
Sit in silence and ask your higher self: Who am I without these?
Whatever rises in that stillness, that’s the seed of your true self.
Closing Word
The counterfeit self will always try to whisper in your ear. The system will always try to rename you, reshape you, redefine you.
But you were not made to be managed. You were made to be free.
So peel off the mask. Lay down the labels. And step boldly back into the truth of who you are. If you’re uncertain of what that is, just peel away the false identities and the true one will automatically surface.
The real you is more powerful than any counterfeit version the world could ever invent.
Stay sovereign, and stay true to yourself.
—Papa G