Forever Expanding Awareness In Liberation

Today I happened upon a forum on a site called www.RickRoss.com, and on there the Cult Education Forum. The message thread I was looking at was about Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle (although it focused primarily on Katie). It was titled Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit?? You can view it by clicking here. (warning, there are 96 pages of discussion!).

Byron Katie is the teacher of what she calls The Work. As far as I can ascertain this is essentially a process of self-enquiry that revolves around four questions and what she calls “a turn-around”. You can find out more on this at www.thework.org.

Eckhart Tolle is the author of numerous books, the first and most populate of which is called The Power Of Now. He is a spiritual teacher who is very popular and was made increasingly so when Oprah Winfrey took up his cause and promoted his teachings and online courses with him.

I have read through about 10 of the 96 pages of discussion on this topic. I read these because I found it very educational to gain insight into some of the ways in which people approach teachers like Katie and Tolle (and many others), and how certain people view the work and teachings of such teachers and authors. Please take the time to read through a few pages of the forum thread I am referring to in order to get an impression of what I am talking about.

What I discovered was what appears to be as a form of collective co-dependency. I see a collective of people playing out what is in psychological terms referred to as a co-dependant triangle. This is a model of how co-dependent relationships tend to involve three positions or rolls. These rolls are Victim, Aggressor/Victimiser, and Saviour. Co-dependant people will take up all and any of these rolls when relating to other people, events, situations, and the world in general.

On the forum at rickross.com I see people who take up the roll of saviour and who are projecting onto the world the roll of victim, and onto these teachers the roll of aggressor/victimiser. The basic assumption is that people who attend a Byron Katie workshop, or even buy one of her books, are falling pray to her abuse of their gullibility, or something to that effect. Similarly, people who get into Tolle’s teachings are falling pray to victimisation by him. That he is taking advantage of them. If people get more deeply involved in the activities of these teachers then they are getting caught up and victimised by a cult.

What I observe here are people who at some level are quite probably harbouring a deep pain-filled feeling of being a victim. A victim to what, I can not say. It is only an educated and intuitive guess that this is what’s going on for them at all, but I’d be surprised if it was not.

The basic madness involved here is the notion that people who decide to go to a Byron Katie workshop are not powerful enough to use their God given free will in a way that is ultimately in their own best interest. Even if Katie and Tolle are complete fraudsters who only wish to rip people off and make lots of money, it is completely irrelevant. Each person has the capacity to determine what is right for them in this moment. They may discover in the next moment that their awareness/consciousness has shifted and The Work or The Power of Now (or whatever) is no longer their cup of spiritual tea. They can then choose to move on. They can also discover why they choose to get into something that ripped them off (assuming that’s what they discover).

I have not met Byron Katie, but I am aware of her process and it is almost identical to one I developed myself  by the time I was 20 or so. This was a process or approach to reality I have effectively used to free myself from suffering. It is the most effective tool I have come across so far, and is included in one of my forthcoming books (Empowering Relationships). In fact, I first heard about Byron Katie a few years ago when I was explaining this particular healing approach to reality to a guy who then assumed I must have studied with Byron Katie. Since learning about her process I see we essentially came up with the same thing. So, to put it simply, I have no issue (in principle) with the crux of what she is teaching.

With regards to Eckart Tolle, I don’t concur with everything he has to say in his books, but in principle I find his approach to be very closely aligned with wholeness. I think ostracising the ego, as he does, is a mistake made all too often by way too many spiritual teachers and teachings, but perhaps this is what many people need to hear in order to grow and free themselves up, before they discover the ego is simply the seed of the Presence (or “I” of God) within them. That point aside, what little I’ve seen of Tolle’s work I feel is innately empowering for people and nothing to be afraid of. If not empowering, it is at least what I would describe as essentially harmless. Yet even if it was dark and abusive, no one is a victim to that. People make choices and then experience the consequence of those choices. If the consequences are painful they have an opportunity to wake up and be more conscious. This is life. This is a simple concept called self-responsibility. It’s not rocket science.

I am drawing your attention to this so-called cult bashing because I feel it highlights a number of very significant human dynamics that are playing out in this world, and which have been playing out for many thousands of years. Particularly:

• The global victim mentality
• Co-dependency and projection
• The fear of change
• The insanity of the collective mob trying to resist people breaking out into their own sovereignty.

My father asked me “how do we get through to people like this” (those who are found in this forum thread), with regards to assisting them to free themselves up from such madness. I said that I don’t think I need to. They are free beings, and they are free to get up in arms about whatever they like. It is only them who will reap the consequences, and grow accordingly and to their particular capacity in any given moment.

May we all remember to accept and honour each person’s approach to life and reality.

It is interesting to note that many people take up what is called an Avatar in the virtual realm we has available to us through the Internet. Avatar is a Sanskrit word that essentially refers to a Being who is in all effects and purposes God incarnate. A fully God-realised Being incarnated as a human. Some might say that the story of the Christos is the story of an Avatar.

So in this virtual Kingdom of the Internet we have the experience of incarnating there as an Avatar. From the perspective of the virtual Kingdom we (our human/non-virtual self) is in Heaven and is fully conscious of its nature as a human. The online Avatar is a mere projection of our full and true (human) self into a virtual world were we take on a role and interact with the Avatars (digital incarnations or indigiations [to coin a new word]) of other fully conscious human beings. The online Avatar is completely ignorant of its true nature as a projection of a human. It is “asleep” to this fact. Asleep to its origins.

What I see here is a metaphor for life on Earth. This human self we have is merely a projection of our true Divine Self. It is an Avatar. I know for a fact that most of the Avatars I meet out in the world are all asleep to their true nature and source. They are yet to wake up.

The human self is our id-entity. Id is Latin for “it”. So our human identity is nothing more than an “it”-entity. An entity that arises through our identification (id-entification / it-entitication… entering the “it”). We can remove the “d” and we end up with an I-Entity. Making a quasi mathematical formula we could perhaps say that:

Id – d = I
Whereby d = dimension or density, or more specifically 3D or the 3rd Dimension.
I = the Supreme “I” that is the “I” (or Eye) of God.

It is not my intention to say anything conclusive in this blog post, rather to simply provide some food for thought and further self-investigation.

It has been a many years since I listened to or read any discussion and information pertaining to the contemporary notion of Enlightenment. It is a topic I explored extensively as a teenager and a little in my early 20’s. After that, well what can I say, it just hasn’t interested me in the same way as it use to.

Yesterday I was reminded of one of the reasons why modern information pertaining to the topic of Enlightenment I not something I am attracted to. What I have found is that nearly every spiritual teacher I have come across, and particular those teachers who claim they are Enlightened, is that their teaching establishes a situation that is both impractical and impassable to a human being seeking freedom. The aspirant is told he or she must transcend his or her current experience of reality as if to step over it or around it. On the one hand the aspirant is told he is imperfect and unenlightened as he is and thus must strive toward his enlightenment, and on the other hand he is told that Enlightenment is the end of all striving. You must seek a state of non-seeking. You must search for a state of non-searching. How is the aspirant ever meant to reconcile this dichotomy?

What I also find is that time and time again enlightenment related teachings come across as being so anti-life. They consistently manage to dismiss the magnificence of life and the perfection of all that is. It is as if life here on Earth was one massive mistake that we must now figure out way out of. This again sets up the aspirant with an impossible situation. On the one hand she experiences her emotions, her challenges, her personality complexes and so forth, yet on the other hand she is instructed to go beyond these things. But who is it that is going beyond them? It’s as if to say, "Get over yourself."

I find this approach lofty and ungrounded. I don’t know what the word is to describe the opposite of pragmatic, but this approach is just that.

The Path of Freedom as I experience it is an approach to reality that fully embraces life. It fully embraces the aspirant’s experience in every regard. Nothing is brushed aside, nothing is ignore, and nothing is seen as anything less than the means to that person’s liberation and total empowerment right now. It uses the combination of the aspirants total experience and their total innate awareness to bring about a shift in perception. This shift in perception results in Inner Peace.

The book I am about to publish will explore this topic in full.

The following is from a dialogue with a friend… who wanted to rid of her ego. Nothing unusual about that… most of the people I meet on some kind of "spiritual path" make the same claim… "I want to be free of my ego" or something along those lines.

The ego, a much misunderstood aspect of the human being, is not in my experience something to be got rid of.

Ego is simply the "I" within us. The same "I" in you that wrote the message you sent me, and expressed and felt the things you wrote in that message.

Our challenge at this time in human history–humankind’s challenge–is in discovering/uncovering the true nature of that "I".

Most people live under an illusion of misidentification of "I" with the world. "I" am defined by the world I perceive around me. Such people are blind to the fact that world they perceive around them is in fact a projection, and apparition, in the mind of the "I" within them or perceiving through them. The true and essential "I" is not of this world… it is in fact the dreamer of this world.

This is what the Christus was presenting to the world when he said "I Am that I Am"… this is the "I" free of identification with the world… the "I" awakening to its own true nature THROUGH this world. Similarly "I AM the way the truth and the light… none shall pass through to God except through me"… this "I" was not referring to some person, an individual human being, to Jesus and so forth… it is referring to the I AM… within Jesus, within you, within me… that "I" is the "I" of that which some call "God". That "I" is directly accessible to each and every human being, right now.

I Am the fish in the sea… I am the wind in the trees… I am the ocean… I am the waves… and I am the one reading these words here on this computer right now!

In-joy…

It’s all a story. Even this which I am telling you now, it too is a story. Every-thing is a story told by a Great Mystery beyond the grasp of our human mind, for even our humanity is a story told by this Great Mystery.

2+2=4
3×3=9
These are stories also; mathematical stories. Yet even the concept of mathematics is again another story. I would about to say "The truth is we can’t get away from telling stories," yet that too is another story. Tricky, isn’t it?

Actually it’s not that complicated nor tricky. Once one realises the world of things is a story, a kind of a letting go can take place. It’s like we can sort of let go of the seriousness of it all, and approach Life from a perspective that is potentially much more at ease with things and especially much more at ease with the unknown, the realm of no-thing–which ordinarily has such a frightful presence in the world of Man.

Because everything is a story there is nothing to believe. There is nothing to disbelieve. We can simply choose what kind of story we wish to tell, and then experience the con-sequence of this story unfolding within our perception. I’ve noticed that the world of Man reflects many stories on many different dimensions. From one perspective it’s an awful story of war, hatred, fanaticism, religious dogmatism, and environmental and ecological destruction, where humankind somehow got it all wrong. There isn’t much fun to be had at that level of story telling–it’s mostly made up of pain and anguish, although human beings seem to do a pretty good job of hiding that fact from themselves. I know I’ve played my part in such stories, at one time or another.

From another perspective Life as made manifest here on/in Earth is an exquisitely beautiful affair, of unimaginable intelligence and perfection. There is such bliss to be experienced, such radiance to be lived, and such kindness to be shared, that all beings are simply overflowing with these qualities. Another angle on that story, however, is that despite this story being true most people seem to hide it from themselves. It’s awfully silly really, yet I know there’s a sound reason for this.

Whenever I am struggling with my circumstances I find it very helpful to pause and ask myself what story I am maintaining in this moment. I invariably find it is my story that is the cause of my pain and whatever suffering I may be experiencing in relationship to that pain. This leaves me with no one to blame, and no one to attack or defend (including myself). It simply leaves me with an opportunity to forgive and in that forgiveness–in that giving up of my story–the opportunity to tell my story anew.

In my story I trust you’ve enjoyed reading this story which I’ve now shared with you.

Self-discipline is an area many people struggle with. I know I have over the years an in some areas this continues to be a challenge I face. According to some research done by Roy Baumeister of Florida State University and his colleagues exercising self-regulation (as they put it) an any area of ones life may result in greater self-regulation in many other areas.

One implication I can see of this hypothesis is that it may mean that sitting every day to meditate, even if only for 10 or 15 minutes, or doing some other spiritual "practice" each day will enable a person to have greater self-discipline and self-regulation in other areas of their life.

Information on this study can be found »here«

For a simple, clear, and to the point look at the nature of forgiveness (from the author’s perspective – which appears to be a Christian one) take a look at this blog entry on joshing.org

Like myself, the author seems to have an interest in the origin and root meaning of words. He discovered this about forgiveness.

The Greek word translated as forgiveness in the New Testament is aphesis. It means dismissal, release, pardon, “to send away” (paid in full).

The Author also had the following to say about what forgiveness is and is not:

Forgiveness is not: approving, excusing, justifying, pardoning, reconciliation (takes two), denying, blindness, forgetting, not taking the wrong seriously, pretending we aren’t hurt.

Forgiveness is: being aware and still forgiving, keeping no records, refusing to punish, not telling others, being merciful, graciousness (what you don’t say), an inner condition (in the heart), absence of bitterness, forgiving God, forgiving ourselves.

 

Enjoy…

Wednesday, March 25th, 1998
Some notes written during a Yoga Teacher Training Course at Aio Wera, Waitakere, New Zealand.

Fear, anger, hatred, blame, and the myriad of other states manifesting at this level of being, are mechanisms that arise in order to protect my false sense of separate self. They arise both to protect this and as a product of this sense of separation. My illusions are self-fulfilling and self-sustaining. I fight to maintain this false sense of separate self to feel that I exist as some independent entity that can then objectively experience Unity / God / Love.

Yet I already am Unity / God / Love, though totally unaware of this reality within the body-mind. Through believing in the illusion of separation I sense that I need this experience in order for it to be real.

If I throw off and deny the ego-personality and all its mad emotions and thoughts then I simultaneous deny God the experience of being Unity / God / Love and having AWARENESS of this reality through experience, through direct perception.

Through letting go of attachment to and identity with the ego-self yet not denying it I become more aware (experientially) of my True and Natural state of Being — Unity / God / Love.

Thusly, God experiences God.
God aware of God.

Just to be aware.
Awareness is the key.

Ultimately the individual — as a unit of Awareness — discovers their self as God.

This leads spontaneously to to discovering that All-Is-God, that all is one.

One can easily stop here and seemingly cease to exist. Evolution comes to a holt. One’s universe ceases to expand. For the Self, in its usual sense, has nothing left to do.

Yet ultimately the purpose of individualized selfhood is not just to experientially be aware of God as God ones for its own sake but rather to be the full expression of that in its totally, for only then is that awareness of God as God complete. Even this has no finality, for we are, of course, dealing with Infinity when we speak of God.

Self is literally transformed into an absolute expression and simultaneous experience of God, the totality, Infinity. At this point, only, does the ego-self illusion truly cease to maintain and experience itself as a reality unto itself. The Boddisatva returns not through some kind of altruistic volition to save and help all beings. That’s a very personal way of relating to it from the mind of those who thing they are being saved. Rather the Boddisatva is all beings, in one particular expression or aspect, moving in whichever way happens to be most conducive for the totality of all beings to sustain the evolution of awareness.

This is God being ABSOLUTELY AWARE of God as all that God is.

This is total illumination. This is the end of separation – and of self. Evolution at the level of self ceases to Be, and yet paradoxically Awareness continues to evolve in ways unfathomable to Man at this point in our development. Creation ceases. It just is. As it always was. Yet now eternally aware of That.

The following is some discussion I’ve had with Albert over at The Urban Monk…

I post it here as Part Two in an exploration of new perspectives on Ego. Part one is over here.

——————–

June 17th, 2007 at 6:22 PM

Thanks Albert for sharing as you do.Interesting I should stumble upon this blog entry on becoming egoless, for in the last few months I’ve been realising another perspective on the ego that differs from the one I’ve been familiar with.

The perspective I have been familiar with is the one most prevalent in most of the so-called “New Age” and many “old-age” spiritual traditions and views on the nature of the human being, reality, etc. This is the one that describes ego as some sort of mistake (mis-take) and implies it has a separate existence from who and whatever we (as humans and consciousness) are. Like it is some kind of entity in its own right… or at the least some kind of separate “thing” within the human consciousness. It’s as if we are all suffering from multiple personality disorder. Yet do all these multiple “parts” really exist in the way most people think they do?

On one level the status-quo perspective on ego has rung true, to a degree… it’s made sense. Yet, I’ve also had this inkling inside that says “hang on a minute, in the perfect Unity of all that is where is there room for this mad ego that is apparently running amuck?”. Infinity knows no error.

Ego is derived directly from the Latin word of the same spelling. It refers to the “I”. We say “I” in English, where one would have said “ego” in Latin.

In my experience the ego is not something we can overcome or get rid of. This is further misperception. Rather it is about expanding my sense of “I” to be more inclussive to the vast infinity that my limited sense of “I” (my limited sense of ego) typically relates to. It’s also commonly proposed that one can enter into a state of self-lessness. Yet that is not my experience. I have realised it is more accurate to say that one can expand their sense of self to a point that is so inclusive of what was previously perceived as “other” and “non-self” that the perception of the self as an independent entity separate from the rest of all-that-is dissolves. If I eradicate the self — or the ego — what is it that remains to say it is so; to know it is so? What is it that has eradicated the ego or the self?

There is, in my experience, an essential I-ness within, and I feal this “I” is the same “I” in you, and me, and the same “I” that some people refer to as “God”. The I that I Am is the “I” that is God.

Attempting to eliminate the ego is, I suspect, another ego-trip. It is again a limited sense of self/ego attempting to manipulate the experience of self and reality based on the perspective afforded to one from that limited sense of self. As far as I experience, in Truth, the Path of Freedom is one of becoming forever more inclusive. The “heart” (the spiritual heart centre) is the inclusive faculty within the Human. The rational / thinking mind is the reductive and deductive faculty. As the heart opens and integrates into the human experience, I have experienced that there is less and less a sense of this mad ego I must over come. Rather I have found that it was more a matter of expanding into a far vaster perception of That which is I.

Is it about human beings dropping their ego or is it really about human beings evolving (as we are) in such a way that what we experience as ego / I / self expands? And I don’t mean in some sort of ego-inflation and self-aggrandisement… no, what I refer to is at the level of the profundity of Man/Woman, not the superficial.

I will be exploring this in more detail on my blog some time soon.

With love and blessings…

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Albert Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 7:25 pm

, thanks for that great entry. It is brilliant! At the same time, I’m finishing off a post on some of what you’ve mentioned (removing the ego is actually more ego), but what you are saying on “Expanding” your consciousness and perception is admittedly new to me – I shall have to explore this.

I think you’ve just put a name to some of the experiences I’ve had in recent times – I’ve been discussing this expansion feeling with a few of my fellow bloggers but I have had nothing concrete yet – I still don’t know what exactly is happening to me – hence I’m sticking with what I’ve personally experienced with this blog. Once I consolidate that expansion thing I’ve been experiencing I’ll write about it. Thank you so much for that, I’ll be keeping a close eye on your blog for further insights. Thanks again!

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FEAL Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 8:06 pm

Albert,
Thanks for the affirming and passionate response.
As I read your reply, the following analogy came to mind.

The human ego in its current state of e-volution (energy spiralling forever outward as form manifestation, and inward as awareness) is like a seed. To the external observer the following process can be seen: The seed dies to the germ within the seed as it begins to germinate (which takes place under the right conditions of moisture and temperature). The germ dies to the seedling. The seedling dies to the sapling. The sapling dies to the mature tree. The flower buds die to the flowers. The flowers die to the fruit. The fruit die to the seeds.

So, from one perspective, one thing dies to the next, just as we might say the ego dies to the true Self. One could also say the catepillar dies to make way for the butterfly.

Yet from another perspective the seed in fact already contains the tree. The seed already contains what is within the umpteen million seeds that tree will produce. Yet with each generation the potentiality of the seed evolves into something more aptly suited to the present conditions, as part of Life’s intelligent response to itself. Thus awareness evolves and expands. From this perspective the seed does not die (it is not got rid of), rather it simply incorporates from the formless side of Life (the unknown) a greater and greater expression of the Intention represented by this seed into the form side of Life (the known). The mature fruit baring tree is simply the full expression or manifestation of the potential inherent to the seed.

Our ego is like this too.
It is simply the seed of that fuller potentiality inherent to the hu-man being. We live on a planet we call Earth. Which is an anagram for Heart (we only have to put the tail round to the mouth of the word Earth to get that).

…….H
…T…….E
…..R…A

(The spiralling process I referred to earlier and also an ancient symbol for the mystery of life… the snake eating its own tail). [Ignor the dots... spaces didn't work so well so put dots instead]

I shall enjoy reading more of your blog soon. Diner time now.

Arohanui,

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Albert Says:
June 17th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

Hmm…you seem to be coming from a very different perspective…I mostly know the ego as a psychological construct, but you seem to be talking about it as more a metaphysical thing? Thank you for taking the time to type up such a great response, I’ll have to look more into it, as I am coming from a completely different perspective than you are.

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FEAL Says:
June 19th, 2007 at 8:57 pm

Yes, indeed. A different perspective.
Thanks for popping over to my blog at www.feal.org. Happy reading. My editor tells me there is 300 or so pages of writing on there.

From where I stand I would say that every “thing” we experience is a construct of one kind or another. We can call it a psychological one, and yet I am inclined to say that the human psyche is also a construct within the empty “space” of the Mind.

If I overcome or eradicate the ego, who is that knows this has taken place? Who is it eradicating the ego?

Further to what I have said already, as I typed the above and considered your above reply, I realised the following:
This “thing” we call the ego and experience as the ego is in fact some “thing” that within time and space (within the human scheme of things) has taken rather a long time to come about. It is the beginnings of the totality (call it God if you like) coming into an even fuller state of Awareness. As already mentioned, the “I” within me (and you) is ultimately the “I” of this totality we call God. I shall add that in my experience God is not an entity in its own right, independent and/or separate from you, me, and all that is.

This seed we experience as the ego has arisen out of the void into the form side of life. All the issues, problems, complexes, challenges, traumas, dysfunctions, etc. that we label and experience are in fact the very basis of our liberation into the Grand Perfection of all that is. These are not “things” to be fixed and/or got rid of, rather they are again the seeds of a vast and mysterious Power (one which most humans not yet even tried to fathom) coming into being — incarnating… stepping into the flesh.

From the lucidity of my True, Pure, and Omnipotent Nature there is no error. There is no faulty aspect within Creation that must be fixed or some how eliminated. There is an infinite perfection playing out… dancing through time, space, and beyond. Our human tendency to perceive that there is “something wrong with me”, which for the spiritual aspirant turns into “this ego and all that goes with it is an error I must correct or overcome”, this tendency arises out of out limited sense of self, our limited sense of ego or “I”.

For aeons I have watched people, and my own self, try to overcome these perceived human problems and conditions, and what we call ego. I’ve also seen beings of relatively great “spiritual accomplishment” (an oxymoron at best, but I think you know what I mean) — let us say these are people who are very conscious on many planes and of a great many spiritual/subtle realities — who were in my experience still being tripped up by a wounded and non-integrated human ego that had most likely been abandoned along the way side some where early on in their journey of spiritual awakening. It simply doesn’t go away. Human ego becomes spiritual ego. Human dysfunction simply becomes spiritual dysfunction. And that too is part of the journey into greater awareness. That too is part of the perfection. Yet that too is something I am equipped to discus and perhaps just one person will hear that discussion and something will click. The fight will end, and a new and more empowering battle will begin. The battle or challenge we were all Intended to face in the journey of Forever Expanding Awareness in Liberation.

With love,

In many spiritual teachings and also through the words of people I know and meet, I discern what I would best describe as  form of multiple personality disorder in relationship to the ego. What I observe is a split between the apparent “self” and the so-called “ego”. Yet what is this ego that is talked about as some kind of entity separate to the self that is identifying it and talking about it? Often I hear the ego being talked about in third person — this is me and that is my ego.

In my experience this is a slightly distorted way of relating to the ego and I question the long term benefits of such an approach. The ego is simply our sense of “I”; our sense of self; our sense of I-dentity or what I sometimes call the I-entity. The word entity comes from entitas, which relates to character/nature of being also a relation establishing that a thing exists. The I-entity (our identity) is that character of self that we use to establish that “I” exists. On planet Earth the existence of the “I” is, as far as I know, unique to human beings.

Is there something wrong with people having a sense of self existence? Is there something life-taking about a person having a sense of the “I” within their awareness? In my experience, many religions and spiritual paths and New Age teachings suggest there is, yet I disagree.

I think that where we get into problems is not so much that we have ego (a sense of self) but rather that at our present level of evolution in consciousness we (the vast majority of human beings) have a relatively limited and oftentimes distorted awareness of what the “I” actually incorporates. I don’t see this as some sort of error or fault in the human psyche but rather a natural consequence of the present state of development within humanity. Would we condemn the caterpillar for identifying with the particular form it takes in that stage of its development, ignorant of the butterfly that is yet to come? Of course not.

What I would like to suggest to you is this. The ego is not something to be suppressed, denied, controlled, condemned, or destroyed. This is as mad as trying to destroy the caterpillar in order to bring about the butterfly. I’ve seen much reference to the notion of transcending the ego, and again it is so often suggest that this is done through some form of separating from the ego (in some way), possibly squashing it (in some way), and voila, we go beyond it. Yet how effective is this? Really?

Would it not be more sensible to heal the ego in its present state–to heal our sense of self in out present state–so that this sense of sense may evolve into an even higher, fuller, and more spiritually integrated Being? The problems the ego appears to create in this world are the natural result of where it is presently at within its evolution. Just as the monarch caterpillar completely ravages the Swan plant before it establishes its chrysalis and eventually emerges as a butterfly, the ego is also ravaging its world. I’ve seen caterpillars ravage a Swan plant to the degree that the chrysalis’ already formed are chewed off, so they drop to the ground and die. Just this past summer I had a Swan plant which started out with about 15 caterpillars. Eventually only one chrysalis remained hanging, to eventually produce a butterfly. Many other rotted on the ground. Each of these caterpillars was behaving selfishly (moving toward the self) yet at their present state of evolution (in terms of consciousness) their appreciation of what that self is is rather limited. Human beings have the inbuilt capacity to operate at a level well beyond that of the caterpillar.

As I was saying, the key is to heal the ego–to heal our limited, dysfunctional, and disfunctional sense of self. Our ego in its present state is setting us–individually and collectively–up with the exact challenges we require in order to evolve to the next natural state of the Human being. The question is, will a few consume the Swan plant at the expense of everyone else or will we do it some other way that incorporates the life, development, and evolution of all beings?

I think that separating from what we call the ego is a mis-take, just as much as it is a mis-take to think that our limited egoic self is the sum total of what it means (or could mean) to be human. I think one only has to look at India and America to see an example of each of these extremes playing out and the pain and suffering each approach to reality brings about. In a place like India one can find the height of development of spiritual tradition and exploration along with the denial or at least the devaluation of the ego-self. The result is a country that is on the one hand immensely “spiritual” and spiritually enriched and yet on the other hand in deeply impoverished with people suffering and dying through starvation, poverty, abuse, caste segregation, and exploitation.

In a country like America we find a very different and yet paradoxically a very similar situation. The ego rules. The ego is it, the be-all and end-all of what life is about. The resent popularity of the movie The Secret is just one tribute to this, where spiritual principles are being promoted (at great financial profit) as a means to the ultimate satisfaction of the ego’s many delude desires and addictions. I think the capitalization and commercialization of materialism in America is the commercialization of the ego in its present state of evolution–that of being identified with a purely physical (even machine-like) body and the emotions, thoughts, and desires experienced within the framework of that body. Yet here in a country of ego-maniacs and ego-gratification we again find the same situation. People dying not of starvation but of greed and obesity and health degeneration that results from such greed. Oddly, death by starvation and death by chronic gluttony are both caused by malnutrition! In the USA we find a nation of people living in relative luxury yet at the same time impoverished with debt, the relatively absence of heart, and a level of consciousness devoid of true spirituality.

Of course, in both situation there are exceptions. If you’re reading this it’s probable you are one of those exceptions. I don’t wish to nullify the reality of those are an exception to the norm in either of these nations. I fully acknowledge I am using two generalizations to make a point. Generalizations that I think have a great deal of basis in reality.

So, in my experience I observe that neither of these approaches is in itself the answer. Denial of ego and worship of the ego both represent a limited approach to the reality of the Self and the evolution of awareness. Each is a stepping stone along the path we are all on–”we” being humanity. Each brings important lessons in the form of challenges that move the human collective toward something that is evolving toward a greater embodiment of awareness, and a fuller expression of Divinity.

The key is to expand our sense of self–our I-entity–so that it incorporates more of what is real and less of what is unreal. What I am referring to is not about the inflation of the ego the results in egomania, but rather in each human being expand their awareness of “That which I AM” beyond the limitations it is presently faced with. Just like the caterpillar must answer the call to let go of its present sense of identity so that it might arise from that chrysalis as a butterfly.

The other day I was walking down a street and someone approached me with a white ribbon attached to a black and white card. This person was a supporter of UNIFEM NZ (United Nations Development Fund for Women). They were seeking my support, through wearing this white ribbon on my shirt.

On the card it read:

Speak Out Against Violence Towards Women

White Ribbon Day, 25 November

(okay, so it was not exactly “the other day”. Looks like it was nearly two months ago that I was handed this card)

These UNIFEM supporters also had a large stand nearby with large signs displaying the same message.

What stood out most starkly to me is that they were asking people to take a stand against the thing they wish to minimise in the world. That’s all very well, but I think it is important to realise that the unconscious mind will pick up primarily on the statement “violence towards women”. The human mind is a creative system. The word “against” does not relate directly to an act of creation and therefore the mind has to first translate it into something else before it will take on that attribute. People reading the promotion put out by these UNIFEM supporters are going to first and foremost be giving their attention to “violence toward women”.

A basic principle in Ancient Hawaiian Huna is that “energy flows where the attention goes”. By drawing peoples’ attention to “violence towards women” that is also where their energy will flow (consciously or unconsciously). I doubt this is what the UNIFEM supporters had in mind.

Why not make the most of this function within the human mind and make a statement that will inspire energy to flow TOWARD the desired outcome. How about:

“Speak out for loving relationship with women“, or

“Stand up for kindness toward women“.

When you read over these two statements what feeling does it engender within you? Now compare that to the statement the UNIFEM group were putting out there. I suspect you will find the difference quite noticeable. Food for thought…

From some thoughts written down on  25th March 1998

GOD

 Fear, aggression, and judgement are mechanisms that arise in order to protect our false sense of separate self. I, as ego, fight to maintain this false sense of separate self to feel that I exist as some independent entity who can then experience Unity / God / Love.

Yet, in reality, I Am already Unity / God / Love, though totally unaware of this reality. Through believing in the illusion of separation I sense that I need THIS experience in order for it to be real.

If I throw off and deny the ego-personality and all its emotions and thoughts then I deny the totality—God—the simultanious experience of Being Unity / God / Love and having Awareness of this through direct experience.

Through letting go of attachment to and identity with the ego-self yet not denying it, I become more aware of my True and Natural state of Being—-Unity / God / Love.

God experiencing God. God aware of God. Just to BE Aware. Awareness is the key. Ultimately the individual discovers him or herself as God—the totality.

This leads spontaniously to dis-covering that All-is-God—that all is one.

I can seemingly stop here—in this state of being, this state of Mind—and seemingly cease to exist. Evolution comes to a halt. Ones universe cases to expand. For the Self, in its usual sense, has no-thing left to do.

Yet ultimately the purpose of individualisation of self—of God—is not just to experientially be aware of God as God, but to be the full expression of that in its absolute totality.

Self is literally trans-formed into an Absolute expression of God. At this point, only, does the ego-self illusion truly cease to maintain itself as a reality.

The is God being Absolutely Awarenes of God as all that God IS.

The is total illumination of That which I am. This is the end of seperation, and the end of self-hood. Evolution ceases. It just is. As it always was. Yet now eternally aware of THAT.