In Buddhist and many other esoteric teachings such as the Michael Teachings, you will often hear about the problems created by the ego or false personality, the parts of ourselves that influence us to think of ourselves as separate selves, the fear-based notion that produces all suffering.

While this is totally accurate it is only a partial picture of a bigger reality that is also true, a greater understanding that can enlighten us further.  Let us dig into this understanding further here to free ourselves of misconceptions that can arise whenever we make something the enemy. The premise here is very simple, that all things are of Spirit, meaning contained within Spirit, even the ego or false personality. The ego has a purpose like everything and without it we could not even imagine what it is to be human. In fact, we can only be human with these human bodies if we have an ego that is associated with certain jobs like keeping the body safe, fed, sheltered, and protected. There are many aspects of being human that depend upon having a healthy ego. Having a healthy ego is a must, not just an option. And just to clarify, the ego and the false personality are a bit different. The ego is the sum total of the ego’s activities, positive and negative. The false personality is only the negative aspect of the ego.

What is important to know is that there is a healthy way of having an ego. A healthy ego has to be overseen or supervised by an essence self and if it isn’t and is allowed to become a little tyrant, a deluded inflated dictator, then it can become unhealthy. Unfortunately, we live in a world where that has been allowed to become the norm and everyone is imprinted with heavy fear and a sense of separation from what appears to be the other. That is the catastrophe that has led us to the many crises that we are experiencing in the world today. Life does not have to be this way and in fact, at its’ core, life is not this way. We have simply become so programmed that we’ve forgotten the alternative.

How, then, do we deal with something that is so vital but has become so diseased that it threatens to destroy us? Although it sounds nearly impossible, it is quite possible and has been accomplished by many dedicated people throughout history. It is by definition within every human being’s grasp. When I was in graduate school, I was faced with doing a doctoral dissertation that my fellow students were all frightened of and everybody said was a grueling terrifying project. My main advisor on my dissertation committee gave me some very useful   and helpful advice that I followed religiously. He said, “A doctoral dissertation is nothing more than a thousand baby steps. Do two or three baby steps every day and you will complete it with few problems.” This was balm to my soul so to speak. At the time I made long lists of baby steps that I could check off every day. Things like, 1. Call this person 2. Go to library and look up this article 3. Talk to this teacher 4. Write paragraph on this point. 5. Type directions for subjects to follow. Etc. Every day I would check off several and it was mostly easy. I got my dissertation done in one year, unheard of by most standards. Dealing with an unhealthy ego is no different in many respects. However, there is one additional complication. Unlike the doctoral dissertation, the unhealthy ego is actively defending itself against any kind of monitoring. So that has to be considered.

A good strategy and baby step can be, observe, observe, observe.  If you observe your ego in action, you will not startle it causing it to defend itself. It does not like to be observed but it will tolerate it. What it does not know is that merely observing it without prejudice will cause it to weaken and dissolve. So, you watch with interest, not with hyper-vigilance. “Wow, look at that” would be a good approach. Hmmm. I notice that when I think of dealing with X, I have an acid taste in my mouth and my stomach tightens. I notice that when I procrastinate dealing with X, I feel relief but not completely. And so on. Notice what you notice, over and over throughout the day. “Oh, I had a hard day. I deserve a toke, a gummy, a drink, a smoke. When I do that, I feel some immediate relief and then in an hour or two I don’t feel so good. Oh! look at that. Is that so?” So, you don’t fix it, fight it, judge it, attack it, or anything at all. Just observe like you would an interesting bug on a leaf, a thousand baby steps like this. If you do not incessantly judge and attack yourself you will strengthen ever so gradually until a point where you will find you can make a different choice without effort or struggle.

There are other baby steps you can take. On a regular basis you need to remind yourself of a number of vital truths. “Everything I see is of spirit. All is divine, all is sacred, all is blessed.” “I am observing myself and yes, everything I contemplate is within Spirit.” Noticing that the ego is of Spirit does not mean you should indulge every whim because that would be the height of self-deception. You need to keep in mind that seeing everything as Spirit is helping it return to its original form and it will transform either gradually or all at once. That is not for you to decide. In the long run, if you indulge it, you will only be reinforcing a distortion, a fear, something that is strengthening the unhealthy ego. This is very tricky territory because the mind can play tricks with this. “Oh, so I have to deny myself. Oh, I can’t have fun anymore. Oh, if its Spirit what can be the harm in just doing what Spirit does? The thing to observe in this terrain is that the unhealthy ego sounds like a child. Indeed, it is very immature. It wheedles and tries to manipulate the situation with all kinds of tricks just like a ten-year-old. Just observe this. Don’t do anything about it. Just notice what you notice and be amused. Chuckling is helpful, it is another baby step.

The aim is not to kill the ego. It is not an enemy when it is healthy. The ego will die with the body when you release the body from its career when it’s worn out. The aim is to straighten the ego out and help it to be a healthy part of the apparatus that makes being human possible.

Another exceptionally effective practice is anything that helps you experience that you are connected and not separate, to realize that there is no real separation of your body from its environment and the environment from the rest of the universe. All atoms are connected even though your eyes cannot see this. Your skin looks like your boundary from all else but this cannot be so because the atoms associated with your skin merge with everything you touch including the air all around you. The light of the sun merges with everything it shines upon directly or indirectly from reflections in water and off the moon and the planets. Feel the sun upon your skin and then visualize the light shining on the atoms composing the cells of your skin lighting up the more interior cells of your body like a laser would, penetrating deeply into the organs of your body, the muscles, nerves, and bones. Visualize the light of your whole body resonating with the cells of others’ bodies and the light spreading from object to object infinitely. We are not separate in any time or space. We are always, in fact, one. Allow yourself to have this realization as often as possible until it becomes your reality, never separate, never disconnected, always resonating, vibrating with, connecting, and communicating with.

Understand that your awareness of being alive is shared by everyone on the planet. This awareness is one awareness, not an individual experience.

Now take this practice you just did a step further. Let’s look at the reality behind the surface reality. In this physical universe the only things that are self-illuminating are suns and individually ensouled species. Yes, suns are individually ensouled. Individually ensouled species on this planet include whales, dolphins, and humans. We are self-illuminating meaning that we are not just reflecting the light of something else like the moon and the planets but we are the source of our own light just like the sun is. The only problem is that most humans do not know this and that reduces their capacity. When you know you are lit from within you can shine more brightly than ever with the understanding that you can and your intention to do so. If you don’t know this, you cannot intend to do so and that dims your light.

 However, when you know you are lit from within you can then shine brightly on others and stimulate their light source for a time before it grows dim again. In many cases, if a person is ready, the mere act of stimulating their light will initiate their own light source to take over and they will begin to shine on their own much more brightly and this will be a magnificent shift for them. This is what happens when someone has contact with a great saint or realized master like Jesus or the Buddha or even a powerful Guru. However, it does not have to be a rarified saint that can do this, it can be you as long as you know you are lit from within. This is what the Q’ero shamans of the Andes call being a walking blessing, something they develop into with practice.

The major criteria for you to be a walking blessing is to know you are self-illuminated and to shine brightly with intention on others. This means that you could walk into a stadium with forty thousand people and light them all up and in turn many of them will go out and light others up. This is actually happening all over the planet as we speak in big and little ways. Everything is connected. The ultimate truth is that there is no separate self that we imagine. We are one being with one consciousness and when we are all lit up together, we are always going to be happier than if one part of us is lit up and the rest imagines it is dark.

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