Monday, October 29, 2012

Breaking Free from Ego


As we navigate our way through the shift of the ages, and this great awakening blooming like plankton across the planet, it just seems there are so very many things and issues one has to be aware of and contend with if we are to avoid running aground on the rocks & shoals of a rapidly changing reality paradigm.

It seems almost a daily occurrence that the populace of the planet is betrayed and deceived by those who have managed to slime their way into positions of leadership.  Every day we are shown newer and more disgusting examples of this betrayal, feeling powerless perhaps to change it much less fight against it.  There is a nebulous sense that something really big is about to happen; you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you feel it just the same.  You can feel the tension of all this when you observe the people you encounter and work with every day.

 Everyone is now feeling the effects of both the shift, and the mass awakening underway.  For those who are awake, aware and on a spiritual path these energies are perhaps easier to deal with, because we are aware of and acknowledge them.  It’s a different story with the sleeping dreamers trying to make sense of what is unfolding around us all as a 3D reality steadily shifts to a higher frequency vibration. Both share a common enemy.

Either way, awake or asleep, there is a built in aspect of self within each of us which if allowed to, can take over your life and make a shambles of it in extreme cases, and that is the ego; or to be more precise, our negative ego.  When we incarnate into the physical form, the focus of consciousness is shifted from the higher conscious mind, thru the unconscious and subconscious mind…to the conscious mind.  Once incarnated the whole self is divided up into several “aspects of self” such as the inner child, nurturing parent & disapproving parent, masculine and feminine and the ego; which as stated has both a positive and negative expression.  I like to imagine this collective might be structured perhaps something like a large corporation, with the self, (being us) as the CEO or president, and the various aspects of self each performing their functions as specialized departments within the “corporate structure of self.”
                                                                       
It is important to understand that the ego does not exist in the higher conscious mind, where there is no need of it; rather it is an aspect of self existing only in the embodied state, created to assist the self on the material plane of existence.  The incarnated soul nearly always finds itself overwhelmed in this earthly environment, and the ego emerged to assist the self with survival, how to find value, meaning and how to belong.  The ego is designed and programmed to serve as the eye through which we view and understand the world around us, its sole function being to deliver to us information from the outside world.  The trouble is that the new ego is as overwhelmed as we are by the physical world, and has no better idea of how to succeed at the business of living than does the newly incarnated self.  The two must find a way to work together.  Now in this corporate structure of self, the egos job is much the same as the mail room delivery boy in a real corporation. (Think Tim Robbins in “The Hudsucker Proxy”) On a regular daily basis the ego delivers to the CEO (us) not just random information from the physical world, but also information & communications from those around us.  Our job is to place this information in proper context, then to give it form, or if you like, to decide what the content means, and what to do about it.  Then we give it back to the ego, to create that form in the physical world. The ego self then puts that form into action, (the male energy of doing) and being (the feminine energy of being.) That’s the ego’s job. 
                                                                          
Many have discovered that this efficient and well designed system doesn’t always work as planned, it breaks down over time.  How does this happen?  One might say it happens due to free will.  All too often we as the CEO of our corporate self, are not in our office taking care of business when the ego arrives with fresh dispatches for us to deal with; we are off doing something more fun, leaving things to run on “auto pilot” in our absence.  Now this is all well and good providing it does not become the norm.  If the boss is out of the office more than in when the ego delivers the daily dispatches, things begin to happen.  It begins harmless enough at first.  Finding itself alone in the boss’s office yet again, the ego lingers, looks around a bit, and maybe even sits in the bosses chair with its feet up on the desk, perhaps fantasizing.  In time this becomes a little unofficial break in the work day, a time when the ego is in the big chair.

One day the ego self notices there’s a lot of work piled up that the boss hasn’t processed, and people demanding answers to their questions etc.  So, the ego decides to help out by doing the bosses job.  The problem is that the ego is not designed or qualified to create context from content, or to properly respond by giving it form.  The problem becomes serious when the CEO finally realizes what is going on, but chooses to do nothing for the moment.  Being that the ego is keyed to survival, sooner or later the negative side emerges if permitted to remain in control.  The ego doesn’t necessarily know it’s not qualified to do the boss’s job, so it opens the mail, answers the phone and agrees to things it doesn’t understand.  The ego invariably makes mistakes and screws up because it makes up meanings it can understand; it responds improperly and gets into trouble, getting us into trouble.  Thinking its doing right, the ego defends its position if attacked, having heard that offense is the best defense, the negative ego is born and it begins covering for itself regardless of what that may do to us and our lives.  When the CEO (us) finally decides to re-take the seat of authority, the ego panics, and fights back, and remember, it knows everything about you.  Suddenly everything becomes about the ego protecting itself rather than doing the job the right way.  Before long we become the enemy and the negative ego comes to despise us, for various reasons.  The more we fight it for control, the more we are seen as a threat, because at the heart of things the ego is all about survival.  This battle with the negative ego can begin in adolescence and rage on for years; perhaps accounting for the self destructive tendencies exhibited in so many.
 Indeed it may be this very fundamental conflict within self that has led so many to seek life on a spiritual path…as a way to finally end this conflict.  As stated previously the ego is not a function of our spiritual nature, it does not arrive with us, nor will it leave with us when we die.  The physical world is the whole universe to the negative ego, and since it cannot accompany us on our return to source, it fears that as it does death itself; and will resist any and all spiritual progress, until it is unseated from power and re-programmed.

The negative ego is secretive, untrustworthy and deceptive in the extreme and soon becomes adept at telling us what we want to hear.  It is critical to remember here that although the negative ego knows everything about us, all we know of it, is what it allows us to see.  It is at this point when some are tempted to try something they read in a book or saw in a seminar…they become convinced they must kill the ego to be free of it.  The moment we decide to try to kill the ego, oh boy, the war is on, big time; and the negative ego now has its worst fears confirmed, we are the enemy and must be destroyed.  Depending on various factors the negative ego will either commit to an all out war with the self, or it may ‘retreat’ out of sight to wage a long drawn out guerrilla war on the self; sabotaging it at every opportunity, but it never relinquishes power for that is seen as defeat & death. 

So, now there is an unqualified power hungry aspect of self in control that is determined to survive even if it means destroying the ‘host.’ If left unchecked it threatens to bring chaos to our life and relationships, one disaster at a time.  Anyone who challenges the negative ego becomes the enemy and must be marginalized. The negative ego becomes something of a chameleon in its mastery of deceit.  It hides in the forest of emotions, learning how to mimic each one.  It will tell you you’re wrong when you’re right, tells you you’ve done badly when the reverse is true, and in time it even gets good enough to convince you that you long ago defeated your negative ego.


How then do we deal with an out of control negative ego?  The obvious answer is with honesty and love; never intimidation or force, which by the way almost never works.  Neither will traditional forms of psychotherapy be very helpful, that’s a game the ego likes, and excels at by the time you realize you need help.  I have heard that some have had good results using such modalities as Primal Scream Therapy, or Reality Therapy, to confront and manage the negative ego aspect.  The problem is that you’re trying to fix something within by going outside, to the illusion of physical reality, which is at best a temporary band-aid for a permanent internal issue. 

One of the reasons the negative ego becomes hostile is because it really isn’t happy having to do all this…it isn’t what the ego wanted, and to break free of its control the first step is understanding that.  The next step is of course to determine what it is the ego does want; what it was seeking all along, and of course that is esteem.  It wants to be important because of the desire nature within all of us, it’s hardwired for that you could say.  The third step in breaking free of ego is remembering that getting your way with the ego is not at all dissimilar to dealing with a very small child; it really helps to remember this.  Next comes the hard part, for you must go within and confront the negative ego on its own home ground.  Go within and call the ego forth with love & harmony as your intent.  It may not respond the first or second time, or even the third time you beckon it; but if you are persistent, the ego will sit with you, and listen if your heart shows love and forgiveness. 
You can forget about the damage already done up to this point.  Chances are you will just have to find a way to deal with what may be impossible to repair.  This meeting is about ending the conflict and getting on with life with a harmonious corporate self, so forgiveness should be first.  Next you take responsibility for your part in everything, after all if you had been on the ball in the first place none of this would probably have happened, right?  By now you have the ego’s full attention.
 Time to offer it a truce, and a promotion.  By this point you will not have to prove to the ego that it isn’t qualified for your job, it’s painfully aware.  What you do have to prove is your recognition of its ability, plain and simple.
                                                                            
Working with the negative ego is very challenging, and time consuming and at first nothing will come easy.  In life it often takes great effort to rebuild trust where it has been broken, but that, as they say, is the name of the tune.  As you slowly gain that trust remind the ego that you both began life together, and need to work together for either to be happy and fulfilled.  You establish a mutual peace agreement.  Finally, to reclaim your power and responsibilities from the ego, to reclaim the CEO office you must promote the ego from mail room delivery boy to Director of Communications, and reprogram it to maximize the potential it was designed for.  As an example, the egos prime directive is to collect data from the physical world and deliver that to you.  Tell it that as Director of Communications its new job is to now scan for all the data picked up from all of our senses…everything, and deliver same to CEO without acting on any of it.  Soon the ego will be delivering torrents of raw data to the CEO’s office for processing and response, just the way it’s supposed to be.  This can be overwhelming at first, like a mild case of sensory overload which quickly enough becomes the new norm, as you find your awareness expanding across the board, and perhaps even across the universe. 
                                                                      
I find it interesting that the out of control negative ego so closely mimics the tactics and behavior of our so called political parties in this country.  In both cases power is wrongly seized by unqualified entities that make a holy mess of everything and have no regard whatsoever for the host.  Sound familiar?  If indeed America’s negative ego has been wrecking things for fun and profit, I wonder how much more we can take, before we seek a way to stop it once and for all and restore the balance.  Just as we each must confront our negative ego (each in their own way) to restore balance to our lives; we must also confront the ego’s real life counterparts currently destroying this country.  If we do not confront them soon, it will be too late. 

Until next time, be good to each other!





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