- We fail to see the Godself reality hidden behind the physical plane of Ego. Against the teachings of modern day science, we trust our world is solid, separate, molecular. Egoic expression traps us in a physical shell, ego leaves us shackled to a very limited reality. In the absence of Ego, we would be free to experience any reality we wish. How would you like to experience the world through the eyes of an eagle, a wolf, cat, or bask in the lifeblood of a large oak tree?
- Ego causes us to see all manifest reality as separate little bits and pieces. The illusion of separation makes it impossible for us to comprehend that our brethren are truly not separate from ourselves. Imagine how the world would be a completely different experience if we all understood the true nature of unity consciousness.
- Humanity is confused about time. Ego has us believe past, present and future are all different aspects of beingness, when in fact, time, like consciousness itself, is a singularity. Imagine how much more beautiful our world would be if we could comprehend the immortal nature of our true self.
- What if we lived in a world no longer be limited by the sense of a singular body? We are omnipresent GodSelf beings. We are more than capable of being in many places at once. Time and space, as fed to us by Ego, gives us the impression of solidity, this is not our true nature.
- We call ourselves humans. Yet, the truth of the matter is, we are Gods. This little "I" syndrome, presented to us by Ego, destroys our ability to love without condition. Hobbled like a prize pony, we know not of the sensibility of sharing and caring for all our brethren. Know thyself! There is no other more beautiful, more sacred, more deserving of love, than you!
- Look out the window of your world. Humanity is driven by fear. Ego is the derivative of all fear. Move away the illusions created by Ego, you will determine fear has been dispatched in favour of unconditional love. How would your world change if love became the only basis for all your decisions?
- Judgement is contagious in our world. Imagine, if we could all jettison the need to weigh good against bad. Ego prevents us from knowing that the brother we hate, is none other than, a reflection of ourselves.
- Ego coops the unified GodSelf mind, then replaces it with the false self of Ego. However, Ego, like all visitors, can be asked to leave. We are so confused into believing in the little "I", we never touch the true self, never know the glory of our primary identity. Remember what Matus said; "They gave us their mind! Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind."
- Death, need, desire, greed, all rule the human expression. What if, we could transcend these concepts? What if, we knew ourselves to be eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, unified as a singular beingness which chooses to only embrace love? What if we knew our enemies as yet another reflection of God, another reflection of our own self.
Beyond The Beast:
We need not be handcuffed to the realm of Ego. Collectively, we can transition beyond Ego. The path toward sanity is easier than one might imagine. Scientific footholds can be learned, knowledge can be accrued, reason can be applied, logic can be embraced. However, is this enough? To answer this most important question, I can offer two points of view; the master sorcerer Matus and yours truly.
Don Juan Matus proved the Ego can be harnessed, tamed and ridden. His "Yaqui Way Of Life" illustrates the results that can be realized if one is truly dedicated to the path of what he called "The Way of the Warrior". Matus shows us the beauty of a sorcerer's world. Castaneda's books unequivocally illustrate that don Juan Matus lived his life under the rules and actions of an impeccable man. Reading the Castaneda series leaves you breathless, tearful. Most importantly, it emboldens you with love. Therefore, if it is your desire to know Ego, I suggest you start with the gift of Matus's love, then, set your sights upon being a spiritual warrior, a person of impeccable behaviour.
Exposing my person battle with the beast is guaranteed to benefit you much less than the teachings of don Juan. None the less, it is certainly worthy of mention, as my path may be more akin to what you are facing this day.
For most of my life; I never knew what Ego was all about, never even knew of it's existence. The movie Revolver does a great job of presenting Ego, especially as it places, front and center, the need to know thy enemy. We see the main character being released from his inner turmoil the minute he becomes capable of identifying his EgoSelf.
Like the fictional character in Revolver, ignorance of my EgoSelf, left me defenseless to combat the awful side effects of Ego's attacks. How could I know there was a demon lurking within my mind? The beast just had his way with me! It was my master! The little monkey coloured my world with fear, all the while, stripping love from every corner of my reality. By the time I was twenty, I knew love was the missing ingredient in my life. Life for me was horrible. Without the ability to lovingly connect with others, I felt abandoned, cold, homeless. To overcome this loss, I set my sights on learning what love was. Moreover, how was it maintained, why it was so inexplicably elusive. Looking for a definition of love, I found myself traipsing across hills and dales of spiritual wonderment. Puzzling together impressions of love, inevitably, pushed me in the direction of Love's antithesis, which, as I have been intoning in this essay, is Ego.
From my humble, yet personally enlightening, experience, I advocate your first step in fighting the beast is to know your enemy. We can only defeat the things we know. Ignorance breeds fear, fear paralyses all action. The moment you accept within your heart that there does lie a beast, this is the turning point where you finally begin the path toward emancipation from its grasp. Having accepted the truth of your reality, you then must reach for all the information which may shed further light on how your inner demon dominates your reality. The more you know of this enemy, the better armed you will be to counter his threat, or even defeat him in battle.
Once you have learned enough to wage war on the beast, then you must establish a game plan for combating the endless attacks on you psyche. Personal experience has afforded me a small toolbox of fixes for battling Ego. Knowledge truly is power, I would advise you to never stop searching for more information on how Ego works. Truly, you will never know too much about Ego. Another wonderful tool I found was my observer self. If I consider there are three voices in my head, I would call these voices, my EgoSelf, GodSelf and ObserverSelf. All three are very real; all three perform a function in my personal dance of consciousness.
Ego runs the show by taking up most of my daily thoughts. I allow it to dominate the expression of my reality, as a result it does. Waking up in the morning, I am transfixed by the world of Ego, I see physicality, separation, need, and the clock ticking on the wall.
My GodSelf is a powerful benefactor, it clears the darkness. Whereby, it allows me to expand my world, beckons me to bask in my true identity by embracing unconditional love in lieu of the fear peddled by its nemesis, Ego. The problem with my GodSelf is that I rarely ask it to take over control of the reality reigns. Due to its cameo appearance in my life, my Godself fulfills the role of stabilizer, akin to an emergency relief pitcher, trying to save the day by striking out Ego's heavy bat. However minimal the appearance of my GodSelf may be, it plays a critical role in allowing me to capture, embrace, and covet my true identity as a loving being who chooses to unconditionally accept all manifest reality. Reflecting upon an old saying, I would not trade all the tea in China for the loss of knowing that my GodSelf reality exists.
The third player in my mind, is the ObserverSelf. The Observer is my watchdog, it needs to be fed regularly. I feed my Observer by asking it to work. Its duty is simple, it must constantly be in contact with my conscious higher self so that it can act as a filter sorting out the constant horriblising Ego promulgates in my mind.
I always deal with mental chatter from Ego. My observer is like the alarm bell that rings when carbon monoxide is detected in a building. Without that vigilant alarm, I would perish to the wiles of an unseen killer. When Ego pushes me around, my Observer is responsible for making sure that, before the smell reaches my nose, I am already aware that the shit has hit the fan.
By example, if I find myself in a funk, all worked up over how I am going to pay the bills or feed my family when I have just lost my job. Ego will pound at my head and heart making me feel powerless, desperate, needy. This is not just me tearing at an old scab, this is my EgoSelf abusing the privileges I have afforded it. The Observer is vigilant, he knows this is an attack of Ego, he acts at my behest acting as a beacon, steering me toward the safe haven of my GodSelf spirit. My Observers steadfast presence, once again, allows me the chance to catch a breath so that I can transcend the maya presented by Ego.
For those of you who have never established an ObserverSelf as part of your working psyche, it must be neigh on impossible to envision the benefits gained by its presence. From my perspective, I cannot grasp how I could have ever managed Ego without my trusty ObserverSelf ally.