Spritual Ego
There are basically 2 sorts of egos we work with — or should I say, that "work us".
Spiritual Ego
The "Spiritual Ego" is a "spark" from the great "Divine Flame" that catalyzed the creative process of the universe. This spark is our portion of that flame, perhaps even, our portion of God Himself. Till this very day, this "spark" (that we all carry inside) still holds the memory of this passionate event that we all share with our creator - and the rest of creation. This spark still identifies itself as being a part of this Oneness. Its constant desire (if we are sensitive to it) is to unite our individual selves (and the rest of creation) back into the creator. Essentially, this spark – our spiritual ego - is all about "Universal Love".
The spiritual ego acts as a sort of touchstone or compass that reminds our souls (while we are still immersed in illusion and limitation) who we really are... and it motivates... and gives us clues... as to the direction we must go to get us back home. It nudges us to re-expand beyond our limited sense of identity... beyond the awareness that we are more than just our mate, immediate family, clan, tribe, village, state or nation... beyond our culture or creed, job title or degree, financial status, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, political affiliation, age or even pant size. Eventually, our awareness and sense of self will expand far enough that we will eventually re-unite with our "Divine Self", reaching the pinnacle realization — Universal Love.
Shadow Ego
Just like our Higher Selves were endowed by the Great Creator with the ability to recreate itself in the forms of our lower selves, so too was the spiritual ego given the ability to recreate itself into a lower form of ego, yet one only a "shadow" of the original spark (just as our lower selves are a shadow of our Higher Self). Because our "shadow egos" and lower selves are both of a denser nature, they are more interested in or "oriented" towards the lower dimensions of the astral plane and material universe. For the sake of argument, one could even call this lower ego the "Material Ego". This ego could also be seen as the reverse or mirror image of our divine ego. Where the Divine Ego is all about uniting with the Creator and Love, the agenda of the material ego is all about attaching to and identifying itself with limitation in all its forms, be it ones mate, immediate family, clan, tribe, village, state or nation... ones culture, creed, job title, degree, financial status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age or pant size.
If we are functioning from the "Spiritual" ego, we don't usually have any problems energetically or physically (none that are of our own creating that is). However, the problems that we most need be concerned with while we are incarnate are those caused by the material ego - which is pretty dominant in this dimension. And no wonder. In the vast history of this planet, there have been a great many occasions when the conditions of life (both natural and man made) were extremely brutal and severe. Simply from the point of view of a biological life form merely trying to survive, the incarnated human needed to do some pretty nasty things if they wanted to live throughout the day. If we didn't have this "material ego", chances are we wouldn't even be here as a life form today. However, we are not just here to survive and live for our own sakes, or simply to perpetuate our biological species. We are much more than that.
The Ego Mind
When we were first created...
Our experience of the universe was undifferentiated.
There was no space or time, as there was no "where" or "when".
There was no concept of duality, only an awareness of "The One"
There was no separation between people and things.
There was no sense of "I" or "you", "mine" or "yours".
There was just an expansive, unlimited awareness of the unity of all creation. We were at one with the "Universal Mind" and we could hear the "Universal Voice" (OM) resounding through all. And yet, in the space of time (it could have been a moment or a millennia) we realized that we were also endowed by our Creator with an individual Soul containing the rudiments of a "separate mind" with a "separate voice". This allowed us to have the freedom and ability to discriminate and choose between one thing or another, between "yes" or "no". And with that ability to choose came the self directing, self motivating will power to act upon that determination.
The Bible tells us that this "Voice of God" (the Universal Mind) instructed us to not do certain things in the "Garden of Eden". And the "Serpent" (the voice of the Ego) bids us to eat an "apple" and thus we gained the "knowledge of good and evil" (the awareness of "Duality"). And with this one little choice, our jaunt in the "Garden" (of innocence) came to an end. Yet this was only the beginning of our "fall from grace". The rift had begun, and over time became only greater, as one defying choice led to another and another... further and further into the density and duality, as our conscious awareness of the "Universal Mind" became narrower and narrower. We had stepped upon a path where the vibrations and energies became more and more convoluted and material, and we descended deeper into the lower realms of creation. And the further we moved away from the center of the "Universal Mind" and its "still small voice", the louder the voice of the "Ego Mind" got (one drowning out the other). It is this "Ego Mind" with which we must now grapple with as it still judges, determines, chooses, and wills - perhaps now more than ever. And our soul still must decide what voice it will listen to.
The results of any choices we have ever made, the fruit of these actions (our "karma") is held within our energy — vibrational bodies, making up who we are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually — today and into the future.
The world is the way it is predominantly because of the accumulated choices of all who have ever lived on her.
The Ego Mind has the ability to label or identify things (including itself) from and within a very limited conceptual or mental frame of reference. This is good in the sense that by being able to discriminate between one thing and another, we have developed a complex language which enabled us to mentally communicate with other people, which lays the foundation for us to practically (and inventively) manipulate things. The downside is that the Ego Mind also begins to attach and identify itself to actions, things, people and ideas. Thus, we become trapped (by attachment and identification) into becoming our own creations... such as: This car is mine; This is my wife; I am your son; You are my child; I am white; I am black; I am a Christian; I am a Democrat, and so on....
The Ego Mind also sits in judgment on these differences between actions, things, people and ideas, eventually labeling one "good" and the other "bad". These learned behaviors and belief systems become indelibly imprinted upon our mind (like programs in a computer) held within our energetic and cellular memories, passed down from lifetime after lifetime (until the "programs" get deleted). When our Ego Mind starts to create and accumulate all these incidental programs, the original and pure program (our Divine Purpose) instilled in us by our creator, becomes overwritten... and we start to run on the egos programs. Then it's just a matter of time before we become creations (and mirrors) of our ego. And for all intents and purposes, our ego ("idol") replaces and then becomes our God ("have no idols before Me"). Through subterfuge within the consciousness, the ego programs subvert and usurp our Divine Purposes (like a virus that can mimic and confuse the immune systems' own antibodies). Unfortunately, the Ego is so insidiously enmeshed within our psyches, that it can fool anyone into believing anything — when it comes to spiritual matters, it will run circles around you, saying all sorts of things that you would swear are true.
With healing, over time, that stuff which has been created by your ego mind shall be broken down... the old paradigms you have been working from — the old traditions, ideas, belief systems that you have accumulated from your church, school, family, friends... will no longer fit you, and you will once again be free to follow and be your inner truth.
Ego - Friend or Foe
Your ego can be your best friend or worst enemy.... it can work for you in the world but against you in your spiritual life (and in this healing process). If it is the materially minded ego that is running your life, it must take the materially minded ego to finally choose to be reconnected to the higher self. The material ego will not easily or willingly surrender or relinquish this control and power until it reaches a point where it becomes aware of its immense limitations, being so dysfunctional and incapable of even "thinking its way out of a paper bag" (people in recovery programs speak of this). When the ego realizes its own powerlessness, and sees itself running your life into the ground (destroying you and everything and everyone around you)... when you have finally reached bottom and the only place you can go is up, only then is the ego ready to surrender and ask for and receive help from the Higher Power (since the ego must learn "Humility", this help often must be found through a human channel).
As children, though our earthly parents tried to wisely guide our ego choices, they too were limited and trapped by their own material egoic devices and couldn't always be our shining ideal (however divine or flawed your earthly parents were, they did what they were karmicaly destined to do). There comes a point in every child's life when the realization hits — our earthly parents cannot be our spiritual guides. For the spiritual soul, this is the time when the journey starts... when we begin to search for someone who may guide us on the path (leading to our own Inner Selves). It becomes the healers' task to assist and redirect you to the "Inner Door" of your Heart, where eventually you may come to realize your own inner parent — your spiritual warrior — that impeccable master.
Attachment and Fear
We are frail and insecure creatures subject to a human nature that has been thousands of years in the making while it was struggling with the basic needs to survive. We all have learned to hold on to all that which comes to us with a death grip, no matter if it eventually falls apart, fades and decays with time.
"Store not your treasures where rust doth corrupt"
We hold on to concepts, beliefs, bodies, people, things, feelings, memories... everything. No wonder we are constantly in fear... the fear of losing all these things runs and motivates our lives: fear of loss, fear of being out of control, fear of pain, fear of getting old, fear of dying, fear of being wrong... these are just a few. And yet, as long as we are holding on to anything, it does seem inevitable and logical that many, most, or all things we "possess" will eventually fall through our hands... our worst fears realized. What to do?
The universal law of attraction states that you will gravitate towards and attract to you what you desire... and then, once you have the object of your desire, you may find that it then possesses you. For example, if you have anger, fear, hate and violence inside (even if it is so deeply hid within your sub-consciousness) that is what you will magnetize to yourself — no matter if it (or you) exists in physical or non physical form. Anything that you are attached to (on any level) will be a weight onto your soul. The more you can un-attach or let go of your "stuff", the freer you will be to move closer to the center — the source of life (easier said than done). Something we all need healing help with.
As stated previously there are two aspects of our ego. Our spiritual or 'I am' ego which reflects who we are and which is our true ego, and our earth plane ego which, as with all of the earth plane is a mirror, or a reversed reflection of our true ego. Our earth plane ego reflects who we are not, in both a spiritual and earth plane context.
Our earth plane ego reflects not who we are, but who we are experiencing within our lifetime. However, our earth plane ego can be removed a step further. If for example we have chosen to experience being a leader, (or a teacher, tailor, tinker or whatever), then we can allow ourselves to become what we chosen to experience and in so doing we develop an easy natural confidence to experience what we have chosen to experience, by becoming a 'natural leader' etc.
Natural confidence is sometimes mistaken for the ego based arrogance, but the difference between arrogance and confidence is that when one is confident they are able to admit that they were wrong even if they believed that they were right with every fiber of their being. Arrogance or false confidence cannot allow us to admit that we are wrong, because if we are wrong we loose the foundation of our false confidence.
Our earth plane ego can be divided into the positive and negative aspects of our identity. The positive is the 'I am within this experience' identity which is when we allow ourselves to be who we are based on the sum of our earth plane experiences. (As opposed to the spiritual 'I am' which is who we are without qualification). The negative is the 'I fear that…' component within our earth plane experiences. We create the negative aspect of our identity, when our fears - regardless of the cause of our fear, prevents us from accepting what we have chosen to experience, within our lifetime.
We can retain the example of a leader for the purpose of illustration. If we have chosen to experience being a leader in this lifetime, we can either allow ourselves to be a leader, or we can not allow ourselves to be a leader. If we allow ourselves to be a leader, we experience being a leader. If we do not allow ourselves to be a leader, we nevertheless retain our choice to experience being a leader.
Having chosen to experience being a leader, and having not allowed ourselves to experience being a leader, because of our fears, regardless of the specific nature of our fears, we then attempt to make ourselves experience being a leader. Unfortunately, we have no true acceptance that we are a leader, and the only way that we can therefore experience being a leader, is to create and wear the 'mask' of a leader.
If we are a leader, we do not need to seek validation that we are a leader, and as such we do not seek the recognition, acknowledgement and confirmation from others that we are a leader. We do not need to justify who we are, we only feel the need to justify ourselves when we seek external validation of what is no more than a mask.
We create the mask of a leader through taking action which is designed to create an image of a leader which we project onto others, and they reflect back onto us as a means of feeding and maintaining our ego mask. However, because our mask is based purely on projection and reflection our mask, or our image as a leader is not real, and we know that our image is not real.
We can convince ourselves that our false image is real, providing our projection and reflection process is not interrupted. Somewhat like a clear pond which acts as a mirror to perfectly reflect the image which has been created around the pond, but only for as long as the pond's reflective surface is not disturbed, and the slightest movement will disturb the pond's surface.
Our negative Ego, is a product of our fear that we are not good enough, which manifests itself as our attempt to live up to society's predefined image, instead of simply being who we are.
We can achieve society's predefined image to a degree, but achieving society's predefined image is a waste of time, because society's predefined image is not who we are. How can we be who we are, when we pretended to be who society, at whatever level we choose to exist, wants us to be. If we return to our example, how can we be a leader, if we pretend to be society's predefined image of leader?
We can overcome our negative ego, by realising that our negative ego is based on our fear, which has its roots in the evil lie that we are not good enough.
All that we need to do, is to allow ourselves to be who we are, in the earth plane context, which is a soul gaining experience. If we accept that we are a soul gaining experience, and that we have no reason to fear that we are not good enough for whatever we have chosen to experience in our given lifetime, then we have no reason to seek artificial validation from others.
Without a need for validation, we have no negative ego.
To 'overcome' negative ego which is a physical manifestation of our fear that we are not good enough, we do not need to do anything. We do not need to achieve anything. We do not need to rise above anything, or move beyond anything.
All that we need to do to remove our negative ego, is to allow ourselves to be who we are. The reality is that fear, all fear is an illusion. Fear does not exist unless and until we give life to fear. To move beyond fear we need to act as though fear does not exist.
If we recognise our fear we are giving life to the fear, regardless of whether we choose to accept our fear, fight our fear or ignore our fear. We need to act as though fear does not exist, and in so doing fear will not exist, because we will cease giving fear life, and fear will have no means to manifest itself.
If we return to the example of our leader, our leader needs to act as though our leader does not need external validation to be a leader, and in so doing our leader will cease to need external validation.
If the leader acts as though the fear (need for validation) does not exist the fear, will cease to exist. However, if our leader acts as though the fear exists, the leader will seek external validation, or ignore the need for external validation, and in so doing the leader will give life to the fear (need for validation), and the fear will become real.
Fear, all fear becomes real when we give fear life.
Baggage
The best way we can ever hope to directly inter-face and inter-act with what is real in this very moment is to not be prejudiced, tainted, or influenced by that "stuff" we hold in our beings, commonly known as "baggage". Over lifetimes of journeying through many lands, we have accumulated much of this "baggage", helpful at times, most of it is now outmoded and obsolete... yet we are still carrying it around (and it is slowing us down).
Within every "bag" comes a number of multi-colored (some very dark) reading glasses, and an instruction manual on how to function in "this" particular situation or "that". Some baggage has a name on it that says "relationships", others "belief systems", another "thoughts" and so on. When we come into a new situation, we can't help but bring out our "baggage", pull out our glasses and consult our manual. Some people are very comfortable and feel safe with all this paraphernalia — it gives them the belief that their lives are organized and they can make sense of reality and what's what — knowing the boundaries on how to think, feel, and act in every situation. Many are so deathly and fearfully attached to their stuff... they won't part with it for anything. In fact, many people are even interested in accumulating more stuff — if you could believe that (but it's true). Look around at all the things people have — it's all a reflection of their inner. The difficulty arises when, in addition to all your baggage, the people we interact with also bring their baggage, glasses, and manuals — so instead of interacting directly with that other person, it all filters through this other stuff. When you realize that most of your relationships are based on "stuff", it can be very sobering.
Once you are free of more and more stuff (via the healings) perhaps you will begin to see that what you thought was reality, is like nothing it appeared to be: The people who we felt and thought we knew are nothing like we earlier perceived. The truths we earlier believed in are empty shadows — mere reflections of something else or outright lies.
Underneath the surface, there exists layers and layers of diverse consciousness and vibrations... whole worlds invisible to the material eye... multi-dimensional beings behind beings... wheels within wheels... spinning agendas, desires and determinations... plans cast eons ago... unfolding in the now and eternal future. And we think we know what truth is? The best we can hope for (if we really work at it) is to be clear enough of our personal baggage so that we can directly experience who we really are... and perhaps, just perhaps, we may be able to really know another.