Episodios
-
At this point in time, many people are as comfortable with the term âinner spaceâ as they are with outer space. But most people think of inner space as merely a symbol of a personâs state of mind. This is not the case. Inner space is actually a real worldâa vast reality. This in fact is the real universe and outer space is a mirror image of itâa reflection. This is the reason we can never quite grasp outer reality. We canât be truly absorb, experience and understand life when we only view it from the outside. Thatâs why life is so frustratingâand often so frighteningâfor so many.
Itâs not easy to understand how itâs possible that inner space could in itself be a worldâthe world. The difficulty lies in the limited time/space continuum of our three-dimensional reality. We perceive everything we touch, see and experience from a limited perspective. Our minds are conditioned to perceive things a certain way and at this juncture, weâre not capable of perceiving life another way. But that doesnât mean our current way is the right way, the only way, or complete way.
The goal of any spiritual path is to perceive life in a way that goes beyond the outer reflection. Our aim is to focus on the new dimensions we discover in inner space. In some spiritual disciplines, this may be clearly stated as the intention, and in others it might never be mentioned as such.
But when we reach a certain point of development on our path of purification, a new vision wakes up, sometimes gradually and sometimes more suddenly. Even when it seems to happen suddenly, this is only an illusion. All awakening happens as a result of taking many steps on a spiritual path and fighting many inner battles.
Scientists have discovered that each atom is duplicated in the outer universe, as we know it. This is an important recognition. As we have come to understand, time is a variable that depends on the dimension from which it is experienced. Itâs the same for space. In the same way that there isnât an objective, fixed time, there isnât an objective, fixed space. So our real being can live, move and breatheâand cross vast distancesâwithin an atom, according to our outer system of measurement.
Just as the relationship to time changes in different dimensions, the relationship of measurement changes when a spirit withdraws into the inner world. This explains why we seem to lose contact with what we call âdeadâ people. Our awareness changes because they now live in the inner reality, which for us, can only be an abstract idea. And yet the thing that is really abstract is outer space.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Inner Space, Focused Emptiness
-
The term New Age has been used a lot. Some people have used it with the correct understanding, others have managed to turn it into a clichĂ©. This is unavoidable. It happens with truthful concepts due to peopleâs tendency to be lazy and glib. They use a label so they donât have to feel the reality of a certain truth. But for those who can avoid this trap, they should not give up altogether on using a term that conveys a true idea. It is due to this tendency that different words these teachings use different words to express the same truth.
Also, from time to time, the true meaning of a particular word is given in an effort to keep its true concept alive. As far as the New Age is concerned, it has been stated already that at various intervals in history, our world is swept with a new influx that comes streaming in. When this happens, it is because humanity has grown enough to be ready for it. This is what is happening now.
As we enter fully into this new era, the consciousness of the Christ spirit is now permeating this world. It is attempting to penetrate each personâs consciousness to a greater and greater degree. When this powerful new influx arrives, it is accompanied by certain things that may not be pleasant, agreeable, welcome or even constructive. Events happening on Earth right now that most people consider to be downright undesirable are a direct result of the influx of this energy. But in truth, without this, the expansion and growth in consciousness inherent in this new era couldnât happen.
Our minds are still very much geared to the immediate future. We believe that what is right and good in this moment will also be right and good in the ultimate end. If something appears right now to be evil, it must also be evil in the long run. This, however, is seldom the case. Sometimes, what appears to be an outright negative manifestation was actually needed for full development to happen. This applies to each person as equally as it applies to humanity as a whole. Or to put it another way, to the entity that is Earth.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Three Aspects of the Divine New Influx
-
¿Faltan episodios?
-
Itâs not easy to talk about cause and effect on this three-dimensional level. But letâs try. We can start by saying that at the lowest level of developmentâon the scale of consciousnessâthere is no cause and effect. Or at least there doesnât appear to be any. As we raise our level of consciousness, we are able to see new horizons. From our new perspective, we are able to see how effects are connected to causes we previously didnât even know existed. When we crest the hill and reach the point where consciousness becomes completely God-infused, cause and effect will no longer exist.
Here we see that, once again, the lowest forms of consciousness have something in common with the highest forms. But thereâs an enormous difference in what they hold, in terms of attitudes and underlying feelings and thoughts. We can easily understand that primitive consciousness sees the world as an unconnected series of events that are unrelated to cause and effect. It may be harder for us to understand how in the highest realms it doesnât exist at all. And this reality is nearly impossible to convey using human words.
Here on Earth, every act has its consequence. Thatâs not so hard to realize. Itâs not quite as easy to see that the same relationship exists between our thoughts or our subtle inner attitudes and the overall circumstances of our life. But the more developed we become, the more we will be able to perceive cause and effect on these less obvious levels of consciousness. On this spiritual path, such perceptions gradually become more acute, and in fact this is very strongly emphasized.
If we commit some overt actâletâs say we kill another personâthe consequences will be obvious. But we are also killing another person when we malign them. We do this through our questionable accusations, blindness, stubbornness or ill will; when we refuse to give another person the benefit of the doubt; when we donât try to use honest communication or openness to create a different reality. Such secret âkillingâ has consequences that are just as severe as physical killing.
At first, the effects of this kind of action might be hard for us to perceive. But as we raise our consciousness, we will start to see thereâs a definite connection between cause and effect. This exists even if the cause was not an overt act but a hidden thought we had previously ignored.
In our current state of consciousness, living in this three-dimensional world, we often find ourselves to be, in many ways, halfway. Our world is not all bad, but itâs also not all good. Our personalities too are not all bad, but also not all good. We donât live in heaven, but we also donât live in hell. Our lives represent both extremes.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Cause and Effect on Various Levels of Consciousness
-
A new era has begun. It is, among many things, a time of linking and connecting in many areas, on many levels, in many ways. The primary place to connect is on the inner levels, within the personality. But we must also connect on the outer levels. Then eventually the differences between religions, nations and the like, will disappear. Does this mean that individuality will go away? Absolutely not. Just the opposite will happen.
In a very practical sense, we are now moving out of duality. During the era of duality, there was a lot of diversity on the outer levels. Meanwhile, conformity and unity was more often within a person. This had a way of wiping out true individual expression. The age of unity now ushers in a different picture. Outer differences will go away as they lose their importance. We wonât attach our personal identity to our nationality or our religion. As such, we wonât block ourselves from finding our soulâs oneness with the All because of a rigid focus on differences.
What will gain importance in the new era will be our diverse divine expressions. From unified groups, a group consciousness will arise that will allow clearly defined individuals to evolve. And these people will be able to bring an even greater unity to the group process. Letâs now turn our attention to how the pulsation of life and consciousness works behind the scenes to support such an unfolding.
Everything in the universe is divine pulsation. As the universal spirit pulsates into matter, matter becomes enlivened by the pulse of the divine. The movement of the divine, as it expands and contracts, pushes its way into the void. Eternal life advances with each expanding move, enlivening the void, or vacuum, with spirit. At the âmomentaryâ meeting of the void with divine substance, matter is created.
This pulse we are speaking of is an aspect of life weâre well aware of on this physical plane. Our own physical bodies are alive and we have a pulse. The heart, the lungs and the bloodstream all pulsate. We are quite familiar with this phenomena. What we are not so familiar with are the more finely calibrated pulsations. These happen in the mind, in our feeling self and in the body. In addition, there is a pulsation of life that is a spiritual push. It reaches out into the void, turning the void into life.
Each manifestation of lifeâwhether itâs a person or a different kind of organismâis itself, a pulse beat. For life penetrates everything that is, so it is in all organisms. As long as a being is alive, this pulse of universal life expands into it. Itâs one single pulse. But the pulse rate is not always the same. According to the rhythm of the entity, there will be a particular pulse beat that follows particular laws.
Listen and learn more.
Read: The Pulse of Life on Every Level
-
This planet and the people on it are going through a growth process. Every seed that this plan of ultimate self-evolution contains, carries its own plan for fulfillment. And each seed will unfold in its own organic way, following its own inner laws. We experience this phenomenon when we do our work of personal growth and healing, the way this path guides us to do.
Again and again, we watch as an organic process unfolds that operates independently from our conscious mind and our expectations. A plan like this goes in stages, with new energies released each time we transition to a new stage.
Letâs take a look at how this phenomenon manifests on the material level, which is the most superficial level. For example, what happens in the outer growth of a person as they go through very distinct growth phases. For a baby, when they are ready to learn to walk and talk, dormant capacities unfold in them. In order for this to take place, new energies must become available to them.
On the physical level, this is the first major change that takes place after we incarnate. The next major phase of expansion happens when a child leaves home and goes to school. This big step is not just a physical one, but also involves an inner expansion. This is a step out into the world that involves unfolding the childâs built-in potential to cope with other people who live outside the home. Growth continues in this way throughout the span of a personâs entire life.
After a person becomes fully physically grown, itâs harder to notice these transitions. Nonetheless, they are just as real and distinct. Each new phase involves changes, growth and the ability to express oneself more creatively so one can better deal with the worldâboth the outer world and the inner one. Physicians know that there are changes in our cellular system every few years. In fact, the chemical components of the outer structure change completely. And even though we may not notice this happening, itâs real.
The changes that happen on the other levels of our beingâmental, psychic, emotional and spiritualâare even more dynamic. During each stage, we take an orderly step to fulfill the plan of the seed. And the seed plan releases new energies automatically. When we are following our plan, these energies provide us with just the boost we need. They help us expand and change and grow, so we can reach a new dimension. This motion starts from within and moves outward, reaching to embrace more of reality. After all, the aim of inner reality is to reach out and transform outer reality, following its own unlimited beauty, perfection and infinite possibilities for expression.
But when the outgoing movement is obstructedâsuch as when the ego-consciousness hinders the process, ignoring its urgings and acting insensitive to themâthen the energies canât unfold in their natural, harmonious way. This is when these energies, which are originally constructive, turn destructive according to our human view of things.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Changing From Outer to Inner Laws in this New Era
-
Now is the time for the arrival of a new era. The arrival of this event has required that many people were made ready for it. This is true, regardless of whether or not those walking a conscious spiritual path have been aware of this preparation. So we have been filing away at our impurities, and we are still doing this work. We have also been creating emptiness to make ourselves available for a powerful force that is being released in the universeâin the inner universe.
Many channels and spiritual teachers have been aware of this event. But many have incorrectly interpreted what this event would look like. Theyâve had the idea it would come by way of geological cataclysms that would affect humans on the physical level. But this is not true. The changes, which have been in progress for decades already, are changes in our consciousness. And this is exactly what we are working on here.
As we do our personal self-development work to purify ourselves, we become steadily more ready for inner enlightenment. We become ready for the arrival of this awakening force with its self-perpetuating nature. Its arrival is unprecedented. There has been no other time in the history of humankind when this force has been as available as it is right now.
If we have been doing our own healing work, then what we experience will be a result of this power landing on a receptive channel. But if this power hits a channel that is unreceptive, a crisis will arise. What weâre talking about is a tremendous, creative force that is highly beneficial, and which could help us thrive in an entirely new way. But if we block it, even if only partly, we put ourselves under great stressâpsychically, physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is what we must try to avoid.
Letâs now discuss how important it is to be receptive to the energy and new consciousness arriving with this force. This is Christ consciousness and it is spreading throughout human consciousness wherever it can. But in order for us to receive it, we must also understand another important principle: creative emptiness.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Creating from Emptiness
-
Many spiritual sources are delivering messages about an immense cosmic force that is sweeping this planet. A force has been released into this universe with the goal, not of sweeping us out, but to sweep us clean. There is a surge happening in our world, leading us toward spiritual truth. New values are pushing their way through old walls of resistance. Letâs look into what this cosmic force means in terms of a spiritual community, our individuality, and our personal healing and growth. What is this new consciousness about?
Earth, as a planet, is an entity, and each person who lives here is a cell. Itâs much the same as the cells of a human body. Each cell, on planet Earth, is an energy center with consciousness. Just as the cells of a body are conscious and have energy. Now, the entity we call Earth is growing up. Itâs at an inner crossroads, in the same way a growing person comes to inner crossroads.
At some point on our path, we each find that one part of us is ready to expand. In this part of ourselves, we are willing to take a risk and expose our secrets. We want to move into a new mode of living, with a new vision of ourselves. In this new modality, we are not going to shed whatâs old. Rather weâll transform whatever is not compatible with this pure, new influx. We are going to incorporate the pure substance woven into the old self, into an expanded version of ourselves. This will create a new version of ourselves.
What we come to realize is that another part of ourselves, our Lower Self, is going to attempt to obstruct this movement. This part fears and distrustsâand therefore resistsâthis kind of growth. Itâs our ego consciousness that decides which part we will align with.
Itâs inevitable that in such a conflict there will be crisis. This is created by the resisting part as it obstructs the evolutionary force that cannot be stopped. The less we are able to recognize what is happening in this struggle, the more we will deny and rationalize the true significance of whatâs going on. And this will result in an equally great upheaval in our lives that will frighten us.
Listen and learn more.
Read: The Era of New Consciousness
-
In this dualistic dimension, we speak of states of consciousness and energy as though they are two distinct things. But this is not correct. To start with, itâs important to realize that consciousness permeates everything in all of creation. So all energy contains some variety and degree of consciousness. That said, consciousness is what creates energy. In fact, the energy of direct consciousnessâthe energy of our thoughts, feelings, intentions, attitudes and beliefsâeclipses, by far, any other kind of energy, whether electrical, physical, biological or atomic.
Each thought then is energy, and our experience of this energy is what we call a feeling. So there can be no thoughtânot even the most sterile, cut-off thoughtâthat doesnât also contain a feeling. We can imagine that a very pure, abstract thought might be completely divorced from any feeling content, but this is not the case. In reality, itâs just the opposite. The more pure and abstract a thought is, the more feeling must be attached to it.
Actually, we need to parse the difference between an abstract thought and one that is cut off. We need to not confuse the two. An abstract thought comes from a spiritual state that is highly integrated. A cut-off thought is a defense against feelings and parts of the self we think are undesirable.
But even the most cut off thought can never be totally devoid of feeling, or energetic content. Beneath the surface there may be a feeling of fear or apprehensionâsome sort of anxiety about something the person hopes to avoid. And when such feelings are present, self-hate is usually also part of the package.
Below the surface of a purely abstract thought there will be an energy currentâa feelingâof utter peace. This comes from the inherent understanding of spiritual laws that connect to the thought, and are therefore sure to produce joy. A more subjective thought is less pure. So the more subjective a thought is, the more it will contain negative feelings.
What exactly is a subjective thought? It is a thought that comes from our personal desires and personal fears. It comes from our ego, the separated state that believes it is me versus the other. Such a thought, then, is not in truth.
Listen and learn more.
Read: The Three States of Consciousness
-
When a spiritual group forms, or really any kind of group, there will be difficulties that must be overcome. These are an expression of the sum total of beings making up this âbodyâ. For any created entity has its own spiritual body. And this body will consist of many different aspectsâwhich are each aspects of the divine sparkâthe same way an individual person consists of many different aspects.
We are all aspects, then, of the greater consciousness, which is all one. These are nice sounding words, but they are not just words. If we open to them inwardly, we may be able to sense the truth that, in consciousness, we are one. We will start to get a glimpse of this as we make our way along our spiritual path, learning to recognize various aspects of our personality and dealing with them.
Some parts of us, we will find, are out of step with our conscious goodwill. Meanwhile, other parts are working in harmony. At the deepest level, there is an aspect of our consciousness that surpasses in many waysâin beauty, wisdom, love and strengthâeven the very best of our intentions and abilities to bring all our parts back into harmony.
One by one, we learn to identify each part of the self. And we learn to see when we are identifying with each of them. In this way, we get a glimpse of who we are. When we spot parts we donât like, we can work to accept them and thereby transform their energy. This is how we restore negative qualities back to their positive form. We want to restore them rather than separating ourselves from them, which causes them to manifest out there in the world where we can see their destructiveness.
What we are talking about applies to all of creation. Just as we have parts that make up our total personality, we are part of the make-up of the universal consciousness. Yet we all fear bridging the gap between our separated egoâour own little consciousnessâand the big all-encompassing consciousness. We operate out of the misguided notion that if we do so, we will lose ourselves. But this is completely untrue. It canât be true. For the more we come to realize all that we areâthe more we become our Real Selfâthe more complete we will be, not less.
What is the aim of creation? Why are we here? Exactly to bridge this gap, establishing the all-in-one consciousness everywhere. âBut why does this gap exist?â is a question we repeatedly ask ourselves. There are many explanations, including the story of the Fall which, in religious terms, refers to the fall of the angels from grace. Now letâs explore another version of this same process without any religious overtones.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Moving the Mind to Push the Divine Light Spark into the Outer Regions
-
Doing the hard work of deep personal self-development requires equal measures of courage and commitment, honesty and humility. The rewards we will receiveâin proportion to our investmentâare peace and fulfillment. This is cause and effect. Our problems will begin to unravel, which we may have long doubted in our hearts was even possible. We will start to form closer relationships that are more authentic.
Intimate friends are people with whom we experience peace, light, hope, fulfillment and trusting closeness. The presence of such friends, or the lack, thereof is a good gauge telling us whether something is amiss within. For this gauge is so exact! Our life circumstances reflect with great precision how well we are advancing on our spiritual path. No truer measurement exists.
We can never measure ourselves against anyone else. Wherever we are right now, might be just right for us. It may be the exact place we need to be. Knowing this can brighten our perspective and provide us with a shot of hope. Someone else, on the other hand, might find themselves at an identical inner crossroads. And yet that person may be lagging behind on their personal path.
Itâs entirely possible this other person wonât accomplish the plan they had hoped to fulfill during this particular incarnation. That person, then, will be in strifeâwith others and/or themselves. The only reliable gauge for how we are doing on the plan for our lives is this. How do I feel about myself, my relationships and how my life is going?
Now letâs turn our attention to how we should proceed once weâve uncovered an intention to remain mired in negativity. We will need to keep exploring our negative intentionality, owning up to it in a spirit of honesty and openness. Then what comes nextâafter we are truly ready to let it goâwill be to exchange it for positive intentionality.
The key is that we must have a complete understanding of what commitment means, on the one hand, and cause and effect on the other. At first glance, these two things may appear to be unrelated to our negative intentionality. But they are all intrinsically linked, and weâre about to learn why.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Commitment: Cause and Effect
-
Many spiritual philosophies agree that experience is all-important. We could even say the true meaning of life is to experience it, in all its many facets. That we must breathe in the full depth and breadth of it. But when a spirit being is called to this dualistic sphereâto this material planeâwe are drawn here because itâs a match for where we are in our development. Our consciousness is limited, so true reality is blurred out to a great extent.
The only way we can experience more of life is if we expand. Doing so requires us to come here, again and again, until all our blocks against life are gone. Then we will have tasted, savored and assimilated all of it. And then we can experience the totality of life, in all its splendor.
Usually when we hear the word âexperience,â we think of an outer experience. This, however, is not really the meaning of the word. The real meaning is inner experience. To wit, we can have outer experiences of all varieties, but if our inner experience is inhibited, the outer wonât mean much.
We can travel far and wide. And we can experience all kinds of situations, experimenting with every âexperienceâ under the sun. We can look at life from every angle, experiencing art, science and nature. We can do all these things, learning everything our brains are able to master. But if our inner experience is dead, all these experiences will add little, if anything, to our life.
Actually, it is possible that such full outer experiences will add to our despair. For itâs very disquieting to not understand the cause of what is happening. A person can have everything they ever wanted, and still, a nagging dissatisfaction remains. They can try to grab for more goodies, or run for more accomplishments, but living a fruitful life becomes ever more elusive. For the inner capacity to fully experience life has not been cultivated. The inner soil has not been prepared. Worse, it has been practically plowed under altogether.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Inner and Outer Experience
-
Now letâs look at consciousness from a different angle. We humans have a hard time understanding that consciousness is something that permeates all of creation. Our human minds are geared to think of it as being exclusively related to the human form, associated with the brain and a byproduct of our personality. This is not so.
Consciousness does not need to be attached to a fixed form, so itâs everywhere. Itâs also in everything, including of course every particle of matter. In inanimate matter, consciousness is solidified, the same way energy is petrified in an inanimate object. These two thingsâconsciousness and energyâare not the same thing, but rather related aspects of manifestations of life.
As evolution follows its course, energy and consciousness become more and more mobile and vibrant, so things move faster. In the case of consciousness, it gains in awareness. For energy, it gains greater creativity to make forms and move about.
Over much time, consciousness has gone through separation. The process by which this has happened is impossible to spell out with words. The result though is that aspects of consciousness now float around in the universe, so to speak. Every trait we can think of, every attitude known to mankind, every personality trait we can imagine is a manifestation of consciousness. And each particle of consciousness that is not yet integrated in the whole needs to be synthesized and unified with all that is, to create one harmonious whole.
Weâll need to use our imaginations here to be able to follow along. For example, can we imagine that some familiar personality trait could exist separate from a person? That a trait is not the person per se, but a free-floating particle of overall consciousness?
It doesnât matter if the trait is good or evil. It could be any of these: love, perseverance, laziness, impatience, sloth, stubbornness, kindness or malice. Each must be incorporated into manifesting personalities. For thatâs the only way for each to be harmonized and purified, enriching the consciousness thatâs manifesting and creating the conditions for the unification of consciousness as evolution unfolds.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Self-Identification Through the Stages of Awakening Consciousness
-
Unhappiness is an indication of sickness. Usually, though, we interpret unhappiness the wrong way, causing us to fight whatever we think is making us unhappy. In our distorted thinking, we think whatever is manifesting is itself the sickness. Yet if we were living completely in harmony with our Real Self and its universal forces, we would not be sick or unhappy. So disharmony and sicknessâreally any discontentmentâare an indicator of our inner health. As weâll see, thereâs also a connection between health and being selfish, which we will get to in a minute.
When we are unhappy, it is our Real Selfâour spirit beingâthatâs talking to us. It's sending the ego, or outer personality, the message that we should change something. We are going about things the wrong way. This message arises from a desire to return to health, where we will be happy and in a state of well-being.
Being truthful in life is the same as feeling good in the deepest and best possible way, without reservation, and with security and self-liking. If weâre moving through life in a way that is consistent with such a state, our innermost self will be content. So then, any neurosisâany stress, depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviorâor unhappiness is a deeper sign that points to the reestablishment of health.
The more free our Real Self is the more clearly such a message will register with the ego. Some may call such an experience, âhaving a conscienceâ. For a less developed person, whose Real Self is hidden and crusted over, such signs will register less with them. Such individuals can go for a very long timeâperhaps many incarnationsâwithout feeling their inner discontent. Their qualms, anxieties, doubts and pains about how they deviate from the truth at their core donât make it to the surface. When they violate their own integrity, they donât register any unhappiness. They might even feel a certain satisfaction at having given in to their destructiveness.
Neurosis then is not a problem. Rather, it's a signal coming from a healthy spirit thatâs rebelling against the personâs mismanagement of their soul. In our confusion, we combat the nonverbal language of the healthy spirit, thinking thatâs what is sick. We then try to adjust to an unhealthy life condition, assuming that to rebel against ârealityâ is to be immature, unrealistic and neurotic.
People who live in such an unrealistic way also tend to flee from self-responsibility. They deny any kind of frustration, and hope to give nothing but get it all. These are the decisions a person has made, and they need to face and change their choices.
Listen and learn more.
Read: Living with Polar Opposites and Finding the Good in Being Selfish
-
We have been looking at the relationship between our ego-consciousness and universal intelligence. When we are primarily functioning from our ego, we are going to be out of balance and mired in problems. We can also turn this around and state that if we have inner problems, we will inevitably be unbalanced and enmeshed in outer conflicts. No matter which direction we come at this from, it always adds up the same. The ego has to learn to let go of itself. So letâs talk about surrendering.
A boatload of intellectual knowledge about the role the limited ego plays relative to the Real Self wonât help us much. We must find a new approach inside ourselves that makes it possible to let go in a healthy, harmonious way. Letâs shed some new light on this important topic.
Why the Ego Must Learn to Let GoWhen the ego operates in a vacuum, without replenishing itself at the inner source where our life force flows freely, it dries up, starves and withers. Literally, if left to handle the business of living without the benefit of support from the Real Self, the ego dies off. This shines a new light on the process of death, looking at it from this point of view.
This source of life is the universal self that dwells at the heart of every soul. When we incarnate, our spiritual being condenses into the coarse matter that makes up this material world. Such a condensation into matter happens because a separated part of the overall consciousnessâthe part we call the egoâis disconnected from the whole, from the universal self. This disconnectedness causes the ego state, which in turn results in this material life. And that is how we come to this experience of the cycles of life and death.
If any of us overcomes separation, we release ourselves from the process of dying. When we no longer fear letting go of ourselvesâfrom our egoâa reconnection with the universal forces becomes possible. This is not something to hope for in the hereafter. It can take place at any time, in any place, since itâs a question of our state of consciousness.
Listen and learn more.
Read: How Unconscious Negativity Stops the Ego from Surrendering
-
As we make our way along our path of self-realization, these words can act like a spiritual bulldozer for each obstruction we encounter in our psyche. For at some point, we will come to a crossroads. What we are now facing is a very old inner landscape that is littered with our fears: fear of death, fear of life, fear of pleasure, fear of feelings, fear of giving up control, fear of being real, and the like. Itâs already taken some genuine fortitude to come this far and see that this is what weâve been covering up. Such fears have been hiding all along in the darkness of our psyche.
To our surprise and dismay, this is where weâre at. And now that weâre more aware of our many fears, we automatically start to feel the effect they are having on our life: What they make us do and how they make us pull back from life. No wonder we have this vague feeling weâre missing out on life. We are. We literally fear the creative process of living and therefore we miss out on it.
Itâs time we find the common denominator behind all our fears so we can start unwinding the unnecessary cycles of fear, frustration and pain. If we have embarked on a path of self-discovery but havenât yet found our fears, donât worry, it will happen. It must. Then, when we see how weâve been hiding from life because of our fears, we can apply these words retroactively to smooth the way. Let them plant a seed now that will bear fruit when the whole of your being is ready to see and resolve the problems in your life. And make no mistake, coping with our fears is the main problem we all face in life.
The nature of all our fears is that we misunderstand the function of our ego and how it relates to our Real Self. The problem we face in sorting out this relationship is that itâs extremely subtle and therefore hard to put into words. Whatâs more, as with all truths in life, itâs chock full of apparent contradictions. That is, at least as long as we are steeped in duality. Once we get over the hump of thinking and living in a dualistic way, then two opposites can become equally true. And as weâll see, this applies to the ego and its relationship to the Real Self.
For example, itâs true to say that the egoâs exaggerated strength is the biggest hurdle to living a productive life. Itâs also true to say that a weak ego canât possibly create a healthy life. These are not opposites, people. They are both true.
Listen and learn more.
Read: The Egoâs Cooperation With or Obstruction of the Real Self
-
Our attempts to find ourselvesâto understand who we are, where we belong in the world, and how we can fulfill ourselvesârequire a certain amount of insight and strength. Whether we lead meaningful and fulfilling lives also depends entirely on the relationship between our ego and our Real Self. If this relationship is in balance, everything falls nicely into place. All of these teachings from the Pathwork Guide are pointing to this same thing. They're prying at it from a multitude of directions to help us open to this truth as our personal experience.
We can also call our Real Self the universal life principle, which manifests in each and every one of us. It is life itself. For it is unending consciousness in both the deepest and the highest sense. It is pleasure supreme and infinite movement all rolled into one. Since it is life, it can never die. Itâs the very essence of everything that moves and breathes. It is eternal vibration. It knows everything and since it can only be true to its own nature, it is constantly creating and furthering itself.
Each personâeach individual consciousnessâis this universal consciousness. Weâre not just part of it, for that would imply we are just a little drop of it. No, we actually are universal consciousness. And this original consciousness, or creative life principle, can take many forms. When we each incarnate as those various forms, we forget our connection with the origin. At that point, a disconnection occurs. We continue to exist and we still contain the universal consciousness, but we become oblivious to our own nature. We lose track of basic spiritual laws and we lose sight of our potential. This, in a nutshell, describes the general state of human consciousness.
When we start becoming aware of this Real Self, we realize that in fact itâs always been there. We just havenât noticed it because we were under the impression we were cut off from it. So itâs not quite right to say our Real Self âmanifests.â More correctly, we begin to notice it. We may pick up on its energy or its self-directing consciousness. Of course our separated ego also comes bundled with energy and consciousness, but the intelligence of the ego alone is far inferior to the universal intelligence at our disposal. The same is true for the energy.
These two thingsâconsciousness and energyâare not separate aspects of the Real Self. They are one. But some of us tend to be more receptive to consciousness while others are more receptive to energy. Nonetheless, they are both part of the experience of self-realization.
Listen and learn more.
Read: What Blocks the Ego from Connecting with the Real Self
-
What is the endgame of being human? Where are we all heading? Whatâs the point of life? Our goal is always one thing: to become our Real Self. All the many teachings from the Pathwork Guide are approaching this same task, each coming at it from a different angle. As we work in this direction, it will help if we understand how our inner self, or Real Self, differs from our outer self, or ego. What is the relationship between these two? For many of us, having heard various conflicting theories, weâre in confusion about the function of the ego.
Some postulate the ego is essentially negative and therefore undesirable. So then the goal of spirituality is to get rid of it, right? Other theoriesâparticularly from a psychological point of viewâsay our ego is important, for we cannot be mentally healthy without an ego.
Which of these viewpoints is correct? Letâs find out. For if our vision on this is not clear, it will be difficult to reach our all-important goal of self-realization.
First, letâs clarify the Real Self and its essence. This is our inner self and it is an integral aspect of nature. As such, we are bound to the laws of nature. And nature is something we can trust. Itâs not reasonable then, to not trust ourselvesâto not trust our innermost selves. If it seems to us that nature is our enemy, this is only because we donât understand the natural laws that nature is following.
So our inner self is nature. Our Real Self is life. We are creation. This is a better way to say it than to say we are âa partâ of nature, or part of creation. Our Real Self and nature are one and the same thing.
Whenever we function from our Real Self, we are in truth and we are joyful. Our most constructive and creative contributions to life arise from our inner self. So everything that expands lifeâeverything wise and beautiful and generousâcomes from here. This is worth contemplating, as it cannot be emphasized too much. Itâs essential we understand this truth, not only with our mindâwe need to feel this.
If this is so, then what is the function of our outer personalityâour ego? This is the part of us that operates on a level we have direct access to. Since we are directly, or consciously, aware of our ego, this is our conscious awareness. This is the part of us that thinks, acts, sorts and makes decisions.
If we have a weak ego, weâll have a hard time coping with life. If we have an overgrown ego, weâll be lost from our Real Self. In other words, both extremes of ego-weakness and ego-inflation will result in separation from our inner essence. And this essentially is our problem. All our conflicts in life stem from having too big an ego, or too small an ego.
Most often, itâs not that one person has a big ego and another has too small an ego. Rather, it's that both have an imbalance within themselves. Weâre underdeveloped in one area of our personality and overdeveloped in another. So nature will take its course and try to reestablish a balance. Overdevelopment of our ego, then, may be natureâs way of straightening out the disturbance caused by having a weak ego in another area of our lives.
Listen and learn more.
Read this chapter online: The Function of the Ego in Relationship to the Real Self
