A bigger ego is the only way to truly create "A New Earth"...
Unless
you've been living under a rock for the last 6 months, you've most
likely heard the buzz around A New Earth. I applaud Eckhart
Tolle for putting forth the time and energy to make such a positive
impact on the world.
The things he's teaching are powerful... and yet as I travel around
the globe, I still find misconceptions, misinterpretations and
confusion. It's obvious that most people have a lack of
understanding regarding one of the key concepts regarding the human
ego.
And because of that, the ego gets a bad rap.
Anyone who's been exposed to even a small amount of traditional
spiritual teachings, particularly from the East, has heard all the
ways that the human ego gets debased and despised. To most, the ego
is a selfish, materialistic, stingy, controlling monster that must
be at least controlled and at best destroyed. This is ignorance and
a lack of understanding of something that will never be actualized.
First, the word "ego" is Latin and translates as "I." Every time you
read or hear "ego," think "I." Your ego (or I) is nothing more or
less than the identity you've created and continue to hold for
yourself. Now if you follow this through logically, you'll realize
there's absolutely no way you can be "egoless."
Even the most sagacious of teachers and uber of gurus has an ego...
And to think or propagate otherwise is illusion. To work toward
"egoless living" is actually an ego/identity. To be a
"non-materialist" is an ego/identity. To be "non-attached" and a
spiritual person is (you guessed it) an ego/identity.
The fact of the matter is you cannot even exist without some
semblance of an ego/identity. Therefore, I submit that your ego is
not too big as you've often been told...
I suggest your ego is not big enough!
When you identify yourself with your activities, your possessions,
your position or any other of these items of the physical world,
your identity is centered as a finite physical being. Truth be
understood, you should be identifying yourself with infinity or God.
In my new book
Harmonic Wealth, The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want,
I discuss that true wealth is a state of harmony and well-being in
the five key areas (I call them the five pillars) of life:
Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual. Only when
these five pillars are in harmony in your life are you truly wealthy
and fulfilled. The solution to this ego issue resides in the
Relational Pillar.
Now when I speak of relationships, the majority of people
automatically think "romance!" While romance is an important part of
our relational experience, it pales by comparison to the grander
issue: how you relate to the entire world.
Refer to the section in
Harmonic Wealth titled "The Hierarchy
of Personal Identity." In it, I discuss the 7 different levels of
existence in which we play the game of life. If ego is the identity
you hold (which it is), then it's important to explore where your
sense of self resides.
While I won't go into an in-depth explanation of all seven levels
here, I'll briefly explore the extremes or both poles of the
hierarchy.
Exploring this model, we truly find the key to creating a new earth
for ourselves, for others and for the entire planet...
At the bottom of the hierarchy (or "at the beginning stages of
awareness"), you define your identity as an Individual Being.
When holding your ego/identity at the Individual level, your entire
world centers around you, the things you want, the things you do,
what happens to you and the things you have. This is the level of
lowest awareness in the hierarchy.
At this Individual level, you're separate from
other beings, from nature and from the world and universe at large.
As a result, we traditionally have little care or deep concern for
the needs of others, and most often care little for the well-being
of animals, plants or the natural world... And certainly not as a
primary focus.
This is the level of awareness most likely labeled by spiritual
traditions as the ego/identity that must be overcome or
transcended... And it's true that you must grow beyond this in the
evolution of consciousness... but that's only half the story.
Before I explain that statement more fully, let's jump to the
opposite pole of the hierarchy.
At the seventh level of the model (or "at the highest level of
awareness"), you define yourself as a Spiritual Being. Now, the word
"spiritual" needs some explaining because many misinterpret it to
mean "religious." This again is a limited understanding.
Spirit is the creative force that moves through all existence both
animate and inanimate. While religious traditions call this power
"God," quantum physics calls it "Energy." Choose whichever label
works best for your way of thinking, and understand that both
science and religion are talking the same language with different
labels.
While Spirit moves through all creation and therefore is the
Creative Source, religion is a methodology or set of beliefs to
allow you to connect with the Creative Source. Do you get the
difference?
Religion is the means... Spirit is the end. Let's not define the
forest by the tree.
As a Spiritual Being, you realize at your very core your
interconnectivity to every single thing in this universe... And even
beyond this universe. You understand and operate from a deep sense
of inclusiveness and realize you're connected to everyone and
everything. With this understanding, the statements of Jesus, "I and
the Father are one," and, "If I be lifted up, I lift up every man,"
become truly awakened within you.
Now here's the critical part many so-called spiritual teachers and
aspirants misunderstand. As a spiritual being, you're not out to
annihilate or overcome any part of the ego/identity journey--rather
to embrace and include it all. So while you must transcend certain
small ego identifiers you've created, in order to truly awaken, you
must also include them. They're not bad or wrong...
They're just a link in the great chain of being... A necessary step
in the great adventure and journey of life.
Think about it, if all things come from the same source (call it
Energy, God or Spirit), then as it states in the book of Genesis,
"All is good." With this understanding and awakening, you realize
that any time you damn any part of creation... you damn God!
Where is God not? Where is Energy not? Where is Spirit not? It's all
the same stuff and of the same essence.
Authors and teachers frequently buzz about "finding your purpose."
We all literally have one purpose and one purpose only, and that
purpose is inclusiveness... The awakening and awareness that you,
me, the dog, the cat, the sinner and the saint are all of the same
source and essence.
From this perspective, everything is spiritual or of the same
spirit.
The great mistake of many spiritual aspirants is that they believe
that only chanting, meditating, praying, renouncing materialistic
desires and suppressing your sexual nature are the spiritual
experiences of this world. But think about it... That's just another
ego/identity trip isn't it?
The material world and all the toys, trips and trimmings are not bad
or wrong. This is the grand trap that many spiritual traditions fall
into. Spiritual exclusivity or renunciation is just the same ego
game at a different level.
The material world and all its experiences only become a limitation
when you build and attach your ego/identity to them. Likewise, the
same is true with spiritual pursuits. Spiritual attachment and
escapism is no more the complete answer than is material attachment
and escapism.
The master is one plays the game passionately but just doesn't buy
in.
For this reason, you'll notice that the most powerfully awakened
individuals in history tend to break the traditional rules. Jesus of
Nazareth drank wine, broke the rules of the Sabbath and hung out
with prostitutes and thieves. U.G. Krishnamurti drove an Alpha Romeo
and wore Italian designer shoes.
When you finally awaken, you realize as A Course in Miracles
states, "All things are echoes of the voice of God."
You see, once you expand your ego/identity to include everything,
you're identified by nothing (or "no-thing"). When this awakening
occurs, you can inhabit the world and play the game with gusto.
Nothing and no one can hold you or harm you because you realize...
It's all you.
Only with the realization of ourselves as Spiritual Beings will we
have "A New Earth." Only then will we begin to think of ourselves,
our neighbors, other religions, other races, other nations as the
interconnected and interdependent manifestations of the Creative
Source.
Only then will we begin embracing versus judging--including versus
dividing. Only then will we actualize our one true purpose in life
which is a full recognition of our inclusiveness with all. Only then
will we have harmony and well-being in every single aspect of our
individual and collective lives.
Harmony in all, from Spirit to Form, is the key, my friend.
The answer is
Harmonic Wealth... and it begins with
you.
To your continued wealth and happiness,
James Arthur
Ray
President/CEO
James Ray
International
If you like what you have read here, I encourage you to attend one of the
FREE James Ray 2-hour
seminars. There are various locations across the country.
Harmonic Wealth has brought a whole new dimension of understanding
to my life.
I look forward to your wealth,
Tofu Alan
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