The Things People Do - An Opportunity for You in Disguise

Life can some times be a challenge, can’t it? People are sometimes vexing to the core and others ultimately self-less giving whatever they can to a moment.  It is hard to be compassionate sometimes.  It is hard not to get caught up in someone else’s wake of chaos and negativity. But, I must let you in on one of life’s many secrets, and while it may be really hard to grasp – it’s no less than true – you get caught up in it to the extent you have something really important to learn about yourself.

Its true what they say – that every person comes into your life for a reason…even that guy who just mercilessly cut you off on the highway.  The trick is trying to understand what that core-level urge within you that gets so angry and frustrated is really trying to tell you.  Some will say, “You have the right to get angry when one treats you so discourteously.”  Sure, why not.? We have many rights in this world.  But, at some point, you may become unhinged by everything that is happening around you – rude holiday shoppers, woefully unaware drivers and the throngs of thoughtless words spoken by folks unaware (or insidiously – fully aware) in a moment their words might hurt.

At the end of the day, you get to decide how you want to experience your days. Believe it or don’t, you have a choice in terms of how you want to experience a moment.  You can do it nutted up with anger and frustration or you can let go of the expectation that people will behave with common decency (remember – if decency where actually common – wouldn’t every one possess it)?  So, the world of humans and their interactions and behavior will, at times, be completely opposite to yours and what you think is right or wrong in a moment.  But, it’s that tiny little space within you that immediately spools up is just exactly the thing the encounter is intended to teach you about.

What is it about the interaction that really upset you?  Break it down. Are you tired?  Are you hungry? Are you frustrated?  Are you in a hurry?  Notice that not one of these questions focuses at all on what the other person did.  Do you want to know why?  Because you do not have the power to control anyone else that crosses your path but you do have the power to control you and your own reactions as well as behavior.  Do you need a nap?  Do you need a time out?  Do you need to chill out a second?  We’ve all done unthinking things at one time or another.  So, you can’t blame everyone for doing something without thinking about it.  To do so is missing a really great opportunity to take accountability by looking within.  Consider, is there a theme of certain kinds of behavior in others that always brings you from a simmer to a boil?  Why?  What exactly is it about that kind of behavior that gets to you?  Why do you let it get to you?  Is it worth continuing your life letting other people control your reaction in this way?  It is handing your power to other people.  Do you want to continue giving your power away?

Listen, it’s okay to get mad and frustrated.  But, but, but, before you act on that feeling, I promise you that it will always be a thousand times better to sit with it and fully experience it reflecting without doing a single thing about it than it would be to get angry or retaliate in some way.  I read a social media post not long ago about someone driving in their own lane, minding their own business when another car was coming into the lane without looking creating a potential wreck situation.  The driver already in the lane honked to let the other driver know they were there.  This person, who was acting carelessly then retaliated for being honked at and then sped up to get into the lane safely and then break-checked the driver who was in the lane several times.  This is the perfect example of twisted psychology in action.  The driver trying to merge in unsafely got honked at and likely felt bad with some level of self-frustration – so then, proceeded to get even with the other person for reminding them of their unsafe behavior.  Listen, these kinds of things can really escalate and needlessly so.  This retaliation game of escalating is really a waste of human energy.  There are lots of other choices that could have been made without wrecking the experience in that particular moment for everyone driving near either driver. The negativity impacted more than just the two drivers.

But, you see, there will always be unthinking people doing things dangerously.  Sometimes when you remind them, you become the object of their self-anger and you experience the retaliation for their poor choices.  But, you can disengage.  You can be with your own feelings without taking action that might escalate beyond anyone’s ability to save life or limb.  I don’t mean to take a passive approach – this isn’t about cowardice.  This is about the realization that acting in a moment when a psychological filter has seemingly unconsciously taken over might be a bad idea and getting peaceful with yourself before taking action.  Then, choosing a constructive approach to continuing whatever it is you were doing.  Of course, you can take on the mantel of savior of the world and brake-checking everyone else’s bad behavior but consider the outlay of energy necessary for that.  Is it really worth it?  Is that how you want to choose to behave?  Is there another way you can manage yourself? 

Sometimes we can’t get out of the way. Bad things will happen.  There isn’t anything that we can do to change the bad behavior of others.  Some people, believe it or not, are simply un-teachable and will continue the bull-in china shop approach to life.  When I encounter them, I pull back and disengage.  I don’t feel like becoming part of the wreckage (if that can be avoided by my choices).  So, well, to be honest, I get frustrated too.  Peopling is hard when you’re on the road, when you’re shopping, working or even at a family gathering.  I merely suggest there are alternatives in our choices.  You can get mad and fight back.  You can go toe-to-toe and match punch with punch.  It’s your life, do what you want.  But, if you don’t want to live your life in a continually triggered state, you’ve got to understand your triggers.  What about this experience or that experience triggers you?  Do you need a nap, a cookie, a counselor, a hug, a friend, a quiet chill out moment?  It’s up to you to take the opportunity or not.  Not is okay too if you’re okay with that.  Just know there are always alternative choices even when the emotions have been triggered.  You can choose not to react and pull yourself back until you figure out how you would most like to constructively respond.  It’s an option.  I’m not judging.  I’m just saying that there are many choices.

Look, there is a reason that it is said, “Patience is a virtue.” The experience of patience, compassion, and the ability to pause when you feel like reacting are very powerful moments to experience.  When you are in a space of accountability for self – understanding of others – patience for those less knowledgeable or aware as you – taking a breath – this is how you maintain your power instead of spilling energy out everywhere unthinkingly.  Did you know?  Well, now you do.  Again, you’ll get no judgment from me on your individual choices.  I really do understand.  We all have choices and every choice we make has a lesson for us.  But, certain life lessons will continue to repeat until we understand them.  Sometimes, until we understand the reason certain people and situations present themselves to us and frustrate or anger us, it can be a really painful set of experiences.  I wish you many moments of perfect pauses for quick contemplation that allow you to breathe, understand and respond to your experiences. I wish you much personal power and full realization of your life experiences.  I wish you an ever increasingly satisfactory set of human interactions.  Enjoy your life. Live.  Love. Understand.  Bless.

  © 2019, photo and words.

Triggers - Flashes of Emotion or Opportunities for Insight?

Human interactions can sometimes be so difficult.  We sometimes beat ourselves up after certain interactions thinking, “Why didn’t I say this or say that or why did I say anything at all!”  You need to understand something about us humans.  Environmental psychology and, well, the stuff we just come in here with leaves us with trigger points.  These are those little internal flash points we people do or say that one thing or many things in just that special way that pushes our buttons.  It is so easy to look back in hindsight when calm and un-triggered and see clearly what someone said or did wasn’t about us at all.

But wow those triggers, huh?!  If you realize that the thing that gets your goat is a trigger and you learn to own your triggers, the impact starts to lessen a bit.  Sometimes it is good enough to get to the point where you recognize you have been triggered and then in those moments following, just breathe forgiving yourself for being triggered.  It is okay to be triggered, its okay to find you’ve got goats for someone to get.  What’s not okay is living in denial and blaming everyone else for your triggers.  Here is a very harsh reality, triggers are not the fault of the person pushing your buttons.  There, I said it.  It’s the truth and I know all too well how much it hurts.  There is a part of us that becomes so angry that we’ve been triggered at all and we just want to blame someone, something…anything for the terrible toxic energy that seems to be the instant result.  But, that only damages our relationships and makes it harder for us to establish new ones.

So, what do we do with these triggers?  How do we make them go away?  More harsh news, I don’t know that everyone can make them go away.  Sometimes I think the best we can hope for is understanding and maybe even some compassion.  If someone makes a joke at your expense trying to aggrandize themselves while terribly minimizing you or your efforts and you have a trigger point around this, terrible things can begin to happen in your mind in a split second.  If you do not learn to recognize this anger, or this toxic emotion being generated by you seemingly as a result of someone else’s words or actions, this trigger point can really be damaging for you.  But, if over time you can learn to see the trend of the types of things that trigger you and you begin to understand this is about fear that you hold and that the interaction truly only serves to give you a chance to understand the trigger point is there, you will have made great strides towards recovery. 

There are wounds we all carry and you can spend a life time trying to figure out why something is there and maybe some of us should – maybe through therapy.  But, sometimes we just have to understand, accept ourselves, wounds – trigger points – and all and just learn to take a breath, disengage and get peaceful again.  Whether someone meant to trigger you or not isn’t really the point at all.  The point is you recognizing you have a trigger point.  Living with them isn’t so hard if you can understand that they exist and you don’t have to beat yourself or others up because you became triggered.  You really don’t. 

This is a whole new way of living with love and understanding towards yourself first and then others in a more healthy way.  Revenge is a message.  Anger is a message.  Sadness is a message.  What is that message?  Simply put, it is that there is a wound.  No matter how it got there, there is a wound and wounds need care and healing time not thrashing, bashing, avenging and threatening yourself or  others.  In a calm and cooler mind, you can acknowledge that you’ve been triggered, get some space for yourself to recover from the moment and then just be with the trigger.  Looking deeply and fearlessly within, you can do this.  It doesn’t mean you did something wrong or that something is wrong with you.  We all have our triggers and their levels of severity vary.  But, the realization of our own body’s messaging system through emotion and energy can truly be your saving grace.  We don’t need to internalize our anger.  We just need to understand that its there for whatever reason and give it space in non-action (other than awareness) for the intensity of a moment to shift.  That is damn hard!  But there are positive actions you can take.  If there are people who continually trigger you, do your best to spend less time with them – get some counseling to help you deal with your own emotions about what these people do that triggers you or even go the no contact route if need be.  Every person deserves the right to set boundaries to protect themselves  but we must always remember to also protect ourselves from our own negative thoughts.

There are so many tools available that can help us learn to be with emotion rather than running from, stuffing, projecting or transferring our emotion onto others psychologically.  Some of this stuff happens so quickly we don’t even know its happening consciously.  But we can learn to become consciously aware by listening to our emotion, knowing emotion isn’t always fact but it is a message.  Clearly and rationally and also, very safely exploring is paramount. 

We’ve all got our triggers and flashpoints and we may not ever be able to stop them.  But we can learn different behavior that better supports us while we learn to accept ourselves wounds and all.  No matter what you’ve been through, you are worth the effort of understanding, awareness, breathing and peace.  But in the end, it’s all about what you want to do and how you choose to live your life.  If you wish to live it blindly being triggered, that’s okay.  If you want to live it with more peace, serenity and support, you may have to learn better coping strategies for those times you become triggered.  We sometimes think this stuff is the end of the world in a heated moment but it doesn’t have to be.

It just doesn’t have to be horrible or result in terrible things said or done in a moment of emotion.  We can learn if we want to, we can become more aware if we want to.  I guess we just have to get to the point that we can’t live with our own toxic emotion.  These are great opportunities to learn from.  We just have to be willing to do the learning.  Just some food for thought today.  Blessings of great awareness, love, healing and understanding to you all.

 

© 2017, Jaie Hart (photo/words)

The Entirety of the Universe in an Infinite Drive

The Earth has turned past that point at which we enjoy the vibrant fiery display of colorful light bending and brightening along the horizon.  Cerulean blue skies are gently fading still.  The sea breeze has picked up and I can hear wind chimes tinkling in the distance.  They bring a pleasant emphasis to the end of a beautifully temperate summer day.  One breath and a glance around me and I notice the silence and stillness is palpable as people have already returned to their dwellings and settled in for the night.  I let my outward glance linger a little longer and notice the beautiful trees outside my window swaying in the breeze while singing a song that sounds like a beautifully rushing river.  The rustling leaves I somehow feel stirring something deep within my soul and I think to myself that this moment could not be any more perfect.

I’ve slowed down in my writing quite a bit lately, for months actually and it has been intentional.  I've been blogging for more than eight years and have rarely had a shortage of things to say or thoughts to think.  But my life experiences these past many years have left me with so much to contemplate and process offline that I finally took the time to pause a bit more.  As I think about it, it seems funny to me that with all of those years of writing and time spent reflecting I still feel as if I have barely scratched the surface and at any moment this amazing something is just going to come rushing up and out of me and that'll be it for me.  I'll be spent!  I've been too busy to reflect in a way I might have liked because I took out a very big life lesson plan and my, has it been all too easy to be overly focused there.  I think after so many years of reflection quite openly, I’ve needed to focus more on the present.  Not just being in it but learning to breathe it in, accept it as it is, remain okay with all that I have created and learn to appreciate all the things tangible and intangible in this life that I can touch or that touches me. I needed to sit more quietly and to just feel.

So, one of my many journeys has ended over the past couple of years and I’ve had to slow down to process it and really come to terms with all I’ve learned.  The discoveries have been beautifully eye-opening and well, completely mind bending.  I’m left with a much emptier bag of beliefs from the point at which my conscious spiritual journey began almost 30 years ago.  I don’t have as many questions as I once had for they have been readily answered.  I did not have the benefit of a single wise and gentle elder who guided me specifically.  No.  I walked through every possible lesson I could with the best of intent and fell to my knees often in agony for what I did not see until it was upon me.  But then again, as the tears stopped falling, this infinite well of gratitude opened up within me and I began to understand much of what I was truly searching for.  Many thanks, as always, to the hundreds of teachers who crossed my path with a word, a smile, an emotion, a drama or quiet acknowledgement.  I sincerely thank every one of you.

As I shook away the last vestiges of torn beliefs and worn out stories, I started to reflect a little more relying on the only source I truly had at my disposal.  That source was my own consciousness.  I had to learn to sit with just my thoughts, my anxieties, my fears, my worries, my inadequacies, my pathological never-ending-seeming blind spots and the lingering effects of my environmental psychology as well as the after-effects of everyone else’s.  What did I learn?  The next book will explain much of it but suffice it to say that I learned letting go was all that was needed and that meant letting go of belief, of hopes, of dreams, of desires all born of the desires of a version of me that is now a bit of a stranger to me.  I guess I just needed something to hold onto as we all do.  That is no easy thing although I tap it out as if it were trivial.  I guess as we age we all have our defining moments to consider and reconsider again and again to make sure we’ve gleaned enough of life’s important lessons in order that we might continue more meaningfully.  Am I done yet?  Oh Heavens no...not even close.

My goal now is dealing with the emptiness that I have created unconsciously and yet so meticulously and with so much faith.  I’m letting go of everything I thought I should have been, could have been or would have been and embracing the reality of who I am even though I’m not yet, despite near 50 years now on this Earth, certain of who precisely that is.  And the funny thing is I’m okay with a little mystery in my life.  In general, I can feel what I need to know and I’m satisfied with that.  I’m happy at my core to know and understand the beauty of every single thing I’ve created as I have made my way through life this far.  A prior frame of my thought process would have had me writhing in agony over the imperfect execution of much of my journey up until this point.  But something snapped a few years back and it's not that I stopped caring but that I suddenly realized the futility of the prior impetus for my own motion and resulting perceptions.

My mind grows curious again about what comes next but there is much less urgency to it, there is no fear of not finding it and no worry now that I’ll miss it.  I’ve learned so far that we truly have everything we really need at the moment we need it most.  For now that need I have truly is just to be, to exist, to continue to experience with eyes wide open not in expectation but with an eagerness to participate and to choose to embrace what comes my way.   What other choice have I really?  Well, I suppose I could become all fearful and worried or delude myself with some quest of great mystical or magical importance.  But I’ve learned the secrets are by far more simple than that.  No complex constructs are necessary to feel, to breathe, to watch as the sun climbs to the center of the sky and makes it way all the way across again.  It is so simple to recognize that unmistakable light in a child’s eyes or calm peace of your pet, the chaos of loving family life and the oh so important day job of course.  It is all really perfect and beautiful.  Just don’t over do it on the seriousness part. There is a gentleness in the energy around you when you open your heart to your own well of compassion and let it spill out all around you in every direction.

I came into this world facing a vast chasm of inherent dichotomy and striving so hard to reconcile it to perfection not realizing this world of opposites and everything within it was already perfect and not needing reconciling.  The traces of the many illusions I once held begins to leave me a little more and I take more time in the dark of the night to open my eyes to nothing for in the nothing I perceive lies everything that matters, the peace, the love, the compassion, the beautiful energy of All That Is and all of the universe only one tiny subtle feeling away.  And all of this came crashing into my mind as I drove home from work last night.  I looked up at the sky watching the blue fade into the brightness of the beginning of sunset and I realized what I could not see was there none-the-less and how I was moving at a set speed, while the Earth turned and rotated around our sun as our Milky Way Galaxy spiraled itself out amongst the other stars and galaxies into the beautiful dark matter that surrounds every drop of light.  I felt it then, infinity and it took my breath away.  I paused all other thought in that very moment and waited patiently for my breath to find me.  As it did, I smiled from somewhere so deeply inside, the light and the energy I felt rivaled that of our beautiful sun.  The traffic light in the near distance turned red.  I slowed to a stop resolute, comforted on the edge of everything not at all okay.  With perfect calm, I lifted my hand and I turned up the radio. I left my thoughts of the infinite universe trailing behind me as I turned to the nearest human in the car to my left and smiled with a deeply profound sense of appreciation for all of humanity.  Life is so very tenuous and still we strive.  I let the thoughts finally rest and made my last turn.  I finally made it home.

  © 2016 Jaie Hart (photo/words)

An Inadvertent Path Amidst a Dream

What a strange and interesting time this seems to be in our world.  I cannot begin to scratch the surface of all of the happenings of this world without wanting to brush it all away and dig right down deeply into the core of what seems to ail all of humanity.  It seems to me, at the heart of all of our woes lies this insidious subtle and often blatantly active fear.  Fear seems to be at the heart of everything going seemingly wrong today.  But what on Earth can we do?  Honestly, nothing.  As weird, heartless or oblivious as that may seem, there isn’t really anything to fix “out there.”

If we want to get to the heart of what ails humanity at this time, we need look no further than our own backyards. For there, we will find a rich universe from which we may draw our own conclusions about where we are, and why we are and what we might do with significant impact.  Translated simply – we can fix ourselves but we can’t really fix anyone or anything else.  I’ve written often before of the path of understanding as the mechanism through which we can at least learn to hold compassion for ourselves and compassion for each other no matter what state or place we find ourselves in.

We are plagued with this life-preserving ability to compare, contrast and quickly discern all that is seemingly bad around us.  It really does help us make decisions in a moment about what we should stick closer to and what we should move ourselves very far away from.  But, what if we judge wrongly even in our own perception at a time where any form of truth is truly obscured?  This would be the case in terms of undetected negative environmental psychology that truly dictates the bulk of our perception of our many experiences in this world.  I’m learning of late that there just is no way for us to transcend our psychology.  We cannot fix the core of who we are.  We just aren’t able and besides that, there isn’t anything to fix.  We can come to greater understanding of all that triggers us and if we can at least become aware of the fact that our thoughts, emotions and reactions in any given moment are just that –  triggers – what an amazing and monumental leap on our own personal journey does that bring us.  Better yet, diving into the deep and endless pool of those triggers to better understand, deeply love and infinitely appreciate our truest self is beyond amazing.

Our very lives these days are so interlaced with psychology, superficial understanding coupled with time honored traditions in human behavior that it is difficult at best to realize who is reacting versus who is intentionally responding to whatever it is they face in a moment.  Reaction and response may seem like two things of the same core motivational essence but that couldn’t be any more over-simplified.  I write much about this topic in so many different ways and in so many different perspectives.  Why?  Well, it is hard to discern the space we are reacting from in earnest.  In mindfulness we learn that our human nature is to think thoughts incessantly, ascribe emotions to those thoughts and that triggers us into reaction.  But, what if we truly could learn to allow all those thoughts and their associated emotions and just let them be without judging them or ascribing further insult to seeming injury?

Well, we can do that.  But, if you want to do that in order to release yourself from states of too much worry, too much pain and too much unhappiness, you really need to learn what mindfulness is and you need to be open to embracing higher understanding.  Again, translating simply – awareness through understanding is key to relieving you of all that mentally ails you.  This you can do if only you opened your mind, heart and soul to it.

But on the other side of this very complex coin of human existence, we have a very rich, seemingly unreachable aspect of our being…some call it Spirit or Soul, some consider it mind or consciousness.  The deeper aspects of our being begs greater understanding for there we can grasp the essence of the impetus for our manifestation in this frame, within this beautiful and endless seeming dream.  We are, at best, what we most chose to be and how we most wish to embrace it – whatever “it” is.  There is truly nothing to do to “fix” or save ourselves or each other from in life.  Life is as it is and it is only our lack of understanding that drives us to our territorial desire for the many and varied manifestations of suffering hidden by our own design.  When you understand you free yourselves a little and then a little more to move through this conscious dream awake and ever more aware.  So, we need not worry so much about the state of things.  It is better yet to remain ever curious, ever hopeful and ever compassionate with self and the whole of life.  Take heart this dream – your life – has purpose.  You matter.  This dream matters.  Take the lessons to heart and love yourselves even more deeply.  Blessings for higher love and greater understanding.

 

© 2016 Jaie Hart

Destroy the Ego? Why?

If you’ve wandered through any spiritual or new age works either recent or reportedly ancient, you may have encountered the concept of ego destruction. As with many other ancient concepts or ideas, I cannot help but wonder if this is yet another epic misinterpretation. Forgive me, as I mean no disrespect to any person, faith or practice as I write. I merely wish to paint the picture of an alternative perspective and one that I think is sorely needed for much greater understanding. In my book, Exploring the Conscious Self for Growth and Understanding, I explored the ego and consciousness and came to the beginnings of some conclusions as follows:

From my exploration into the topic of consciousness, the ego as the veil, I begin to come to the conclusion that the life we experience here on Earth is the result of a conscious individuation from the Cosmic Mind or One Mind in the form of ego for the purpose of a physical experience in an individuated focal point of existence in a specific time. The ego is the veil that separates humanity from the Cosmic Mind or that, to us, which is unconscious or simply, not yet known. The veil does not separate us from our Source or sever the connection to that Cosmic Mind but rather obscures it through the existence of the ego. We remain part of the entirety of the cosmos, our cells, molecules and particles gathered as a density intentionally collected in a point of focus here in this now as are all entities in existence within this frame or dimension.

The ego exists as learned scholars and wise spiritual teachers will in unison agree. Where they all may diverge is on the purpose of the ego and understanding its related consciousness. In my dissertation, I posit that it is because of the ego that we have individuated from the One Mind or Cosmic Consciousness and this intentionally formed the veil between the physical conscious world and the world of unconsciousness, ether or the ethereal realms of the spirit. It is through the process of choosing individual experience that seems to separate us from our Source at a purely physical or conscious level. We did so in order to experience creating and the receiving of the gift and the use of free will from whatever Source or Force in this universe that created us. As a unified whole, we still exist, I think, as everything in creation is interconnected as well as interdependent. Others are beginning to join this body of thought. (117)

In another of my works, So It’s Over, Now What, I explored another concept I wish to share with you, Malware:

Part of the brain’s simulation process is taking in data from the outside and bumping it up against the various memories we have stored within our minds. By comparing the data the mind makes assumptions about the data it has perceived, runs its simulations, comes up with assessments or conclusions, which then trigger various biological processes which can help keep us safe. Without memory and the ability to recall it, we might forget about that time fire burned our fingers and reach blindly into a flame without any caution. One of the challenges with memories is that they are not always exact and we sometimes store the memories of our resulting judgments from our mind’s simulation processes negatively. If we emotionally charge events such as those that are painful to us, those memories will be a bit easier to find during our mind’s simulation processes. The problem with the mind’s simulation processes it that the mind automatically assumes the data it takes in is correct, especially if within the memory it finds a similar painful outcome to a process. A painful memory may be distorted over time. Such memories may cause us to become triggered over an emotional landmine (read, unhealed psychological wound) that was based on an assumption not validated.

I refer to this as malware or a virus being introduced into our mental processing system. With malware or a virus in place in our mental processes, we may jump to conclusions without accurate data and decide that vengeance or revenge is the appropriate course of action given the data the mind has taken in, simulated, judged through the filters of all kinds of psychologically tainted experiences and then resulting in illusory emotion that seem real making someone feel a dire urge to strike out to preserve the ego or the body.

If your operating system is not in perfect health, you’ve let your emotional landmine blow somebody up but primarily, it’s you also that is hurt the worst by the blast because you were unaware of the psychological virus or malware unconsciously installed somewhere in your memory or emotions attached to a memory in your thought processing system. (47)

So, in two separate explorations shared, I’ve outlined a concept of the ego as that part of our Consciousness (Big “C” – Cosmic Consciousness) that has pointed its focus in this physical reality. I’ve also introduced the concept of malware in regard to the mental operating systems via beliefs and psychology in two of my separate works quoted above. Now think for just a moment. If we were to destroy the ego in an effort to spiritually advance, would we still be here in this third-dimensional reality? I don’t know the answer to that and I don’t know how we get to the answer of that. If you were to take a person and destroy their ego in quite literal terms, where would the “I” of them go? They’d still be here which means their individuation still exists and then, so would their ego. What I put forth is the idea that it is not bad to have an ego, it is not wrong to think in terms of “I” and it is not wrong to be an “I” in this frame. You can still progress in this frame spiritually by maintaining the “I” or the “Ego” or any of its component parts or aspects of consciousness. My explorations have led me to a path of consideration that it is actually not "the ego that must be destroyed in order for humanity to be awakened" but that it is the malware that must be discovered, rooted out or otherwise healed in order for an individual here in this frame with an “I” focus (what other focus can individuated consciousness have here in this frame?) to grow into greater awareness and improve health and well-being.

It is not the ego that must be destroyed or any part of your being that you should dislike or seek to destroy. In fact, it is the opposite. The “I” that is you is perfect in design. What is imperfect (or really, rather the challenge) is what you have within the concept of “I” that isn’t necessarily what you came here with, “Malware” in your mental operating processes. Now, I think in some cases that there is past-life residue that can permeate the “I” but even that is separate from the “I” that is you or the Ego. Even with malware operating in your consciousness, you can still step outside of it and observe it in action and experience the vast peaceful connectedness of the Cosmic Consciousness as Eckhart Tolle outlines in his work, The Power of Now. I think that we exist exactly as we are meant to. Our consciousness is never not connected (forgive me the double negative) to the Cosmic Consciousness but that we just have an individuated focus for the purpose of gaining experience. To me, this logically explains the variations of perception and belief from human to human. To me this logically unites many theories in a way that I can understand and that build a logical and necessary framework for me of complete compassion for every individuated aspect of consciousness here existing in the physical at this time.

So, the Ego is a part of you. To want to destroy a part of yourself, I think, is one of the most harmful concepts in existence. To understand any virus or malware existing within your mental operating system so that you can heal it and unite fragmented aspects of your consciousness into a loving, accepting, understanding and compassionate wholeness makes much more sense to me than destroying or surrendering the ego. You cannot be other than who you are. The true self is always there no matter what mental virus or malware has seeped into your consciousness. The true self can always observe, experience, understand, learn and grow even with the malware. Discovering the psychological wounds that are the "malware" and striving to transcend them brings greater understanding and a deeper sense of connectedness and awareness. You don’t have to destroy any part of you for that. You need only be open to understanding the framework within which you operate. Trust in your truest nature it is there right along with the “I” and the “We” of individuated as well as united Consciousness.

Article from: http://journalofmcc.blogspot.com/2014/11/destroy-ego-why.html

Breaking the Veil of Illusion

Interesting it is how labels and accusations are so carelessly strewn about by some against others without understanding the truth.  You see, your observations can only ever be filtered through your own biases, experience and other psychological filters. These observations form a perception of a thing or a person, and your perception, no matter how much you think is the definitive truth, is nothing but what you want to believe projected outward from within.  This is done commonly and frequently with little understanding in the absence of understanding these projections upon others in the form of labels and names. The labels created are not really representative of "the other" that is the object of your observation but is rather more descriptive of something much more familiar to you.  Namely, what things lay hidden deep within you that you unknowingly project outward onto "the other."  The question those labelled often think in desperation is, "Why"?  Why would this person or that person label me in such a hurtful way? Conversely, people can label you in what you think is a helpful way and still they are no closer to the truth of you.  No person outside of you can truthfully determine your greatness or inadequacies properly without understanding the paradigm of The Whole.  And I'll tell you, there are few who truly understand the paradigm of The Whole.

Imagine, if you will, the internet of all things.  There are those who study it as if it is an organism in and of itself.  It may be a confusing concept, but come along with me a moment as it might help you better understand one of the many metaphors of our existence here in this frame in the way we project ourselves.  So, across the entirety of the globe (well in most places it seems these days), there are computer servers that are connected one to another through a vast physical network that creates the world wide web.  The world wide web is a mass connectivity vehicle for our ability to "tune in" to others in the physical world.  Now, each individual with a lap top, computer or smart phone taps into that source to connect and most definitely, individually project themselves into the whole of the world wide web.  We are not the world wide web but the computers we use are a part of it by virtue of an internet connection.  Does that make sense at least at a high-level?  Okay, so stick with me another moment and I'll take you down a curve in the road to a much broader application of this concept which is not new at all but very old and understood by the Ancients, the Mystery Schools and even some great religious/spiritual teachers dating much further back than our history documents.  There is a cosmic consciousness, a single Source that was the impetus for creation.  We each are like a tiny thought emanating outward from that Source but always and ever connected to that Source.  Through acknowledging connectivity with that Source we realize the connectivity we all hold similarly with each other.  In this way, we are all one in that we are all the same thing in a way, thoughts projected from a Source.  Now, this Source is infinitely powerful and creative and as you know from your own mind, your thoughts come from within you and once you create them, you send them "out there" and they become a thing unto themselves...energy, magnetic, emotion producing things we don't understand deeply enough.  We are very much like those individual computers that plug into the world wide web.  The thing is, we are never not connected to our Source and need nothing physical to connect to it other than understanding.  As we connect to Source, we too are connected to each other.

Coming back to labels now for a moment, as well as observations. If you observe with your thoughts another part of the connected Whole and ascribe labels to other parts of the Whole, in a way you are labeling yourself.  What you perceive is not necessarily the truth and doesn't necessarily stand up to the rigor of testing because your perception can be skewed by assumption taken as fact or truth when there is not a single thing underpinning solidly the formation of your assumption or perception.  But, because it seems to come from inside of your own head and maybe those thoughts generate some emotion or conviction behind it, it seems real enough and true enough. Given the limited set of facts within which most live and consciously operate, there is no reason to question the validity of your own assumptions, observations or perceptions.  Truth, however, cannot be readily understood without facts and understanding.  For ages people believed the world was flat and you could sail right off of the edge into oblivion.  That was the common perception and agreement at a certain point in our history.  That is, until some brave souls sought the truth beyond belief and sailed to the edge of the horizon and learned that the Earth was not limited in nature by being a flat 2 dimensional organism but in fact, it went on and on and around.  These souls came back and shared their truth in the form of findings and then it became readily acceptable that the world was, in fact, round.  Then there was the idea that the sun and the planets revolved around the Earth.  This was held as the only truth in the absence of facts.  Even when the facts began to surface, they were outright rejected and labelled blasphemous in fear due to many factors but primarily a complete lack in understanding.  But then, times progressed, scientific study progressed and new understanding dawned.  We learned that the Earth revolves around the sun, and the sun is just the center of one universe and that there were more universes with suns spiraling through space by some impetus and force (Source, if you ask me).  We then learned to go deeper within and study matter, energy and force and the things we took for granted or falsely held as belief were disproved by science. New windows and doors to the mind were flung open wide with new data and new horizons to explore and discover.

Now, considering all of this, what if I were to tell you that what we perceive as real here, is still just an observation based on the limited or incomplete "facts" we hold as our beliefs about reality and what reality is?  There is so much more than what meets the eye.  There is a world of consciousness we are not yet conscious of and the energy in the universe is connected and connected by the same Source that created all of it.  That means we are all an integral and important part of the Source, a collective of existence with individualized points of focus in an agreed upon reality.  The illusion of reality (life) as we perceive it is called Maya by the Hindus. (Check out the Rigveda for more understanding of the meaning of Maya).  Life as we know it is a grand illusion and to a great extent we are all delusional in our thoughts that what we see is real or that what we see, assume and perceive is representative of the truth of a thing or a person, is the truth.  If you look back at all the explorations into the various aspects of life, existence and conscious understanding, you will see that the truth is not easy to discern by relying on our projected senses, our projected ideals, our projected morals and representations of belief we hold as truth.  Our beliefs dissolve in the light of understanding.  Why?  Because we are growing and beginning to leave behind us the time of small-minded thinking.  Some of the Whole is aware of its delusion and thus seeks the freedom from it through understanding.  Some of the Whole is unaware of its delusions and strive all the harder for the security of making their worlds more than real without understanding how that undermines their own limited perceptions of and about existence.

Coming full circle, realize that to perceive or label a thing does not define its truth.  There is only one truth upon which we can rely and that truth cannot be defined by me for you.  You must learn to understand the truth for yourselves.  However, you will not find the truth of you in labeling your brothers and sisters who walk this Earth with you.  In either positive or negative labeling, by raising others up higher than you or lowering them beneath you, you actually cage yourself in a prison of your own mind.  The All is Mind, the Universe is Mental (Hermetic principal from the Kybalion).  This "physical life" is a construct of our making, collectively creating as we have been created.  Sometimes trying to wrap your physical and limited mind around this concept makes you feel "mental" in a whole different way. 

However, through patience, perseverance, allowing resonance, congruence, love, forgiveness, gratitude and an intent to understand, you can free your mind, body and soul from limited thoughts and embrace the whole of existence in a more liberating manner. The truth then is much better understood and the lesser acts of limited labeling or trapping yourselves in the veil of the ego would seem entirely insane.  Our assumptions and the need to label to begin with comes from illusion. The illusion of whatever it is the ego wants only seems real but it isn't.  The ego cannot tell the difference between a fact or an assumption and will line up emotions with either.  But, there is a deeper knowing part of your being whether you are in touch with it or not (your spirit) and it is the only thing that can guide you to the truth.  The truth is more intuitively felt than understood with limited human words.  We are by far above the limits of labeling even if we sometimes refuse to act like it.  Attempting to become greater at the expense of another (which is a colossal illusion with quite fleeting benefits for the greedy ego) is meaningless and doesn't support you or secure your stature in a meaningful way that is everlasting. 

If you tire of the victim-villain struggle for power, the only way to freedom is to understand you can't know what you don't know, so go and seek to understand the truth.  Learn that what you give out to this world becomes you.  Question the beliefs you assume or hold as truth.  Offer this world forgiveness and love, offer this world peace and understanding and refuse to play into old programs that don't seem to get you anywhere. You end up chasing your tail for an ego feed that will never truly fulfill your deepest needs.  Your deepest need is understanding, to belong (and you belong to a very big Oneness in Source alone) and for love.  You are love.  Let that come to your mind first before labels, before negative self or other judgments.  Seek understanding and it will come and if you embrace it, you will be free.

© 2014, Jaie Hart (photo and words)