What is ego? Ego is an idea of separation from our true selves, from God, from each other, that we invited into our minds to prove to ourselves that we, who were created one with all that is, could give ourselves a different experience, an experience of being self-authored, or self created, or created in our image, rather than in God’s image. We made ego to experience ourselves as different rather than the same as God and everyone else. In other words, ego is what we use to keep ourselves from being who we are.

Ego is a weed we cultivate for our destruction. Ego is our way of making ourselves of ourselves. Of ourselves we are nothing. We are not of ourselves; we are of God. Because we are of God we are grandeur. Because we are of God we are God. We traded in everything for nothing in trading in God for ego. As long as we have an ego we keep ourselves bound and limited and confused about our true identity.

We made ego to replace God. We are always choosing either for God or for ego. We made ego without love, so it does not love us. God made us with love, and so God loves us. It is misdirected love to love ego for it will use our love against us. Ego’s ONLY purpose is its existence. It does not care about us at all. God loves us. We are wise to choose God instead of ego. God could not stop us from making ego because to do so would require defying our will, and God is but love, and God, in love will wait, forever if necessary, for us to return to Him. Our will is free.

Can ego be transformed? No, ego is interested solely in its existence and transformation does not fit its agenda. It cannot be transformed or purified or brought under the direction of the soul, or become different from what it is. The ego and the soul do not know each other. The only thing we can do in relation to ego is realize ego’s unreality and thereby free ourselves of its shenanigans.

Are we guilty for making ego? No, of course not, but we are each responsible for our ego’s, thus only we can free ourselves of its treacherous clutches. Someone who is free can tell us what ego is, so we can become aware of it, but only we can let it go.

Is it possible to be free of ego? Yes, it is not only possible but essential to being restored to who we are. And upon your freedom of ego depends the salvation of the world. Freeing ourselves of ego is life’s only true purpose. For that we need to surrender completely to God within. All that is required of us is our willingness. God will do the rest.

How do we relinquish ego? By looking at it. If we fight ego we meet it on its terms and it will win, for ego’s determination to exist is ENORMOUS. If we look on it calmly, we see its impotence. Denying ego, feeling guilty about it, defending it, justifying it, protecting it, befriending it… are all ways to maintain ego’s existence. We dispel ego by withdrawing belief from it.

To date probably only one in a billion has overcome ego. It is very rare because no one takes the trouble to truly find out what ego is. As soon as you do, you will walk away from it. The one who has is a hero. Why? Because that person has broken the code and exposed ego’s deceptions for all humanity. Everyone benefits when one person breaks free. Its like one person stepping away from the mafia. Once one has the courage to do so its only a matter of time before the whole mafia’s house of cards collapses. The mafia is not going to be happy with you. When you do not share a thought system you weaken it and that threatens those who subscribe to it, but always keep in mind that you have God on your side and ego becomes impotent in the presence of God.

Ego remains with us lifetime after lifetime. Ego does not die when the body dies. Ego only dies when we relinquish it. When we do, we break the cycle of birth and death. We are born because of ego. If we die with ego, we will be reborn with a karmic debt, since ego depends on our karma for its existence. The moment we free ourselves of ego, we free ourselves of karma, because karma is of ego. Ego causes us to do that for which we will feel guilty. It then convinces us that we deserve punishment for our ‘sins,’ which are really only correctable mistakes. So we come back lifetime after lifetime to suffer consequences for actions committed in previous incarnations. It is all a lie we buy into as long as we believe in ego. Karma is baseless. All we need do in this moment to be completely free of any and all past karma is lead a holy life now. Then God will efface all our karma from the past. Past is not real, just as time is not real. In making the most of this moment and we do not bind ourselves to the past.

When God created us, He gave us the power to create. When we made ego, we gave it the power to create. Ego uses the power we gave it to miscreate, or create what is not in our best interest, but rather what is in its best interest.

Ego cannot oppose the laws of God. Nor can we. However ego can misinterpret them, as can we according to what we want, rather than according to what is. Ego originated from our desire to be as we are not. We cannot be as we are not. We can only be who we are. We do not have the power to be different from how God created us, and God created us all perfect. We can do that which is imperfect and experience consequences in alignment with our delusion, or we can simply accept our perfection and live in alignment with God’s laws and experience peace, love and joy.

God creates only the eternal. We are eternal, which means we cannot die. Our bodies may die, but we are not our bodies. We are limitless eternal consciousness. Ego, our creation, unlike true creations, is not eternal. It is not eternal because it was made to replace God. It was made by creations of God to create their own creator. That is not possible. Therefore ego is an impostor. Ego can only exist in time. Ego cannot exist in eternity. Since ego cannot exist in eternity, and since ego cannot exist without our protection and allegiance, ego must keep us in time in order to exist.

At the moment of making ego, we made a pact with it. We guaranteed it eternal life, to prove to ourselves our capacity to create the eternal without God. So in order to be restored to our true nature, we must break our pact with the devil. Only then can we be restored to eternal life. Its us or ego. And since we made ego, our allegiance is for it. It is our nature to b selfless. Ego uses that against us to keep itself in business at our expense, while urging us to choose for that which is self-serving and beneath our true noble nature.

God created us in His image and likeness, that is like God. We made ego to create ourselves in OUR image and likeness, rather than in God’s image and likeness, thus exactly like God. For this we needed to free ourselves of God. How can we be God while pushing God aside, yet that is exactly what inviting ego into our minds aimed to accomplish. What we did not anticipate is that our decision is nearly impossible to reverse because of ego’s determination to exist once entertained.

Our uniting in truth with God and all our fellowman disempowers ego. There is only one truth. There are many paths to truth but truth is common to all legitimate paths. It is ego that would have us believe that truth is different for everyone. That is because truth threatens ego’s existence. Ego wants to keep us confused about what truth is. If it can convince us that truth is different for everyone, its existence is assured, because it depends on difference, and is undone in the presence of unity and oneness.

It is in dissociating from each other that we maintain ego. We are all one. When we know our oneness, we will feel compassion toward those who suffer and struggle the effects of oppression and injustice and act toward the betterment of all mankind, all our brothers and sister, the one family of God. The greatest service we can render is to relinquish ego.

“If you are all wrapped up in yourself you are overdressed.” ~ Kate Halverson

Mmmmm, Ego. We don’t really talk about it do we? Now when I talk about ego, I’m talking about the lower self, the jealous one, the selfish one, the righteous one etc. It’s not you. You get that don’t you? It’s not you! It’s just a part of you, but it’s not who you are.

Who you are is so much bigger than that, so much more than that.

The thing is, if you are living in your ego, life is bad! Sorry, but it is! But hey that’s just my opinion – let’s look at how you know ego is the driving force in your life:

1. You always compare yourself to others.

The ego loves doing this! The ego thinks you are in competition with everyone else on the planet. It thinks as long as you are doing ‘better’ than someone else, then you must be doing ok. You might want to be prettier, thinner, smarter, richer, or more successful… you might want a better car, float, horse, house. But you get that no matter what… someone else will have something you don’t, and you will never be satisfied, no matter how much you have, or how good you look.

2. You frequently judge or criticize others

OK – so we all know we shouldn’t… and we all know we do. It is human nature to judge and criticize, but you don’t need to voice it, or give it power. The ego likes to criticize so it can demonstrate that it knows more. It also likes to put others down, so it can be elevated – but in reality all it is trying to do, is cover up for a lack of self-esteem.

3. You are concerned with status.

The ego wants to know your place in this world. It cares if someone gets promoted over you, if you should be called Dr, or CEO… it also likes the material possessions to prove you deserve your social status of middle or upper class. Again, titles and status mean nothing to your true self, and to others living in their true selves.

4. You like to argue that you are right and others are wrong

Why?… I like to do this with my husband! I especially like it if he doesn’t agree… I just keep going and going, with more arguments to support my case… Funny thing is, by the end do you even know what you are arguing about?

A wonderful story about this is there is a couple in a restaurant. The man says – what do you think is in this steak sauce, is it pepper? The wife says she thinks it is mustard seeds. They argue over the taste, appearance, shape of the black things in the sauce… finally the man asks the waiter over and asks him. The waiter asks the chef, and it is indeed pepper. The man is triumphant! I TOLD you it was pepper. So he ‘wins’… or does he? The woman doesn’t talk to him for the rest of the evening and let’s just say he doesn’t get ‘lucky’ that night either! So remember – next time you are arguing over something. The fact is do you want to be loved, or do you want to be right? Because you can rarely be both.

5. You are obsessed with your appearance

Are you who you look like? Should you be loved or hated, based on how many wrinkles you have, what size clothes you are, or what fashions you are wearing? It is fine to take pride in your appearance. You should make an effort to be clean and well groomed. But to obsess over being a size 8 not a 10, or thinking about botox… and you are sill in your 20’s! Well, that’s your ego saying no one will love me for me, so maybe they can love me for how I look. The problem is – when your looks fade you will worry so will the love. Who wants to be loved for only what they look like? I love hanging out in my faded trackies with my husband or best friend! They love me unconditionally for exactly who I am – my true self – not what I look like.

6. You live only in the future or in the past

The ego loves this! It’s the thing that makes you relive the past again and again and again! All your mistakes, all your missed chances, all the negative stuff – it just replays and replays. Even though there is nothing you can do about it now. Then it puts you out into the future, and tells you all the bad stuff that ‘could’ happen, that might happen, so you can worry about it, and stress about it – even though none of it has even happened yet, and most likely won’t.

So if we are not going to live in our ego, where are we going to live? The higher self is felt most when you are in the present moment. There is nothing better than focusing on the present, no past, no future – just what is happening, and what you are experiencing RIGHT NOW.

We talk about the ego in my Dream Team program but we have another name for it! But you learn it’s not about denying that you have an ego! We all have an ego, and it is constantly talking its crap to us. The important thing is – not to indulge it. Think of it as a small child, it is un-evolved, it doesn’t know any better, but you do, and you don’t need to listen to it. It never speaks the truth anyway.

I would love to hear how you have gone ‘taming’ your ego, and gone on to living a more fulfilled and enjoyable life as well as getting better results in your riding!

Answering a complaint with alter ego allegations in California is the topic of this article. The allegations are also known in the legal field as corporate veil piercing allegations because they are used to “pierce the corporate veil” and have a court disregard the corporate entity, which will allow a plaintiff to add an individual person, or persons, or even another corporation as a defendant and seek to hold them responsible for the debts or other liabilities of the main corporation.

Alter ego allegations are generally used against smaller corporations, particularly corporations with only one or two owners. In the experience of the author, many creditors will file a complaint with alter ego allegations with little, if any, evidence to support the allegations of the complaint in the hopes that this will somehow give them leverage.

A party cannot totally avoid the possibility that someone may seek to hold them personally liable for the debts for a corporation which they own or control, particularly in California. But they need to file an answer to any complaint seeking to impose alter ego liability on them, and be sure to claim indemnity from the corporation in the answer, and possibly in a cross-complaint as well, pursuant to subdivisions a through c of Section 317 of the California Corporations Code, as many if not most California corporate bylaws do allow the corporate directors and officers to claim indemnity from the corporation to the fullest extent of the law.

Anyone answering an alter ego complaint should include all of the specific information they have in their affirmative defenses as to why the Court should not deviate from the usual legal doctrine of the separation of corporate and individual legal identity and existence, such as they did not personally guarantee any debts to the Plaintiff, etc. They should also be sure to send specially prepared interrogatories to the plaintiff asking them to state all facts that support their alter ego allegations, identify all persons with personal knowledge of those facts, and all documents, etc. Also request to inspect all documents that support their alter ego allegations as well.

Many times the Plaintiff will respond with a boilerplate response such as allegations are made on the advice of counsel, information and belief, etc. Sending supplemental discovery requests a month or two later requesting if any new information has been received which would require supplemental responses to interrogatories or document requests is a wise move in such situations. This is so because a party responding that their previous responses are still true and correct is basically admitting that they have no evidence, no fact, no persons with personal knowledge, and no documents to support their allegations. In that case a party might want to look into possibly filing a motion for summary adjudication on the issue of alter ego liability, or perhaps even summary judgment. In the opinion of the author, anyone who responds to a supplemental discovery request that they have NO new information, documents or anything else is just asking for a summary adjudication/judgment motion. They should have thought about that before making those allegations with no supporting evidence.

The author sincerely hopes you have enjoyed this article and found it informative.

Sincerely,

Stan Burman

Living Consciously is an awareness of how we are being. There are a lot of high profile people in the world telling us our ego is bad or something we need to “kill” or rise above. But the truth for me is the ego is very important to understand how we navigate through our reality. We grow up in an ego-based society, so to remain within the society and create real change – what I call transformation it is important, I believe to understand the ego and it’s true nature, or it’s job.

We all grow up with the indoctrination of our society with the media, family orientation, churches, and school. The ego helps us understand some very important information about what works and what doesn’t work to navigate through our society. Our society utilizes the ego as the driving force of our reality. What I found was there is a use for ego but to use it effectively we must look at how the brain interprets information.

Use the ego as a tool rather than identifying the information the ego brings to our consciousness as ultimate truth. There are some clues we can use to notice when we are identifying ourselves with ego and our perception is based on the misinterpretation of the information available to us.

It is our freedom to create the life we want. Maybe drama and trauma is important to help us learn about how we create. We choose how we will experience life, and the risk of living consciously is that we begin to take 100% responsibility for everything that happens in our experiences. When we do this we begin to realize we are accountable for our thoughts, emotions and beliefs. When we begin to wake up to our authentic selves we realize we have been living in a dream. When we live consciously the world becomes more beautiful and joyful, it becomes fun a vast playground for choice. We can stop living as a victim, or survivor and begin to thrive in our life. For me this has now become the absolute truth. I live in a world that is supportive, safe, loving, kind, open, and a playground for exploration of whatever my mind body and spirit are capable of creating. It is profoundly more rewarding than the nightmare I once lived in.

When we hold others accountable for giving us what we need in life we can often become disengaged, disenchanted and even angry if they do not live up to our expectations. At times we can feel a tinge of pressure in our chest of presiding fear. Other times we can feel tension of the weight of the world in our shoulders. Most often our past comes up, and if we give in to the emotional upset, we cheat our world and ourselves of the greatness that resides within each individual.

All of us have wounds from childhood that hold us down. We believe our parents really did it to us. It’s time to stop blaming them and start looking at what we did to ourselves.

Groundbreaking work in the field of Biology examined in great detail the processes by which cells receive information. What this research has done is help us understand that the personal perception of our environment effects how the DNA is signaled. This effect is directly stimulated by our beliefs.

Understand that the power of positive energy affects our daily life, our perception of life and life itself. When we learn to deeply let go of the negative influences of our life we transform our experience and our body as well. Now there is a lot to be said for positive affirmations, however, when we begin to awaken our core to that positive experience through emotions, thoughts and beliefs that’s when the body begins to respond to the positive energy.

When we have a belief, it generates a thought, which brings on an action through an event. In a nano-second, we evaluate, and an emotion is formed. We act or react, creating a behavior. We evaluate the consequences, which lead to an evaluation of our original belief. Then we go out into the world and create additional evidentiary experience to prove our logic, regardless of whether or not the logic is flawed. We continue to repeat the process. Through consciousness, however, we can begin to realize that we have choices as to what we believe, feel, think and experience and also about how we behave.

When we hold the evidence as the only truth, we are looking at the world from a single, limited perspective. We continue to produce the same results in our lives until we recognize the fact that we have another choice. We even create agreements with others, unconsciously of course, to help us identify behaviors, which either support our desires or become signposts showing us that we are going the wrong way.

I believe, we must wake up to our own power and empathy and to our own inspiration and motivation if we are to create a planet that will sustain us and nurture our children to come. Obama said it in his inauguration speech: We must affirm the greatness of our nations. The way to do this is by affirming our own greatness. We cannot create what we do not have inside ourselves. We must stand up and take back our lives. To re-create our nations in their greatness we must start with ourselves. As Martin Luther-King said, this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time.

Each time we do what is right and true for us, we tell ourselves that we are good enough, powerful enough, strong enough and worthy of the life we have; we put this positive energy into our world. The time has come for each of us to take full responsibility for our part in what has happened, not only to us but also to our nation, other nations, humanity and the planet. Making a better world is not only your responsibility, but it’s your joy, your blessing and a way you can make your lasting mark on our home.

This new movement, which is now gaining momentum on our planet, may appear daunting to those who do not yet realize that we can actually DO something to manifest positive change. The truth is that we can ALL take part in something very real, in the present moment so as to create the planet we all deserve and desire to live on. This can be accomplished through knowing and understanding that we are all worthy of creating a life of harmony and balance and letting go of the stresses of life that are holding us back. The time of self-sacrifice to the exclusion of self-realization must end; the time to empower all people to see their ability to help each other by helping themselves must begin.

If you look up the word ectomy you come across a definition that tells you that the suffix

“ectomy” often used in medicine, means to remove. Then with further research you find that the word Ego is a Latin word meaning “I”.

I have had some very personal and real experiences that I would not wish upon even my worst enemy. It is through these experiences that I have come to the realization that I have undergone an ego ectomy.

In other words I am no longer the sum-total of the total thoughts and opinions of anyone else. I am my own person. I am me, the true me full of mindfulness and serenity.

I have realized that I am no longer attached to the meaning of me as it were to others. I am not the person who anyone else thinks I am. “I” is removed from my current consciousness and it is replaced by ” We”. The “We” is the culmination of the mind, body and spirit driven by the pure essence of doing good and becoming a channel for the higher consciousness and the good of all.

I have had the ” I” removed from my awareness as a direct result of the learning experiences that have led me to where I am today. It is a sobering place to be in. To realize that what folks think about you is of no real use to you in any shape or form. To realize that it is only a hindrance from truly living out the life of “we”-llness.

Incredibly enough it is also of very valuable mention that the only difference between illness and wellness is one prefix. The letter “I” being replaced by the letters “We”.

It is this realization that has lead my meditations. It is truly amazing the freeness of my

spirit that I encounter. It is as though I am detached from the being I used to be, caught up in what others may think and worrying about my reputation as a community member, to one of realization that I am truly not the person that everyone thinks I am. That I am of more substance and depth. That I live this life only to serve and help others realize their potential to be as great as I feel.

To be awakened if only for a moment to the truth of life, the meaning of existence and the virtue of reality.

This friends is an ego-ectomy. The true awareness of life, Love and meaning. It is the most important and life changing awareness of all that is.

I received an email from a reader who wanted to know how it is possible to have a highly developed level of self-esteem without becoming, or seeming to be, egotistical. The very question shows that our cultural brainwashing works to limit one’s belief in one’s self and self worth. Being egotistical is seen to be a negative thing and, by inference, those with extra high levels of self-esteem are taken to be egotistical; therefore bad.

First of all, let’s clarify the difference: Egotists are essentially insecure people who are attempting to cover up their own suspicion that they are not quite as good as other people by pretending that they are more important. People with very high levels of self-esteem do not need to determine their self-worth by comparing themselves, either publicly or in their own minds, with others.

An egotistical person’s sense of self-worth is mostly determined by external conditions, circumstances or events.

They promote themselves so that they can be convinced of their own value by the feedback they receive from peers, fans, voters, employees or even their own children. They often strive to be high achievers because they can then get the acclaim of others, in the hope that this acclaim will somehow prove their worth; though it seldom erases the suspicion that they are unworthy. It is not a bad thing to be egotistical; it is just sad.

A self-esteemed person’s sense of self-worth is mostly determined by internal conditions like attitude, compassion, belief, passion and personal vision. They also tend to have a direct sense of their relationship with divinity. Not the kind of divinity promulgated by preachers, mullahs and gurus who teach that human beings are base creatures who can only merit salvation by submitting to the will of some god; but the kind of divinity that teaches that all things, including you, are sacred and worthy of being honored as such.

That’s the trick to having a high level of self-esteem: to know yourself as being both a sacred creature and a divine creator; and then to honor yourself as such by acting as such. If you want to develop a high level of self-esteem, you must first come to know your true self and then, you must fall in love with your true self. That’s another bit of cultural brainwashing you must overcome. Self-love is often seen as narcissism or extreme vanity. It is not; any more than self-esteem is egotism.

So change your perspective. Having a high level of self-esteem does not equate to being egotistical. If others wish to interpret your sense of self-worth as meaning that you have a big ego, let them. That’s their problem, not yours. Loving yourself unconditionally does not equate to narcissism. It is simply honoring that spark of divinity that resides in you. Those who also honor their own divinity will not think you vainglorious; they will simply say “namaste”. Namaste means, ‘the sacred in me recognizes and honors the sacred in you’.

Forget the big ego. Know thyself; honor thyself; love thyself. Then go about your job of being a contribution to your fellow creatures. Modern day culture teaches that the more you accumulate, the more you are worth. The truth of the matter is that the more you give, the more you are worth. The more you are worth, the more wealthy you can become. If you want to be wealthy, develop your self-esteem. If you want to be prosperous, become abundantly worthy. Believe in you.

The true measure of your wealth is not measured by what you are able to accumulate, but by what you are enabled to contribute.

So often people misjudge tattoos and self expression and fail to realize that those folks who like themselves and wish to personalize their own bodies indeed this is not necessarily ego, but a very strong sense of self. Nothing could be more positive to the human psyche than for someone to have “buy in” to self and to believe in self.

There are many folks who indeed study the psychology of those who put tattoos on themselves, yet it seems that they are studying these folks, as if they are a rat in a cage, but those with tattoos are not in any cage at all, as they are expressing their freedom.

While the psychologist attempting to study them is the one in their little self constructed professional cage, who is still trying to figure themselves out. Meanwhile who is the rat in this case; well probably the researcher and not the tattooee.

It is often interesting the wide array of individuals who get tattoos, but that is just it you see they are individuals, not a bunch of clones, nurtured into the box of society, living lives that everyone else wants them to live, rather than knowing self and experiencing and living their life experience on their terms like the Tattooed Individual. Consider this in 2006, you uptight yuppie scum.

For years I have longed for fame, the glamour of the spotlight as one of the world’s great inspirational speakers. Such identification has been instrumental to my major goal, my vision, my purpose, and my mission. And I have reinforced this over and over and over. I have to be honest. I still long to be this. My motive’s are mixed, the glamour as already mentioned, and the desire to be really effective in the world as an instrument of the Higher Self; that part of us which lies within; the God part of us which impels gently but unrelentingly once we have reached a certain willingness to undertake the personal change to ‘egolessness.’

But the ego has hung on, dogging me, providing reasons as to why I should do this, why I should not do that. ‘You should be a professional speaker.’ ‘You should tour the world and win great acclaim.’ ‘You should become a multi-millionaire.’ ‘You should gain kudos by giving away enormous amounts from an even more enormous fortune.’

I know that peace-of-mind, love and joy lie within, and that a sense of God-given purpose and that the ability to carry out that purpose are far more gratifying, still the ego wants its way. Even this essay has some ego base to it; a seeking of approval from Higher Self- and from any reader who might chance to read it.

The very famous contemporary writer and speaker, Dr Wayne W Dyer (a man I admire enormously and would love to emulate) says in his book, The Sacred Self, that in order to serve our Sacred Self (I call it the Higher Self) we have to:

‘Be willing. Keep in mind our job is just not to interfere. Relax about the future, let it go. And to toss out our goals and live our lives knowing that we a co-creating it.’

Consciously, I am now ‘willing.’ But I know parts of ego self still hanker after the glamour, fame, wealth, power and influence, specialness and importance. Ego still has a lot of strength. Though it is being weakened. Yes, and ego doesn’t like it one little bit. But to reiterate, consciously, I am now willing.

‘My job is not to interfere.’

Oh, how I have interfered. Despite numerous explanations that have made it clear I need do nothing, I have interfered. Indeed, even this essay is a sort of interference. Higher Self has indeed been, and continues to be, very patient with me.

‘Relax about the future.’

This is something I still can’t quite do. I see my mortal body as a clock ticking away and want to ‘get to’ before any more time has elapsed. In a twelve to twelve clock scenario I see myself around ten p.m. already.

‘Toss out goals and live your life knowing you a co-creating it.’

How can I toss out goals?

Well, I have done so, to some degree. I had a Life-script, and a Life-plan, and specific goals, and so much more all written out. Indeed, I had worked through and actually achieved many goals, some minor, others of so-called greater importance (But of little importance really, as far as my immortal soul is concerned) But at least I had a sense of progress.

But in the ‘big one’ -to become a famous, international professional public speaker ‘Inner Direction’ (Higher Self?) kept saying “No.” Or so it seems. Though it wasn’t put as words but as a lack of drive and inner commitment. Motivation seemed to drain away like electricity from a earth-leaking car battery. Recharge after recharge by way of motivational book or inspirational speech could do nothing, it seemed.

Now, I reluctantly, almost unwillingly bend to the urgings of Higher Self. The ego versus the true self (little ‘s’) and the battle is still being fought. ‘ Toss out goals…’

Is it wrong to want to serve as a famous public speaker and presenter? Should I completely surrender and say, God, take me as I am and do with me what you will’? (With me, little self- or is it ego-self hanging out for a promotion to earthly grandeur as well as spiritual bliss)

In my mind I have already said this: ‘Do with me what You will.’ But there has been no joyous giving on my (little self’s) part. It has been grudgingly given; a surrender rather than a joyful embrace of The Divine. My Higher Self knows it. Indeed, so does my little self.

Yes, there is a crisis taking place here. And right now. It isn’t one of agony, of soul-searching and decision. Or I don’t think it is. But this essay and the clarifying of my thought by an honest presentation of how I feel is having its effect- whatever that might be.

You see, Higher Self. I don’t seem to know what I am about any more.

When I first wrote what I thought was a wonderful affirmation: I am a great public speaker, interesting, moving, and above all, effective, and I use this great gift to relieve suffering and promote joy to the people of the earth.

I thought that this was exactly what was right for me. Over and over I re-enforced those words in one way or another until they became my Life’s Obsession. (Hoping, too, that they were also my Life’s Holy Mission- my True Purpose) For, they did come from my heart. Or, at least as near to my honest longings as I could get in words.

The penny has just dropped. I am afraid of surrender because I feel I will become a non-entity; a nobody, and it is importance and approval I seek. I am frightened of oblivion of the ego. This is an ego thing. The ego is hanging on by a thread here, desperate.

I hereby totally surrender to the Light of God.

How difficult it has really been for little self- or is it ego-driven self- to make that statement. I make it here, now, once again.

I hereby totally surrender to the Light of God. Let us see what happens now.

The ego or alter ego or shadow self is a separate energy that exists within the mind of every human being on Earth. This separate energy was created in the spiritual realms after each soul made a decision to separate itself from its spiritual teacher and Higher Self. This act of wanting to “go it alone” created the separate identity of the ego over a gradual period of time where it formed as a separate energy within the mind of the soul. In order for the soul to “go it alone” it was first tempted by Fallen Beings that reside in the spiritual realms, who convinced the soul it could achieve greater glory and success on its own. Below is an outline of each of the 12 parts of the alter ego that formed after the soul made 6 life-altering decisions.

Alter ego part #1 – THE UNFULFILLED-BORED PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that it was lacking, that it needed to achieve more in order to have greater glory. The soul made a decision to seek out individual success as a result of its belief it was lacking (when in truth no soul is lacking) and this created the feeling within its mind of feeling unfulfilled.

Alter ego part #2 – THE SELFISH-SELF-CENTERED PART. This part is the twin part to the Unfulfilled-Bored Part. When the soul believed it was lacking and subsequently felt unfulfilled, it then focused its attention primarily on the individual self, and not on being a part of the Greater Being of God.

Alter ego part #3 – THE JUDGMENTAL-CRITICAL PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that it was superior to other souls and that it could achieve glory and fulfilment by being greater than other souls. The soul made a decision to judge, rank and critique other souls including itself.

Alter ego part #4 – THE SELF-DOUBTING PART. This part is the twin part to the Judgmental-Critical Part. When the soul became a “judge of souls worth”, this created the thought within its mind that it could potentially be inferior to other souls (as it believed all souls are not created equal), and this created self-doubt within its mind.

Alter ego part #5 – THE COMPETITIVE-CHALLENGING PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that it could overcome its self-doubt about its worth by proving its superiority over other souls. The soul made a decision to compete with and challenge other souls to prove its [perceived] superiority.

Alter ego part #6 – THE PROUD-HURT PART. This part is the twin part to the Competitive-Challenging Part. When the soul decided to compete with and challenge other souls for superiority, when it succeeded it felt proud, and when it did not succeed its pride was wounded and it felt hurt.

THE FALL INTO A LOWER STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: At this point of pride being created within the mind of the soul where it believes in duality that some souls are superior to others, 6 of the 12 parts of the ego are formed and the soul separates from its spiritual teacher and falls into a lower state of consciousness in the spiritual realms.

Alter ego part #7 – THE SCARED-GUILTY PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that it had failed and that God was now punishing it and had sent it to a lower realm of consciousness. The soul made a decision that God was a punishing God.

Alter ego part #8 – THE DECEPTIVE-SHADOW PART. This part is the twin part to the Scared-Guilty Part. When the soul believed God was punishing it for its choices and its errors, the soul believed it needed to hide from God what it had done and this created the shadow-deceptive part.

Alter ego part #9 – THE ANGRY-HATEFUL PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that God was to blame for having given it Free Will in the first place to make errors. The soul then made a decision to blame God for its suffering and fall into a lower realm.

Alter ego part #10 – THE AGGRESSIVE-CONTROLLING PART. This is the twin part to the Angry-Hateful Part. When the soul believed God had made a mistake giving it Free Will, the soul made a decision to control God (by controlling its environment) and other parts of God (other souls). The soul became aggressive in order to force this control and take heaven (a desired state of peace) by force.

Alter ego part #11 – THE LONELY-SAD-DEPRESSED PART. This part was created when the soul was convinced by Fallen Being’s that God had rejected it and abandoned it for its Free Will choices. The soul then made a decision to reject and denounce God’s existence.

Alter ego part #12 – THE SKEPTICAL-NOT-TRUSTING PART. This is the twin part to the Lonely-Sad-Depressed Part. When the soul made a decision to reject and denounce God’s existence, the soul developed skepticism of love and skepticism of God, and this created mistrust of God and mistrust of other parts of God (other souls).

When all 12 parts of the ego are formed within the mind of the soul, the ego becomes a separate energy within its own right and can have power over the individual soul by influencing it to make ego-driven decisions. The ego can only have power to the extent the individual soul gives it power. As there are 6 decisions that created the ego, there are also 6 decisions that can uncreate and transform the ego as detailed below.

Dying To Self – Experiences

It was early one sunny summer morning, and I went out for a walk along the seafront. It was a beautiful day. An expensive looking yacht was moored in the bay. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the tide was in and as calm as a millpond, unlike my head which was in turmoil from questions I couldn’t answer.

Over and over I played and replayed the sequence of events that had led to this moment, the loss of all my money, the death of my business and the impending death of my reputation as I filed for bankruptcy.

Thoughts of despair, thoughts of failure, thoughts of shame at having failed my family…

I found quiet spot, on the cliff path adjacent to the seafront, I sat on a bench and focused on my breath and meditated. I focused on the sound of the sea lapping on the beach, the seagulls overhead… my mind stilled and I felt at peace.

After about 30 minutes I decided I ought to return to the house as my family would be waking up and wouldn’t know where I was. As I walked down the path back towards the seafront a most extraordinary thing happened: suddenly and without any prior warning of what was about to happen I felt that it was as though I had become two dimensional and was as thin as a sheet of paper and had taken on the shape of an open door frame… and then it happened…

I suddenly became aware of an enormous surge of energy flowing through this open two dimensional door frame shape, I could see it coming from way behind me flowing through me and surging off into the distance. It was like a river about four feet deep and six feet wide… and it poured through me… it swirled through me… and I heard a voice in my head saying:

“I am Life, The Energy of Life, and I flow through you; I always have and I always will… “

I came back to myself and the moment was over. The sense of that experience stayed with me, and remains with me to this day ten years later. The veil was lifted and I had a glimpse of a far deeper reality than the world of my thoughts.

Did my life suddenly change? No. Things were still tough and remained so for a while longer. But my sense of the underlying reality that I had experienced changed my perception. From that day onwards I dropped my heavy thinking and behaved far more intuitively. In a very profound way I understood what it means to go with the flow.

So What Does All This Stuff About Dropping The Ego Really Mean?

Well it does NOT mean this sitting in a cave on a mountain in Tibet chanting Om.

This is about developing a good working relationship with your mind and understanding the functions of your mind and your selves – and understanding where it all goes horribly wrong because of:

• Your ego’s desire to be in control
• Your ego usurping the role of your higher self
• Your ego disconnecting you from your true source of power

Dropping the ego, or in the Christian expression dying to self, is a practice that occurs naturally when you quieten your mind and shift your focus away from yourself in mindfulness practice, the practice of gratitude or indeed any meditation practice that allows for space between the stream of thoughts and for consciousness to arise.

It can also occur in response to a direct request (or prayer) to your higher consciousness/ higher self for help.

Putting someone else first and acting in a selfless way is another practical way of dropping the ego.

Dropping the ego is not a one-time experience but a frequent activity that should be undertaken at least daily and often many times throughout the day.

Quite often you just need to get out of the way, stop trying to figure out “How?” and let the energy flow. As someone once told me: “Water your garden by not standing on the hose!”

So Is The Ego All Bad?

Absolutely not. The ego is your operating system we can liken it to your own personal “Windows 10”!

Your ego is essential and does a wonderful job of running things for you and marshalling your mental and emotional resources to work for you.

But your inner “Windows 10” has one big fatal flaw, it creates and sustains the delusion that it is who you really are – and in so doing it cuts you off from your relationship with the energy of life.

The key is to balance the inner world of consciousness with the outer world of duality. You need your heart for one and your head for the other.

The Ego Is Sneaky

Your ego is clever and it is sneaky because it will always be looking for ways to assert itself in all sorts of subtle and not so obvious ways.

Stuck In Seeking Syndrome

For example, over many years I have attended a large number of different spiritual groups and heard people (often experienced practitioners who really should know better) saying things like: “One day, in 10,000 lifetimes I look forward to being enlightened.”

Of in another context: “One day, when I get to heaven, I look forward to being more like Jesus.”

This is a clever deception by the ego because being stuck in seeking is the single biggest stumbling block to present moment awareness. There is nothing of truth that we can find anywhere but NOW right here in this present moment.

The Ego Paradox

To drop the ego effectively you have to have an ego to drop!

The more healthy and strongly developed your ego is the more effectively you will be able to drop it.

This might sound strange, but there is something that I have observed many times over the years within Buddhist groups and also in Christian groups and it is particularly prevalent amongst young adults.

The “Wounded Seeker” syndrome

It is what I call the “wounded seeker syndrome”. What happens is that spiritual groups are usually welcoming and inclusive and therefore provide a safe haven for these poor souls who for a variety of reasons have yet learned to be able to cope with life and have sought refuge in these circles.

“Nothing wrong with that” I hear you say, and to a point you are right, but the problem arises over time – usually several years – as these people develop a sense of self/an ego that becomes heavily identified in a role within the confines of the group to which they are affiliated.

Unless wise and skilful leadership works with these people and guides them to the help they need they never move and do not grow, and without a developed ego to drop they fall apart when they try.

Paradoxical as it may sound, until you have a strong and well developed ego, it is difficult and sometimes dangerous to try and drop your ego.

If you feel that this is where you are at right now, then I would strongly and lovingly recommend that you, seek help if needed, and deal with your unresolved issues first.

To give up everything you have to have everything to drop in the first place!

But I am Wary Of Dying To Self & Dropping The Ego…

I understand your concern and maybe I can paraphrase it this way:

” It’s all very well talking about all this stuff about dropping the ego or dying to self but if I am ceding control, if I am not in control, who or what is?

I could just say, that you’ll never know until you do it, but that probably won’t help you.

The truth is that this can only be experienced, and what you will be experiencing is framed differently according to the spiritual expression within which you are practising.

Within the Buddhist tradition what you will experience is described as the “ground of all being” or “emptiness”, consciousness that is beyond form and substance, the energy from which all things arise and into which they decay and recede.

I also want to offer another perspective that draws from the deep well of Christian experience of The Energy Of Life that expresses this experience as relationship.

One of the unique features of the Christian approach is expressed in the sayings of Jesus and is experienced in the relational aspect of God as Father – a loving Father who cares for you and seeks relationship.

Two closing thoughts:

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it”

“If You Want To Be Given Everything – Give Everything Up”

Read More: Dying To Self