Author Archives: SEO Vineyard
Ego Energy #6—Sound Familiar?
Ego Energy #6—Sound Familiar?
Our Ego Energy is a mixture of three components—Power, Flexibility, and Vulnerability. The degree to which each is present or absent will impact the way we go about living our daily lives. In Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self, we describe 125 different ego energies in an effort to help people find the ego energy they are living and determine if and where they need to undertake healing of their ego energy. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, it is our intention to foster an awareness of all ego energies so that we can ultimately live the great life we are meant to live! A life in which we are living the best of our humanity in concert with our Divinity.
This blog continues a series intended to help you become more attuned to ego energy in the broader sense and to help you determine specifically whether you or someone you know is displaying this ego energy. We believe that recognizing one’s ego energy places us an important step closer to understanding ourselves and each other which is integral to any healing which can occur—individually and societally. Ego Energy—6 is presented while describing how it is impacting the lives of those who are experiencing it, which may be you or someone you know.
Ego Energy 6: Low Power—High Normal Flexibility—High Vulnerability
This person has a very low need to exert influence within social interactions while allowing others to make the decisions. Within close relationships, she is primarily dependent and looks to her partner to make most of the decisions, particularly the important ones. Her self-esteem level is very low and she has difficulty liking and loving herself. She has low expectations and needs for achievement and will underachieve relative to her potential. She fears failure and success and tempers her aspirations in order to avoid them. The combination of her low power and high vulnerability levels contributes to a low degree of motivation to achieve.
Her ability to grow the quality of her mind is poor. She lacks respect for her own thoughts and allows others to impact her thoughts too easily. She is open to making changes in her thinking while placing a stronger emphasis on the thinking of others to do so. It would not be difficult to change this person’s mind as she is very gullible. Her ability to filter out bad from good information is weak. Her ability to determine who are the right and wrong people to listen to is also weak as she can be influenced by anyone. Some of this difficulty is due to the presence of too much emotion linked to her high vulnerability causing her to feel weak and insecure leading to lots of self-doubts.
Her ability to cope with important life changes is poor as she is emotionally consumed by them and listens too often to the wrong people giving her bad input. This often leads to denial or passive acceptance of change while failing to work with it. Her ability to cope with adversity is poor. She has difficulty taking control, may assume too much of the responsibility for having caused the problem(s) and often becomes consumed by her emotions within these situations. So, she often thinks more with her emotions than her intellect, even though it may be quite good.
This person often experiences anxiety and depression. When stressed by general or specific stressors, she readily enters the “fight or flight” mode and stays there longer than is actually necessary, having high-stress sensitivity. She becomes involved in a lower number of conflicts while trying to avoid them at all costs. When they occur, she is primarily on the receiving end, and the emotional impact is intense, causing her to be consumed by anxiety. Her conflict management is poor. Her ego management will involve significantly increasing her ego power, some decrease of her ego flexibility, and significantly decreasing her ego vulnerability. EMNS–8/High.
If the description from this excerpt resonates for you or someone you know, you may want to read further in Ego Therapy as well as our other books EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self and The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life. All three books are available on the Shop page Here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
Ego—Our Survival Energy
Ego—Our Survival Energy
There has been much written about ego over the years by many intelligent, well-educated and well-intended people. Most of what has been said casts ego in a dark and negative light. It is often presented as the part of us which can only lead us into no good and becoming a lesser, if not worst, version of ourselves. A part that can only lead us toward making bad choices, being with the wrong people and for some in the spiritual community—rejecting God. There is some truth to all of this because whenever our ego energy is imbalanced in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability, bad things and suffering often do occur in our lives. We can think of many examples of unpleasant or destructive things which happen to oneself or others when ego energy is unhealthy.
But surprisingly and ironically all of that is about trying to promote our daily and mortal survival, which most would generally agree is a good thing. Our ego is “trying” to help us survive in ways that often result in some stupid, crazy or dysfunctional ways that we come up with, but it is still about survival. However, there is one important distinction. We—not ego—make the choices in the ways we are surviving and whether we are going to merely exist or fully live. That is where ego’s purpose ends and we begin. And one of the really big choices we must make is seeing the ego energy that is shaping who we are being. You are the real difference between a life of just existing, and often suffering, and one of truly living. And whether you get the best out of what you and life have to offer.
The good news about ego is that it can promote some really healthy survival called living when it is in balance. It can play a role in promoting healthy thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physiology we can use in our daily life while experiencing a wonderful life journey. Relationships are enhanced, achievement is optimized, minds are enriched, change is understood, failure is conquered, genuine happiness is recognized, stress is eliminated, and conflict is resolved when ego energy is healthy and doing its thing. All of this is happening in our daily lives when we are truly living and healthy ego energy contributes to making this possible.
Beyond the service to our humanity and life which ego can bring forth when it is healthy, there is the impact on our spirituality and Divinity. Spiritual writers and speakers have often castigated ego by describing it as a force that can only work against our spirituality and relationship with God. This can appear to be occurring when our ego energy is imbalanced and people think it is acting with an intention and purpose that it actually doesn’t possess—we do. People with higher ego power may indulge in illusions in which they believe there is no God, there is no need for God in their life, or that they are greater than God. People with lower ego flexibility may embrace extremist religious views which espouse intolerant and rejecting views of “non-believers.” In neither case did ego play a direct role in forming these thoughts. Because ego doesn’t have an intellect, it doesn’t have an intentional capacity, and it doesn’t have an awareness of God. It is the thinker of the above mentioned thoughts, not ego, who owns them and who is opposing God, even though they often don’t realize it. The extremist isn’t serving God, though they often think they are, they are serving themselves!
What ego can “do” when it is healthy and balanced is allow for the doors to our spirituality and Divinity to open wide. So we can become whole within our humanity and Divinity. A wholeness in which illusions of inequality, unworthiness, and separation no longer serve to close doors to our spirituality and Divinity, keeping us confined to the “little picture” of life and ourselves. A wholeness in which we can fully embrace the Gifts of Life, Creating Our Life, Eternal Life and God Within which we have been given. A wholeness in which we are being the Love, Life and Energy—God Is, within our daily life.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
The 3 Components of Our Ego Energy
The 3 Components of Our Ego Energy
Our ego energy has a tremendous and consistent impact upon our daily lives. Whether we are involved with people at work or play, dealing with loved ones, working to achieve, coping with stress or trying to experience happiness, ego is putting its stamp on how well this is occurring. Unfortunately, the ego and our ego energy remains a hidden entity despite its constant presence in our lives. The ego does not seek to hide from us because it lacks an intellect, the capacity for intentionality and a conscious awareness of what it is. It remains hidden due to a lack of understanding of it and significant underestimation on our part of its actual impact upon our lives.
One of the most important insights to obtain, in order to shine greater light on ego and our ego energy involves the diversity of this energy. We often think about ego as only having a “power” component. This is true. Ego plays a significant role in how much control or influence we need to exert in what is taking place in our life, including the situations mentioned earlier. However, ego also involves flexibility and vulnerability, which are components of our ego energy. Ego flexibility impacts the flexibility of our mind and how well we are able to seek out truth and be connected to reality rather than being locked into faulty beliefs, values, attitudes and prejudices which diminish the quality of our lives. When ego flexibility is unhealthy and too low or too high, it can weaken our willingness and ability to seek truth and be connected to reality. Ego vulnerability impacts how well we can work with and accept our human weaknesses and imperfection as we manage the challenges of our daily life. When ego vulnerability is too low or too high we have difficulty recognizing, accepting and working with our limitations serving to diminish the quality of our lives and often the people who surround us.
It is the combination of our power, flexibility, and vulnerability that defines one’s unique ego energy and what we are bringing into important daily life experiences. When our ego components are healthy and in balance in their amount of power, flexibility, and vulnerability we are able to become the best version of ourselves and experience the best of what life has to offer in our daily lives. There is also a bonus because healthy ego energy helps to open wide the doors to our spirituality and the recognition of our Divinity. We can experience the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is, within ourselves and others. Also, the Great Gifts of our life, our ability to create the life in which we are living, our eternal life, and God’s presence within ourselves can be fully recognized and appreciated. Ego related issues involving lower or higher power, flexibility, or vulnerability no longer keep us living in the “little picture” of life and ourselves.
For those of us who may need to adjust the “volume” on their power, flexibility, or vulnerability there are tools available on our website for undertaking ego therapy while using ego medicine and focused ego meditations that can target the specific ego components you believe you need to work on. Shop page here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
How’s Your Life?
Would you say that your life is Poor, Fair, Good or Great? Before answering, think about your ability to:
Interact with People
Form Close Relationships
Love Yourself
Achieve Your Potential and Know Your Life’s Purpose
Grow Your Mind
Work with Change
Manage Adversity
Experience Happiness
Cope with Stressors and Stress
Deal with Conflict
Why is your life less than optimal? Essentially, it’s because your ego energy and Divine energy are not working in harmony.
Imbalanced ego energy can undermine your human self and access to your Divine Self. You probably don’t know this or what to do about it.
You’ve come to the right place. Through the information on this website, as well as our trilogy of books—Ego Therapy, EgoSpiritualism, and The Two Voices Within—and our workshop, “Merging the Energies of Ego and Spirit for a Better Life and You”, we seek to help you change that.
“Mutually Assured Survival”—A Policy We Can All Live With
“Mutually Assured Survival”—A Policy We Can All Live With
Those of us who are children of the 50’s and 60’s can remember the chant, “Give Peace a Chance!” A response to the mounting casualties with the eventual loss of over 58,000 young American lives, physical disability due to war related injuries and exposure to Agent Orange, and the psychological maiming of many others who came home only to continue fighting the Vietnam War in the form of PTSD. Unfortunately, it took far too long for this call to be heard as it was drowned out by the message that we were there to stop the spread of communism put forth by those in power—Democrat and Republican. Those were different times then, when you didn’t question leaders. Be they within the government, military, police or church—they knew better or so we thought. We can hear the Buffalo Springfield song “For What It’s Worth” playing in the background.
As you know we have entered into some particularly challenging times. Unlike any we have seen as a world community. We have outgrown our ability to be insulated from the ravages of war, be it due to biological, cyber, or nuclear technology. One of the specific unique challenges involves the potential for permanent nuclear annihilation involving human and environmental devastation that is unimaginable. This is not hyperbole as the current nuclear bombs are 50 to 80 times more powerful than those which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We are now in the territory of risking the loss of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives in an instant. Things will never return to what they were in our lifetime, our children’s lifetimes, and our grandchildren’s lifetimes, in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. We are no longer out of the reach or potential reach of this weaponry. Time is shrinking between the two.
The fallout for the “winner” of a nuclear confrontation will be world-wide condemnation. A condemnation connected to the impact such a devastating event will have in the world. As the word containment cannot be applied to this devastation. The residual impact of nuclear radiation upon the environment—soil, water, plant life, animal life, is far reaching and permanent. Equally significant, this condemnation will be rooted in the notion that there was a better way. A better way rooted in a policy of “Mutually Assured Survival” to replace the current one of “Mutually Assured Destruction” by which peace is “guaranteed” via ratcheting up the threat we can pose to each other/enemies.
We have been paying close attention to what has been happening as many of you have. The seemingly senseless build-up of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is to ensure the life of the current regime. To us it sounds paranoic, for them it’s deeply rooted in self-preservation and survival. The collective ego energy for the North Korean populace propagandized by their leadership is intensely focused upon meeting this need. For them it is life or death. Irrespective of how irrational it and the means to achieving it may appear to us. Why not fashion diplomacy and policy rooted in the goal of mutually assured survival—both near and long term? An approach in this particular case abetted and brokered by China, whom the North Koreans do trust, who have a significant vested interest in the maintenance of stability within the Korean Peninsula. This policy can serve as the foundation for progressive, deescalating, matching steps backing off the threats we pose to each other’s survival. Sound naïve? Well the alternative appears to be a race toward insanity. Sound weak? Take a look at the words of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King who understood the power and strength of working with the best of our humanity and Divinity in resolving conflict. Sound too simplistic? It’s amazing how often obvious solutions to conflict are missed when poor/faulty/absent communication exists between the parties involved in a conflict.
It may not be as catchy as give peace a chance, but “Mutually Assured Survival” is an idea whose time has come in a world facing the challenges of nuclear, biological and cyber weaponry proliferation.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Ego Energy #120—Sound Familiar?
Our Ego Energy is a mixture of three components—Power, Flexibility, and Vulnerability. The degree to which each is present or absent will impact the way we go about living our daily lives. In Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self, we describe 125 different ego energies in an effort to help people find the ego energy they are living and determine if and where they need to undertake healing of their ego energy. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, it is our intension to foster an awareness of all ego energies so that we can ultimately live the great life we are meant to live! A life in which we are living the best of our humanity in concert with our Divinity.
This article is the beginning of a series to help you become more attuned to ego energy in the broader sense and to help you determine whether you or someone you know is displaying this ego energy. We believe that recognizing one’s ego energy places us an important step closer to understanding ourselves and each other which is integral to any healing which can occur—individually and societally.
Ego Energy 120 is reflective of people possessing a mixture of high ego power, low-normal ego flexibility, and low ego vulnerability. They have intense needs for control, while having difficulty acquiring accurate thoughts/ beliefs about people, experiencing their emotions of anger, fear sadness or love, and recognizing their weaknesses. With several billion people living on the planet, it is very likely you have encountered people with this energy. In fact you may be one of them. This energy is discussed in the following excerpt from Ego Therapy in conjunction with 10 key life areas where it is impacting ourselves and others, often in unhealthy, destructive, yet unrecognized ways.
Ego Energy 120—High Ego Power—Low-Normal Ego Flexibility—Low Ego Vulnerability
This person has a very high need to exert control within work, play and social interactions while making great use of her ego space, almost exclusively. Within close relationships, she is independent. She possesses a high level of self- esteem, which is unhealthy. She has very high expectations and needs for achievement that are likely to be unrealistic, and which she often lacks the motivation to work toward unless she has found something that is particularly stimulating to her and for which she can feel passion.
Her ability to grow her mind is poor. She is limited in her openness to making changes and relies heavily on the use of internal input (working mainly with what she already knows). Her ability to filter out bad from good internal input is poor, as is her ability to distinguish between the right and wrong people to listen to. Her ability to deal with change in her life circumstances is poor. She may approach change in an aggressive manner, with a limited degree of flexibility and a lack of motivation, contributing to recklessness. Her ability to cope with adversity is poor. She has difficulty accepting her share of responsibility, her limited flexibility impedes her ability to respond optimally, and she lacks healthy emotion to help guide and motivate her when confronted with problems.
This person’s typical emotional experience is likely to involve pseudo happiness (when she feels everything and everyone is under her control) or an emotionally neutral quality in which she experiences an emotionless existence. Because of her very low stress sensitivity, she reacts with a limited degree of anger when confront with general or specific stressors. However, if she is experiencing secondary low ego vulnerability (detachment from one’s emotions due to earlier life trauma or victimization), she may display highly “angry” behaviors, thoughts, or physical symptoms. She becomes involved in a high number of ego collisions (conflicts), many of which she is not aware have occurred. She is more frequently on the initiating end of these collisions and their emotional impact upon her is of mild intensity, although she may display more significantly angry behaviors, thoughts, or physical symptoms if she has secondary low ego vulnerability. She may also seek out conflict for the excitement it can provide. Her conflict management is poor. Her ego management will involve significantly decreasing her ego power, some increasing of her ego flexibility and significantly increasing her ego vulnerability. EMNS—7/High. This represents a significant need to undertake ego therapy.
If the description from this excerpt resonates for you or someone you know, you may want to read further in Ego Therapy as well as our other books EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self and The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life. All three books are available on the Shop page Here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Is Lower Ego Vulnerability Damaging Your Relationships?
Lower ego vulnerability is reflected by an absence of awareness of one’s weaknesses and imperfections. This impacts relationships as this person is oblivious to how their weaknesses and imperfections are affecting others. They truly don’t recognize the small and large damage they are inflicting upon the relationship with their spouse/partner, children, parents, friends, and co-workers. In their case, “positive” emotional cues that most of us get—from love, anxiety, or anger—do not energize sensitivity to others and how they are treating them. They miss their callous thoughts, words, or deeds which often impact others, but they don’t realize this. Just as too much emotion can drown a relationship for those with higher ego vulnerability, too little emotion can starve one for those with lower ego vulnerability. Cold, aloof, and insensitive are often the words which describe them. The following excerpt from The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life presents the messages ego is telling the lower ego vulnerability person keeping them stuck in this energy. Messages they are listening to quite well but don’t realize.
Ego’s Voice
You have been led to live without emotion. Emotion is painful because it will let you know what you have done or not done and where you have failed. Without emotion, you need not know fear, guilt, or sadness. You need not know your earthly weaknesses, failures, imperfections, or vulnerabilities. Emotion is a doorway to them, so you must close it off to keep your distance from these enemies. The absence of emotion will make you invulnerable.
When desired, seek emotion only for your enjoyment. Let it be present in your thoughts, words, and deeds so you can be amused and entertained. Allow emotion to alleviate your boredom so you can know pleasure. Use it as a tool for this purpose. Allow it to be the maker of excitement or interest where none may exist. Make it a requirement of worthiness when forming your thoughts, words, or deeds. Abandon them when they do not provide the pleasure you desire and seek those that will.
Remain distant from those with whom you work or play. You need not experience emotion in your relationships with them, as it would expose your weakness and vulnerability to them. Both you and they are better off not knowing about your weaknesses. You must not let them know all of who you truly are. The absence of emotion will also make you less obligated to them. When necessary, use emotion to experience pleasure in your dealings with others. Be the maker of thoughts, words, or deeds that will bring forth feelings of love, anger, or fear from within yourself and others. Use them as tools for your amusement and to relieve your boredom.
You must be free of emotion in your dealings with those who are closest to you. They will reveal your weaknesses and betray you if you experience anger, sadness, or fear with them. In their absence you can keep others at a safe distance. Love and fear will bring you closer to others and lead you to need them. It will also make you obligated to them. You are safest and will survive best without these needs. Remain an island unto yourself. When necessary, bring emotion into the company of loved ones by allowing it to arouse, stimulate, and amuse you in the thoughts, words, and deeds you are choosing. Feel love, anger, or fear for the pleasure it can offer you. Emotion is safest when you are able to decide the terms of its expression. This will keep you safe and allow you to survive best.
Emotion will weaken you by forcing you to know yourself. It will lead you to see more of your vulnerability, which must remain hidden. In its absence, you can like yourself more, as you will not have to own or take responsibility for the darker parts of who you are. Allow them to remain strangers to you. Do not allow emotion to concern you with how others see you. In its absence, you can more easily, miss, ignore, or dismiss the weaknesses they are calling to your attention. Their thoughts and words can remain meaningless. This will keep you safe and help you to survive.
If the content from this blog resonates for you or someone you know, you may want to read further in The Two Voices Within (Chapter 6) to see if you/they are living any of the roles we discuss linked to lower ego vulnerability (Hedonist, Sociopath, Logician, Loner, Inattentive Person, or Sadist). It is when living these roles, some or most of the time, that we are damaging relationships with others and ourselves. Complementary material for those who would like to heal and bring your lower ego vulnerability into balance can be found in Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self (Chapters 10 and 16) and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self (Chapter 7). All three books are available on the Shop page Here.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Is Higher Ego Vulnerability Damaging Your Relationships?
Higher ego vulnerability impacts one’s sense of vulnerability within relationships—be they with family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. These interpersonal experiences are opportunities within which our weaknesses and imperfections—real or imagined—can be revealed to others. When ego vulnerability is higher, relationships become “dangerous” and we can become distant or defensive in our efforts to manage them. Either way, relationships weaken as they begin to be filtered through one’s vulnerability impacting the rationality of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This distortion occurs when too much emotion—anxiety or anger—is at work within our relationship experiences. The following excerpt from The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life presents the messages ego is telling the higher ego vulnerability person, keeping them stuck in this energy. Messages they are listening to quite well but don’t realize.
Ego’s Voice
I have led you to all of your fear, which is the foundation upon which many of your thoughts, words, deeds, and physical symptoms have been built. Fear is present within your earthly life and has found its way into many of your relationships and activities. Your fear leads you to seek to gain distance from the imperfection and weakness within you and surrounding you. Fear is your friend, and you must cling tightly to it. Its purpose is to serve as a warning of all things large and small, from within and without, that may threaten your survival. This fear keeps you protected and can ensure your survival.
You must be wary of those who surround you in your earthly life. You must keep them at a distance from your weaknesses and imperfection, just as you strive to do for yourself. Defer to their thoughts, words, and deeds so your weaknesses and imperfection will remain hidden. When necessary, reveal yourself only after putting great effort into hiding what is vulnerable within you. Always remain suspicious of others for their efforts to find weakness and imperfection within you. Do not let your guard down, as they seek to weaken you with any evidence of vulnerability you have shown them.
You must be fearful in your relationships with those who are closest to you. This fear will keep you wary of any distancing that is occurring between you and them. Fear will let you know they are leaving you or that you are leaving them, prompting you to find the source of this distance. Fear will energize thoughts, words, and deeds you must use to narrow this distance, protecting you from the loss of these relationships.
Fear must also be present within your relationship with yourself. It will help you to rid yourself of your weakness and imperfection, so you will be able to like and love yourself more, and so others will like and love you more. When vulnerable, you cannot gain acceptance from yourself and others. It makes you unsafe and unprotected, endangering your survival. Fear is the friend you must use to vanquish this enemy. Let it be your sword.
If the content from this blog resonates you may want to read further in The Two Voices Within (Chapter 5) to see if you are living any of the roles we discuss linked to higher ego vulnerability energy (Perfectionist, Overachiever, High Maintenance Partner, Stressed Out Person, Overly Self-Critical Person, Clean Freak, Traumatized Person, or Order Freak). It is when living these roles, some or most of the time, that we are damaging relationships with others and ourselves. Complementary material for those who would like to heal and bring your higher ego vulnerability energy into balance can be found in Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self (Chapters 9 and 15) and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self (Chapter 7). All three books are available on the Shop page Here.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Is Higher Ego Flexibility Damaging Your Relationships?
Higher ego flexibility impacts one’s presence within relationships serving to weaken them. These people show much more respect for the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings of others and much less respect for their own. People can easily change their mind, even about important things. Often they seek the truth they believe to exist in others while failing to look within to find their own truth—humanly and spiritually. There is a hollow quality to their relationships in which they follow the lead of others, often blindly. Those with whom they are involved can sense this intuitively, if not consciously, which contributes to a reduced level of respect for the higher ego flexibility person. Unfortunately, this increases the potential for being manipulated, exploited, or abused by others as they often come under their “thought control” and have difficulty defending and asserting their own thoughts. The following excerpt from The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life presents the messages ego is telling the higher ego flexibility person, keeping them stuck in this energy. Messages they are listening to quite well but don’t realize.
Ego’s Voice
You are to believe what others believe, think what they need you to think, and know the truth resides in others, from whom you must learn it. You must always question yourself and never question others. They will lead you to the truth that you cannot find within yourself. Their truth must become your truth. They possess greater ideas, knowledge, and beliefs which will not fail you. You can only fail by questioning them, which would endanger you and threaten your survival. You must stand firmly on their foundation and not your own. Theirs is built of stone and yours of sand. You are lost without their truth and can only know yourself through them. You must reside in the safety of their thoughts, as they define you and everything. They are your guides for how to best know, live, and survive in this world. Thus, you are safest when living in their world. You must lose yourself in order to survive.
When necessary, you must help other lost people to know their truth. They are also toiling in darkness. You must help them to see the light that others are showing you enlightening them on any and all earthly matters. The people you have come to trust know best and others must come to know what they know. Their light shines brightest and others will feel safest when they know their light. You will feel safest when others know their light. This affirms the truth upon which your guides stand. You must also view their convictions as a reflection of the truth upon which they–and you—stand. Conviction validates their truth for yourself and others. Those with lesser conviction are weaker, and they are only standing upon faulty thinking and beliefs. You must not listen to them.
You must, therefore, listen weakly to yourself and be suspicious of your own thoughts. You must not concern yourself with exploring what may be new, different, or unfamiliar in your own thoughts. You must keep such thoughts at a distance, as the truth does not reside within you. You are safest when thinking in the realm of what others know or want you to know. Their thoughts, words, and deeds must become yours. You are unified when you enter and become a part of their world, and you are protected within this unity.
You must listen intensely to those who are closest to you in order to gain their wisdom. Find only truth in their thoughts and words, and do not question them, as this would lead you astray and into darkness. Follow them so you can be close to them. This is when you are being the most loving. If you followed yourself, you would become separated and lost from them. Allow them to change you as needed, another way of showing your love for them and gaining their love in return. Your close relationships will survive best when you become most like them and least like yourself. Find yourself in your partner or other close loved ones.
You can love yourself most when embracing the thoughts of others while disowning your own. It is within the superiority of their thoughts that you can think well of yourself. The weakness and inferiority of your own thoughts would only cause you to think less of yourself—and potentially hate yourself. You must embrace others by adopting their thoughts in order to love yourself. Loving others more and yourself less in this way will ensure your daily safety and survival. Then you will pose no danger to yourself.
If the content from this blog resonates you may want to read further in The Two Voices Within (Chapter 4) to see if you are living any of the roles we discuss linked to higher ego flexibility energy (Child, Cultist, Loyalist, Unloved, Silent, or Puppet). It is when living these role some or most of the time that we are damaging relationships with others and ourselves. Complementary material for those who would like to heal and bring your higher ego flexibility energy into balance can be found in Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self (Chapters 8 and 14) and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self (Chapter 7). All three books in our trilogy are available as e-books on the Shop page here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Is Lower Ego Power Damaging Your Relationships?
Today’s focus is on lower ego power energy and its impact on relationships. Lower ego power weakens one’s ability to participate fully and meaningfully in significant relationships occurring in our lives—spouse/partner, parents, children, siblings, friends and ourselves. It often promotes relationships in which we are passive, submissive, and overly dependent upon others. The needs of others become far more important than our own. This sows the seeds for being manipulated, exploited, and even abused which often becomes normalized due to the frequency of its occurrence—something to be expected and deserved. The relationship with ourselves—the most important relationship—becomes poor and we often come to dislike and can even hate ourselves. Interestingly, this has nothing to do with how intelligent, attractive or wealthy you are as lower ego power can find its way into anyone’s life. Relationships with authoritarian/overly protective parents or persons are often the beginning point which often involves lots of destructive criticism that you “repeat” to yourself. You learn not to believe in or trust yourself. In response the “voice” of ego begins to speak loudly—in the name of your survival—within the “weak” thoughts, words, feelings and behaviors manifested within relationships. The following excerpt from The Two Voices Within presents the messages ego is telling the person with lower ego power, keeping them stuck in this ego energy. Messages they are listening to quite well but don’t realize it.
Ego’s Voice
It is within the absence of your power that you must submit, follow, or know less than others. You must also know that listening to others is more important than listening to yourself. Listening to others, thinking what they think, and doing what they do is the means to your strength. You do not know more or better than they do. Their way is right and doesn’t need to be challenged or changed—yours does. You must mistreat yourself when necessary, knowing that you are less worthy than others; underestimate yourself; insist on doing things the way that other people want to do them; and lack confidence.
Stay dependent upon those who are closest to you, be they your spouse, partner, or close friend. You cannot know as much as they do or influence them. Fail to communicate your thoughts, always give in to their desires, and do not expect compassion from them. They need to do most of the thinking so you can be protected in their wisdom. You must become as much like your partner as possible in your approach to life, so you can be a better person—your partner.
Love others more than you can love yourself, knowing that you are less important and less significant than others. You feel safest when you are meeting the needs of others while neglecting your own. Loving others, rather than loving yourself, is the means to your daily survival, making you feel safe, protected, and able to survive. Expect less love from others and see yourself as less deserving of this love. In doing this, you are not taking the love that others want, so you can feel safe. By empowering others with your love, you can experience the power of feeling safe. However, your love is less significant, as it is coming from you. For this reason, you know your love as less desirable for others, questioning its value for them and their need for you.
If the content from this excerpt resonates you may want to read further in The Two Voices Within (Chapter 2) to see if you are living any of the roles we discuss linked to lower ego power energy (Victim, Martyr, Dependent, Depressive, Underachiever, Conformist, or Masochist). It is when living these roles some or most of the time that we are damaging relationships with others and ourselves. Complementary material for those who would like to heal and bring your lower ego power into balance can be found in Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self (Chapters 5 and 11) and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self (Chapter 7). All three works in our trilogy are available as e-books on the Shop page here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
Is Higher Ego Power Damaging Your Relationships?
Lots of research has shown that a very important influence on wellness and the quality of our lives involves the relationships we experience. Relationships with our parents, children, spouse/partner, friends, co-workers, as well as with ourselves are a barometer as to how well things are going in our life –or not. For those with higher ego power the control of others is at the center of their relationships. They enjoy controlling the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of others, particularly those closest to them. Frequently, they use manipulation, exploitation, and abuse—physical or psychological—to establish this control. Their needs come first and they bring self-absorption and narcissism into their relationships, which is destructive to them. The foundation for their higher ego power often involves exposure to permissive parenting where little if any effort was put into promoting self-control and recognizing the needs of others leading to an intense sense of entitlement. They learned that the world revolves around them and often it has.
One’s ego energy has an important say within the thoughts, words, feelings, and behaviors that occur within all relationships. The more our ego energy is imbalanced, the greater the chance that what we manifest with them is unhelpful and unhealthy—but often we don’t know it. The worse things are going in your relationships—which a person often fails to recognize—the “louder” is ego’s voice in your being. The following is an excerpt from The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life in which the impact of ego’s voice and higher ego power on relationships is presented.
Ego’s Voice
Through your power, I am helping you to dominate, control, or know more than others. You are to believe that listening to others is not necessary; that listening to others, thinking what they think, or doing what they do would be weakness, an experience that is foreign to you. Others cannot really know more than you do. Your way is right and doesn’t need to be challenged or changed—their does. Changing yourself would be foolishness and a sign of weakness. You can mistreat people when necessary, know that you are better than them, underestimate them where needed, insist on doing things the best or right way – which is your way – and be overly confident.
You must stay independent from those who are closest to you, be they your spouse or partner, children, siblings, or parents. They cannot know as much as you do or influence you. That would be weakness. You must not communicate, compromise, or show compassion, since that would signal weakness to them. You need to do most of the thinking in the relationships with the people who are closest to you, so everyone can be protected by your wisdom. I help you to insist on your partner becoming as much like you as possible in his or her approach to things, so your partner can be a better person—you.
You are to love yourself more than anyone else, someone others can love even more than they love themselves, and someone who is more important than everyone else. Recognize that all criticism of you is destructive, only intended to weaken you. You must know that you are entitled to and deserve all of the love that others can give to you, love that you can use to further empower yourself.
If the content from this excerpt resonates, you can read further in The Two Voices Within to see if you are living any of the roles we discuss linked to higher ego power energy (Dictator, Rebel, Narcissist, Ultra-Competitor, Control Freak, Exploiter, Independent, or Bully). It is when we are living these roles some or most of the time that we are being most destructive to others and ultimately ourselves. Complementary material for those who would like to heal and bring their higher ego power into balance can be found in Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self (Chapters 6 and 12) and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self (Chapter 7). All three works in our trilogy are available as e-books on the Shop page here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Have You Met the Lesser Version of Yourself?
What an unpleasant and difficult question to ask ourselves. Partly due to its sensitive nature and partly due to the “distractions” of everyday life (work, family, bills, and so on) which keep us at a distance from answering this extremely important question. This is something we may get around to at a future time if we absolutely have to. Until then it remains filed away near the bottom of one’s “to do” list. Though ignored the answer to the question is having a significant impact upon your life. Even though you are a good, intelligent and well-meaning person which also weakens asking of the question. This answer is “weeding” its way into how you work and play with people, your closest relationships and ability to love yourself, achieve your potential and know your life’s purpose, grow your mind, experience happiness, and deal with the change, adversity, stressors, and conflict that life brings to your door. Ignoring this question often leads us to living a lesser version of ourselves and life. We settle for less than the great life we are meant to live. As Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” We fail to choose ourselves when we fail to get to know all of ourselves.
Becoming a better person or the best version of ourselves is an indirect approach often intended to address the question which titles this blog. People often talk about being more open, honest, assertive, sensitive, friendly, responsible, trusting, trustworthy, considerate, mature, supportive, etc. Unfortunately, all too often this is like a New Year’s resolution where the intensions are good but a grasp of the challenges, issues, or influences connected to the resolution are ignored or lacking. Change—real, meaningful, permanent change—requires insight. Insight that allows us to see how, where, and why we are “getting it wrong” in any or many of the life areas mentioned earlier in order to get it right—becoming the best version of ourselves. This involves getting to know a person you don’t want to meet, but need to meet—the lesser version of yourself.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You the search for the lesser version of yourself and healing involves getting to know your ego energy. Particularly, whether you are experiencing lower or higher ego power, flexibility, or vulnerability. These energies often have us living a lesser and for some the worst version of ourselves. To help things along, our book The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life identifies roles we can be living in but fail to recognize which are reflective of this energy in which we are being a lesser version of ourselves. This is complemented by our works Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self and EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self in which a tremendous amount of light is cast upon ego so that you can heal it where needed and get on with being the best version of yourself and living the Great Life you were meant to live! Each book is available on the Shop page of our website by clicking here.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]What Ego Wants to Tell You
The following is an excerpt from our book The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life. This piece puts into words what ego would tell us if it had a literal voice. It is these words that can give us a better understanding of the profound energy lying at the core of our humanity, impacting our daily life, our ability to fully connect to our Divinity, and opportunity to live the great life we are meant to live.
Ego’s Voice
I am going to introduce myself to you today. I will be telling you “who” I am and “why” I am in your life. This will provide you with an opportunity to know yourself better than you have before. You will not be hearing about me from some expert, a person who has looked from the outside at me. I will take you inside so you can see me from within. You will be going to the source of your humanity. The view may not always be pleasant, but it is necessary for both of us.
I will begin by telling you that I am unaware of myself or any of the ways in which I am impacting your life. I do not have a consciousness of myself, but you can develop one of me. I have no clue about the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, or physiology you are experiencing as a result of my energy. This differs from what some experts are suggesting, speaking of ego as if it were an entity conscious of itself, reflecting their ignorance of me. I cannot and do not impact you in any voluntary way. I profoundly impact you, but without volition. To intentionally impact a person requires an intellect which is something I do not have. But you do, and you can get to know me, even though I can never know you or myself.
Before going on, I want to ask you not to flatter yourself with the notion that you already know who I am. This notion is connected to the limited view that I am mainly responsible for the amount of power or influence you need to exert in your life. That is like looking at me with a microscope that has very low magnification. There is some truth to your notion of power. However, I am a more complex entity than that. My energy, your energy, is much more diverse, and I will be sharing that with you. Please do not feel insulted. That is not my intention, if I were able to form one. The most brilliant of minds, greatest of truth seekers, most eloquent of philosophers, and most notable of spiritual mentors have only been able to touch upon my essence. Often they have only been able to do so in peripheral, abstract, and general ways, allowing me to remain hidden from you despite my constant presence within you and your life.
If people truly knew me, or what to do with me, there would be a lot less suffering in people’s lives and the world. There would be a lot less concern about survival in the smallest and largest of matters; a lot less destruction to nature and the environment. With all of your intelligence and knowledge, would the supposedly most civilized of your countries be on the precipice of a nuclear holocaust? Would you really need to spend billions upon billions of dollars to protect people from each other – from cyber and biological terrorism – as you enter a new age? I am the true weapon of mass destruction, both personally and globally. I am the foundation and source upon which all of the others are built. This destruction is rooted in the individual and collective need for your survival. I am have been exerting this impact on you throughout history and will continue to until you get to know me and are able to transform my energy, your energy.
I remain hidden due to your ignorance and lack of awareness of me. The darkness in which I am kept allows and empowers me to impact you and everyone. I am not trying to hide from you, as I am without intention. I am just hidden due to your ignorance of me. Some have described me as only evil or as your enemy, due to their ignorance of me. I can be that, or even your devil, but I do not seek to be. Who am I, then, and what is my purpose? As I said, I am energy, a human energy. I work through the workshop of your mind, that place where ideas, beliefs, illusions, attitudes, prejudices, and knowledge are formed. I am not your mind, though many have referred to me as that. This just provides another example of their ignorance. I work within your mind as you draw upon my energy to shape your behaviors and feelings, and I even impact your body. I also foster the formation of your sense of self – your ego self, if you will. This is the “you” that you are or think you are, a culmination of all those things that I have impacted within the workshop of your mind. Your self is the manifestation of my energy, your energy.
You cannot change or remove any or all of your suffering from working on yourself alone, or by trying to change your mind alone. They are just places to begin to find me, places to get clues and cues. You can’t reach me from there. You must get to know me! And you much teach me, so I can stop teaching you. If you don’t, things will really never change – for you or for humanity. Not within the darkness of your ignorance of me. You will continue to reside in the darkness of your forbearers from thousands of years ago. Things haven’t changed very much; only the ways in which you try to survive and protect yourself from each other have shifted. You must get to know me so you can remove your darkness.
Some may ask, “Where did I come from and why did I come into being?” When you –meaning your very distant ancestors – left the literal or figurative Garden of Eden, in which some refer to as the Fall, I came into being. I came into being to help you survive, not only in the physical sense but in every sense in which you exist. This effort to survive manifests within many aspects of your life, and you reflect it in your thoughts, words, and deeds. My purpose is your survival and I protect you from anything and everything that threatens you. I protect you from people, be they friends, family, or strangers. I protect you from places, events, and experiences. When I am really getting out of balance, I am protecting you from yourself and life. This protection can be manifested in the thoughts you have, the words you use, the actions you take, the emotions you feel, and your bodily reactions. The more I am protecting you in these ways, the more you are out of balance.
You may be asking, “What do you mean by being out of balance?” As I said earlier, I am energy, an energy bounded by power, flexibility, and vulnerability. The power within this energy impacts the amount of influence or force you exert in the name of your survival. You live this force in your words, ideas, actions, and emotions. Some of you have a great deal of this power, while many others have very little. You will be hearing more about each of these situations. The flexibility of your energy impacts how flexible you are in your approach to seeking truth and securing your survival. This includes how open and varied the actions and ideas are that you will use in the “challenges” to your survival that come from everyday life. Some of you are rigid and locked into the only actions and ideas that you have known thus far, while some of you are open to anything and everything that is available to you. You will be hearing more about each of these circumstances. The vulnerability of your energy impacts how intensely you experience your imperfection and need to survive. You can know this vulnerability most readily by the amount of fear or anger you are feeling. This fear and anger can also be seen in your words, actions, and body. Some of you are consumed with your imperfection and survival, while others are oblivious to them. You will be hearing more about each of these. It is the power, flexibility, and vulnerability within your energy that shapes the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physiology you are using to ensure your survival.
Some may ask, “How did I become this energy within your life?” I did not bring you to this energy. What has transpired within your life has done so. The energy I am and you are was “chosen” by life in the form of any number of unpredictable biological, social, or environmental influences that have brought your daily and mortal survival into question. Brought forth from all manner of relationships, events, injuries, circumstances, and diseases that have worn upon you. You aren’t responsible for their appearance at your life’s door. In this sense, you are ultimately innocent and your life is quite fragile. This speaks to my intense efforts to protect you and ensure your survival.
You may ask, “Why am I telling you all of this?” If I had an intention and intellect, I would tell you that I do not seek to be your enemy, as others have told you. Even though I have been destructive in the name of your survival, and have caused you great suffering as others have told you, I can be your friend. It is time for your ignorance of me to end. I can be your friend, but I don’t know how to do that. I do know that you cannot destroy me. You cannot dissolve, disown, or defeat me because I am energy, and you don’t need to. I have love within the essence of my energy and I need you to transform it – my energy, your energy – to be your friend.
To learn more about ego’s impact upon your life you can obtain a free E-Book of The Two Voices Within by joining our mailing list. Please send your request to spiritualawakening777@comcast.net .
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Thank-You for Your Service!
There is so much to be thankful for as we go through this season of “conscious thankfulness” celebrating Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day. This is an opportunity to be reflective of what we have to be thankful for and to whom we must be thankful. A reflection of what others have done for us and an opportunity to see the “face” of God in others. But what about the service to others for which we are deserving of recognition and thanks—when we are reflecting the face of God. This blog is not about attempting to enhance one’s ego or sense of importance. It is about the significance of what you are doing and what you are offering to others—which you may be missing. Even if you haven’t gotten to that place where you are doing exactly what you believe you came here to do—your “life’s work.”
I (Nick) remember some brief conversations with my father who spent 40+ years working 60 hr. weeks as a chef. From those conversations, I don’t believe he fully recognized the great service he was offering in the preparation of great meals for those celebrating a variety of special occasions or moments in their lives. He seemed to chalk it up as a job he was doing just to make a living. He was like the sanitation worker failing to recognize how they ensure the health and appearance of the community, the police officer failing to recognize how they promote the safety and stability of society, the bus driver making it possible for others to get to important appointments or visits, the teacher opening up the potential of a person’s mind, the lawyer ensuring that one’s rights are represented, the salesperson informing customers about products, the nutritionist educating people about what they are putting into their body, ……and all of the other occupations we may be engaged in—willingly or unwillingly.
We mention this because research shows that over 80% of people are not satisfied or happy with their jobs. We believe some of this has to do with failing to recognize the significance of what they are doing—for others if not for themselves. Awakening to this realization can make your work more meaningful even as you work toward doing what you ultimately want to do. One of the ironies from doing these seemingly thankless jobs, is they are often the times when we are being the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is. Many often look back fondly upon those times and with good reason. They were giving to others more so than themselves. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You there is service, meaning, and purpose—human and spiritual—in everything we do. Even when we fail to recognize it or someone has brought it to our attention. From a former dishwasher, car washer, bakery factory employee, deli clerk, secretary and bank teller—Thank-You for Your Service!
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Healing Yourself Within
We all have a tremendous capacity to heal from within. This capacity has been given to us by the “wisdom of the ages” and evolution. It is this wisdom shaped by the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is, that has fashioned our design over the past three million years even though we were born in the “recent” past. In this respect, we are very much alike. We need only to understand this inner capacity and tap into it rather than constantly looking for answers outside of ourselves. You can heal yourself with ego medicine, focused ego meditation, and sacred sound meditation. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, your healing begins with the willingness to truly know yourself—humanly and spiritually!
A major contributor to healing yourself involves understanding your ego energy and bringing it into balance where needed. It is this energy which significantly impacts your success in the key life areas we discuss and the roles you are living. Ego Medicine involves getting to know what ego is and isn’t, tuning into your specific ego energy, and using ego related reality based thinking. Each of the books in our trilogy—Ego Therapy, EgoSpiritualism, and The Two Voices Within are intended to help you with doing this.
Our six Focused Ego Meditations provide an opportunity to reflect upon the transformation and healing of your ego energy as you are bringing it into balance with ego medicine. The “Roles People Live” page on this website can help you determine which ones you will want to listen to. During a meditation, you will look into the “mirrors” of your life involving the key life areas and reflect upon the positive changes you are making as well as those which need to be made. It is from these reflections of healthy, balanced ego energy at work in your life that you can know how far you have come in your journey.
Our Energy Expansion Meditation uses the healing sounds of crystal singing bowls to promote balance and harmony. This guided meditation along with other spiritual tools including prayer, yoga, mindfulness practice, humor, and healthy patterns of exercise, diet, and sleep are opportunities to heal from within. We refer to them as spiritual tools because they resonate with the intelligent design we have been given by the wisdom of the ages to heal from within. This healing allows for us to call upon ourselves and has no earthly requirements placed upon it involving ample time and money, the need to seek healing from others or travel elsewhere, or higher intellectual capacity. Our work contributes to their use when one’s healthy, balanced ego energy allows for stillness and peace, optimizing their availability to us.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Embrace Your Spirituality!
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, we are spiritual beings encountering a human experience. There is nothing new in that statement as many spiritual consciousness teachers have spoken those words of wisdom. However, we want to drill down deeper into what that means as failing to grasp this meaning leads us to believe the opposite—we are human beings trying to encounter a spiritual experience. Each of us are born with the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is woven into our being. That is the heritage of every living being that has, is, or will ever live, irrespective of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. We may have been born in the “recent” past and acquired or inherited a distinct human heritage, but the design making our existence and all of our experiences possible is 3 million years old! It is the design which links us to the Oneness of the Universe. This design allows us to share with and be connected to all beings even though we have never met them due to human parameters of person, place or time. When we are truly being the Love, Life and Energy—God Is, within our thoughts, words, and deeds, we are intimately connected to all beings—and they to us—even though we never saw, met, heard, or touched them. Love, Life, and Energy transcends all of those human experiences to experience connection to all beings—which is the essence of spirituality.
So you may ask, “What does failing to embrace our spirituality look like and how does that happen?” Failing to embrace our spirituality is reflected in the dysfunctional ways we interact with people, weaken close relationships, fail to love ourselves, misuse or abandon our potential, refuse to grow our mind, resist healthy change, embrace faulty ways of experiencing happiness, and destructively approach adversity, stressors, and conflict which enters into our lives. It is also occurring when we are not living in peace with ourselves, loved ones, and the world at large; are motivated by fear or anger rather than love; embrace faulty expectations of ourselves and others; confuse faulty wants with genuine needs; make unhealthy choices for our body, mind, and spirit; are consumed with the past or preoccupied with the future while being absent from the present; unwilling to accept ourselves; and failing to be the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is.
We experience distance from our spirituality when imbalanced ego energy involving power, flexibility, or vulnerability leads us into faulty understanding and expectations of ourselves, others, and life. These thoughts, ideas, beliefs, prejudices, illusions, etc. foster distance and disconnection from the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is which was, is, and will always exist within our being. It is hidden by an intense humanity—actually inhumanity—directed toward ourselves or others in our daily life. This is when we are disconnecting ourselves from our spirituality. When we can recognize when and how we are doing this, we can stop disconnecting ourselves and become what we were always meant to be—a child of God.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]God is not a “Who!”
What a strange title for a blog. Strange for many because it acknowledges the obvious—God is not human. Strange because the thought is embedded in many of the religious teachings we have encountered over the years—God exists within the spiritual realm. Strange because we never refer to God in human terms—as having thoughts, experiencing feelings, having preferences, or taking action. Wait, Wait, Wait! There’s a problem with the last one and it’s also linked to the first two. Haven’t we heard references to God in written and spoken teachings that ascribe human qualities? Human qualities in which God has a gender (Him or Her), is loving or angry, rewarding or punitive, or has preferences attached to religious, political, or cultural approaches, even sports teams/accomplishments, to mention just a very few. God is not a who but every time we use references in which human qualities are connected directly to God that is exactly what we are doing. We are turning God into a who within our human frame of reference. Unfortunately, this has huge negative implications for our understanding of God. It sows the seeds for the conflict and destructiveness that has and continues to take place between people built upon defining who God is.
Many may think and respond by saying that human characteristics attached to God are just metaphorical or figurative and intended to help us to better understand God. Unfortunately, this understanding has two significant problems connected to it: 1) Metaphor is only helpful if one is able to appreciate and keep track of the abstraction involved and not convert it into a concrete, literal meaning. Failing to do so often leads one to cling tightly to the latter as it is often better suited to one’s cognitive and emotional “comfort zone.” This serves to make God extremely human and less spiritual to us even if we are not consciously aware of doing this. 2) Human characteristics attributed to God have often sown the seeds for divisiveness, particularly within and between religions. A divisiveness in which anger, hatred, and war have all occurred in the name of honoring what God “wants” from us. A divisiveness in which the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is within the fundamentally good, well-meaning, and intelligent participants has become lost and an absence of spirituality is being manifested.
If God is not a who then “what” is God? The what is, God Is—Love, Life, and Energy! Everything that was here and always here before humans, human consciousness and human frames of understanding God were formed by people. Love which is unconditional, unburdened, inexhaustible, and connective when we are being it. The life which recognizes the presence of God in all life forms honors all life and realizes the eternal nature of life when we are being it. The energy of light and truth, diverse in manifestation, transformative, and healing when we are being it.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You when we manifest Love, Life, and Energy within our daily thoughts, words, and deeds, we are being what God Is.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]“Are You Seeing The Big Picture?”
We have all heard the phrase “seeing the big picture.” A phrase which generally means being able to see and understand most, if not all, of what is taking place in the ‘big picture.’ The big picture can involve work, relationships, parenting, health, conflict, stress, ourselves, and so many more aspects of life. Regardless of what it involves the one main idea connected to it is truth—human and Divine. Each truth brings us to all we need to see, hear, or know, not just our preferences or what allows us to feel good, which often makes it difficult to find. Truth and seeing the big picture is often painful at first because it takes us out of our comfort zone. It can be so much easier to embrace faulty beliefs, particularly if we are unable to recognize them as such. Fortunately, truth—human and Divine, if we can awaken to them, ultimately leads us to joy, peace, and happiness as it is in alignment with the Great life we are meant to live.
Unfortunately, keeping distance from truth, no matter how comfortable, often resigns us by default into living within the “little picture”, something we often fail to realize. The more pain you experience and the greater the number of places it is occurring, the more likely you are living within the little picture. This little picture often gives us less rather than more out of life and ourselves. Even though we are good, intelligent and well-meaning persons with the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is, woven into our being. Distance from truth intensifies as power, flexibility, or vulnerability issues in our ego energy lead us unknowingly into the land of faulty beliefs, desired or undesired. We become intensely locked into the little picture as egoic illusions which form its boundaries crystallize. These illusions of separation, inequality, unworthiness, and others serve to distance us from our humanity and Divinity. They often lead unknowingly into being inhumane toward ourselves, others, or both. Often failing to see what is really taking place and the big picture.
So what can one do to move beyond the little picture and begin seeing the big picture? A big picture in which you are living the best version of yourself and the Great life you are meant to live. The first, most difficult, and most important step is to be willing to see how you are getting it wrong—humanly—before getting it right. Owning what one needs to own opens many doors to getting to one’s own truth—human and Divine, not someone else’s, and certainly not the faulty versions of them coming from one’s imbalanced ego energy. This involves recognizing how your ego energy is shaping your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physiology, keeping you at a distance from seeing the big picture. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You we have all been there. The next step is the easy one. You already are a spiritual being and don’t need to become one. If you weren’t you could not exist—nothing could! The Divine Truth woven into your being awaits your full embrace when being the Love, Life, and Energy you are and will lead you to see the big picture and the Great life you were meant to live!
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]What’s Your Energy?
What’s Your Energy?: Many years ago—the 1960’s to be exact—a question people may have been asked was, “What’s your sign?” Some used it as a conversation starter and others used it as a pick-up line at a bar. The answer connected to the question—one’s zodiac sign—was linked to some indication of an individual’s personality and whether it was compatible with that of the person asking the question. Most of the time the question had a light-weight quality as most people believed, and correctly so, that personality and compatibility have far more numerous influences beyond zodiac signs for particular persons.
That being said, we don’t believe the question was completely without merit. The workings of the universe at-large should not be completely dismissed if you believe in the ultimate Oneness and Unity that resonates within spirituality and being connected to all things. Our question is in some respects an echo of the earlier question, but with some important tweaks. It focuses on an inside influence upon who you are being and your connection to the universe. More specifically, what is the nature of your human or egoic energy and whether it is in balance (opening up your connection to the universe) or imbalanced in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability (serving to block this connection). The answer to the question can be found in the roles you and others may be living and which can have a profound impact upon your life within the confines of relationships, ability to love yourself in healthy ways, and your ability to recognize and live genuine happiness, to name just a few. An impact which also affects being the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is within your daily life.
Are you or someone you know a Narcissist, Dictator, Control Freak, Depressive, Martyr or Dependent (reflective of ego power energy imbalance)? Are you or someone you know an Authoritarian, Racist, Sexist, Religious Extremist, Paranoid, Cultist or Puppet (reflective of ego flexibility energy issues)? Are you or someone you know a Perfectionist, High-Maintenance Partner, Over-Achiever, Stressed-Out Person, Sociopath, Hedonist or Loner (reflective of ego vulnerability energy issues? These are just some of the roles we can be living, which are rooted in our human/ego energy. When we are oblivious to this energy and it is imbalanced, getting an answer to the question—What’s Your Energy?—becomes extremely important. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, failure to do so resigns us to living a lesser version of ourselves, becoming intensely human, and disconnected from our spirituality.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]The Brilliance of Divine Truth
The Brilliance of Divine Truth.: You have probably heard many people refer to being in search of the truth or their truth. A search that can often involve reading lots of books, attending various seminars, or finding teachers/gurus who may lead them toward it. A search that often involves a lot of time, energy, and money to find the “truth.” A search that is often fruitless as the person is often looking in the wrong places or people to find it. Divine Truth—the truth we are speaking of—is much simpler, more immediate, and consistently available to you. The Love, Life & Energy—God Is requires no greater intellect, education, or teacher to be known. Its brilliance is beyond the reach of any of those “requirements” to be known. You don’t even need to hear or read the brilliant words of the greatest consciousness teachers the world has ever known—Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad—to know it. It is far less elusive than we humans make it out to be. As the great Islamic poet Rumi stated, “What you seek is seeking you.” The Love, Life, & Energy—God Is, is seeking you!
The question you may have if you are not being Divine Truth within your life is, “Why am I having a difficult time knowing and living this Truth?” Part of the answer involves the “demands and requirements” you are placing upon yourself to connect to this Truth. You are bypassing the simplicity, immediacy, and consistency of the Love, Life, and Energy that is staring you in the face. As an example, begin to recognize the “Godness” in every living thing you encounter—person, animal, plant, insect—as without God’s presence within their being they could not be or exist, nor you. Life cannot be without God’s presence within it as God Is—Life. Very simple, Very immediate, and Very consistent, with no burden being required to establish this awareness.
One other important influence that can make Divine Truth elusive for many to connect to is one’s ego energy. The more imbalanced it is in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability, the more distant one becomes from human truth. Attempting to find Divine Truth through faulty human truth and beliefs is a fruitless and empty exercise. An effort that often embraces egoic illusions of separation, inequality, and unworthiness which weakens one’s ability to witness the Love, Life, and Energy which surrounds them and is within them. Vivid examples of this can be seen in historical occurrences of religious intolerance and conflict, the need to fight battles to establish racial, religious, gender, and sexual orientation equality, as well as terrorist groups such as ISIS. The Love, Life, & Energy—God Is, shares no common ground with any of that. Healing one’s ego energy where needed in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability opens the door wide to the Divine Truth which is and has always been seeking you. No matter who or where you are.
In Peace and Love,
Nick & Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Heaven is Here!
Heaven is Here!: What a ridiculous, nonsensical, or stupid idea—or is it? Most of us have been taught during our lives about the notion of “heaven.” Connected to this notion are many ideas intended to help us to better understand what it is and encourage us to make it our life’s ultimate goal. Some of these include: heaven is there not here, you have to die to get there, you have to earn your way into heaven, and heaven is akin to a physical utopia where you can have anything your heart desires. But what if none of that is true? What if you don’t have to die, go somewhere, earn it, or have all of your human desires met? What if heaven is a consciousness and not a place? A consciousness in which we have fully awakened here and now—humanly and spiritually!
What if it’s much simpler than we humans have made it out to be and are missing it every day of our life?—until we “get it.” A beautiful simplicity built upon the brilliance of Divine Truth. A simplicity in which we fully recognize and live the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is within our being—here and now. A simplicity in which we fully recognize and live the Great Gifts of Life, Creating Life, Eternal Life, and God Within—here and now. A simplicity in which we have removed the bars comprising the “Gates of Heaven” involving egoic illusions of separation, unworthiness, inequality, sensing all energy, disorder, and egoic control—here and now. If so, “there” becomes here, death becomes rebirth, earning and reward becomes being Love, Life, and Energy, and physical utopia becomes Divine Perfection.
Many may be bothered by what we are saying, particularly those with a deep connection to religion. It can be discomforting to read something that conflicts with what one has been taught for years. Our ego energy, particularly when it’s imbalanced, leads us toward the familiar, consistent, and predictable to remove any sense of dissonance. We cling to belief, even when truth may serve us better in the long run. One may rightfully ask, “What makes your version of truth, truth?” From the perspective of Ego, Spirit, & You, truth is embodied by something that always is, is available to everyone, and applies to everyone. Divine Truth and the Great Gifts reflect each of these and are the means to entering heaven—here and now!
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]What is EgoSpiritualism?
What is EgoSpiritualism?: Several years ago we began to search for a word that captures the essence of a consciousness in which we are living the best of our humanity in synergy with our Divinity. A word capturing the best of the two profound energies at work in our being—Ego and Spirit. A word which describes entry into the Great life we are meant to live. EgoSpiritualism is the word that puts each of the energies at the core of our being on equal footing. It recognizes that transformation to the best version of ourselves requires a human and spiritual awakening—not just the latter. This is significantly different from traditional messages over the past 3,000 years which have only emphasized spiritual awakening. These messages are outdated and haven’t promoted broader evolution toward personal and world peace. We are still very much in the same place as when Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad spoke their brilliant words on consciousness. We remain very much asleep—egoically.
So what does one experience within EgoSpiritualism as you are living it?
- Being at peace with yourself, the people in your life, and the world at large.
- Being motivated by love rather than fear, anger, or guilt in your life’s work.
- Being free of inappropriate expectations of yourself, from others, and of others.
- Being respectful of your Body, Mind & Spirit within choices of what you bring into them.
- Being able to like and love yourself as you are while working with any of your weaknesses.
- Being free of false wants while recognizing true needs allowing you to experience genuine happiness.
- Being able to fully embrace your potential while recognizing the service you are here to provide.
- Being emotionally connected to others rather than emotionally attached or detached.
- Being able to live fully in the present rather than being chained to the past or preoccupied with the future.
- Recognizing the Love God Is—which is connective, unconditional, unlimited, and beyond burden within yourself and all beings.
- Recognizing the Life God Is—within all beings which makes their existence possible.
- Recognizing the Energy God Is—within the transformative light and truth which exists within you.
- Knowing the Gift of Life and the abundance which has been made available to you.
- Knowing the Gift of Creating Life and the opportunity you have to create the life in which you are living.
- Knowing the Gift of Eternal Life which allows you as much time and as many opportunities you need to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Knowing the Gift of God Within so you can never truly walk alone as you make your way along your life’s path toward the Kingdom of Heaven.
So how does one enter into EgoSpiritualism?
Heal your ego energy with ego medicine which brings into balance your ego power, flexibility, and vulnerability, where needed. Ego medicine which involves: 1) Understanding what ego is and isn’t, 2) Tuning into your specific ego energy, and 3) Using ego-related reality based thinking. It is within the brilliance of human and Divine Truth that the door will fully open and you will transform into what you were meant to be, which has always awaited you.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]“To BE or not to BE”
“To BE or not to BE”: One of the most famous, often spoken questions, is the opening to Hamlet’s soliloquy, in which he ponders the choice between life and death—to be or not to be. A choice in which one can face the incessant challenges of the darker side of life or opt for the “freedom” but unknown opportunities of death. A choice between the known aspects of one’s life situation and the unknown possibilities beyond this life. A choice between the inaction of continuing to live while mired in the circumstances of one’s life or action in choosing to move beyond them to those unknown one’s which may lie beyond the earthly realm.
With all due respect to Shakespeare, one of the most brilliant and eloquent writers who captured the human experience that we have ever known, his question via the proxy of Hamlet and its contemplation is much to narrow. His characterization of life (to be) is much too dark, empty, and fatalistic. It speaks to only helplessness within the human condition, which raises the plausibility of death at one’s own hands as the answer. A life which does comport to the ones being lived by those we have met who would summarily describe their life as “poor” or “fair.” The question leaves them with no option within the living realm. It offers no genuine hope for those who choose to remain in their earthly life and move beyond it –here! It also bypasses those who have found their way to the “good” and “great” versions of themselves and life. The ‘to be’ in Hamlet’s question is intended to represent life but in many respects describes a lifeless life and offers no recognition of the options and answers to be found within the human and spiritual realm—to Be.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, the real question is, “To BE or not to BE?” A question which involves choosing between a life-full (to BE) or lifeless (not to BE) existence—here and now! A question in which one has come to fully know the word BE. A recognition in which BE and its “cousins” being and becoming, come forth when one’s ego energy is in balance. This balance of power, flexibility, and vulnerability, allowing one to share control and influence with life and others, ability to adapt to the ever changing nature of life, and ability to healthily work with the imperfections of oneself, others, and life. A person with healthy ego energy would never find their way to alternatives to living—be it Hamlet’s or our version of ’not to be’. We can also BE in the recognition of the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is within our being, and the Great Gifts of Life, Creating Life, Eternal Life, and God Within, that everyone who has ever lived have been given.
“To BE or not to BE”—that is the real question!
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]“Our Darkest Hour—Our Finest Hour”
“Our Darkest Hour—Our Finest Hour”: There are times in our lives when things may look pretty bleak. Those times are upon us when we have lost an important relationship, become estranged from family, compromised our health, lost a job, lost our freedom, etc. This time often makes no sense because we know ourselves as an intelligent, good, and well-meaning person who does not want to go around hurting ourselves or others. Hopefully, the ‘hour’ is only a short amount of time so we can get back to fully living life. Our Higher Self, the God within our being will speak to us, helping us to get back to being who we want to be. To be the Love, Life, & Energy—God Is within our being. When we fail to hear this voice and bad things keep happening, it usually means our egoic voice, rooted in imbalanced ego energy, is speaking within us but we don’t realize this.
Unfortunately for many, the darkest hour isn’t some relatively brief period of time. It can last for years, decades, or even the remainder of one’s lifetime. These are persons who when asked, “How is your life?”, may answer summarily with ’poor’ or ‘fair’. A sense of resignation often sets in, leading them to believe they are at the mercy of life and it will give them what it will. They may become consumed with explanations that excessively blame others or themselves with little middle ground and do not offer any way out of their plight. Unknowingly, hidden imbalanced ego energy involving power, flexibility, or vulnerability issues is keeping them in their personal prison. How do we know that? Because many others have freed themselves as their ego energy becomes more balanced and they see what they need to see about themselves, others, and life.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You our darkest hour can be our finest hour, when we have awakened to what is truly going on, and own what we need to own. It is within that moment of clarity that life begins to move from life-less to life-full. Light begins to replace the darkness. A light filled with human truth and Divine Truth. We begin to see more of the ego energy we were living and how it brought us to our darkest hour(s). We begin to recognize the healing available within the light of truth once we have gone through the pain of coming to terms with whom we have been. We begin to recognize the Love, Life, & Energy—God Is within our being and become more of it in our earthly life. There can be no more dark hours as the brilliant light of truth shines upon you and from you.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Nonreligious-Spiritually Connected
Nonreligious-Spiritually Connected: We recently read an interesting article Millennials and religion: The great disconnect (Pittsburgh-Post Gazette/12-13-15) that focused on the relevance and relationship that religion has for individuals 18-34 yrs. old. There were various studies quoted involving declining trends in religious involvement for these individuals across religious denominations. Also there was mention of various reasons for this occurrence such as perceived conflict between religion and science, perceptions of religion as too constrictive and conservative, and perception of church teaching as hypocritical. To those we would add the destructiveness and war which has often occurred in the name of religion throughout history, has turned many people off to it.
A “positive” reason that was not mentioned is that many people, particularly younger ones, no longer view religious involvement as a pre-requisite to their relationship with God. Many consciously or intuitively sense the ability and necessity of establishing their own personally defined relationship with God—which is the essence of spirituality. They are the ‘nonreligious-spiritually connected’ and their numbers are growing. Interestingly, within the above-mentioned lengthy article the words spirit and spirituality never appear. We found this remarkable for an article focused on religious participation. To the degree that this occurred due to the understanding that religion and spirituality are synonymous, there needs to be a great deal of clarification in order to understand what is transpiring in this aspect of life for many millennials and people in general.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, religion continues to have an important place. We still need it to play its role in the current stage of evolution as we strive to awaken humanly and spiritually. Religion can be a beautiful bridge to our spirit and spirituality when the words spoken by clergy and messages presented within writings and actions are filled with helping us to know the Love, Life, and Energy—God Is within ourselves and fellow man.
In peace & love,
Nick and Linda
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]The “Right” Energy
The “Right” Energy:
During the past six months the word energy has made its appearance in the political rhetoric in regards to presidential candidates. And rightfully so, since the kind of energy at work has an impact on whether or not things get done. In this political season there has been the presumption that high energy is good and low energy is bad. This presumption naively concludes that it is the quantity of the energy that matters, while bypassing the quality of the energy fueling the prospective leader’s efforts.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, more energy is not good if it is of poor quality. Things may get done but at what hidden or not-so-hidden cost? The right energy is a mixture of balanced power, flexibility, and vulnerability in one’s human energy—our ego energy. Our leaders must be comfortable with power, but not so consumed by it that they want to control everyone and everything. Our leaders must be flexible enough to learn new things from others applicable to the present circumstances and not chained to the past to the degree they are enslaved by it. Our leaders must be vulnerable enough to recognize their imperfections so they can be guided by their strengths and weaknesses in their efforts to work with others and set forth policy.
It is from this energy that our country can move forward in a progressively diverse and complex world. The right energy can be found in a person of any gender, race, culture, religious, or political affiliation. We just have to look for it within the patterns of thoughts, words, and deeds within our prospective leaders. It cannot be found in simply hearing what we want to hear or seeing what we want to see, that makes us feel good or serves to release our anger and frustration.
Finding the right person with the right energy includes being the right energy within ourselves. Failing to be the right energy, places us at risk of doing the unthinkable—electing a dictator, someone with the wrong energy. You may think this is ridiculous in a country such as America built upon freedom. However, consider the following excerpt from our book The Two Voices Within, particularly the words of Ego being spoken within someone living the role of Dictator.
In peace and love,
Nick and Linda
The Dictator: The Dictator believes that he has the right to control how others must think, feel, and behave. He knows himself as greater than others by virtue of his intellect, talent, or money. He has a sense of superiority that entitles him to exert unquestioned influence on others. He becomes extremely angered by those who may question him or who are seen as seeking to reduce his power. This often leads him to strive to remove this challenge with responses that are often abusive. He is often blind to this abuse due to the power that consumes him.
Ego’s Voice: I am the source of your intense need to dominate the people who surround you in your life. You are led to believe that your way is the right way and must prevail; therefore, you have no need to listen to or communicate to others. That would only involve getting poor ideas and choices, which would weaken you. You do not need to feel compassion for the mistakes or weaknesses of others. Their pain is the cost for failing to do things the way you know they should be done. Your compassion takes the form of leading them to a better understanding of how to do things. Domination is your oxygen, the means to your safety and survival and you must have it.
You must get people to do things and think the way you do by any means possible. These people can be your children, partner, friends, employees, or acquaintances. The means by which you persuade them can include intimidation, coercion, manipulation, exploitation, or abuse. You must think of them as being weaker and incapable of leading themselves. They must be led, and you must do the leading. Your greater abilities were meant to do this leading. Anyone else’s leadership or guidance must be challenged or defeated. If you or others followed them, it would represent weakness and a threat to your survival.
You are entitled to feel angry when others fail or refuse to do your will. You are also entitled to use this anger as a force to alter their will, when and where necessary. The consequences they receive are the price they must pay for violating your will—a will that knows what is good and right for everyone. You are also entitled to destroy those who would stand in your way. They intend to weaken you and threaten your survival. You must meet their force with overwhelming force to eliminate their threat to you.
People are not entitled to be angry with you and any of their anger toward you is misplaced. They fail to understand that you are only attempting to help them with your knowledge, understanding, and guidance. They should be loving you instead, as what you offer them is intended to help make them stronger rather than remaining in their weakness. You are being generous to them, as you are not only working to ensure your survival, but theirs as well.
Spirit’s Voice: The excessive power within your humanity has greatly distanced you from your Divinity. It is within your power that illusions of separation, inequality, and unworthiness have been fashioned with which to know your neighbor. These illusions have also led you to know yourself as all-powerful and separated from God. The Love, Life, and Energy God Is within all beings is unknown to you. Your Divinity can be known with the awareness that God Is Love and that you have the Gift of God Within your being.
You do not know the Love that truly exists in your being. It has been replaced by thoughts, words, and deeds filled with anger and hatred that you are using to dominate others. All of these are reflections of the suffering that you do not realize you are living. Each creating greater distance from the Love God Is within your being. You are also visiting this suffering upon others in your efforts to dominate them. This domination is intended to serve your need for power while making your neighbor separated, less equal, and unworthy of you. As your earthly power grows, so does your suffering and the distance from God within you and within your neighbor.
You exist as if you were alone and isolated in your dealings with people. You are also unable to recognize the presence of God within others. This ignorance has made people dangerous and threatening to you, and you feel you must resist this danger and threat with your power and control. You don’t really know other people at all, which is a reflection of your suffering. You cannot truly love them or be loved by them, because you believe this would threaten your survival, another reflection of your suffering.
God’s absence in your awareness has led you to the illusion of being all-powerful, superior to others, and not in need of God in your life. Great human power has led you to have no limits or boundaries in your dealings with people. Everything is at your disposal, you believe—even those thoughts, words, or deeds that are destructive and harmful to others, and ultimately, to yourself. This is a reflection of your suffering. Your inability to know the equality of all human beings, built upon your notion of supremacy, has made you callous and insensitive to them, another reflection of your suffering. Your lack of need for God has blinded you to who you truly are and led you to walk a lonely path filled with anger, hatred, and destruction, all further reflections of your suffering.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Religious Extremism and Low Ego Flexibility
Religious Extremism and Low Ego Flexibility:
What is at the root of the intolerance and violence that humans so often display toward one another? An imbalanced ego! Low ego flexibility energy is one of the key issues that can lead people to treat one another with hatred rather than love. This energy and the destructive thoughts it promotes can be at work for people of any religious path, be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or any other faith. Failing to recognize these ego-induced thoughts, as well as the voice of Spirit, sets the stage for this intolerance and violence. Each creates greater distance from the God within one’s being, which is exactly the path that leads a person to become a religious extremist. Religion often gets blamed for the terrible things that people may do to each other. But it isn’t religion’s fault at all. The blame lies at the feet of low ego flexibility energy. To heal, religious extremists need to hear the voices of Ego and Spirit so they can truly know their humanity and Divinity.
To delve further into this topic, we’d like to share with you an excerpt from our latest book, The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life. Its purpose is to recognize and illuminate ego induced thoughts for an individual whose ego energy is consumed with low ego flexibility.
In peace and love,
Nick & Linda
The Religious Extremist: The Religious Extremist has a dogmatic approach to his religious belief system, viewing it as speaking the absolute truth about matters pertaining to faith and God. He often views those with different religious views as being removed from knowing or honoring God. The roles, rules, rituals, and customs pertaining to his religion are to be followed literally and rigidly. There is no room for alternative interpretations or modifications, which would dishonor him and violate his tradition.
Ego’s Voice: You are to know that your way to know God is the only way. It is the way all others must come to know and honor God. Their way can only lead them astray and away from God. You must not listen to non-believers, as this can only lead you astray and endanger you. You must keep all that has been within the tradition and resist all that is new or different, as anything new can only lead you astray, weaken you, and endanger you. Beware of those within your midst who would alter the tradition. They are not true believers. The teachings and the tradition are your oxygen, and you must have them in order to be safe and to survive.
You must treat others who do not believe as you do with suspicion and scorn. They are the godless. Treating these non-believers this way, and harboring anger and hatred for them, will keep you safe. Let anger be present in your thoughts, words, and deeds. This will keep you safe. If necessary, you must destroy those who would challenge your truth about God. Doing so will honor your truth and God.
Those who do not share your truth must be known as separated and unworthy of God. You must know them as unequal to you because of their weaker beliefs. You must know the difference in their beliefs as disorder and chaos that threatens both you and them. This will end when they believe as you do. You must compel them to believe like you in order to be safe and saved. Those who do not listen will be damned.
Spirit’s Voice: All ways to knowing the Love, Life, and Energy God Is are welcome. There are no right earthly ways to be the Love, Life, and Energy God Is. These Divine Truths have no earthly boundaries formed in the minds of human beings. The Kingdom of Heaven has no earthly boundaries or doors from which to enter. No one can claim to have the most complete knowledge of God, as God Is within all beings. One can only truly know God from being the Love, Life, and Energy God Is. All are One within the Divine Realm.
One cannot be made worthy or unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven by earthly beliefs, for one is born worthy. They must only choose to awaken to their worthiness. God cannot be truly distanced from oneself or from others by earthly illusions of separation rooted in beliefs, as God is present always in all believers and non-believers. Each has the Love, Life, and Energy God Is within their being. They must only awaken to these Truths. The Kingdom of Heaven does not follow earthly notions of order and control, which only place limits on your ability to know God and your Divine Gifts. These limits weaken your ability to embody the Love, Life, and Energy God Is.
All earthly ways of knowing God—past, present, or future—are welcome. Within the Divine Realm, you cannot be enemies with those who do not believe as you do. This is only an earthly belief you have created. There is no place for enemies in your heart when you are being the Love, Life, and Energy God Is. Anger, fear, and guilt have no place in doing the work of God. No one can be compelled to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by another’s beliefs. They can only enter in the time and place of their choosing. They can only walk their own path, and no one else’s.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Being the Love God Is
Being the Love God Is:
We have all had moments in our lives when we felt love as deeply as we ever could. Times when we looked into the eyes of our children, or were within the company of our pets, or within service to any other being, and knew nothing could stand in our way. A love that carried no weight or burden, had no limits, and was without any conditions. A love with such connection that there was no distance between us and whom we were loving. This is when we were being the best version of ourselves. This is when we were being the Love God Is.
Often we read or hear about God doing something that is loving. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, God is deeper and more pervasive than that. The Love God Is–is the foundation for all of our loving experiences. Without it, we could not be loving within our thoughts, words, and deeds. As humans we can only choose to manifest the Love God Is, or not. A choice affected by the nature of our ego energy. The Love God Is is present in every being, animal, plant, or human. We can only choose to witness it and manifest it, as we did within those previously mentioned moments.
Recently, 60 Minutes did a story on four nurses who cared for the man who was being treated for and later died from Ebola. Each was a young adult, some with a spouse or children, one with a pregnant wife, all concerned with or fearful of the dark, unknown territory they were entering into, possibly placing their life at risk, and each volunteered for the service they were offering. They described the profuse vomiting and diarrhea they were charged with cleaning up and discarding. They also described the deep, loving regard with which they held for Mr. Duncan in his time of need and approaching death. A description in which they described the opportunity to care for Mr. Duncan as one of the most important of their lives. Of course it was. They were being the Love God Is.
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Our True Essence
Our True Essence:
We are all Spiritual beings having a physical experience here on Earth. However, many of us tend to think and believe that we are simply just physical beings, and live through the physical process of life on Earth trying to accomplish our list of chores and responsibilities. However, these obligations we decide are so important for us to accomplish, are merely distractions that keep us from connecting to our true essence. This true essence exists within each living being, but unfortunately, the human species seems to have the hardest time making this connection. If we think about the other species on our planet, they are perfectly comfortable being who they are, unless we humans get in their way.
Awakening to our true essence will allow us the opportunity to awaken to our inner gifts, which are our spiritual gifts from God. Listening to our heart’s desire will assist us in this awakening. Our heart and soul will call us to be who we were created to be. If we trust this calling, we will be able to live a life of harmony, joy, and abundance.
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]The Beauty of Change
The Beauty of Change:
As I look out my window at the changing of the seasons, I feel such peace and gratitude for the beauty Mother Nature displays for us, even if just for a brief time. We are moving through a season of change, leaving the warm temperatures behind for awhile, and preparing to weather what winter has in store for us. Change is apparent, and we are a part of the changing seasons.
I know that life is about change, it must be, for if we stayed the same, we could never grow or evolve as we feel and know we must. We as humans have this awareness within us to want more, a desire to be more than we are. This is partly necessary as it spurs us onward to newer and greater ideas, inventions, and many other things that make this a wonderful world. Without change life would become very stagnant. We all have changed in many ways throughout our life, and life has changed around us. How we deal with change can speak a lot about ourselves as well. The world is going through some challenging transitions, and we are a part of these changes and transitions. It can be scary at times, especially if we are listening to the media. But we must remember that as we grow and live in a changing world, it is important to know that one thing will never change. Our Divinity will never change. Each one of us always has been and always will be. To understand what this truly means will bring for you a peace that allows acceptance and compassion to fill you, instead of fear or anxiety. You are part of the whole, one with our Earth Mother and Divine Father.
We are many and we are one, and we will continue to change and transition with each passing season, but we will always and forever be a Divine Child of God.
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Finding Love
Finding Love:
Everyone wants to have love in their life, and many people tend to think of love as coming from someone else or someplace else to fulfill them. However, we have all heard that the greatest love of all is the love for self. Even though this may be true, many have a hard time getting to this place of self love.
There may be many factors here that prevent us from truly coming to know the love we hold within our own hearts. It may be that we are still carrying faulty thoughts or beliefs about ourselves, which may have been established in our childhood through learning feelings of unworthiness or not being enough. If we are still living through these ideas about who we believe we are, we may be missing out on knowing our Spirit that lives within us. As humans we tend to live through our egoic energy unconsciously, which means we are unaware of how we are working through our egoic energy. If we continue to live through the egoic energy unconsciously, this will tend to keep faulty thoughts alive within us, until we can awaken to what is going on. It is up to us to awaken to what we are holding on to so we can assist the egoic energy within us to learn how to honor all that we are and move beyond any illusions we hold within. The more we can bring the ego into a place of balance within us the more easily we will begin to hear the voice of our Spirit talking to us through our heart center. Our Spirit will be telling us that we are worthy and deserving of this love from within and without. The ideas we may be carrying are illusions of what we once believed to be true, and we can now release this energy and step into the truth that allows our heart to open to the love we are. The Love God Is.
We can give ourselves permission to appreciate all that we have experienced in our past, good or bad, and come to see how it has brought us to this place we are right now. A place in time that allows us to create a sacred space within our own heart to honor all that we are, just as we are. Here we will find true, unconditional love.
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]Does being more Human make us less Spiritual?
Does being more Human make us less Spiritual?:
There are likely to be different responses to this question. Each impacted by one’s thoughts about what is meant by human, spiritual, and whether there is any relationship between the two. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You we believe the answer is yes. For us, the words ego and human are the same. A human being is an ego being, our human nature is our ego nature, and our human self is our ego self. Our humanity reflects the relationship we have with ourselves and others. Our spirituality reflects the relationship we have with God and our Divinity. There is a relationship between these two energies which emanate from the core of our being, our soul.
As one moves deeper and deeper into their humanity their ego energy becomes progressively more prominent and imbalanced in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability. This often leads one to become inhumane with themselves or others. The ‘Roles People Live’ list on our website provides lots of examples of people living intense ego energy, egoic imbalance, and inhumanity to themselves and others. These people are having difficulty being the Love, Life, and Energy God Is with themselves and others reflecting distance from their Divinity and a lack of genuine spirituality. A current relevant “poster child” for this spiritual disconnection is the religious extremist. You can pick any faith. One is not being the Love, Life, and Energy God Is when fomenting anger, destructiveness, intolerance, and hatred for others within one’s thoughts, words, and deeds. Any true Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu… follower knows that. An intense religious fervor cannot substitute for the absence of spirituality. By the way these people are fundamentally good, intelligent, and well-meaning persons who are consumed by their lower ego flexibility energy which has gotten then on the track of inhumanity to their fellow humans. The “Kingdom of Heaven” also awaits them, but this is not the means to their entry.
Some may ask the intriguing complementary question. Does being more spiritual make us less human? The answer is yes, which may come as a surprise to some. We become less human while becoming more humane. It is within becoming more spiritually awake that we manifest the Love, Life, and Energy God Is, and we are, while being humane to ourselves and others. A spiritual being having a human experience. A healthy in-balance egoic energy becomes available to us within this human experience as we live better versions of ourselves in a consciousness we have described as Egospiritualism.
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]What is Ego Medicine and Why do we need it?
What is Ego Medicine and Why do we need it?:
Within our books, Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self, EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self, and The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit for a Better Life and You we mention a new concept connected to self-help we refer to as ego medicine. Due to linkage to the ‘cognitive therapy’ approach to treatment originating in the work of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck it would be easy to conclude that ego medicine is simply a different label for essentially the same approach. However, this is not the case as ego medicine goes deeper to uncover the ego energy a person is living and the reality based thinking connected to that energy they must use to transform their energy where needed. The traditional cognitive approach does neither of these and often only leads to intellectual but not experiential insight and change. According to Ego, Spirit & You you must go deeper, to the core of your human beingness which is your specific egoic energy.
So what is ego medicine? There are two foundational contributors: 1) A progressively developing awareness of your ego energy as you are living it and 2) Use of reality-based thinking which is developed and used in response to an awareness of this energy. The awareness of one’s ego energy develops from an understanding of the components of this energy involving power, flexibility, and vulnerability which is thoroughly described in each of our books. These components are reflected by our thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and physiology within key life areas such as close relationships, achievement, conflict, and so on which we and our ego energy are called upon to manage, for better or worse. When it is worse, we get progressively entangled in non-reality based thinking fueled by the destructive nature of our ego energy. This diversity is reflected in the ‘Roles People Live’ page within our website and in TheTwo Voices Within where we bring forth the words of Ego that lead one toward particular non-reality based thoughts as well as dysfunctional feelings and behavior.
So why do we need to take it? A huge part of healing and healthiness involves becoming intimately connected to human truth and Divine Truth. We are designed by the wisdom of the ages to heal and be healthy when we aren’t getting in our way. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You you need to be connected to human truth and Divine Truth to experience all of the healing and health available to you. A weakened human truth diluted by egoically induced non-reality based thinking will distance you from fully knowing the Love, Life, and Energy God Is and You are. Ego medicine works to connect you to your human truth and allows for the doors to Divine Truth to fully open.
Ego Medicine anyone?
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]How Old are You Really?
How Old are You Really?:
This appears to be a rather simple and unimportant question to ponder. The kind of question that belongs on the bottom of one’s “to do” list, never to be gotten to in favor of more immediate concerns. However, the implications to one’s answer are rather large. The difference between seeing part of the picture of your life or all of it. A difference in which you are mostly seeing the human side of you and your life while ignoring, minimizing, over-looking the spiritual side, keeping you firmly in the “little picture” of what you and life have to offer.
We often think of our age and life as directly connected to our birthday. A day when the human clock starts to tick and we begin to count the days, weeks, and years that comprise this life and for some, our only life. This can be helpful as a reference point within the human realm pertaining to normative development (for whatever that means) within the physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of our human experience. Unfortunately, health, aging, and mortality can become aspects of life with which we can be consumed when imbalanced ego energy is at work doing its “job” to ensure our daily and mortal survival by leading us towards the thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and physiology we use unknowingly to accomplish this task. An ego which does not know anything about “before birth” or “after death” or anything about “God” and the Divine energy woven into our being. Hence, its intense efforts to enhance our human life which often brings suffering sooner or later. Suffering which can be subtle as Buddha referred to it, which you may not immediately recognize and which ego cannot recognize owing to the absence of intellect and intention within this energy. Suffering often reflected within the mismanagement of our health, aging, and mortality leading to a lower quality of life and a lesser version of you.
You will need to “teach” ego that there is more to you and life, if you so choose. But what would you teach it? First and foremost, you would need to teach ego that you are the product of a three million year design. You have the wisdom of the ages built into your being. A design and wisdom standing upon the foundation that God Is – Love, Life, Energy, and You, which has been there every step of the way, leading to your current existence and future ones. A foundation upon which we can recognize and manifest the Great Gifts of Life, Creating Life, Eternal Life, and God Within, today and everyday no matter how old we are. Each addressing any unnecessary concerns and suffering connected to health, aging, or mortality rooted in our ego energy. It is the design in which we can fully embrace our health, aging, and mortality and our current human age, rather than looking for answers (often egoically induced) in the wrong people, places, or methods. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You 60 is not the new 40, or 50 the new 30. 60 is 60, 50 is 50 and so on. Each age we are is wonderful when we embrace our design and the wisdom of the ages which is available to us. Would you like an example of this design at work? Consider meditation. It’s free, can involve as little as 5 minutes a day, does not require any particular time, place, or other person to do, and it works. A peaceful stillness in which the wisdom of the ages allows us to engage in self-healing.
Again, how old are you really?
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]The Misunderstood Ego and You
The Misunderstood Ego and You:
We have read many works in which the topic of ego has come forth. Particularly, those representations of ego put forth by more prominent and less prominent writers within the “spiritual”, “self-improvement”, and “New Age” genres. There are several common themes which though well-intended only serve to create distance from knowing ego and consequently ourselves. These include descriptions of ego suggesting it has an intentional quality, an intellectual quality, an awareness of what it is doing in your life, and an awareness of “God” in which it seeks to act in direct opposition.
From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You, ego is none of these. Ego does not have an intentional quality and does not impact us with volition. Though it is an energy which can bring suffering into our lives as the energy becomes imbalanced. Ego does not have an intellectual quality and has no awareness of itself, though you can develop an awareness of this energy. Ego has no awareness of any suffering (mental, emotional, behavioral, or physical) it has led you into within your life as its primary purpose is to ensure your survival, daily and mortal. Ego has no awareness of God or the Divine Energy within you. It operates as if there is only ego and you. Hence, its incredible and intensive “efforts” to ensure your survival. It is up to you to “teach” ego that there is more which comes about when you employmental medicine involving greater ego awareness and ego related reality based thinking. This brings you closer to human truth as well as the Divine Truth that God Is- Love, Life, Energy, and You. This is the means to which your ego can heal where needed in its power, flexibility, or vulnerability and “relinquish” its intense purpose to ensure your survival.
Recently, we completed reading I Can See Clearly Now by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. Dr. Dyer has been a great servant to humanity. He has written, spoken, and traveled tirelessly in an effort to raise the spiritual consciousness of people across the world. His book The Power of Intention is an incredibly brilliant work on spiritual consciousness and the one we would most highly recommend to those seeking to raise their spiritual consciousness. However, we were struck by the frequent references to “taming” ego within his most current book. From the perspective ofEgo, Spirit & You we can never tame ego, we can only work to heal it. Some might suggest that using the word tame rather than heal is only a matter of semantics. We disagree. The taming of ego implies all of the misunderstandings about ego we mentioned earlier. We can only heal the ego when we understand its true nature. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You we must awaken both humanly and spiritually.
So what do you think? Do we tame ego or do we heal it?
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]What is the Most Important Relationship?
What is the Most Important Relationship?:
As we walk along the path of our lives we experience many relationships. These include relationships with our parents, siblings, spouse/partner, children, friends, co-workers, teachers, and “God”. Each provides an opportunity to grow and experience meaning as well as pain and suffering. But which is the most important? From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You the answer isn’t on that list. It’s the relationship you have with yourself. Many of you probably saw that coming, but we have encountered many people who spend their lives often “suffering” while trying to please others, receive acceptance and approval from others which never comes, prove something to others which doesn’t need to be proved, or trying to become someone they think others want them to be, within a journey that never ends. Many can be found within the “Roles People Live” page on our website.
Our answer is based on the belief that the relationship with ourselves is the relationship upon which all of the others are built, for better or worse. It shapes healthy or unhealthy thoughts, behaviors, and feelings we bring to others in these relationships. Some may say the relationship with God is even more important. Our response is that the ego energy we are impacts our ability to be the manifestation of the Love, Life, and Energy God Is, within every relationship, including the one we perceive as existing with God. When our ego energy is imbalanced within its power, flexibility, or vulnerability, the seeds for distortion, disturbance, and destruction in all relationships have been sown. No better example can be found than the person who professes love for God, yet lives anger and destructiveness toward those who do not comply with their likeness, religiously, racially, politically, sexually, and so on.
Many realize the relationship with themselves is the most important relationship but don’t know how to go about developing that relationship in order to become the best version of themselves which can be lived within all of the other relationships. From the perspective of Ego, Spirit & You the solution involves getting to know your ego energy and working to bring it into balance withego medicine. It is with ego medicine that we develop more precise ego awareness and use reality based thinking to remove distortions that often weaken the relationship with ourselves and others. As we work with it the voice of Spirit becomes louder and we begin to “hear” it telling us we are the Love, Life, and Energy God Is within human form. We also grow in our ability to recognize the Great Gifts of Life, Creating Life, Eternal Life, and God Within which all have received.
So how is your relationship with yourself?
Namaste’
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]The Two Voices Within
The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life
Ego and Spirit both speak profoundly within our lives. Can you hear what they are saying to you?
These “two voices” are the main energies that rise up and give shape to our thoughts, feelings, behaviors and physical health. As we go about meeting life’s challenges—such as change, adversity, stressors, conflicts, relationships, self-esteem, achievement and our ability to experience genuine happiness—the voice of an unconscious, imbalanced ego is unfortunately the one we more often hear and heed, leading us into a lesser version of ourselves.
The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life invites you to hear more clearly what both of these two voices are saying so that you can speak with more of your true voice and recognize the One Voice of the Universe. This awakening will enable you to be the best version of yourself and optimally meet life’s challenges.
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EgoSpiritualism
EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self
Before we can transcend our humanity and deepen our spirituality, we must transform our ego.
Many of us are taking steps to embrace a spiritual path and others are unaware that this path exists. We all face the same significant obstacle: our ego. An unconscious, imbalanced ego can delay, distort, disturb or destroy our efforts to transcend the limitations of our humanity and deepen our spiritual consciousness.
EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self shows us that we must transform and heal our ego—not dissolve, disown or defeat it—in order to merge our humanity and Divinity. The result is a more fully and deeply lived human and spiritual experience.
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Ego Therapy
Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self
Did you know any of the following about the Ego?
- Ego profoundly impacts your health and happiness for better or worse.
- Ego works to ensure your daily and mortal survival in ways that can lead to suffering.
- Ego has no awareness of itself but you can become aware of it and what it is doing in your life.
- Ego has no awareness of God but can negatively impact your movement along your spiritual path.
- Ego can be healed by you with ego medicine that can bring this energy into balance.
Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self offers a path of self-discovery through which you can become aware of, manage and ultimately heal your ego. You will come to understand that the ego is human energy consisting of power, flexibility and vulnerability, and that it’s possible to bring it into balance. The rewards are increased mental and emotional wellbeing, a genuine happiness and sense of peace, and an open door to heightened spiritual consciousness.
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Workshop
Interact With Us
Workshop
We offer a unique workshop that focuses on the following topics:
Merging the Energies of Ego and Spirit for a Better Life and You
Our Story
Your Story
Suffering and Survival
Illusions
Roles People Live
The Path of Consciousness
What is Ego?
Ego Power
Ego Flexibility
Ego Vulnerability
Ego Medicine
What is God?
Love
Life
Energy
You
Great Gifts
Life
Creating Life
Eternal Life
God Within
Meditation
Please call (724) 929-3763 or contact us below for workshop information.
Fees vary depending upon travel, location and type of workshop.Roles People Live
Roles People Live
We see the following roles in ourselves and others to a lesser or greater degree. They are some of the best reflections of what we are referring to when we talk about ego imbalance. We assume these roles when ego is speaking prominently in our lives and ego energy is becoming significantly imbalanced. We often have difficulty recognizing these roles but others can readily observe them in our thoughts, words and behaviors. For a more in-depth discussion and understanding of these roles, read the third book in our trilogy, The Two Voices Within.
The Big Lesson
The Big Lesson
It has been said that life is a huge classroom that provides countless opportunities for us to learn and grow. Often, life teaches us particular lessons that we have failed to learn. All of the people, places, events and experiences that we encounter are our teachers, and each offers myriad opportunities to learn about the power, flexibility and vulnerability issues of our ego energy. They occur to change us in the ways we need to learn and grow. Looking outward at life is meant to help us look inward to find ourselves and God. This is the big lesson.
Even so, we often look but don’t see, hear but don’t listen, touch but don’t feel, and think but don’t know. Frequently, we miss opportunities to learn and grow when we get caught up in the “little picture” that our unconscious, imbalanced ego is showing us. When we lock into the little picture, we miss the big lesson. When we get fixated on what is going on “out there”, we can’t see the “big picture” of what’s going on “in here.”
If life is a classroom, we are the subjects and the students. We are to seek the big picture that life is serving to reveal. Life is the little picture that egoic issues of power, flexibility, or vulnerability are revealing themselves within. These lessons are intended to take us beyond the little picture into the big picture through understanding God and ourselves.
You may be asking, “Aren’t we here to make the world a better place?” We are, but that begins by making all of us better people, by becoming fully connected with ourselves and God. When you know who You are, what God Is, and the Great Gifts you have been given, then you are ready to change the world for the better. Then you are ready to be Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, Moses, Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Jesus.
A Different View of Ego
A Different View of Ego
Our view of ego differs significantly from what you may have encountered from other writers and experts on the topic, particularly Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer. These differences are important, as they provide a foundation upon which a healthier view of humanity rests, along with its potential to be healed where necessary, and the opportunity to experience a higher level of consciousness in which our humanity and Divinity are working in concert. This is the essence of EgoSpiritualism.
- Ego has no awareness of itself and how it impacts your life, but you can develop this awareness.
- Ego does not act with intention as it does not possess an intellectual quality.
- Ego has no awareness of God or works to oppose God, but it can undermine your spiritual consciousness and relationship with God.
- Ego does not require you to be free of it but to embrace your capacity to bring it to healthiness with the light of human and Divine Truth.
- Ego can respond to the use of your mind and reality based thought that can be used in your transformation to ego consciousness; healthy, balanced ego energy; and deeper spiritual consciousness.
- Ego energy can be healed by you with ego medicine that consists of reality based thinking and relevant ego awareness.
- Ego is part of your wondrous, beautiful human nature that you can utilize to work with the challenges of your physical, human existence.
- Ego does not dissolve when you become aware of it but can be managed and enhanced via your capacity for ego awareness.
- Ego does not have to be your “enemy” but can be your friend in the service of God.
- Ego can be healthy, sane and work with the sanity of your Divine Self.
- Ego can serve as an instrument for bringing you into peace, joy and love.
- Ego can be in the present and is not resigned to your “living” in the past or preoccupied with the future.
Ego energy which is healthy and balanced can help you to live in satisfaction and is not resigned to seeking more, being better than, always needing to be right, taking everything personally, engaging in selective perception and distorted interpretations, confusing opinions and viewpoints with facts, or needing to find enemies.
We each have Two Voices
We Each Have “Two Voices”
“Two Voices” reside within each of us: Ego and Spirit. The one you listen to will profoundly impact your life for better or worse. It will be reflected in the way you work with others, your close relationships, your ability to love yourself, achieve your potential and know your purpose, grow your mind, deal with change and manage conflict, cope with stressors and stress, and live with genuine happiness. An unconscious, imbalanced ego often shouts loudly through issues of power, flexibility or vulnerability and drowns out the softer, steadier voice of Spirit. The major challenge we face as humans is recognizing how our own distinctive unconscious egoic voice is drowning out the voice of Spirit.
Traditionally, spiritual mentors have offered messages suggesting that the voice of the Ego must be extinguished in order to hear the voice of Spirit. We offer a different approach, a strategy that says we can soften our egoic voice by bringing its power, flexibility and vulnerability into balance. This can be achieved through the use of ego medicine, which involves the development of ego awareness and the use of ego-related reality based thinking. This strategy can transform the ego from being your enemy to being your friend. It creates a partnership within you that allows you to hear the voice of Spirit and, in doing so, opens the door to EgoSpiritualism—a consciousness in which our healthy ego self has the ability to merge and unite with our Divine Self.
Ego Therapy: A Method for Healing Your Whole Self, along with EgoSpiritualism: Awakening to Your Human and Divine Self and The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life, describes the process of transformation and the path we must walk to bring about ego consciousness, balance within our ego energy, and transcendence into deeper spiritual consciousness—a process that leads us to know who we truly are, what God Is, and the Four Great Gifts we have been given.
Who We Seek to Serve
Who We Seek to Serve
We seek to serve a diverse population of individuals, including laypersons, spiritual seekers and healers. Some common threads running through these groups: the presence of ego energy that needs to be healthier, wrestling with the challenges of the key life areas mentioned on the home page, and a desire for them and others to live a better life. Beyond these commonalities, each is coming at the growth process from a different perspective and set of needs. The following descriptions integrate these commonalities and differences in conjunction with some of the core ideas involving our mission and vision.
Laypersons
We seek to serve those persons who are experiencing various degrees of psychological difficulty and who want a specific way to undertake self-improvement that speaks directly to their lives. There are tens of millions of people suffering from problems of living and various degrees of mental illness. These range from the normative problems that afflict most people—involving work, family, relationship and financial concerns to more pathological disturbances that make life miserable for themselves and often others.
One’s ego and egoic energy are often at the core of that misery and suffering, but for different people in different ways. This requires an approach to ego that is concrete, diverse, comprehensive and directly connected to your life. Our trilogy leaves no one out or left behind. Look closely into the mirrors of the ten key life areas with the knowledge of ego we present, and you will come to know your egoic energy and the ego medicine you will need to take in order to heal it. This healing will also make the Divine energy within your being more available to you.
Spiritual Seekers
We seek to serve those who are actively seeking to cultivate spiritual awareness and heighten spiritual consciousness. For many, this can be a difficult journey, as issues within our humanity often distort, disturb or defeat our efforts to live the best version of ourselves and recognize God. These issues are rooted in an unconscious, imbalanced egoic energy and keep us lost.
Unfortunately, many of the offerings put forth within the Body-Mind-Spirit, Spirituality, Mindfulness and New Age teachings fail to fully recognize this aspect of the journey and struggle. Brilliant and powerful messages about spiritual awakening and consciousness are often not enough to deliver many from the issues within their humanity. These messages often only cast ego in a dark, negative light, as an entity to be overcome by spiritual awakening alone.
There is a need for equally brilliant and powerful messages about ego awakening and ego consciousness. A person cannot “leap” from imbalanced egoic unconsciousness into spiritual consciousness. The vision and message contained within our trilogy—Ego Therapy, EgoSpiritualism and The Two Voices Within—speak to the needs and struggle of those who are seeking to awaken spiritually and remain awake.
Healers
We seek to serve mental health professionals and metaphysician practitioners who are intimately involved in working with the ego and egoic energies of the clientele they serve. Each can readily recognize the roles listed within this website and brought to life within the words of Ego and Spirit in The Two Voices Within: Balancing the Energies of Ego and Spirit to Enhance Your Life. As time has progressed, practitioners from each of these areas have come to better know how “the other half lives.”
Mental health professionals have come to know the importance of spiritual wellness in a person’s progress and adjustment. Metaphysical healers have come to recognize the significant obstacle that ego can represent in their efforts to help people awaken spiritually and remain awake. To the credit of Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer, they have brought ego into the discussion of spiritual awakening; however, there is a need for an even greater refinement of our understanding of ego and egoic energy—a refinement reflected within the pages of this website, each of our books and our workshop. This refinement can be used to complement your knowledge and skills within your healing efforts. It can provide you with an incisive awareness of the human and Divine energies at work within the people you serve.
Our Life’s Work
Our Life’s Work
We have had a wonderful life together filled with great joy and happiness, as well as the bumps and bruises that come with any long-term committed relationship. These experiences have enabled us to serve as each other’s mentor, sharing what we’ve learned within our respective personal and work lives. This unique opportunity is the foundation for the synergy reflected in our “Ego and Spirit” message and our life’s work.
Along the way, we have taught each other about the human and Divine energy that profoundly shapes a person’s life for better or worse. We have also taught each other about ego unconsciousness and spiritual unconsciousness, which is often manifested when our humanity and Divinity are polarized. Finally, we have learned from each other that human and spiritual healing can occur when ego energy is brought into balance and we truly know that God Is—Love, Life, Energy and You.
“To Teach People about Ego, Ego Unconsciousness and Ego Imbalance,
So their Lives can be Filled with Peace, Joy and Love
and
to Transform Human Consciousness,
So World Peace can be Progressively Realistic for Future Generations.”
Nick & Linda Martin
The Martins have been married for 37 years and have three grown daughters. The books in their trilogy—Ego Therapy, EgoSpiritualism, and The Two Voices Within—represent a synergy of their professional work and personal life missions. Nick and Linda are lifelong residents of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Dr. Nickolas Martin is a licensed psychologist, social worker and certified school psychologist who has worked in clinical, university, public school and private practice settings as a therapist, diagnostician, educator and consultant for 30 years. These professional experiences include having conducted several thousand psychotherapy sessions, psychological evaluations, and class meetings. Nick has master’s degrees in social work and school psychology, as well as a doctorate in education.
Rev. Dr. Linda M. Martin is a metaphysician, certified Reiki master teacher, spiritual healer, color/sound practitioner and spiritual medium. She is the founder of Dove of Light Healing Ministry in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, where she offers workshops, as well as individual healing and counseling sessions in person or by phone. Linda received her degrees from Delphi University, the Patricia Hayes School of Inner Sense Development and the Arthur Ford Academy in McCaysville, Georgia. She has studied with many spiritual healers throughout the United States and is recognized and registered with the International Registry of Spiritual Healers. Learn more at lindammartin.net.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did you write your books?
We wrote our trilogy of books to help people work through the missing steps in transitioning from ego unconsciousness (where most people are) to a deeper spiritual consciousness. These steps include understanding what ego is, getting to know your ego, transforming and bringing into full health your specific ego energy (in whatever areas it needs to occur), coming to a better understanding of God, and having a relationship with God unencumbered by the distance, distortion, disturbance and destructiveness often wrought by an unconscious, imbalanced ego.
What is different and better about your books?
- We provide a far deeper, comprehensive yet concrete discussion of ego and ego energy that is more individualized. This is all expounded upon in the many ego related concepts presented in our books.
- We present a more balanced view of ego in which we recognize its negative influence upon our lives and spiritual development, and also it’s potential to be a positive force in these areas.
- We present a synergistic approach to ego and spirituality rather than the polarized good (spirituality) versus evil (ego) approach that is often implied—if not directly indicated—by many spiritual writers, including Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer and David Hawkins. While we recognize the brilliant work of these authors, our primary difference in speaking about spiritual awakening and spiritual consciousness involves how we view the ego and its role in the process of awakening.
- We suggest that it’s perfectly okay to embrace your ego (humanity) rather than to disown, dissolve or defeat it. What is being disowned, dissolved and defeated is one’s unhealthy, imbalanced ego energy.
- We present a healing method (ego medicine) for your ego energy, which consists of developing ego awareness and ego-related reality based thinking in conjunction with the ego imbalance you may be living; meaning, issues of power, flexibility or vulnerability that are impacting your ego energy.
- We challenge the approach that suggests that spiritual awakening alone fosters spiritual transcendence and brings us closer to God.
- We help you to transform your egoic energy from unhealthiness to healthiness and to know you do not have to disown, dissolve or defeat ego to awaken spiritually.
- We help you to develop a healthy, in-balance ego energy which helps you to better know yourself, know “what” God Is and embrace the Four Great Gifts that you have been given in this life.
- We put forth recognition of a consciousness—EgoSpiritualism—that represents a synergy of the best of your humanity with your Divinity.
How can your books help me to transform my ego, move forward in daily life—in particular, the ten key life areas you refer to?
- We illuminate what ego is and offer information to help you work on finding your ego energy.
- We identify the kinds of absent ego awareness and non-reality based thinking that people with different ego imbalances often use in their efforts to cope with the ten key life areas.
- We identify the ego medicine—meaning, reality based thinking and ego awareness that you can learn to live in the ten key life areas.
How can your books help me awaken spiritually, move forward along my life path, and transcend into a deeper spiritual consciousness?
- We help you work on transforming your ego rather than attempting the difficult (if not impossible) task of dissolving, disowning or defeating it.
- We help you to experience a quieter egoic voice, which will permit you to hear the voice of your Spirit and even amplify it.
- We help you to progressively come to know what God Is, the Four Great Gifts you have been given and recognize the illusions, which have been at work to disconnect you from your spirituality and Divinity.
What is ego and why is it so important?
- It is the core essence of your humanity.
- It is the conduit through which your life is flowing.
- It is the foundation of your personality.
- It gives shape to the thoughts, feelings and behaviors you frequently use in coping with the ten key life areas.
- It is the center of your psychological universe.
- It works through the workshop of your mind to forge what becomes your self.
What do you mean by ego unconsciousness and ego imbalance?
- “Ego unconsciousness” refers to the lack of awareness of what ego is, how it is specifically impacting your life and the nature of your specific egoic energy.
- “Ego imbalance” refers to the distance that one’s ego power, ego flexibility, and ego vulnerability is from the balance level.
How can I know how ego unconscious and ego imbalanced I am?
- You learn what ego is.
- You come to understand what ego power, ego flexibility, and ego vulnerability are about.
- You begin to understand the non-reality based thinking you have been using as reflected in the mirrors of the ten key life areas linked to your ego power, flexibility and vulnerability. These areas are: How you deal with people in work and social settings, your approach to close relationships, your ability to love yourself; your ability to achieve to your potential, “grow” your mind, deal with change, manage adversity, deal with stress, and manage conflict; finally the emotion you typically experience be it anxiety, anger, depression, pseudo-happiness, or genuine happiness.
How does ego unconsciousness and ego imbalance impact my daily life?
- It depends upon the power, flexibility and vulnerability of your ego energy. They impact the approach and response you have to the ten key life areas.
- Some people have milder/minor issues in dealing with life because their egoic energy is closer to being in balance. Some people have major issues in dealing with life because their ego power, flexibility or vulnerability is significantly imbalanced. The roles discussed in The Two Voices Within are reflective of individuals with significant ego energy imbalance.
How does ego unconsciousness and ego imbalance impact my spiritual awakening and spiritual consciousness?
- It can distort or disturb your efforts to spiritually awaken. The voice of your unconscious and imbalanced ego can drown out the voice of Spirit within you.
- It can weaken or block the awareness that God Is the Love within all beings, the Life force within all beings, the Energy within all things, and the God within your being. It can weaken or prevent you from coming to know your Four Great Gifts: Life, Creating Life, Eternal Life, and God Within you.
- It can contribute to various illusions that you buy into such as: separation, unworthiness, sensing all energy, egoic control, inequality and disorder, which are discussed in EgoSpiritualism.
What is ego medicine?
- Developing an understanding of what ego is.
- Tuning in to the nature of your specific ego energy regarding its power, flexibility and vulnerability.
- Using reality based thinking to replace the non-reality based thinking you have been using in working with the ten key life areas if your ego energy is imbalanced.
Why is ego medicine empowering?
- It helps you to get closer to human truth and Divine Truth.
- Egoic issues of power, flexibility and vulnerability no longer keep you in darkness and you are able to live in the light of human truth and Divine Truth.
- Light and truth/Truth will help you to see everything you need to see.
- This is incredibly empowering and freeing.
Why is ego medicine so difficult to take?
- Ego is a very powerful force in your life. It operates in darkness (unconsciousness) and makes it difficult to see the “light.”
- Ego can entrench you in a faulty way of finding “light” (often meant to help you with daily and mortal survival) that is misguided by power, flexibility or vulnerability issues.
- You can get caught up in looking around at your life rather than within yourself for the “answers” you are seeking.
Does everyone take the same ego medicine?
No. Each person’s ego energy is unique regarding its content and structure. You take the ego medicine that is specific to your egoic imbalance—be it power, flexibility or vulnerability related.
What do you mean by EgoSpiritualism?
EgoSpiritualism is a term that we developed and began to use in 2008. It is rooted in the belief shaped by our professional and personal experiences that we all have the potential to experience a healthy and in-balance ego that complements our Divinity. EgoSpiritualism is a consciousness that reflects a merging and synergy of our humanity and Divinity rather than a polarization of them. Our healthy, in balance yet imperfect ego is always working in concert with our perfect Divine self.
This consciousness involves not only a spiritual awakening but also an egoic awakening. This involves transitioning from ego unconscious to ego consciousness by coming to better know what ego is, finding one’s specific ego energy and bringing it into balance, where needed, in regards to its power, flexibility and or vulnerability. It is also reflected in:
- Knowing and living the awareness that God Is—Love, Life, Energy and You.
- Knowing and living the “Four Great Gifts” you have been given:
The Gift of Life
The Gift of Creating Life
The Gift of Eternal Life
The Gift of God Within
- Living in peace with yourself, the people in your life and the world, rather than the often seen conflict and anger that takes place among families, friends and even strangers that is rooted in unconscious, egoic issues.
- Being completely motivated by love in dealing with life rather than consumed by various degrees of fear, anger, anxiety or guilt originating from an unconscious, imbalanced ego.
- Knowing and living the Love God Is, rather than the illusion of separateness that the unconscious, imbalanced ego can lead us to believe.
- Fully respecting your mind and body rather than disrespecting them in ways rooted in the unconscious, imbalanced ego, which often stresses physical pleasure and pseudo-happiness that distance you from genuine happiness.
- Working with passion to fulfill your life’s purpose, taking advantage of all your potential, rather than being blocked or sidetracked by the workings of the unconscious, imbalanced ego.
- Enjoying the power of not wanting things that you don’t truly need rather than the packaged “wants” often sold to you by a commercial industry that taps into your unconscious, imbalanced ego.
- Being free from inappropriate expectations of yourself and from others, many of which are put upon you by an unconscious, imbalanced ego that is out of touch with who you truly are.
- Experiencing a morality guided by healthiness, motivated by love and rooted in your Truth, rather than the fear or guilt often fostered by unconscious, imbalanced ego energy.
- Knowing that you don’t have to be anyone else but you, anywhere else but here, and anytime else but now.
What makes your vision and particular message about ego and spirit revolutionary?
- We are saying our ego/humanity and spirituality must be synergized not polarized.
- We are saying that ego can be transformed rather than being viewed as an entity that can only be disowned, dissolved or defeated.
- We are imparting that it is okay to embrace your ego.
- We are presenting a more balanced view of ego.
- We are providing a more comprehensive view of ego.
- We are challenging the traditional approach that spiritual awakening alone fosters spiritual transcendence.
- We are putting forth recognition of a consciousness that represents a synergy of the best of our humanity with our Divinity.
What makes it evolutionary?
We are saying that in order to evolve individually and collectively, we must harness the positive energy existent within our humanity along with that in our Divinity. A vision and message that rests solely upon our spirituality and Divinity has not and cannot bring about the evolution needed for world peace.