Tag Archives: energy
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
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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
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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
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“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
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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.
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