The Magnificent Seven

                Self              |                                        
                                    |
               soul              |          
                                    >        consciousness                     Tao
        feelings,  mind    |
                                   |    
               body            |                  



We have a body, with needs, automatisms and incredible wisdom. If you calculate the value of our body just based on its minerals you get a few dollars. Yet, as we all know, it is so much more. It is the instrument to experience divinity from the outside. Think of your body as a simulation device that pictures the Garden of Eden with its Tree of Knowledge in a physical reality.

Feelings, thoughts and subconscious processes drive the experience of the psychological "I". The mistake that we often make is to "think" that the mind is superior to feelings. If your goal is simply to return Home, feelings are as powerful a gateway to establishing this divine connection as your thoughts can be.

The soul is the accumulated memory of the "I" over many generations. It remembers where you came from and it knows where you are going. The soul is the movie director that makes sure - in steady cooperation with the Tao - that you fulfill your divine mission. The Self is the ongoing God connection that you can appeal to and experience when you are absolutely still.

The Tao is the external environment we are all embedded in. It can be mundane and random and just mirror back you desires, fears, uncertainties and lack of faith. Yet, it can be a divine Teacher when you look for Him. The choice is entirely yours.

Consciousness is your perception of all that. Consciousness is a choice as well and a will to carry on. On this plane, the Tree of Knowledge acts. Every moment, with every heart-beat, with every thought, with every perception and with every feeling you have the choice to be in the Garden of Eden or to remain outside of it.

You may be surprised to find no mention of the "ego" in this concept. The ego sometimes thought of as consciousness, sometimes it is thought to hide in feelings and thoughts. Often the ego hides in bodily urges. In the concept of the Magnificent Seven, the ego shows up as a conscious choice - ego or God - the choice for or against love.

Thinking about the ego is the ego's favorite task. Spiritual progress happens when the choice for love becomes instinctive, when every snapshot of the Magnificent Seven sees love in action. The journey is over when spiritual living becomes a "no-brainer". When you merge with this divine choice, when you are melting in the divine Now, the Magnificent Seven act together and you are finally Home