Minding the Monster

I'm friends with monster that's under my bed,

get along with the voices inside my head.

You are trying to save me, stop holding your breath.

And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy.

(The Monster, Rihanna and Eminem)

Few people are out scheming and taking advantage of others. Most of us are pretty sane,  reasonable, and generally loving as long as we operate in the secure circles of our family and friends. Yet, once in a while we feel threatened in one way or another; say, we fall sick, are poor or feel under attack at work or threaded by someone. In all these cases we will undoubtedly encounter this voice in our head that comes up with some pretty outrageous stuff. Meet the ego, the fellow who wants to carve out a little niche in a vast field of abundance; discover the institution that wants to fence off an island of happiness and specialness and guard it with heavy armory against all kind of intruders.

You can't argue with the ego - that in fact would be the ego arguing with itself - but you can be mindful of this voice. Rihanna and Eminem claim that they have made friends with the monster in their head. Maybe that's possible too. I just want to be mindful of the voice in my head and monitor what is going on. Experience for yourself how often this fellow complains about scarcity or considers you superior over others. The Tao can give you some much needed perspective. Along the Way we are constantly reminded of the fact that we are surrounded by abundance; we are also shown what our true role in life is all about so that any flash of grandiosity can be easily spotted as a deviation from the Way.

Despite all this divine intervention, I can't tell you whether we spiritual travelers are really any better off than the ordinary folks. True, we get more breaks, more coincidences, synchronicity, hidden messages that others can't see, and unexpected breaks in seemingly bad situations. The reason for this is the fact that we mostly manage to step out of this subconscious journey that on a collision course with the Self. But then, we have to accept this voice in our head as an alien force that most of the ordinary folks simply consider as their own. This can be a bit mind-boggling at times too. A spiritual path is not a panacea, but is has much better odds of getting you there. Mind the monster in your head and see how it evaporates as you discover the Way!