Recognizing the Ego at Work

"Your soul may be the GPS, but you need the ego to drive"-Kristine Jarvis

I can so resonate with Jesus' response to the three temptations after spending 40 days in the desert: he said "no" to magical gimmicks like flying off mountains or letting bread fall from heaven, as well as "no" to all power games such as taking over the world and stuff. Yet, what seemed so simple and rational may have taken him a while to develop. Given that the New Testament doesn't tell us much about Jesus' soul searching journey up to this point, it seems kind of unfair to bemoan our lack of will-power about our many idiosyncratic ego drives. Who knows how many years of contemplation, trying and struggling allowed him to finally let go of his ego cravings. 

There are two aspects to all ego demands; first, there is the thought, the idea to get something that pops up and rushes through your head. And then there is the feeling that is associated with the craving. It is impossible to say "no" to your desires consciously unless you also have brought your feelings along; otherwise your so-called dark side will pop up on a lonely full moon night and remind you what is truly meaningful to you. 

It takes time to bring the feelings aboard. Most of our cravings are complicated sub-conscious processes and it takes us a while to bring those out in the open. Step one in the process is to identify what your soul really wants, step two is to open up to life - the Tao - to help us understand how we can manifest it. All ego battles just reflect that there is a war brewing inside of you. Step out of this conflict and lead your cravings in a different direction; one that makes your passion burn without conflicting with your spiritual ideals. The Way can do this for you. It is designed to steer us in a direction that works for soul, ego and Spirit.

Truth of the matter is, we can never really let go of the 'I'. Sure, along the Way you can merge with divine consciousness over stretches, but sooner or later we will always have to come up to the ego surface of your being to breathe some air. So instead of spending so much time trying to outguess our ego, why don't we dive into life and figure out how we can manifest our soul longings in a spiritually kosher manner. The Tao is here to make your soul, ego and Spirit happy all at the same time. If that seems hard to imagine but the Way specializes in missions impossible.