Healing neurosis along the Way

"The teacher serves as a mirror but also encourages your ability to trust in yourself. You begin to trust in your basic goodness instead of identifying with your neurosis. There’s a shift of allegiance. Then the obstacles begin to seem temporary, and what’s permanent is the wisdom. To the degree that you become intimate with your neurosis — not acting-out and not repressing — to that degree you discover your wisdom."
Pema Chödron

How much ego do we need? Well, just enough not to step in front of the incoming bus! This is the minimum ‘I’-understanding and appreciation to exist on our blue planet. A more useful expression than the misunderstood and over-used expression ‘ego’ is the word avatar. We need this avatar to roam the earth and express ourselves. The avatar idea came to me when I read Jed McKenna’s enlightenment experience in ‘Spiritual Enlightenment: the Damnedest Thing’. He reported an out-of body experience, and when he came back from it claimed that he chose the Jed McKenna persona because it was the convenient thing to do. Treasure your avatar, the ‘I’-identification does not have to be the problem statement, the self-imposed interferences along the Way are.

Be proud of the avatar that you have groomed so carefully for so long. Admittedly, this ‘I’-persona was created when the rules of the games weren’t always spiritual ones. That’s why a transformation starts when we stumble on the workings of the Way. We suddenly understand what our birthright truly is about. We gain glimpses of the Way and see the beauty and experience joy, love and peace of mind. Alas, the hit and miss experiences make us realize that there is a little homework to do. We Awaken to the neurosis inside, the parts of our self that keep on interfering with the workings of the Way. As we work on our self-imposed interferences we realize that life is naturally geared towards removing all self-imposed interferences.

The psychological community has the ideal of a sane, healthy and wholesome ego. We spiritual folks would add the attribute loving, but even this still doesn’t quite get close to what our avatar can be all about. Along a spiritual journey we gain the understanding that we are embedded in Oneness which causes the mystical experiences that our scientific community cannot get their arms around. We discover what spirituality has warned humanity since the beginning of time that there is a psychological part of our being—a neurosis—that is on a collision course with the Way, a force that is standing between us and God’.

We can understand the psychological ‘I’. We can have break-throughs and see former interferences disappear along a spiritual journey. You might say that we are a diamond in the rough that gets polished by traveling the Way. To battle our ego doesn’t appear to be very healthy. Like cancer, we would only attack ourselves. No, the way to enjoy the workings of the Way is to learn playfully. We see the Signs, we realize that our loved ones, friends and foes are mirrors of sorts, all expressions of the existing Oneness. We become mindful of the voice in our head and the many confusing feelings that bubble to the surface. We Awaken to our self-imposed interferences and heal the neurosis inside.

Baruch Spinoza once said, ‘The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.’ Understanding is bigger than the intellect though. Heart and mind understand and the workings of the Way in unison. Expect countless spiritual Aha moments traveling your Awakening journey and enjoy every one of them. Who would fight himself when the wisest, kindest and most patient Teacher walks right besides him? Let the Way heal your neurosis!