Recognize the Symbol

You can never choose except between God and the ego.
A Course in Miracle

Do you remember the scene in Pretty Woman when Richard Gere wanted to show his love to Julia Roberts as he offered her an apartment and some money under the implicit premise that she would now be his girlfriend, but to his surprise she turned him down. Confused and angry he said to her "I never treated you like a prostitute", to which she replied "you just did." After a little soul searching he realized that he wanted to be her knight in shining armor, so he proposed marriage to her and the fairy tale ended like every good fairy tale does.

Everything you do, say and perceive is a symbol. Most of the time we do what we do subconsciously, yet everything we do or say always has a meaning. Angel and devil sit side by side on our shoulder so sometimes things happen with mixed intentions, but we can always zoom deeper and deeper until the choice becomes very clear: Is our intention of God or is our special interest at it again?

A spiritual traveler spends a lot of time with gestures, words and meanings of things. We do not claim that we are any better than anyone else but we have learned the hard way to think twice about every symbol that comes our way. My favorite quote is, " How can I know what I want to say before I have said it?" Never be afraid of anything you do or say. Even if you do something in a half- hearted fashion, even if you say something in bad taste, you can always try better next time around. The next opportunity for certain will come your way because this Universe was created just for you to find your Self. Just like billionaire Edward Lewis discovered that he wanted to marry his pretty woman, when the choice between ego and God comes out in the open, it really becomes a no-brainer.