TRICKS OF THE EGO
The Shadow Side of Your Higher Self
The ego often disguises itself so it can control
The Shadow Disguises Itself so It Can Point Fingers
The rigid rules of religion suck!
It’s no surprise that many people are leaving religions in search of something more flexible and deeper, and luckily the solo act of spirituality provides that and more.
Thank heavens.
But as more and more people flock to spirituality without dissolving their religious, rule-making/rule loving, judgmental egos first, spirituality starts to feel… egoic.
When you and I and many others are becoming spiritual, sooner or later, we’ll find many, many things to complain and judge others about. Spirituality will start to feel like religion when we bring preconceived notions about religion into spirituality.
We leave religion because we want the freedom to connect with the divine in our own way without the rigid rules. We abandon religion feeling as if there’s a problem with religion, but religion was never the problem. The problem has always been you and I. We, the people. Us, the humans.
But we don’t see it that way because that would mean taking a good look at ourselves and our ways. It would mean keeping our big egos in check. We don’t want to do that, so instead, we point a finger. We blame religion instead of the religious people.
Until humans start addressing their own issues, religion and eventually spirituality will start to feel wrong.
In a previous article, I wrote that if you want a perfect religion, you must leave it. As long as you inhabit a human body, you’ll always be toxic to religion and spirituality.
When you point the finger, pay attention to the other three fingers pointing back at you.
The Shadow Disguises Itself so It Can Make Rigid Rules
I’ve read some articles lately about spirituality that didn’t sit right with the rebel in me, so as always we must talk about it to see where everybody stands on the topic.
The thing that drew me to spirituality is the absence of rules. The freedom.
It’s the best part.
We do what we want when we want it. Nothing feels better. No one tells the spiritual person how to live their life. The only thing the spiritual person listens to is their intuition.
That’s it.
Sure, my coach teaches and guides me, but she never tells me what I must do. Spirituality gives people the freedom to do whatever the hell they want, but the blessing starts to feel like a curse when we misuse our freedom.
The more people leave religion for spirituality, the more baggage is brought over. Baggage in the form of the desire to make rigid and annoying rules. Baggage in the form of trying to recreate a better religion.
The Shadow Disguises Itself so It Can Control
Some groups of spiritual people start to form religions all over again to fill the hole religion left, and instead of addressing those issues, we project onto others.
When we have egos as big as mountains, we see other people’s egos even when it isn’t in the driver's seat.
Let me show you what I mean in two stories:
Story 1: I’ve had a spiritual awakening, and I lost everything, including my mind. When I thought everything was going to be okay, a traumatizing dark night of the soul reared its head and knocked me back down. Actually, I’ve had many dark nights. But there was a hidden blessing in the pain I went through. The experience opened my eyes to see that a matrix or a 3D world really does exist where everything is an illusion. I woke up to learn there are many many dimensions other than the 3rd dimension we live on. To be able to access my angels and guides in other dimensions to help me get through the pain, I had to raise my vibration and unplug from the matrix. I ascended and rose above it all. Ever since then, life hasn’t been the same.
Now let me ask you this:
How did that story make you feel? How did the terms spiritual awakening, dark night of the soul, matrix, 3D world, vibration, and ascension make you feel? Weird? Uncomfortable maybe? Nothing? Are they just English words or did you see my ego? Was the story egotistical?
Ok then let me try to retell that same story without those terms:
Story 2: Life really kicked my butt. I lost everything including my mind. When I thought everything would be okay, I became depressed and cried myself to sleep many, many nights. The whole experience opened my eyes to see that the world isn’t what it seems. But I changed how I feel day-to-day, which made me realize there are other planes of existence than the one we know. I evolved and life hasn’t been the same.
Now let me ask:
Is the second story better than the first? Does the absence of those spiritual terms make me a better human being? Did it better explain what I’ve actually been through? From the second story can you tell I had an awakening, suffered under the dark night of the soul, raised my vibration, got the hell out of the matrix, and ascended?
Probably not if I’m not using those spiritual terms. Those terms allow me to better explain myself. What I went through wasn’t just depression, it was something much deeper and I had to use it by its name for you to know it was a spiritual phenomenon.
The Shadow Disguises Itself so It Can Control Other People’s Spirituality
The article suggested spiritual folks stop using such spiritual terms and I thought here comes the rules. It was only a matter of time before we saw the beginning of the rules.
How are we going to better explain things without using terms? How are we going to teach if we start seeing simple spiritual terms as coming from the ego?
Must everything come from the ego?
If I told you to stop using those terms, that would be coming straight from my ego who desires to control things. The words make me uncomfortable. I want you to stop saying them. I want to control you. I want to set rigid rules for you to follow, so I have a sense of control.
The term “dark night of the soul” closely resembles depression, but if I just said I was depressed, it wouldn’t tell the whole story. I wasn’t just depressed, something inside of me was dying. I was dying. And that’s how the dark night of the soul really feels like.
Let’s look at the term depression. Does it sound egoic when I say I’ve suffered from depression? Probably not.
Why?
Because it’s a mental health issue we sympathize with. It’s backed by science, so it’s okay saying you’re depressed. It doesn’t scream ego.
So why should the person saying they’re in a dark night of the soul be shamed and told to quit using such terms? Why is raising my vibration an ego play? What’s so macho about the term ‘ascension?’ They’re just words. Words aren’t egoic. It’s the humans saying the words that are sometimes egoic.
This isn’t to say some spiritual people won’t use such spiritual terms to boost their ego. Of course, some people will. What did you think?
Just as religion isn’t the problem, words and terms aren’t a problem. The problem has always and will always be we, the people.
You say one person is egotistical. They also see your ego. That’s the shadow side of our higher selves.
Spirituality Is a Solo Act That Can’t Be Controlled
The ego can play out in many ways. Me feeling disappointed that people find a problem with certain terms may actually be coming from my ego because my higher self has better things to worry about right now.
And I’m not ashamed of admitting the presence of my ego because I’m human. I didn’t kill my ego. I tamed her because I need my ego for survival matters. I put it in the back seat to come along for the ride.
This doesn’t mean my ego will be quiet in the backseat. My ego has opinions. My ego may have a say in the matter, but it’s never final.
My soul has the final say.
My ego said, “Look at this silly article making it seem like spiritual terms are a problem. How fucking silly.”
My soul says, “Talk about it in a civilized, educative manner.”
Ego is crazy but ego isn’t an enemy. Ego’s got your back that’s why its place is the backseat. The ego becomes a problem when it starts imposing rules onto others.
That’s egotistical and controlling.
If I told you to stop saying certain words because it’s egotistical, that would actually be coming from my ego.
Ask yourself:
Will my higher self ever think and suggest to people to stop using certain spiritual terms?
No, your higher self doesn’t give a fuck about the terms people use in their spirituality. Your higher self understands that people’s spirituality is theirs and they can personalize it however they choose as long as they don’t extend their personalization onto others.
The ego cares how other people approach their spirituality. It cares about their terms, routines, and practices.
You see, spirituality isn’t a group thing. Spirituality is a solo act. It’s up to the individual to do what makes them a better person. It’s all up to the spiritual person to do what feeds their soul. What feeds my soul may poison yours. What feeds your soul may make me want to throw up.
The foundation of spirituality is individuality. It isn’t an organization. You can’t control the individual. You can’t control what the individual says. You can’t control what they think or what they do.
That’ll be like the Christian telling me I shouldn’t wear shorts all over again.
You can teach — not in a way to guilt-trip people — but you can’t control. Trying to control others lowers your vibration and slows down your own ascension. Yes, I used the terms vibration and ascension because I can’t be controlled and that’s why I’m not in a church.
Final Thoughts: The Shadow Disguises Itself as the Higher Self
The ego is very smart. It knows how to disguise itself as knowledge and wisdom to get its way.
The ego is just the ego, and egos don’t get to lead the way. The soul leads, but it doesn’t judge others by the words they use.
Spirituality is freedom.
As a spiritual person, the best thing I can do to support your journey as a spiritual person is to let you do it on your own terms (pun intended.)
Spirituality doesn’t judge. It’s supposed to be free of judgment. Being spiritual means making my own rules and going my own way. It also means respecting you to allow you to do your own thing without judgment.
That’s the beauty of it.
What do you think?