Sorting Out Spirit, Consciousness, and Ego
As the shift in consciousness approached this mind, ego began to be sorted out from consciousness. This process continued through the shift and is still ongoing five years later.
It began with this mind
recognizing that the person’s body and personality were neutral. For example,
sometimes a client will say something like, “I really like strawberry ice
cream—I know that’s ego…” Well, no, that’s not ego, that’s simply an expression
of the personality, which is a neutral expression of consciousness. What would
be ego would be insisting that you get the last of the strawberry ice cream
when someone else wants it instead of sharing it with them or letting them have
it all in the recognition it’s not important. Ego shows up as attachment to
forms, identification with them, and the belief that forms are your supply,
that they make you whole.
“Consciousness is the receptive mechanism, receiving messages from above or below; from the Holy Spirit or the ego.” (C-1.7)
Consciousness is neutral
because it is only a “receptive mechanism” that is like a vessel that holds
either Spirit or ego. You could also see it as a mirror that reflects whatever
is held in consciousness to be reality, either Spirit or ego. The person (body
and personality) and all material forms are neutral expressions of
consciousness, without meaning in themselves.
I see the confusion of ego
and consciousness when clients ask if they should love ego or feel compassion
for it. Ego is an expression of the idea of God’s opposite. It uses
consciousness to oppose God by setting it up as an alternate reality to God. As
God cannot have an opposite, ego is, and promotes, an impossible idea. To love
ego or feel compassion for it would only reinforce the idea it is something
real.
But I suspect what those who
contemplate loving ego feel is that there is something here hurt by the thought
system of ego, and that would be consciousness. As it is only a receptive
mechanism, the idea that consciousness is real twists it into something it is
not. Consciousness experiences, and the experience of ego is pain. Compassion
may arise spontaneously in response to pain, but I am not sure it is a wise practice,
which is often an ego trap, as neither consciousness nor pain are real. This is what Love knows.
Don’t underestimate how thoroughly ego and consciousness are entwined, which is why it takes so long for them to be sorted out. As consciousness is disentangled from ego, it is set free to be itself, which means not a pseudo-reality opposed to God, but rather merely a “receiving mechanism” now open to contain or reflect God. Without ego, consciousness lines up with Reality (God), Which is beyond consciousness. It realizes Spirit, the Idea of God in consciousness, and is transformed into what A Course in Miracles calls the real world.
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Comments
Helen, 1971
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I did not know Your Voice. And what I heard
I did not understand. There was a Word
In which was everything. Yet all I found
In its immensity was but the sound
Of meaningless contention. I passed by
A thousand waiting angles. And as I
Rushed along vain detours I did not see
The hosts of holiness surrounding me.
Yet I will certainly return. For You
Have promised that whatever I may do,
Angels and holy hosts will wait; the Word
Will hover over me till it is heard.
A lesson as straightforward as this sure is hard to learn.
When we perceive ourselves as bodies we are pure ego. Complaining to the Holy Spirit that it is taking too long to achieve enlightenment the ego sees it being withheld out of spite. Its default reaction to this is hate. Whenever it isn't getting what it wants there is hate.