The Difference Between the Spirit-centered and the Spiritualized Ego

           When I was a new student of A Course in Miracles in 1984, I soon had my first direct revelation of God (Reality). I cannot describe what this was like because It was not in consciousness (this experience as people in a world), and It was wholly unlike consciousness, not just quantitatively, but qualitatively. Nothing in consciousness is anything like God at all.

I can share that God is a Wholeness so complete, even the idea of lack is not There. The idea of a world is not There. God’s Glory is indescribable—again, not just in magnitude, but in Its characteristics. It is laughable to think that anything in consciousness, with its characteristic forms of perceptions and ideas and experiences and a material universe, could have anything to do with God or have any effect on God. So, I saw the forgiveness the Course offers, the awareness that nothing in consciousness is real, nothing in consciousness has any effect on God at all.

As consciousness is so unlike God, what appears in consciousness as Spirit is a formation of the Abstract as an idea, a perception, an experience. Therefore, even Spirit is a distortion, as none of these are like God. And what the Course calls the real world (Universal Love, Spirit-consciousness, or Enlightenment), is a distillation of God’s Unity, its effect on the material experience a concrete representation of the Abstract. But at no time is anything in consciousness even remotely like God.

Obviously, consciousness returned after that revelation, shattered for a little bit, but eventually it went on. I was, for a time, right on the edge of the real world and dipped into it now and then. But this was only a dawning experience—becoming aware of the Reality of God. Ego remained the center of this consciousness. I was aware I did not make the real world happen. I hoped to see it again; I hoped to stay there. I felt that growing my awareness of and trust in Spirit might bring that about, and pursued that. As a result, the ego in this consciousness became Spirit-centered.

Ego and Spirit never intersect. Ego has no effect on Spirit, but Spirit’s Light does shine on ego. And the effect of this is what is considered spirituality in consciousness.  The ultimate result of this is a Spirit-centered ego. This shows up as an emotionally and psychologically mature person who takes responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions, and whose homebase after brief forays into triggered ego is equanimity and acceptance of how things are in consciousness.

A Spirit-centered ego comes about naturally as an effect of a growing awareness of Spirit in one’s consciousness. At some point, even though ego is still the center of their consciousness, one values Spirit above ego. And ego matures in the Light of Spirit. Following Spirit results in flexibility and wisdom about life in consciousness.

A Spirit-centered ego understands the difference between consciousness and God and does not raise what happens in consciousness to the level of affecting God. A Spirit-centered ego does not look for evidence of God in consciousness but looks for Spirit in one’s consciousness. One forgives what appears in consciousness in the recognition that only God is real, and God is wholly unaffected by what happens in consciousness.

A Spirit-centered ego should not be confused with a spiritualized ego. A spiritualized ego shows up as someone trying to be spiritual or even Spirit-like. They are concerned with appearing Spiritual—first, to themselves—rather than with having a genuine awareness of Spirit. They are more concerned with doctrine and dogma than with a true relationship with Spirit. They put intellectual understanding of spiritual texts over sharing their day-to-day life with Spirit. They often think they are more advanced spiritually than they are. They are more religious than spiritual. They are rigid in their views. They elevate certain aspects of consciousness to reality and feel that what happens in consciousness comes from God or affects God.

The ultimate spiritualized ego is the spiritual or religious teacher who says, “Follow me” instead of “Follow Spirit within you.” Spiritualized egos are hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another, admonishing others to do what they do not do themselves.

It is inevitable that at the start of a spiritual path one falls into a spiritualized ego because ego prefers this to letting Spirit into your awareness. And even if you do let Spirit in, you will fall back into a spiritualized ego from time to time, catching yourself trying to be spiritual rather than following Spirit.

Enlightenment occurs when Spirit takes the center of consciousness and ego falls away and one finds themselves in the real world. An advanced Spirit-centered person may glimpse the real world now and then. But Enlightenment cannot be brought about. You cannot make Spirit take the center of consciousness through practice. If it is to happen, it will happen. Rare is the consciousness that is truly moved by Spirit to seek Enlightenment, rather than is pushed by ego to do so for its own glory. So, while you cannot set Enlightenment as a goal, you can determine to be a Spirit-centered person by choosing Spirit over ego, again and again. And this is what a teaching like the Course is for.

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