De-demonizing Ego

            The absolute, being all that is, must contain the idea of its own opposite. But being all, the absolute cannot have an opposite. So, the idea of the opposite of the absolute can only ever be an idea, and one that is simultaneously undone by the onlyness of the absolute.

This idea and its simultaneous undoing are represented as consciousness. Consciousness is a symbolic depiction of an idea of a truth (represented by pure consciousness) being opposed by ideas (represented by ego and its world) that appear in it and that it undoes over time.

Pure consciousness (the truth of consciousness) is whole and does not have parts. But ego, as the idea of denial of truth, makes it seem that it does have parts: Conscious awareness (what is in immediate awareness), subconscious (what is just out of conscious awareness), and unconscious (what is out of conscious awareness). Ego’s occupation of conscious awareness pushes truth into the unconscious. Its denial of truth means ego also pushes aspects of itself into the unconscious. For example, ego buries the awareness that it is denial of truth. This is how it makes itself seem real to itself.

What we think of as becoming spiritually aware is truth rising toward conscious awareness. Mystical and near-death experiences (“awakening” experiences) are when truth breaks into conscious awareness for a moment or episode. Enlightenment is when truth rises to conscious awareness to stay, eventually causing ego to fall away. These depict a truth undoing the idea of its opposite.

Not only does none of this touch the absolute, but ego’s denial of truth also has no effect on pure consciousness. Ego is in its own self-contained world, or consciousness. Only to ego does ego seem real. It plays out its story over time and then it is done, either through enlightenment or the death of the body.

The statements in A Course in Miracles that say in some way, “You are doing this to yourself” are to ego. There is nothing here choosing ego, although ego seems to make choices, like which aspects of itself it will act from and reinforce. This is all part of ego playing out. None of it is real or affects what is real. So, ego is not an error, wrong, or something evil, except in its own mind, in its own stories for itself, for its seeming reality. Ego is just something that appears in consciousness as consciousness just appears in the absolute.

As has been written in these articles before, when the “I” fell away at The Break here, ego was revealed to be more than a thought system. It was an experience of existence, like a being that had lived here in consciousness. It played itself out, as its thought system continues to play itself out. This is the denial of truth falling away because truth has risen to conscious awareness. Nothing here made this happen. All that ego was and the life it seemed to live through the person as well as truth rising to conscious awareness happened because they were to happen. This depicts denial of a truth being undone by that truth.

So, don’t resist what is occurring for you. Whatever it is, ego or truth rising, it expresses ideas in consciousness and will unfold as it is to unfold. It is not good or bad or right or wrong. It is nothing; it has no effect on truth.

 

>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

will said…
Whether it matters to people or only matters to spirit, ACIM 's thrust is doing the Course so it will speed up the atonement (collapse time.) Dealing with daily life it is hard to get behind this concept.
3:06 AM
will said…
My human mind has always been grumbling in the background "Why are we going through this"? It's over already! Bodies and peoples minds being created in the split mind that aren't real and then projected out? God, it's over, let's move on.
3:21 AM
Anonymous said…
God doesn't know what it is like to be a human. Jesus went through a human experience of sorts but certainly not an experience any human would be familiar with. He was afforded unlimited spiritual help. This is so differs from the experience of the average human it is unrecognizable. There is a disconnect from how Jesus percieves us and our human state as it is.
Will
6:54 PM
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